Background

Pavel Alexandrov was born on May 7, 1896, in Bogorodsk, now Noginsk, Moscow Oblast, in the family of Sergei Aleksandrovich and Tsezariia Akimovna Zdanovskaia Aleksandrov. Later the family moved to Smolensk, where Aleksandrov’s father became a head doctor in the state hospital.

Education

Alexandrov attended Moscow State University where he was a student of Dmitri Egorov and Nikolai Luzin. Together with Pavel Urysohn, he visited the University of Göttingen in 1923 and 1924. He got his Doctor of Philosophy in 1934.

Career

Pavel Alexandrov wrote about three hundred papers, making important contributions to set theory and topology. In topology, the Alexandroff compactification and the Alexandrov topology are named after him. Together with Pavel Urysohn, he visited the University of Göttingen in 1923 and 1924.

Alexandrov was an active participant in the political offensive against Luzin which is known as the Luzin affair (1936). He had a number of students, including Aleksandr Kurosh, Lev Pontryagin and Andrey Tychonoff. Pavel Alexandrov should not be confused with Aleksandr Danilovich Aleksandrov, another mathematician at the Steklov Institute.

Achievements

• Pavel made important contributions to set theory and topology. In topology, the Alexandroff compactification and the Alexandrov topology are named after him.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Elementary concepts of topology 1961
  • Vvedenie v teoriyu grupp
  • Vvedenie v obschuyu teoriyu mnozhestv i funktsiy
  • Entsiklopediya elementranoj matematiki Kniga 4. Geometriya
  • Entsiklopediya elementarnoj matematiki Kniga 2. Algebra
  • Ocherk osnovnyh ponyatij topologii
  • Topology 1985
  • American Mathematical Society Translations 1955
  • Combinatorial topology 1956

Connections

In 1921 Pavel married Ekaterina Romanovna Eiges, but they divorced.

Father:

Sergei Aleksandrovich Aleksandrov

Mother:

Tsezariia Akimovna Zdanovskaia Aleksandrova

Spouse:

Ekaterina Romanovna Eiges

Friend:

Andrei Kolmogorov