Igor Shafarevich

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Igor Shafarevich bigraphy, stories - Russian mathematician

Igor Shafarevich : biography

June 3, 1923 –

Igor Rostislavovich Shafarevich ( born June 3, 1923) is a Russian mathematician who has contributed to algebraic number theory and algebraic geometry. He has written books and articles which criticize socialism, and was an important dissident during the Soviet regime.

Publications

  • Shafarevich, Igor (1975), "Socialism in Our Past and Future.” In From under the Rubble, with Solzhenitsyn, Alexander; Agursky, Mikhail; Barabanov, Evgeny; Borisov, Vadim; Korsakov, F. Collins: Harvill Press [Regnery Pub. 1989].
  • Shafarevich, Igor (1981), “On Certain Tendencies in the Development of Mathematics”, The Mathematical Intelligencer, Vol. 3, Number 4, pp. 182-184.
  • Nikulin, V. V.; Shafarevich, Igor (1987), Geometries and Groups, Berlin; Springer-Verlag, ISBN 0387152814
  • Kostrikin, A. I.; Shafarevich, Igor (1991), Noncommutative Rings, Identities, Berlin: Springer-Verlag, ISBN 0387181776
  • Parshin, A. N.; Shafarevich, Igor (1995), Number Theory: Fundamental Problems, Ideas, and Theories, Berlin: Springer, ISBN 0387533842
  • Arslanov, M. M.; Parshin, A. N.; Shafarevich, Igor (1996), Algebra and Analysis, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, ISBN 311014803X
  • Shafarevich, Igor (2003), Discourses on Algebra, Berlin: Springer, ISBN 3540422536

Religious Views

Shafarevich adheres to Russian Orthodox Christianity and incorporates the neo-Platonic views of Eastern Orthodoxy into his understanding of the relation of mathematics and religion.The Mathematical Experience, by Philip J. Davis and Reuben Hirsch. (1981) pp. 52-55

In a his talk to Gottingen Academy of Science upon receiving a prize Shafarevich presented his view of the relationship between mathematics and religion. He notes the multiple discoveries in mathematics, such as that of non-Euclidean geometry to suggest that pure mathematics reflects an objective reality, not a set of conventional definitions or a formalism. He claims that mathematics’ growth in itself is not directed or organic. In order to have a unity and direction mathematics needs a goal. This goal can either be set by practical applications or by God as the source of the direction of development. Shafarevich opts for the latter, as pure mathematics is not in itself driven by practical applications.Ueber einige Tendenzen in der Entwicklung der Mathematik, Jarhrbuch der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Goettingen. (1973) pp. 31-42

Notes

Political activities

Shafarevich came into conflict with the Soviet authorities in the early 1950s, but was protected by Ivan Petrovsky, the Rector of the Moscow University. He belonged to a group of dissidents who endorsed the Orthodox Christian tradition. Shafarevich published a book, The Socialist Phenomenon (French edition 1975 English edition 1980), which was cited by Solzhenitsyn in his 1978 address to Harvard University.

In the 1970s Shafarevich, with Valery Chalidze, Grigori Podyapolski and Andrei Tverdokhlebov, became one of Sakharov’s human rights investigators, and was consequently dismissed from Moscow University. Shafarevich opposed political interference in universities. The algebraic geometer Miles Reid gives the example of Shafarevich asserting that plagiarism and poor work was being ignored in a doctorate obtained by a Communist Party functionary.

The Socialist Phenomenon

Shafarevich’s book The Socialist Phenomenon,The Socialist Phenomenon, by Igor Shafarevich. (1980) Translated by William Tjalsma. Foreword by Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn. 319 pp. New York: Harper & Row. which was published in the US by Harper & Row in 1980, analyzes numerous examples of socialism, from ancient times, through various medieval heresies, to a variety of modern thinkers and socialist States. From these examples he claims that all the basic principles of socialist ideology derive from the urge to suppress individuality.

consists of three major parts:The Socialist Phenomenon, by Igor Shafarevich. (1980) Contents