Alexander Esenin-Volpin facts for kids

Alexander Sergeyevich Esenin-Volpin (born May 12, 1924 – died March 16, 2016) was a Russian-American poet and mathematician. He was known as a dissident, which means someone who disagrees with the government. He was also a leader in the Soviet human rights movement. This movement worked to protect people's basic rights.

Because of his beliefs, he spent about six years held by the Soviet authorities. This included stays in special hospitals and being sent away from his home. In mathematics, he is famous for his ideas on ultrafinitism, a special way of thinking about numbers.

Life

Alexander Volpin was born on May 12, 1924, in the Soviet Union. His mother, Nadezhda Volpin, was a poet and translator. His father was Sergei Yesenin, a famous Russian poet. However, his father never knew him. Alexander and his mother moved from Leningrad to Moscow in 1933.

He was first held in a hospital in 1949. This was because of his "anti-Soviet poetry." He was held again in 1959 for sharing his writings, like his Free Philosophical Tractate, outside the country. He was held a third time in 1968.

Esenin-Volpin finished his math studies at Moscow State University in 1949. After graduating, he went to teach math in the city of Chernovtsy. Less than a month later, he was arrested. He was accused of writing and sharing poems that went against the Soviet government.

Doctors at the Serbsky Institute in Moscow said Volpin was not mentally fit. In October 1949, he was sent to a special hospital in Leningrad. A year later, he was suddenly released. He was then sent to live in exile for five years in Karaganda, Kazakhstan. There, he taught math in evening classes.

In 1953, after Joseph Stalin died, Volpin was set free. This was part of a general pardon for many people. Soon, he became a well-known mathematician. He focused on areas like ultrafinitism and intuitionism.

The Glasnost demonstration

In 1965, Esenin-Volpin helped organize a famous protest. It was called the "Glasnost Meeting" and took place in Moscow. "Glasnost" means openness. The protest asked for a fair and open trial for two writers, Andrei Sinyavsky and Yuli Daniel.

Volpin wrote leaflets that were secretly passed around. These papers said that the writers' arrest and secret trial went against Soviet laws. About 200 people came to the meeting. Many of them were secret police.

The protesters held signs that said, "We demand an open trial for Sinyavski and Daniel." Another sign read, "Respect the Soviet constitution." The people demonstrating were quickly arrested.

In the years that followed, Esenin-Volpin became an important voice. He was part of the human rights movement in the Soviet Union. He was one of the first Soviet dissidents to use a "legalist" approach. This meant he believed people could defend their rights by strictly following the law. He also demanded that the authorities follow the laws that protected people's rights.

Esenin-Volpin was again held in a hospital in February 1968. This happened because he strongly protested against another trial. After his stay in 1968, 99 Soviet mathematicians sent a letter. They asked the Soviet authorities to release him. This news became public. A radio station called Voice of America talked about it. Esenin-Volpin was released almost right away.

In 1968, Esenin-Volpin shared his famous "Memo for those who expect to be interrogated." This guide was used by many other activists. In 1969, he signed the first "Appeal to The UN Committee for Human Rights." In 1970, Volpin joined the Committee on Human Rights in the USSR. He worked with Yuri Orlov and Andrei Sakharov.

Emigration

In May 1972, he moved to the United States. But his Soviet citizenship was not taken away, which was unusual. He worked at Boston University. In 1973, he signed the Humanist Manifesto II. This was a statement about human values and ethics.

In 1977, he worried Soviet authorities again. He threatened to sue them for spreading rumors that he was mentally ill. In 2005, Esenin-Volpin was in a TV show called "They Chose Freedom." It was a documentary about the Soviet dissident movement.

He passed away on March 16, 2016, at the age of 91.

Mathematical work

His early work was in a field called general topology. He introduced something known as Esenin-Volpin's theorem. Most of his later work was about the basic ideas of mathematics. He created ultrafinitism. This is a very strict type of math that questions if very large numbers, like 10¹², or even infinite sets, truly exist.

He also had ideas for how to prove that a math system called Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory is consistent. He used his ultrafinitistic methods for this.

See also

In Spanish: Aleksander Yesenin-Volpin para niños