Nikolai Bugaev facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Nikolai Bugaev
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| Born | September 14, 1837 Georgia, Russian Empire
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| Died | June 11, 1903 (aged 65) Moscow, Russian Empire
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| Nationality | Russian |
| Alma mater | Imperial Moscow University (1859) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mathematics |
| Institutions | Imperial Moscow University |
| Doctoral advisor | Karl Weierstrass Ernst Kummer Joseph Liouville |
| Doctoral students | Dmitri Egorov Nikolay Sonin |
| Other notable students | Pavel Florensky |
Nikolai Vasilievich Bugaev (Russian: Никола́й Васи́льевич Буга́ев; September 14, 1837 – June 11, 1903) was an important Russian mathematician. He was also the father of the famous writer Andrei Bely.
Early Life and Education
Nikolai Bugaev was born in Georgia, which was part of the Russian Empire at the time. When he was ten years old, young Nikolai moved to Moscow. He had to find his own way to get an education.
In 1859, he graduated from Moscow University. He studied mathematics and physics there. After finishing his first degree, Bugaev studied engineering. In 1863, he wrote a master's paper about how infinite series work. This paper was very good. It helped him get a chance to study with famous mathematicians. He learned from Karl Weierstrass and Ernst Kummer in Berlin. He also spent time in Paris studying with Joseph Liouville. Nikolai Bugaev earned his doctoral degree in 1866.
Career in Mathematics
After getting his doctorate, Bugaev went back to Moscow. He taught at Imperial Moscow University for the rest of his career. Some of his best papers proved ideas that Joseph Liouville had suggested but not fully proven.
Bugaev's most original work was about finding connections between arithmetic and analytic math. He was a very active member of the Moscow Mathematical Society. He even served as its president from 1891 to 1903.
He also wrote important essays about philosophy. In these essays, he praised the value of mathematical analysis. He thought that geometry and probability were not as important. Many people believe that Bugaev helped shape Russian mathematics. He encouraged a focus on "hard analysis," which is a deep and complex part of math. Through his best student, Dmitri Egorov, many other famous Russian mathematicians followed in his footsteps. These include Andrei Kolmogorov and Nikolai Luzin. This means they are all connected to Bugaev, and even to the "Prince of Mathematicians," Carl Friedrich Gauss.
Personal Life and Family
Nikolai Bugaev was a very good chess player. He even beat William Steinitz, a world chess champion, in a game in 1896.
Bugaev was known for being a unique person. He was not considered very handsome. However, his wife was known for being smart, beautiful, and wealthy. The Bugaev family was well-known in society. Their son, Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev, was talented in math, music, and art. He later became a famous writer using the name Andrei Bely. He helped start the Symbolist movement in literature.
Professor Korobkin, a character in Andrei Bely's novel Moscow, was inspired by Nikolai Bugaev. Because of his father's strong opinions against probability, Boris Bugaev became very interested in it. He was especially fascinated by the idea of entropy. This idea appears in several of his novels and poems.
