"Математико-механический факультет и его кафедры"
Учебные задания
THE FACULTY OF MATHEMATICS AND MECHANICS
The Faculty of Mathematics and Mechanics of Saint Petersburg University originated in the early eighteenth century as the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics. It included four departments within its structure: the Department of Pure Mathematics, the Department of Applied Mathematics ( a discipline which then referred to mechanics), the Department of Astronomy, and the Department of Physics.
The Faculty of Physics and Mathematics could be proud that such prominent scholars as the mathematicians, L. Euler (1, V. Bunyakovsky (1, and P. Chebyshev (), and the astronomers, E. Lenz (1, and A. Savitch (1worked in its classrooms and laboratories. It was Leonard Euler who established the fundamental principles of the school of mathematics. This great Russian mathematician worked at the Russian Academy of Sciences and taught at the University in the first half of the 18th century. P. Chebyshev, however, was the actual founder of the Saint Petersburg school of mathematics. He held a Doctor's Degree from the University for his dissertation entitled "The Theory of Congruence" which became the basis for the further development of the theory of numbers. His work gave rise to research work in many other directions in theoretical and applied mathematics. For example, the research done by Chebyshev and his followers led to the further development of the theory of probability as a purely mathematical discipline.
The Faculty of Physics and Mathematics kept its original structure, though with a greater number of departments, for over a hundred years. It split into two separate faculties: the Faculty of Physics and Faculty of Mathematics and Mechanics, in the 1920s.
A research institute affiliated with the Faculty of Mathematics and Mechanics was organized in 1932. This Mathematics and Mechanics Research Institute had a number of well-known scholars in its ranks. Professor A. Kulisher was appointed Director and Prof. V. Smirnov Vice-Director for Scientific Research. Several laboratories organized at the Departments of Mechanics, the Faculty of Mathematics and Mechanics, formed the core of the Institute. The Institute consisted of two sections: the Section of Mathematics headed by Prof. V. Smirnov, and the Section of Mechanics headed by Prof. E. Nikolai. In 1957, the Computer Center registered as an Institute scientific laboratory was organized. The Institute founders saw a new institution’s role as a center for solving urgent scientific problems, and improving teaching by means of practical laboratory research. In 1989, the Research Institute of Mathematics and Mechanics was named after one of its founders, the Academician V. Smirnov.
When the Second World War came to the Soviet Union, the Institute researchers, in cooperation with the whole Faculty of Mathematics and Mechanics, made great efforts to contribute to the national defense. The research of the Academicians V. Ambarzumyan, V. Smirnov, and N. Yarugin, working in collaboration with other University faculty, resulted in the development of a theory of ballistic trajectory and in long-distance visibility tables. Even when the University was evacuated to Saratov, the work at the Faculty never stopped. It was in the days of the siege of Leningrad, despite the hardships of cold and hunger, that Prof. O. Fikhtengoltz completed his famous work, "Mathematical Analysis".
The Second World War was not yet over when the University opened its 1944 academic year. The Faculty of Mathematics and Mechanics and its affiliated Research Institute resumed their full work as well. Very soon, in 1947, the members of the Faculty published a 5 volume work, "The Course of Higher Mathematics", which remained the best and most complete authoritative text in the field for many years. In 1963, a specialized University Boarding School affiliated with the Faculty was established to teach the wisdom of the science of mathematics to the best young minds. Soon after that, the Young Mathematicians School was organized.
The University was rapidly expanding in the postwar years. New departments and new laboratories grew up rapidly. The Faculty of Applied Mathematics, for example, appeared in 1970. Because the size of the whole Faculty had grown so much, it needed more room than the former Bestuzhev Courses building on Vasilyevsky Island, Line 10, allowed. As early as 1966, it had been decided to build a completely new University campus in Stary Peterhof. The mathematics faculties moved there in 1978. The new building was five times as large as the old one and provided enough room to house the Mathematics and Mechanics Research Institute and the Computer Center as well. Today, the Stary Peterhof University Campus includes the Faculties of Mathematics and Mechanics, the Faculty of Applied Mathematics and Control Processes, the Faculty of Chemistry, the Faculty of Physics, a number of scientific research institutes, and such other facilities as the Student Union, residence halls, a restaurant and shops. Today, the Faculty of Mathematics and Mechanics constitutes 21 departments organized into 5 divisions. They are the Divisions of Mathematics, Applied Mathematics, Computer Science, Mechanics, and Astronomy.
To become a student of the Faculty, an applicant must face what may be the first major challenge of his life, the competitive entrance examinations. A written examination in mathematics is considered to be the main test of the applicant's schooling. The problems proposed at this examination are within the school mathematics course. The examinations begin on July 5. Applicants from the other cities and towns are provided with accommodations during the examinations. All examinations are held in full accordance with the programs of entrance examinations to universities of the Russian Federation. The entrance examinations include mathematics (written), composition (test), and physics (oral). Those applicants who have received only excellent marks in their secondary school certificates in all school courses must take only one exam in mathematics; they are enrolled in the Faculty provided they pass that examination with an excellent mark as well.
The Faculty has full-time, part-time and correspondence programs. All full-time students with good grades get University scholarships. Tuition is free. The students from other cities and towns are provided with comfortable living accommodations. In recent years, those students who live in the far-off districts of the city have been accommodated at the hostel as well.
The Division of Mathematics has run an experimental POMI group for several years now. This group studies under the supervision of POMI (Petersburg Affiliation of the Mathematical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences). The students are selected to join this group on the basis of the results of the first-term examinations.
One major feature of education and research has distinguished the Saint Petersburg school of mathematics from others all over the world: its emphasis on the importance of the solution of problems. In many other higher education institutions, the emphasis is put on the study of specific mathematical techniques as applied to particular industrial needs within the institution's special interests. The students of this Faculty, in contrast, are taught to devise new mathematical tools to solve specific new problems in a variety of branches of science and industry. No doubt, they could never cope with such a task without a broad and thorough knowledge of all basic mathematical disciplines.
The curricula of the different divisions vary only a little in the first year. All freshmen are trained in mathematical analysis, higher algebra, geometry, differential equations, the theory of probability, and the equations of mathematical physics. The Faculty offers lectures in these and other major subjects to the whole body of students of the same year of studies. Thus, practically all the branches of the science of mathematics are covered. The Faculty also offers courses in philosophy, social sciences, and foreign languages. The students are required to attend all lectures and seminars. The full-time program students take tests and examinations at the end of each semester in January and June.
The works of two graduates of the Faculty, the Academicians L. Kantorovich and G. Marchuk, are good examples of such a systematic and diversified approach to the teaching of science. L. Kantorovich was a specialist in extremely sophisticated problems of functional analysis. In 1938, in response to a need of the Plywood Trust, he managed to solve the problem of the optimal use of machines. The method linear programming, which is now one of the most widely used tools for solving extreme problems, is based on the method he created. Kantorovich's work was awarded the Lenin and State Prizes of the USSR and he later became a 1975 Nobel Award Winner in economics.
In the 1993 survey of the Russian universities, Saint Petersburg State University was rated second only to Moscow State University. One may be sure that one of the factors that determined the survey results was the quality and significance of Saint Petersburg school of mathematics and mechanics embodied by Saint Petersburg State University’s Faculty of Mathematics and Mechanics and Faculty of Applied Mathematics and Control Processes. Together with their affiliated scientific research institutions, these faculties undoubtedly form one of the greatest mathematical centers of the world.
Ex. 1. Mind the translation of the following words and expressions:
1. to give rise to давать начало
2. He held a Doctor’s Degree from the University for his dissertation entitled… В этом университете он получил докторскую степень, защитив диссертацию на тему…
3. to lead to приводить к (возникновению)
4. to keep its original structure сохранять свою первоначальную структуру
5. to split into распадаться на
6. a great number of огромное число
7. faculty факультет, преподаватели
8. to result in приводить к созданию
9. to result from вытекать из, следовать из
10. undergraduate студент
11. graduate student (American) аспирант
12. postgraduate student (British) аспирант
13. graduate выпускник
14. scholar ученый
15. to make contribution to вносить вклад в
Ex. 2. Comprehension check. Answer the following questions.
1. When was the Faculty founded?
2. What was the Faculty’s initial name?
3. What departments did the original Faculty have?
4. Who contributed to the creation of Saint Petersburg school of mathematics?
5. What prominent scholars worked at the Faculty?
6. When did the Faculty of Mathematics and Mechanics come into existence?
7. When did the Faculty of Applied Mathematics and Control Processes become a separate University faculty?
8. What was founded in 1939?
9. What contribution did the Faculty scholars make to the national defense?
10. What subjects do all full-time students study in the first year?
11. What is meant by the systematic and diversified approach to teaching science?
12. What work did the members of the Faculty published in 1947?
13. What divisions does the Faculty consist of?
14. What has distinguished the Saint Petersburg school of mathematics from others all over the world?
