Biography of Pavel Sergeevich Aleksandrov

Aleksandrov, Pavel Sergeevich (1896-1982) was a Russian mathematician, who was a leading member of the Moscow school of topology. He was considered the leader of Soviet Mathematician.

He was born on 7 May 1896 in Bogorodsk, Russia where his father worked as a doctor in the local hospital. His early education was supplied by his mother, who gave him French, German and music lesson. 

Aleksandrov graduated from Moscow State University in 1917. He joined the faculty in 1921.

In 1927 Aleksandrov was awarded the Doctor of Science degree at Moscow and appointed Professor of Mathematics two years later.

He planned, in collaboration with the Swiss mathematician H.Hopf, to produce a definitive multi-volume topological treatise. Only the first volume, Topologie 1 (1935), was published.

It was nonetheless extremely influential and did much to encourage the development of the Moscow school of topology. Aleksandrov’s own work, initially in set-theoretic topology, later moved into the field of algebratic topology.

During his life, he wrote about 300 scientific papers. As early as 1924 he introduced the concept of a locally finite covering which he used as a basis for his criteria for the metrisability of topological spaces.
Biography of Pavel Sergeevich Aleksandrov