Nikolai Nikolaevich Bogolyubov (21 August 1909, Nizhny Novgorod — 13 February 1992, Moscow) was a Russian mathematician and theoretical physicist, one of the foremost scientists of the twentieth century in the fields of nonlinear mechanics, statistical physics, and quantum field theory. A native of Nizhny Novgorod, he became USSR (from 1953), twice Hero of Socialist Labour (1969, 1979), and an academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (from 1948).[1]

Origins and Early Career

Bogolyubov was born into the family of Nikolai Mikhailovich Bogolyubov — a lecturer in philosophy and psychology at the Nizhny Novgorod Theological Seminary and a Master of Theology. His mother, Olga Nikolaevna (née Lyuminarskaya), had graduated from the Nizhny Novgorod branch of the Moscow Conservatory in the piano class and worked as a music teacher. Nikolai Nikolaevich's younger brothers, Aleksei and Mikhail, also became prominent scholars and were elected members of the Academy of Sciences.[2] In 1913 the Bogolyubov family moved to Kyiv, where the father was appointed professor at the University of Saint Vladimir; in 1915, with the front of the First World War drawing closer, the mother and children were evacuated to Kaluga, though the family returned to Kyiv the following year.[3][2] The future scholar studied mathematics and physics independently: by the age of fourteen he was already attending D. A. Grave's mathematics seminar at Kyiv University. In 1924 he wrote his first scientific paper; in 1925 he was admitted to postgraduate study at the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences under N. M. Krylov. In 1929 he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences.[1]

Scientific Activity

From 1934 Bogolyubov taught at Kyiv University (becoming a professor in 1936). From 1948 he worked in Moscow — at the Institute of Chemical Physics of the USSR Academy of Sciences and at the V. A. Steklov Mathematical Institute (serving as its director from 1983 to 1989) — and from 1950 he was a professor at Moscow State University. From 1950 to 1953, at Sarov), he participated in nuclear weapons development.[1] From 1957 he headed the Laboratory of Theoretical Physics at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) in Dubna, and from 1965 to 1988 he served as director of JINR. Concurrently, from 1965 to 1973, he led the Institute of Theoretical Physics of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences in Kyiv, which he had founded.[1]

Bogolyubov's scientific work spans nonlinear mechanics (of which he is considered one of the founders), statistical physics, quantum field theory, and elementary particle physics. In 1946–1947 he developed a method for deriving chains of kinetic equations and constructed a microscopic theory of superfluidity. In 1956 he created a microscopic theory of superconductivity. In 1954–1955 he laid the foundations of axiomatic quantum field theory, formulating the causality principle in the microworld; together with O. S. Parasyuk he proposed the R-operation for renormalization theory. In 1965, together with B. V. Struminsky and A. N. Tavkhelidze, he introduced the concept of the quantum number "colour," which subsequently led to the creation of quantum chromodynamics.[1]

Recognition and Awards

Bogolyubov was a laureate of the Lenin Prize (1958), the Stalin Prize First Class (1946) and Second Class (1953), and the USSR State Prize (1984). He was awarded six Orders of Lenin (1953, 1959, 1967, 1969, 1975, 1979) and the M. V. Lomonosov Grand Gold Medal of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1984). He served as Academic Secretary of the Mathematics Division of the USSR Academy of Sciences from 1963 to 1988.[1] In 1998, the Russian Academy of Sciences established the Bogolyubov Prize and Medal for scientific achievement.[1]

Commemoration in Nizhny Novgorod

In honour of the scholar, a bust by the sculptor V. V. Glebov (architects V. N. Fursov and G. P. Malkov; cast by the Monumentskulptura plant in Leningrad) has been erected on Bolshaya Pokrovskaya Street, in the small park beside house no. 37. Bogolyubov is buried in Moscow at Novodevichy Cemetery; in Dubna, his name is borne by the JINR Laboratory of Theoretical Physics, several of the institute's prizes, a gymnasium, and one of the city's main avenues, and in 2001 a bronze bust of the scholar was unveiled in front of the main JINR building.[2]

During the Great Patriotic War, from 1941 to 1944, Bogolyubov worked in evacuation in Ufa as part of the Institute of Physics and Mathematics of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, and also headed the departments of mathematical analysis at the Ufa Aviation Institute and the Ufa Pedagogical Institute.[3]

Sources

  1. bigenc.ru — Bogolyubov Nikolai Nikolaevich — Great Russian Encyclopedia
  2. istoricheskiybagazh.rf — Bogolyubov Nikolai Nikolaevich — Nikolai Nikolaevich's younger brothers, Aleksei and Mikhail, also became prominent scholars and were elected members of the Academy of Sciences. (archive)
  3. mi-ras.ru — In memoriam — In 1913 the Bogolyubov family moved to Kyiv, where the father was appointed professor at the University of Saint Vladimir. In 1915, with the front drawing closer… (archive)
  4. bogolubov.jinr.ru — On the centenary of N. N. Bogolyubov