Krylov, Nikolai Mitrofanovich

Born Nov. 17 (29), 1879, in St. Petersburg; died May 11, 1955, in Moscow. Soviet mathematician. Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR (1922); corresponding member (1928) and academician (1929) of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR.

Krylov graduated from the St. Petersburg Mining Institute in 1902 and was appointed professor there in 1912. In 1922 he was made head of the subdepartment of mathematical physics of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR. Krylov’s basic studies deal with interpolation, approximate integration of differential equations of mathematical physics, and nonlinear mechanics. He developed a number of new methods for solving problems in mathematical physics that are used both for proving the existence of solutions as well as for their actual construction.

Krylov began a series of studies with N. N. Bogoliubov in 1932 to investigate fundamental problems of nonlinear oscillatory processes; these studies laid the foundations of nonlinear mechanics. Krylov’s work has been widely applied in many branches of science and engineering. He was awarded the Order of Lenin, two other orders, and several medals.