Saint Petersburg State University Mathematics and Mechanics Faculty

The Saint Petersburg State University Mathematics and Mechanics Faculty is a research and education center in the fields of mathematics, mechanics, astronomy, and computer science.

Mathematics and Mechanics Faculty

Математико-механический Факультет
Faculty of Mathematics and Mechanics at SPbSU
Latin: The Faculty of Mathematics and Mechanics
Type	Academic and Research Faculty
Established	1931
Acting Head	E. V. Kustova
Academic staff	378 (as of 2009)
Location	Saint Petersburg, Russia , 198504 , Russia 59°52′48.66″N 29°49′43.56″E
Campus	Suburban, Petergof Educational and Scientific Complex [ru]
Website	www.math.spbu.ru
Location in Russia

Early history

In 1701 Tsar Peter I issued a decree founding a school of mathematical and navigation sciences. In 1724 the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Academic University of Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences [ru], and the Academic Gymnasium were founded. This marked the beginning of the famous Saint Petersburg Mathematical School. When Saint Petersburg University was founded in 1819, the department of mathematics at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Saint Petersburg University [ru] created four departments: pure mathematics, applied mathematics, astronomy, and physics. Gradually expanding, this department survived for over a century. By 1930, the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics had become a formal union of independent departments: mathematics, mechanics, astronomy-geodesy, physics, and geography (in 1929–1930, the State University Institute of Chemistry and the Faculty of Biology of Saint Petersburg State University [ru] had already separated from it). In 1931,^[1] the university's faculties were abolished and replaced by sectors: mathematics and mechanics, physics, geophysics, soil science and botany, physiology, and zoology. In 1932–33, the sectors were transformed back into faculties: mathematics and mechanics, physics, biology, geology-soil-geography, and chemistry.

History

The first dean of the Faculty of Mathematics and Mechanics (technically, head of the corresponding sector) in 1931 was a postgraduate student of Grigorii Fikhtengol'ts, O. A. Beloglavek.^[2] In 1933, Mikhail Subbotin became the dean, leading the faculty until World War II.

In February 1942 Professor Nikolai Vladimirovich Roze [ru] was appointed dean but was arrested and repressed shortly thereafter.

In 1945 the faculty was granted the premises of the former Bestuzhev Courses (10th Line, 33). A branch of the faculty was located at 14th Lines of Vasilyevsky Island, building 29.

In 1957 a Computing Center was established at the faculty.

In 1979 the faculty moved to the Petergof Educational and Scientific Complex [ru] in the suburbs of Saint Petersburg, in the Petergof district.

Until the 2011 reorganization the faculty included scientific institutions—the Smirnov Research Institute of Mathematics and Mechanics at SPbSU [ru], the Sobolev Astronomical Institute [ru], and the Research Institute of Information Technology.

In 2019 the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science separated from the Faculty of Mathematics and Mechanics, along with the building on 14th Lines of Vasilyevsky Island on Vasilyevsky Island.^[3]

Departments

The faculty consists of 22 departments, one interfaculty department, postgraduate and doctoral programs, the Intel research and educational laboratory, 9 service departments, a scientific library, an archive, and the scientific center "Dynamics." As of October 15, 2009, the faculty had 378 teachers, including 126 professors and 178 associate professors.^[4]

The Faculty of Mathematics and Mechanics building

Department of Mathematics	Department of Mathematical Analysis[5]
	Department of Higher Algebra and Number Theory
	Department of Higher Geometry
	Department of Differential Equations
	Department of Mathematical Physics
	Department of Probability Theory and Mathematical Statistics
Department of Applied Mathematics	Department of Computational Mathematics
	Department of Operations Research
	Department of Applied Cybernetics
	Department of Statistical Modeling
	Department of Theoretical Cybernetics
Department of Computer Science	Department of Computer Science
	Department of Information-Analytical Systems
	Department of System Programming
	Department of Parallel Algorithms
Department of Mechanics	Department of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics
	Department of Hydroaeromechanics
	Department of Hydroelasticity
	Department of Theory of Elasticity
	Department of Physical Mechanics
Department of Astronomy	Department of Astrophysics
	Department of Celestial Mechanics
	Department of Astronomy
Interfaculty Department of General Mathematics and Informatics

Deans[6]

• Olga Beloglavek (1931–1932)
• Mikhail Subbotin (1933–1941)
• Nikolai Roze (1942)
• Ogorodnikov, Kirill (1942–1948)
• Nikolai Yerugin (1949)
• Pyotr Gorshkov (1949–1951)
• Dmitry Faddeev (1952–1954)
• Nikolai Polyakhov (1954–1965)
• Sergey Vallander (1965–1973)
• Zenon Borevich (1973–1984)
• Sergey Ermakov (1984–1988)
• Gennady Leonov (1988–2018)
• Alexander Razov (2018–2022)
• Acting Dean Kustova, Elena Vladimirovna (2022–present)

Alumni

• Mikhail Gromov
• Grigori Perelman (1982–1987)