Alexey Lyapunov


Alexey Andreevich Lyapunov was a Soviet mathematician and an early pioneer of computer science. One of the founders of Soviet cybernetics, Lyapunov was member of the Soviet Academy of Sciences and a specialist in the fields of real function theory, mathematical problems of cybernetics, set theory, programming theory, mathematical linguistics, and mathematical biology.

Biography

Composer Sergei Lyapunov, mathematician Aleksandr Lyapunov, and philologist :ru:Ляпунов,_Борис_Михайлович|Boris Lyapunov were close relatives of Alexey Lyapunov.
In 1928, Lyapunov enrolled at Moscow State University to study mathematics, and in 1932 he became a student of Nikolai Luzin. Under his mentorship, Lyapunov began his research in descriptive set theory. He became world-wide known for his theorem on the range of an atomless vector-measure in finite dimensions, now called the Lyapunov Convexity Theorem.
From 1934 until the early 1950s, Lyapunov was on the staff of the Steklov Institute of Mathematics. When Mstislav Keldysh organized the Department of Applied Mathematics he suggested Lyapunov to lead its work on programming.
In 1961, Lyapunov moved to the Institute of Mathematics of the Siberian Division of the USSR Academy of Sciences, where he founded the department of cybernetics. At Novosibirsk State University, he founded the Department of Theoretical Cybernetics and the Laboratory of Cybernetics at the Institute of Hydrodynamics of the Siberian Division of the USSR Academy of Sciences which he led until the end of his life.
In 1964, Lyapunov was elected a member of the USSR Academy of Sciences and joined the Division of Mathematics.
He was awarded the Order of Lenin. In 1996, he was awarded the IEEE Computer Society's Computer Pioneer Award.