Sergei Novikov (mathematician)

Sergei Petrovich Novikov[a] (Russian: Серге́й

Петро́вич Но́виков [sʲɪrˈɡʲej pʲɪˈtrovʲɪtɕ ˈnovʲɪkəf]; 20 Sergei Novikov
March 1938 – 6 June 2024) was a Soviet and Russian Сергей Новиков
mathematician, noted for work in both algebraic Born 20 March 1938
topology and soliton theory. He became the first Soviet Gorky, Russian SFSR, USSR
mathematician to receive the Fields Medal in 1970. Died 6 June 2024 (aged 86)
Alma mater Moscow State University

Biography Known for Adams–Novikov spectral

sequence
Novikov was born on 20 March 1938 in Gorky, Soviet Novikov conjecture
Union (now Nizhny Novgorod, Russia).[2] He grew up Novikov ring
in a family of talented mathematicians. His father was Novikov–Shubin invariant
Pyotr Sergeyevich Novikov, who gave a negative Novikov–Veselov equation
solution to the word problem for groups. His mother, Novikov's compact leaf
Lyudmila Vsevolodovna Keldysh, and maternal uncle, theorem
Mstislav Vsevolodovich Keldysh, were also important Wess–Zumino–Novikov–
mathematicians.[2] Witten model
Parents Pyotr Novikov (father)
Novikov entered Moscow State University in 1955 and
Lyudmila Keldysh (mother)
graduated in 1960.[2] In 1964, he received the Moscow
Mathematical Society Award for young Relatives Mstislav Keldysh (uncle)
[2]
mathematicians and defended a dissertation for the Leonid Keldysh (step-
Candidate of Science in Physics and Mathematics brother)
degree (equivalent to the PhD) under Mikhail Awards Lenin Prize (1967)
Postnikov at Moscow State University.[2][3] In 1965, Fields Medal (1970)
he defended a dissertation for the Doctor of Science in Lobachevsky Medal (1981)
Physics and Mathematics degree there.[2] Wolf Prize (2005)
Lomonosov Gold Medal
Novikov died on 6 June 2024, at the age of 86.[4] (2020)
Scientific career
Fields Mathematics
Career
Institutions Moscow State University
In 1966, Novikov became a corresponding member of Steklov Institute of
the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union.[2] In Mathematics
1971, he became head of the Mathematics Division of University of Maryland
the Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics of the Doctoral Mikhail Postnikov
USSR Academy of Sciences.[2] In 1983, Novikov was advisor
also appointed the head of the Department of Higher Doctoral Fedor Bogomolov
Geometry and Topology at Moscow State students Victor Buchstaber
University.[2] He became President of the Moscow Boris Dubrovin
Mathematical Society in 1985 and remained in that Sabir Gusein-Zade
role until 1996, when he moved to the University of Gennadi Kasparov
Maryland College of Computer, Mathematical, and Alexandr Mishchenko
Natural Sciences at the University of Maryland, Iskander Taimanov
College Park.[2] He continued to maintain research Anton Zorich
appointments at the Landau Institute for Theoretical
Physics, Moscow State University, and the Department of Geometry and Topology at the Steklov
Mathematical Institute after his move to Maryland.[2]

Research
Novikov's early work was in cobordism theory, in relative isolation. Among other advances he showed
how the Adams spectral sequence, a powerful tool for proceeding from homology theory to the
calculation of homotopy groups, could be adapted to the new (at that time) cohomology theory typified
by cobordism and K-theory. This required the development of the idea of cohomology operations in the
general setting, since the basis of the spectral sequence is the initial data of Ext functors taken with
respect to a ring of such operations, generalising the Steenrod algebra. The resulting Adams–Novikov
spectral sequence is now a basic tool in stable homotopy theory.[5][6]

Novikov also carried out important research in geometric topology, being one of the pioneers with
William Browder, Dennis Sullivan, and C. T. C. Wall of the surgery theory method for classifying high-
dimensional manifolds. He proved the topological invariance of the rational Pontryagin classes, and
posed the Novikov conjecture. From about 1971, he moved to work in the field of isospectral flows, with
connections to the theory of theta functions. Novikov's conjecture about the Riemann–Schottky problem
(characterizing principally polarized abelian varieties that are the Jacobian of some algebraic curve)
stated, essentially, that this was the case if and only if the corresponding theta function provided a
solution to the Kadomtsev–Petviashvili equation of soliton theory. This was proved by Takahiro Shiota
(1986),[7] following earlier work by Enrico Arbarello and Corrado de Concini (1984),[8] and by Motohico
Mulase (1984).[9]

Awards and honours

In 1967, Novikov received the Lenin Prize.[10] In 1970, Novikov became the first Soviet mathematician
to be awarded the Fields Medal.[2][4] He was not allowed to travel to the International Congress of
Mathematicians in Nice to accept his medal by the Soviet government due to his support for people who
had been arrested and sent to mental institutions for speaking out against the regime, but he received it in
1971 when the International Mathematical Union met in Moscow.[2] In 2005, he was awarded the Wolf
Prize for his contributions to algebraic topology, differential topology and to mathematical physics.[11] He
is one of just eleven mathematicians who received both the Fields Medal and the Wolf Prize. In 2020, he
received the Lomonosov Gold Medal of the Russian Academy of Sciences.[4][12]

In 1981, he was elected a full member of the USSR Academy of Sciences (Russian Academy of Sciences
since 1991).[2] He was elected to the London Mathematical Society (honorary member, 1987), Serbian
Academy of Sciences and Arts (honorary member, 1988), Accademia dei Lincei (foreign member, 1991),
Academia Europaea (member, 1993), National Academy of Sciences (foreign associate, 1994), Pontifical
Academy of Sciences (member, 1996), European Academy of Sciences (fellow, 2003), and Montenegrin
Academy of Sciences and Arts (honorary member, 2011).[10]

He received honorary doctorates from the University of Athens (1988) and University of Tel Aviv
(1999).[10]

Writings
Novikov, S. P.; Fomenko, A. T. (1990). Basic Elements of Differential Geometry and
Topology. Mathematics and Its Applications. Vol. 60. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands.
doi:10.1007/978-94-015-7895-0 (https://doi.org/10.1007%2F978-94-015-7895-0). ISBN 978-
90-481-4080-0.
Novikov, S. P.; Manakov, S. V.; Pitaevskii, L. P.; Zakharov, V. E. (1984). Theory of solitons:
the inverse scattering method (https://books.google.com/books?id=Gtv0vY3OObsC). New
York: Consultants Bureau. ISBN 0-306-10977-8. OCLC 10071941 (https://search.worldcat.o
rg/oclc/10071941).
with Dubrovin and Fomenko: Modern geometry- methods and applications, Vol.1-3,
Springer, Graduate Texts in Mathematics (originally 1984, 1988, 1990, V.1 The geometry of
surfaces and transformation groups, V.2 The geometry and topology of manifolds (https://bo
oks.google.com/books?id=tlzc7xXYKd8C), V.3 Introduction to homology theory)
Topics in Topology and mathematical physics (https://books.google.com/books?id=Z3-aJU0
QWisC), AMS (American Mathematical Society) 1995
Integrable systems – selected papers, Cambridge University Press 1981 (London Math.
Society Lecture notes)
Novikov, S. P.; Taimanov, I. A. (2007). Topological Library: Part 1: Cobordisms and Their
Applications. Series on Knots and Everything. Vol. 39. Translated by Manturov, V. O. World
Scientific. doi:10.1142/6379 (https://doi.org/10.1142%2F6379). ISBN 978-981-270-559-4.
with V. I. Arnold as editor and co-author: Dynamical systems (https://books.google.com/book
s?id=9MD-jTkkGdAC), 1994, Encyclopedia of mathematical sciences, Springer
Topology I: general survey, V. 12 of Topology Series of Encyclopedia of mathematical
sciences, Springer 1996; 2013 edition (https://books.google.com/books?id=KGrwCAAAQBA
J)
Solitons and geometry (https://books.google.com/books?id=mfsZk-Wd_ssC), Cambridge
1994
as editor, with Buchstaber: Solitons, geometry and topology: on the crossroads (https://book
s.google.com/books?id=eBqm2UnicZwC), AMS, 1997
with Dubrovin and Krichever: Topological and Algebraic Geometry Methods in contemporary
mathematical physics V.2, Cambridge ISBN 9780415299190, OL 10188321M (https://openli
brary.org/books/OL10188321M)
My generation in mathematics, Russian Mathematical Surveys V.49, 1994, p. 1
doi:10.1070/RM1994v049n06ABEH002446 (https://doi.org/10.1070%2FRM1994v049n06AB
EH002446)

See also
Novikov–Shubin invariant
 Novikov ring

Notes
a. His first name is also romanized as Serguei.[1]

References
1. "Serguei Novikov" (https://ipst.umd.edu/people/serguei/novikov). University of Maryland,
College Park. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20240507153923/https://ipst.umd.edu/p
eople/serguei/novikov) from the original on 7 May 2024. Retrieved 6 June 2024.
2. O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F. (September 2009), "Sergei Petrovich Novikov" (ht
tps://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Novikov_Sergi.html), MacTutor History of
Mathematics Archive, University of St Andrews
3. Sergei Novikov (https://mathgenealogy.org/id.php?id=55147) at the Mathematics Genealogy
Project
4. Semenov, Kirill Vladimirovich (6 June 2024). "Скончался Сергей Петрович Новиков" (http
s://math.msu.ru/node/2177). Moscow State University (in Russian). Archived (https://web.ar
chive.org/web/20240606202241/https://math.msu.ru/node/2177) from the original on 6 June
2024. Retrieved 6 June 2024.
5. Zahler, Raphael (1972). "The Adams-Novikov Spectral Sequence for the Spheres" (http://pr
ojecteuclid.org/euclid.bams/1183532640). Annals of Mathematics. 96 (3): 480–504.
doi:10.2307/1970821 (https://doi.org/10.2307%2F1970821). JSTOR 1970821 (https://www.j
stor.org/stable/1970821). Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20200618190915/https://pro
jecteuclid.org/euclid.bams/1183532640) from the original on 18 June 2020. Retrieved
24 May 2022.
6. Botvinnik, Boris I. (1992). Manifolds with Singularities and the Adams-Novikov Spectral
Sequence (https://books.google.com/books?id=a3AFRbZ1JnIC&pg=PR11). Cambridge
University Press. p. xi. ISBN 9780521426084.
7. Shiota, Takahiro (1986). "Characterization of Jacobian varieties in terms of soliton
equations". Inventiones Mathematicae. 83 (2): 333–382. Bibcode:1986InMat..83..333S (http
s://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1986InMat..83..333S). doi:10.1007/BF01388967 (https://doi.o
rg/10.1007%2FBF01388967). S2CID 120739493 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:
120739493).
8. Arbarello, Enrico; De Concini, Corrado (1984). "On a set of equations characterizing
Riemann matrices". Annals of Mathematics. 120 (1): 119–140. doi:10.2307/2007073 (https://
doi.org/10.2307%2F2007073). JSTOR 2007073 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/2007073).
9. Mulase, Motohico (1984). "Cohomological structure in soliton equations and Jacobian
varieties" (https://doi.org/10.4310%2Fjdg%2F1214438685). Journal of Differential
Geometry. 19 (2): 403–430. doi:10.4310/jdg/1214438685 (https://doi.org/10.4310%2Fjdg%2
F1214438685). MR 0755232 (https://mathscinet.ams.org/mathscinet-getitem?mr=0755232).
10. "Sergei P. Novikov" (https://www.ae-info.org/ae/Member/Novikov_Sergei). Academia
Europaea. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20240227221511/https://www.ae-info.org/
ae/Member/Novikov_Sergei) from the original on 27 February 2024. Retrieved 6 June 2024.
11. "The Wolf Foundation – "Sergei P. Novikov Winner of Wolf Prize in Mathematics – 2005" " (h
ttp://www.wolffund.org.il/index.php?dir=site&page=winners&cs=157&language=eng).
Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20160807030408/http://www.wolffund.org.il/index.ph
p?dir=site&page=winners&cs=157&language=eng) from the original on 7 August 2016.
Retrieved 10 April 2016.
12. "Lomonosov Gold Medal 2020" (http://www.ras.ru/about/awards/awdlist.aspx?awdid=1).
Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20200920143204/http://www.ras.ru/about/awards/aw
dlist.aspx?awdid=1) from the original on 20 September 2020. Retrieved 6 December 2020.

External links
Homepage at the University of Maryland, College Park (https://ipst.umd.edu/people/serguei/
novikov)
Homepage at the Steklov Mathematical Institute (https://www.mi.ras.ru/~snovikov/index.htm
l)
Biography (in Russian) at the Moscow State University (http://higeom.math.msu.su/people/n
ovikov/)

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sergei_Novikov_(mathematician)&oldid=1229045029"