Andrei Zelevinsky
Russian-American mathematician
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Andrei Vladlenovich Zelevinsky (Андрей Владленович Зелевинский; 30 January 1953 – 10 April 2013)[1] was a Russian-American mathematician who made important contributions to algebra, combinatorics, and representation theory, among other areas.
Andrei Zelevinsky | |
|---|---|
| |
| Born | January 30, 1953 Moscow, Soviet Union |
| Died | April 10, 2013 (aged 60) Boston, United States |
| Alma mater | Moscow State University |
| Known for | Bernstein–Zelevinsky classification Cluster algebras |
| Awards | Humboldt Prize (2004) Leroy P. Steele Prize (2018) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mathematics |
| Institutions | Northeastern University |
| Doctoral advisors | Israel Gelfand Alexandre Kirillov |
Biography
Zelevinsky graduated in 1969 from the Moscow Mathematical School No. 2.[2] After winning a silver medal as a member of the USSR team at the International Mathematical Olympiad[3] he was admitted without examination to the mathematics department of Moscow State University where he obtained his PhD in 1978 under the mentorship of Joseph Bernstein, Alexandre Kirillov and Israel Gelfand.[4]
He worked[5] in the mathematical laboratory of Vladimir Keilis-Borok at the Institute of Earth Science (1977–85), and at the Council for Cybernetics of the Soviet Academy of Sciences (1985–90). In the early 1980s, at a great personal risk, he taught at the Jewish People's University,[6] an unofficial organization offering first-class mathematics education to talented students denied admission to Moscow State University's math department.
In 1990–91, Zelevinsky was a visiting professor at Cornell University, and from 1991 until his death was on faculty at Northeastern University, Boston. With his wife, Galina, he had a son and a daughter; he also had several grandchildren.[7]
Zelevinsky is a relative of the physicists Vladimir Zelevinsky and Tanya Zelevinsky.
Research
Zelevinsky's most notable achievement is the discovery (with Sergey Fomin) of cluster algebras. His other contributions include:
- Bernstein–Zelevinsky classification of representations of p-adic groups;
- Introduction (jointly with Israel Gelfand and Mikhail Kapranov) of A-systems of hypergeometric equations (also known as GKZ-systems)[8] and development of the theory of hyperdeterminants;[9][10]
- generalization of the Littlewood–Richardson rule and Robinson–Schensted correspondence using the combinatorics of "pictures";
- work (jointly with Arkady Berenstein and Sergey Fomin) on total positivity;
- work (with Sergey Fomin) on the Laurent phenomenon, including its applications to Somos sequences.
Awards and recognition
- Invited lecture at the International Congress of Mathematicians (Berlin, 1998)[11]
- Humboldt Research Award (2004)
- Fellow (2012) of the American Mathematical Society[12]
- University Distinguished Professorship (2013) at Northeastern University[13]
- Steele Prize for Seminal Contribution to Research (2018)[14]