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Somov Iosif Ivanovich (01(13).06.1815 - 26.04.(08.05).1876)
Born in the village of Otrada, Klin district, Moscow province, in an old impoverished noble family. He graduated from the Moscow provincial gymnasium. Contrary to the will of his father, who wanted his son to enter the Naval Cadet Corps, Joseph, who was attracted to mathematics, entered the Physics and Mathematics Faculty of Moscow University. He graduated in 1835 with a candidate degree. For his work The Theory of Certain Algebraic Equations of Higher Degrees, published in 1838, he was awarded the Demidov Prize of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. For several years, Somov worked as a mathematics teacher at the Moscow Commercial School and at the Nobility Institute. Under the leadership of Professor N.D. Brashman he prepared a master's thesis “On integrals of algebraic irrational differentials with one variable”, which he defended in 1841. In the same year, he began working at the Imperial St. Petersburg University as an adjunct professor and lived in St. Petersburg until the end of his life. In 1847, Somov defended his dissertation at St. Petersburg University "On the propagation of light waves in environments without double refraction" and received a doctorate in mathematics and astronomy. For this work, the Academy of Sciences awarded him the Demidov Prize for the second time. In 1850 he published the work "Foundations of the Theory of Elliptic Functions" and for the third time was awarded the Demidov Prize. In addition to the university, Somov taught at the Page Corps, at the Institute of the Mining Engineers Corps, at the Officer Classes, at the Institute of Communications. On December 4, 1852, he was elected Corresponding Member of the Imperial St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences in the Division of Physical and Mathematical Sciences (in the category of Mathematical Sciences); in 1856, he was appointed as a full professor at St. Petersburg University, and on March 2, 1862, he was elected an ordinary academician of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences in the Division of Physical and Mathematical Sciences (in terms of pure mathematics). From 1862 to 1870, Somov headed the Department of Applied Mechanics of the Institute of the Corps of Railway Engineers. In 1866, Somov was awarded the title of Honored Professor of St. Petersburg University. His textbook "Initial Algebra" was recognized as one of the best textbooks of algebra for secondary schools. He died in St. Petersburg, buried in the Smolensk Orthodox cemetery. Mountain range in the southwestern part of Torelland on the island of Western Spitsbergen, a glacier and separate peak 678 m within it. |
