Leonid Shemetkov. His entire life devotion
It is given a short scientific biography of Professor L.A. Shemetkov.
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| Дата: | 2013 |
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Інститут прикладної математики і механіки НАН України
2013
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| Назва видання: | Algebra and Discrete Mathematics |
| Онлайн доступ: | http://dspace.nbuv.gov.ua/handle/123456789/152298 |
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| Назва журналу: | Digital Library of Periodicals of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine |
| Цитувати: | Leonid Shemetkov. His entire life devotion / A.N. Skiba, V.S. Monakhov, M.V. Selkin, N.T. Vorob’ev, V.N. Semenchuk, A.F. Vasil’ev // Algebra and Discrete Mathematics. — 2013. — Vol. 15, № 2. — С. 155–160. — англ. |
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irk-123456789-1522982019-06-10T01:25:59Z Leonid Shemetkov. His entire life devotion Skiba, A.N. Monakhov, V.S. Selkin, M.V. Vorob’ev, N.T. Semenchuk, V.N. Vasil’ev, A.F. It is given a short scientific biography of Professor L.A. Shemetkov. 2013 Article Leonid Shemetkov. His entire life devotion / A.N. Skiba, V.S. Monakhov, M.V. Selkin, N.T. Vorob’ev, V.N. Semenchuk, A.F. Vasil’ev // Algebra and Discrete Mathematics. — 2013. — Vol. 15, № 2. — С. 155–160. — англ. 1726-3255 http://dspace.nbuv.gov.ua/handle/123456789/152298 en Algebra and Discrete Mathematics Інститут прикладної математики і механіки НАН України |
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Digital Library of Periodicals of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine |
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English |
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It is given a short scientific biography of Professor L.A. Shemetkov. |
| format |
Article |
| author |
Skiba, A.N. Monakhov, V.S. Selkin, M.V. Vorob’ev, N.T. Semenchuk, V.N. Vasil’ev, A.F. |
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Skiba, A.N. Monakhov, V.S. Selkin, M.V. Vorob’ev, N.T. Semenchuk, V.N. Vasil’ev, A.F. Leonid Shemetkov. His entire life devotion Algebra and Discrete Mathematics |
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Skiba, A.N. Monakhov, V.S. Selkin, M.V. Vorob’ev, N.T. Semenchuk, V.N. Vasil’ev, A.F. |
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Skiba, A.N. |
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Leonid Shemetkov. His entire life devotion |
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Leonid Shemetkov. His entire life devotion |
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Leonid Shemetkov. His entire life devotion |
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Leonid Shemetkov. His entire life devotion |
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Leonid Shemetkov. His entire life devotion |
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leonid shemetkov. his entire life devotion |
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Інститут прикладної математики і механіки НАН України |
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2013 |
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http://dspace.nbuv.gov.ua/handle/123456789/152298 |
| citation_txt |
Leonid Shemetkov. His entire life devotion / A.N. Skiba, V.S. Monakhov, M.V. Selkin, N.T. Vorob’ev, V.N. Semenchuk, A.F. Vasil’ev // Algebra and Discrete Mathematics. — 2013. — Vol. 15, № 2. — С. 155–160. — англ. |
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Algebra and Discrete Mathematics |
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2025-07-13T02:46:28Z |
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| fulltext |
Algebra and Discrete Mathematics SURVEY ARTICLE
Volume 15 (2013). Number 2. pp. 155 – 160
c© Journal “Algebra and Discrete Mathematics”
Leonid Shemetkov.
His entire life devotion
A. N. Skiba, V. S. Monakhov, M. V. Selkin,
N. T. Vorob’ev, V. N. Semenchuk, A. F. Vasil’ev
Communicated by V. V. Kirichenko
Abstract.
It is given a short scientific biography of Professor L. A. Shemetkov.
Leonid Alexandrovich Shemetkov was born on July 3rd 1937 in Gomel.
He presented his Doctor’s thesis in Mathematics at the age of thirty-one.
The thesis presentation was held in Kiev at the Institute of Mathematics of
the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. The opponents were corresponding
member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR M. I. Kargapolov
(Novosibirsk), corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the
Ukrainian SSR S. N. Chernikov (Kiev) and Professor B. I. Plotkin (Riga),
all of them being outstanding algebraists. Doctor’s degree at a young age,
and even in Mathematics is an uncommon phenomenon. No wonder that
even during his thesis presentation L. A. Shemetkov was invited to head
the department in the University of Kiev. But he stayed in Gomel. After
all, here he was born, left school, graduated from the Institute, got his
Master’s, became a scientist.
Science knows a number of cases when a rare mathematical genius
of a man is already in his youth, allowing one to achieve great results.
But all these happy occasions, as a rule, are not only due to capabilities
of young mathematicians, but the favorable external circumstances, i.e.
the atmosphere of scientific research surrounding them since childhood
(not coincidentally among the prominent mathematicians there are often
members of several generations of the same family), studying at university
with long mathematical traditions.
In the family of Leonid Shemetkov there were hereditary peasants,
his grandfather was a worker, and his father was a military. In the late
156 Leonid Shemetkov
1950s there were no famous scientists who taught at Gomel Pedagogical
Institute. “I never saw a single live professor for five years of my study,”
recollected Leonid.
The turning point in the fate of L. Shemetkov was his acquaintance
with Professor S. A. Chunihin who had moved to Gomel from Tomsk
and headed the Department of Higher Mathematics in the newly cre-
ated Belarusian Institute of Railway Engineers. S. A. Chunihin gradu-
ated from Moscow University, was a disciple of legendary academician
O. Yu. Schmidt. A great scientist, a man of high culture and education,
Academician of Belarusian Academy of Sciences S. A. Chunihin became
for L. A. Shemetkov a real university. Postgraduate studies (1959-1962)
under the leadership of S. A. Chunihin were successful, two research
papers of a young scientist were presented by Academician A. I. Maltsev
for publication in the journal “Proceedings of the Academy of Sciences of
the USSR”, he performed his scientific message at the All-Union Algebra
Conference in Kiev. Post-graduated, in 1962 L. A. Shemetkov became a ju-
niour research assistant in Gomel laboratory of the theory of finite groups
of the Institute of Mathematics of the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR.
The laboratory was set up by S. A. Chunihin. In 1964 L. A. Shemetkov
became a Candidate of Sciences (Physics and Mathematics), the thesis
presentation was held in Ural University, Sverdlovsk.
Having presented his Doctoral thesis the research activity of L. A. She-
metkov increased dramatically. In 1966 he participated in the Interna-
tional Congress of Mathematicians in Moscow, published a number of
major works in the most prestigious journals (“Mathematical Sbornik”,
“Isvestiya AN USSR”, “DAN AN SSSR”). A. G. Kurosh, the leader of So-
viet algebraists and Head of the Department of Algebra in Moscow State
University, called L. A. Shemetkov worthy of a doctoral degree. Finally,
in 1969 five years after his Candidate thesis presentation L. A. Shemetkov
presented his Doctoral thesis. Then he continued working in the same
laboratory but as a seniour research assistant and giving lectures to the
students of Gomel University, founded in 1969 on the basis of the former
Pedagogical Institute named after V. P. Chkalov.
The name of L. A. Shemetkov became well-known far beyond the
borders of our country. It is known that one of the engines of mathe-
matics is that one scholar sets a task, and another one solves it. In 1947
corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR D.K.
Faddeev in the journal “Reports of the USSR” set a problem of listing
finite biprimary groups with a Sylow subgroup of prime order. Since then,
many algebraists tried to find the solution, but of no result. And 21 years
after it was solved by L. A. Shemetkov. Another achievement of Leonid
Shemetkov’s, which brought him widespread international acclaim, is
Skiba, Monakhov, Selkin, Vorob’ev, Semenchuk, Vasil’ev 157
connected with the problem of existence of additions to normal subgroups.
That issue had a long history, and the first important result here was
obtained at the beginning of the 20th century by I. Schur, a native of
Belarus, who became Professor at Berlin University. In 1952 German
mathematician W. Gaschutz solved the problem of additions in the com-
mutative case; in 1958 another German mathematician H. Wielandt in
his report to the International Congress of Mathematicians in Edinburgh
drew attention to the importance and difficulty of the problem of additions
in the non-commutative case. The solution to this problem was obtained
by L. A. Shemetkov. His theorem entered the monographic literature and
is widely used by mathematicians all over the world, in particular, it has
found accurate applications in the doctoral theses of A. Yu. Olshansky
and D. I. Zaitsev, and is quoted in many publications.
In the 1960s the science of algebra undertook great changes connected
with the emergence of a set of new research directions, in particular,
the theory of classes of finite groups and its branches, i.e. theory of for-
mations, Fitting classes and Shunk classes. Having caught that trend
after his Doctoral thesis presentation, L. A. Shemetkov along with his
disciples began to develop that algebra trend, which was new for the
USSR, and first of all the theory of formations of finite groups. At the
very beginning of his work in that area he achieved remarkable results, i.e.
he solved the well-known problem of formation stability taking its routes
from classical results of F. Hall, L. A. Kaluzhnin and R. Baer, obtained
delicate characterization of supersoluble groups, found the conditions for
complementarity of coradicals, spread the theory of formation normalizers
over arbitrary finite groups, etc. During that period (the year of 1974)
L. A. Shemetkov developed the most common method of building forma-
tions with the help of group functions. Within that method he introduced
compositional formations into mathematical practice for the first time,
those formations along with Gaschutz local formations became the main
objects of research, being of high importance for applications. It should be
noted that subsequently compositional formations were named Baer local
formations, which was unfair, after the publication of Doerk and Hawkes’s
monograph “Finite soluble groups” in 1992 on the basis of an unpublished
paper of Baer’s. Throughout his scientific career L. A. Shemetkov came
back to the problem of functional method of building of classes of groups
many times, and along with his disciples A. N. Skiba and N. T. Vorob’ev
brought it to perfection and maximum applicability. In 2010 in the ar-
ticle published in the journal “Fundamental and Applied Mathematics”
(Moscow State University) L. A. Shemetkov finished the development of
the method of functional formations task.
158 Leonid Shemetkov
A new period in the life of L. A. Shemetkov began in 1977 when
Rector of Gomel University B. V. Bokut invited him to work as a Vice-
Rector. More than 12 years he worked in this position, giving his strength
and knowledge to the development of the University. At the same time
L. A. Shemetkov made a series of reports at major algebraic conferences.
He continued carrying out his research, supervised post-graduate students
and the work of the seminar “Theory of classes of finite groups”, and
whenever he had a minute (mostly during nights) he was working on a
long-planned book “The formations of finite groups”. Immediately after
the publication of the book “The formations of finite groups” in “Nauka”
(Moscow, 1978), it caught the attention of many foreign scholars and was
discussed at algebraic seminars in Germany, England, Spain, and China.
On issuing the monograph L. A. Shemetkov revealed such a peculiarity
of his scientific talent as generating new ideas and setting new problems
stimulating the developmet of algebra. In his monograph “Formations
of finite groups” L. A. Shemetkov set 26 unsolved problems. We should
mention that later solving those problems formed the basis of Doctoral
theses and many Candidate theses of soviet and foreign algebraists. The
results obtained gave way to the development of a set of new branches
of the theory of classes of finite groups, i.e. algebra of formations, the
theory of generalized subnormal subgroups, minimal non-F-groups, the
generalized Frattini theory and the subgroup functors theory. They also
enriched Algebra with a set of new terms (H-critical, lattice formations,
Shemetkov formations, superradical formations and others).
In the 1980s L. A. Shemetkov revealed another peculiarity of his
scientific talent that characterized him as a great scientist. That was his
ambition to broaden the theme of the research, to find the applications of
the results and methods obtained not only to the studies of finite groups
but also to algebraic systems of an arbitrary nature. During this period
L. A. Shemetkov with A. N. Skiba created a new trend in Algebra, i.e. the
theory of formations of algebraic systems, the foundations of which are
presented in the book “The formations of algebraic systems”, published
in “Nauka” (Moscow, 1989). The ideas and results of this book have
been used in many authors’ studies on the theory of formations of finite-
dimensional Lie algebras, multirings, the theory of n-groups, Ω-groups
and on the theory of formal languages (A. Ballester-Bolinches, Ch. Behle,
A. Krebs, S. Reifferscheid, J.-E. Pin, X. Soler-Escriva and others).
In 1980 L. A. Shemetkov was elected Corresponding Member of the
Academy of Sciences of the BSSR, in 1989 he became Rector.
As the head L. A. Shemetkov did a lot for the development of Sco-
ryna Gomel State University. We should mention, in particular, “French-
Belarusian Institute of Management” (which is unique for Belarus), foun-
Skiba, Monakhov, Selkin, Vorob’ev, Semenchuk, Vasil’ev 159
ded in 1995 in conjunction with the University of Clermont-Ferrand
(France). The essence of this institute, L. A. Shemetkov took personal
part in its development and implementation, is that the best students
complete two curricula: GSU curriculum and the University of Clermont-
Ferrand curriculum. These students are trained each year in France, attend
lectures given by French professors (in French) both in Gomel and in
Clermont-Ferrand, and graduate with two diplomas - Belarusian and
French.
L. A. Shemetkov created the world-known scientific algebraic school in
Gomel. Since 1968 Gomel has hosted international algebraic conferences
with the participation of foreign mathematicians. Famous German math-
ematician Professor Gaschutz from Kiel after his retirement presented
his scientific mathematical library to Gomel University. This was done in
recognition of Gomel algebra school. Gomel scientific school headed by
L. A. Shemetkov has trained more than 70 Candidates and Doctors of
Sciences. Due to this mathematical departments of many universities of
Gomel and other cities in Belarus are staffed with teachers of Mathematics
of higher qualification. Students of the scientific school of L. A. Shemetkov
also work at universities in Jordan, Turkey, China, Russia and Kazakhstan.
They have published more than a dozen books on the theory of group
classes and other algebras.
Among students of L. A. Shemetkov there are 34 Candidates and
10 Doctors of Sciences (A. N. Skiba (1993), S. F. Kamornikov (1995),
V. S. Monakhov (1997), M. V. Selkin (1997), N. T. Vorob’ev (1998),
V. N. Semenchuk (2000), W. Guo (2002), V. N. Tutianov (2002), A. F. Va-
sil’ev (2007), A. M. Galmak (2011)). Professors A. N. Skiba, V. S. Mona-
hov, N. T. Vorob’ev and W. Guo (China) have created and are developing
their own scientific schools, each of them has over ten Candidates of
Sciences, and three students of A. N. Skiba (V. G. Safonov, V. M. Selkin,
N. N. Vorob’ev) presented their Doctoral theses. L. A. Shemetkov believed
that for studying Mathematics one needs not only inborn abilities. In
studying Mathematics as well as any other science it is very important to
love what you are doing, to have an open and friendly attitude to your
students. He was against stamps in mathematical research. He saw the
power of his science in great variety of methods and ways of achieving
the goals.
He is the author of many scientific publications and monographs, which
brought him international fame. He regularly gave lectures at universities
and at international conferences in different countries. He was invited as
a visiting professor by the universities in the UK, Spain, Germany, China
many times.
160 Leonid Shemetkov
Up to his last days he remained an actively working mathematician,
two months before his death he wrote and presented for publication two
remarkable scientific articles “On complements to normal subgroups of
finite groups” and “On F-coradical of direct product of finite groups” on
the theory of compound finite groups.
Scientific, educational and social activities of L. A. Shemetkov were
recognized with high honors: the Order of the Labour Red Banner, the
Order of Holy Apostolic Great Prince Vladimir, the Order of Francisk
Skoryna, Commemorative Mark of “2000 years of Christianity”, diplomas.
For the merits in the development of higher education and science,
L. A. Shemetkov was awarded the title “Honored Worker of Science of
the Republic of Belarus”, “Excellence in Education of the Republic of
Belarus”, “Honorary Citizen of the city of Gomel”.
Mathematics is the work to which, without exaggeration, L. A. She-
metkov devoted his entire life. But there was always a special place
for his loving family: his wife Alla Mihailovna, two daughters and five
grandchildren. In addition, all his life was accompanied by music. He was
an excellent pianist, both a performer and an accompanist. “Performances
are almost a professional quality of mathematicians”, the scientist stated.
He opened it in Academician Maltsev, performed together with Professor
Gaschutz, everybody remembers his virtuoso piano duo with Professor
Chenevoix (France), and the recordings of the performances with Honoured
Artist of Belarus G. Pavlenok filled the entire disc.
Such a Person, Leonid Alexandrovich Shemetkov will be in our memory
forever.
Contact information
A. N. Skiba,
V. S. Monakhov,
M. V. Selkin,
V. N. Semenchuk,
A. F. Vasil’ev
Department of Mathematics, Francisk Skorina
Gomel State University, Sovetskaya str., 104,
246019, Gomel, Belarus
E-Mail: alexander.skiba49@gmail.com,
victor.monakhov@gmail.com,
formation56@mail.ru
N. T. Vorob’ev Department of Mathematics, Vitebsk State Uni-
versity named after P. M. Masherov, Moscow
Avenue, 33, 210038, Vitebsk, Belarus
Received by the editors: 17.05.2013
and in final form 17.05.2013.
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