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Georgii Nikolaevich Polozhii Obituary
Viktor Vladimirovich Ivanov and Ivan Ivanovych Lyashko published an obituary of Georgii Nikolaevich Polozhii in Ukrainian in Ukrainskii Matematicheskii Zhurnal 20 (6) (1968), 856-857. We note that I I Lyashko became the head of the Department of Computational Mathematics at Kyiv University following the retirement of Georgii Nikolaevich Polozhii. An English translation of the Ukrainian article appeared in Ukrainian Mathematical Journal 20 (1968), 742-743. We give a version of the obituary below.
Obituary: Georgii Nikolaevich Polozhii.
The corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, Professor at the Kiev University, Georgii Nikolaevich Polozhii passed away on September 26, 1968.
G N Polozhii was born on 23 April 1914, in the Chitin region. After completing his course at the University of Saratov in 1937 he at first worked at the Saratov Motoring Institute, and from 1938 at the Institute of Mathematical Analysis of the University of Saratov. In 1939 G N Polozhii volunteered for the Finnish front and during the Second World War he was again at the front. In 1944, after a prolonged cure made necessary by a second heavy injury, he was demobilised and returned to the scientific pedagogical work. Already in 1946 he defended his candidate's dissertation and in 1953 his doctoral thesis. In 1967 G N Polozhii was elected a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR. From 1949 and to the last days of his life G N Polozhii worked at the University of Kiev. In 1950 he directed the Institute of Mathematical Physics and from 1958 the Institute of Computational Mathematics.
G N Polozhii was an important scientist in the field of the theory of functions of a complex variable, computational mathematics, and mathematical physics. He was the author of more than 100 scientific papers, among which were a number of monographs and scientific text books. There have been several editions of the text books for universities Equations of Mathematical Physics and Mathematical Exercises. The monograph The Numerical Solution of Two-Dimensional and Three-Dimensional Boundary Problems of Mathematical Physics and Functions of a Discrete Argument (1962) was translated into English and German with significant addition. We also mention his monographs Generalization of the Theory of Analytic Functions of a Complex Variable (1965) and The Method of Total Representations of the Numerical Solution of Problems of Mathematical Physics and Functions of a Discrete Argument (1966). In 1969 the press of the University of Kiev will publish a new monograph by G N Polozhii on the theory and applications of -analytic functions.
Characteristic of the scientific creative work of G N Polozhii was the creation of two new original and promising directions in the development of modern mathematics. The first direction was the theory and application of -analytic functions of a complex variable. This type of function, which is a significant generalisation of an analytic function, was introduced by G N Polozhii as early as 1946. This direction proved to be connected with many applied sciences: axisymmetric theory of elasticity, gas dynamics, with the momentless theory of envelopes etc. It was indicative, in particular, that a number of classical problems of an axisymmetric potential, which to the present time had not been solved in quadrature, could be solved in quadrature, as was shown by G N Polozhii, by means of -analytic functions. As examples one can point out the problem of the axisymmetric potential of a spherical (and not plane) disc. This last circumstance must be recognised as important, since one is dealing with problems which have attracted the attention of many mathematicians since the time of creation of mathematical analysis.
The second direction was the method of total representations of the numerical solution of problems of mathematical physics. G N Polozhii laid the foundations of this direction in the years 1956 to 1960. One can regard his method as the discrete analogue of the classical methods of mathematical physics - potential theory, Green's functions, integral equations and the separation of variables according to Fourier. The results obtained considerably broadened the class of multi-dimensional problems of mathematical physics which admit a solution in an explicit form in the discrete formulation. This direction is very promising, as was shown by the interest with which the papers of G N Polozhii were met at the Conference on the Theory of Laminas and Envelopes (in Erevan), at the Conference on the Application of Digital Computers in Constructional Mechanics (Leningrad), at the II Congress on Mechanics (Moscow), and also the interest which various foreign publishing houses showed in translations of the monographs of G N Polozhii.
G N Polozhii devoted much effort and attention to the training of young scientists. He was organiser and leader of the Republican Scientific Seminar on Computational and Applied Mathematics, and editor-in-chief of the Interdepartmental Scientific Volume Computational and Applied Mathematics.
To the last days of his life G N Polozhii surprised others by his outstanding energy and love of work. He was a man of principle, requiring much of himself and his pupils, and at the same time an attentive teacher and real friend. For his participation in the Second World War and also for his successes in the scientific and pedagogical field G N Polozhii was distinguished with state awards.
The bright memory of the eminent scientist and teacher, Communist, modest and receptive human being - Georgii Nikolaevich Polozhii will always remain in our hearts.
Last Updated March 2021