Victor Vasiliev

For the Russian footballer, seeViktor Vasilyev.

Victor A. Vassiliev in 2008
(photo from MFO)

Victor Anatolyevich VassilievorVasilyev(Russian:Виктор Анатольевич Васильев;born April 10, 1956), is aSovietandRussianmathematician.He is best known for his discovery of theVassiliev invariantsinknot theory(also known as finite type invariants), which subsume many previously discovered polynomialknot invariantssuch as theJones polynomial.He also works onsingularity theory,topology,computational complexity theory,integral geometry,symplectic geometry,partial differential equations(geometry ofwavefronts),complex analysis,combinatorics,andPicard–Lefschetz theory.

Biography

Vassiliev studied at theFaculty of Mathematics and Mechanicsat theLomonosov UniversityinMoscowuntil 1981. From 1981 to 1987 he wasSenior Researcherat the Documents and Archives Research Institute, Moscow and a part-time mathematics teacher atSpecialized Mathematical SchoolNo. 57, Moscow. In 1982 he defended hisKandidat naukthesis underVladimir Arnoldand received the title ofDoktor naukin 1992.

From 1987 to 1989 he was Senior Researcher at the Statistical Information Systems Research Institute in Moscow. From 1989 to 1990 he was Senior Researcher at the Department of Functional Analysis in theKeldysh Institute of Applied Mathematicsin Moscow. From 1990 to 1995 he wasLeading Researcherat the Department of Mathematics in theResearch Institute for System Studiesin Moscow. Since 1991 he has been professor at the Mathematics College of theIndependent Moscow University.Since 1997 he has beenPrincipal Researcherin the Department of Geometry and Topology at theSteklov Institute of Mathematicsin Moscow. Since 2009 he has been professor and department chair in Higher School of Economics -Faculty of Mathematics, HSE.

Since 2019 his is a member and first chairperson of the Russian Academy of Science's Commission against falsification of scientific research.

He has been a visiting professor at theUniversity of ParisVII, and at theMathematical Sciences Research Institute(MSRI) at theUniversity of California, Berkeley.He was a visiting fellow commoner atTrinity College, Cambridgein October–December 2000.

Vasilyev has been a member of theRussian Academy of Sciencesince 2003 (corresponding member since 1997). He is vice-chief editor of the JournalFunctional Analysis and its Applications,and the president of theMoscow Mathematical Society.In 1994 he was an invited speaker at theInternational Mathematical CongressinZürich(Plenary Address). In 1986 he received the Moscow Mathematical Society Award.

On 21 February 2014 he together with other protesters againstBolotnaya Square casewas arrested near Zamoskvoretsky Court in Moscow.On 5 March 2014 he among the other protesters was sentenced by Zamoskvoretsky Court to 10 thousand roubles (~ $150 US) fine for "resisting police".The European Parliament issued resolutions 2013/2667(RSP) of June 13, 2013 and resolution 2014/2628(RSP) of March 13, 2014 on the political nature of the Bolotnaya Square case. Prisoners of the case were recognized as prisoners of conscience by Amnesty International...Most of the people accused in the Bolotnaya square case then were amnestied in December 2013 due to the public pressure both at home and abroad in support of the political prisoners.

Vassiliev is married, with three children.

In 2022 he emigrated to Israel due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

References

• Bar-Natan, Dror (1995), "On the Vassiliev knot invariants",Topology,34(2): 423–72,CiteSeerX10.1.1.511.6301,doi:10.1016/0040-9383(95)93237-2
• Kontsevich, Maxim(1993), "Vassiliev's knot invariants",I. M. Gelfand Seminar, Part 2,ADVSOV, vol. 16, pp. 137–50,doi:10.1090/advsov/016.2/04,ISBN9780821841174

External links

• Vassiliev Invariant,Math World.
• Vassiliev,The Steklov Institute.