Alexander Gelfond
Russian mathematician (1906–1968)
Alexander Osipovich Gelfond (Russian: Алекса́ндр О́сипович Ге́льфонд; 24 October 1906 – 7 November 1968) was a Soviet mathematician. Gelfond's theorem, also known as the Gelfond–Schneider theorem, is named after him.
Biography
Alexander Gelfond was born in Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire, the son of a professional physician and amateur philosopher Osip Gelfond. He entered Moscow State University in 1924, started his postgraduate studies there in 1927, and obtained his Ph.D. in 1930. His advisors were Aleksandr Khinchin (1894-1959) and Vyacheslav Stepanov (1889-1950).
In 1930, he stayed for five months in Germany (in Berlin and Göttingen) where he worked with Edmund Landau, Carl Ludwig Siegel, and David Hilbert. In 1931 he started teaching as a Professor at the Moscow State University and worked there until the last day of his life. Since 1933 he also worked at the Steklov Institute of Mathematics.
In 1939, he was elected a Corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union for his works in the field of Cryptography. According to Vladimir Arnold, during World War II Gelfond was the Chief Cryptographer of the Soviet Navy.
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