The mathematician who axiomatized modern probability theory
Norbert Wiener testified: "For thirty years now, when I read the works of Academician Kolmogorov, I feel that these are my thoughts too. This is always what I myself wanted to say."
A Soviet mathematician whose 1933 Foundations of the Theory of Probability gave a measure-theoretic axiomatization that made probability a rigorous discipline. He made fundamental contributions across many fields: cohomology in topology, KAM theory, turbulence, algorithmic complexity, and Hilbert's thirteenth problem. At Moscow State University he founded the Department of Probability Theory in 1935, chaired it for three decades, and was elected a full Academician in 1939 at 35. He designed the Soviet Olympiad system and the Kolmogorov boarding school for gifted children, and presided over the Moscow Mathematical Society from 1964 to 1966 and 1974 to 1985. He applied probability theory to artillery fire in World War II and later led reform of Soviet secondary-school mathematics.
Career Timeline
- 1931–1987Professor, Moscow State University
- 1935–1965Chair, Department of Probability Theory, MSU
- 1939–1987Academician, USSR Academy of Sciences
- 1939–1942Academician-Secretary, Division of Physical-Mathematical Sciences
- 1964–1966, 1974–1985President, Moscow Mathematical Society
- 1963–1987Founder, Kolmogorov Boarding School (School No. 18)