◀ ▲ ▶History / 20th-century / Person: Skorokhod, Anatolii Volodymyrovych
Person: Skorokhod, Anatolii Volodymyrovych
Anatoliy Skorokhod was a Ukrainian mathematician who worked in probability theory, stochastic processes and mathematical statistics.
Mathematical Profile (Excerpt):
- When Anatolii Volodymyrovych was five years old his parents settled in Marganets, a town close to Nikopol where he had been born; both were mining towns in the Donets Basin on the Dnieper river.
- In 1937 Anatolii Volodymyrovych began his schooling in Marganets but the invasion by German troops in 1941 saw the school close and Anatolii had to continue his education with his parents in his own home.
- Anatolii had romantic ideas at this time, dreaming that he might become a sea captain, but his poor eyesight soon made him realise that such ambitions were impossible.
- While an undergraduate in the Department of Mathematical Analysis, Skorokhod learnt about the latest research developments in the area of limit theorems in probability theory thanks to his teachers Boris Vladimirovich Gnedenko and Iosif Il'ich Gikhman.
- These two had a decisive influence on the direction that Skorokhod's research interests took throughout his future career, but Gikhman (born 26 May 1918 in Uman, Ukraine) also became his colleague and close friend.
- Skorokhod graduated from Kiev University in 1953 and went to Moscow State University to undertake research advised by Eugene Borisovich Dynkin.
- After the award of his candidate's degree, Skorokhod returned to Kiev University where he began lecturing, but he also worked on his doctoral dissertation (equivalent to the German habilitation).
- When Skorokhod returned to Kiev, the work of the scientific seminar on probability theory at the Kiev University became much more active.
- His discussions with speakers and capability to understand the core of a problem, generalize it, find possible weak points in the proof, and reveal the hidden relation of the problem considered to other problems turned the seminar sessions into a real creative laboratory, and all interested scholars tried to deliver a talk at the seminar in the presence of Skorokhod.
- Thus, the Kiev school in probability theory was largely formed as a result of Skorokhod's activities.
- They have ranged over almost all the fundamental areas of these theories, and Skorokhod's contribution to the development of subjects such as limit theorems for random processes, stochastic differential equations, and probability distributions in infinite dimensional spaces can scarcely be exaggerated.
- Skorokhod has a remarkable publication record of around 350 books and papers (and many more if one counts translations, further editions, etc.).
- Limit theorems for random processes and stochastic differential equations are the areas of probability theory in which, over 35 years ago, Skorokhod started his scientific career and contributed much to their far-reaching advances.
- Among these, the method of a single probability space, the method of representing sums of independent random variables by values of a Wiener process at random times, were introduced by Skorokhod (bearing his name) and are widely utilised in the world of probability theory.
- These books, however, represent only a part of many books that Skorokhod has written, both single-authored works and multiple-authored ones.
- Let us give just one further example of a book by Skorokhod, a relatively recent single-authored work.
- In 1993 Skorokhod moved to the United States, taking up a position at Michigan State University at Lansing, Michigan.
- Skorokhod has, over his long and highly successful career, received many distinctions and awards for his outstanding contributions.
- Finally let us make sure we have not given the impression that Skorokhod's contributions are entirely related to his research activities.
Born 10 September 1930, Nikopol, Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine. Died 3 January 2011, Lansing, Michigan, USA.
View full biography at MacTutor
Tags relevant for this person:
Astronomy, Origin Ukraine
Thank you to the contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0! 
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- @J-J-O'Connor
- @E-F-Robertson
References
Adapted from other CC BY-SA 4.0 Sources:
- O’Connor, John J; Robertson, Edmund F: MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive
