View source for Pyotr Novikov

{{Short description|Soviet mathematician (1901–1975)}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Pyotr Novikov
| native_name       = Пётр Но́виков
| native_name_lang  = ru
| image             = PSNovikov.jpg
| image_size        = 
| caption           = Novikov
| birth_date        = {{Birth date|df=y|1901|08|15}}
| birth_place       = [[Moscow]], [[Russian Empire]]
| death_date        = {{death date and age|df=yes|1975|1|9|1901|8|15}}
| death_place       = Moscow, [[Soviet Union]]
| nationality       = 
| fields            = [[Mathematics]]
| workplaces        = [[Steklov Institute of Mathematics]]{{br}}[[Moscow State Teachers Training Institute]]{{br}}[[Moscow D. Mendeleev Institute of Chemical Technology]]
| alma_mater        = [[Moscow University]]
| doctoral_advisor  = 
| doctoral_students = [[Sergei Adian]]{{br}}[[Albert Muchnik]]
| known_for         = [[Novikov–Boone theorem]]
| awards            = 
| spouse            = [[Lyudmila Keldysh]]
| children          = [[Sergei Novikov (mathematician)|Sergei Novikov]]
}}
{{family name hatnote|Sergeyevich|Novikov|lang=Eastern Slavic}}
'''Pyotr Sergeyevich Novikov'''{{efn|His name was also romanized as '''Petr Sergeevich Novikov'''.<ref name="MacTutor1"/> }} ({{langx|ru|Пётр Серге́евич Но́виков}}; 15 August 1901, [[Moscow]] – 9 January 1975, Moscow) was a Soviet [[mathematician]] known for his work in [[group theory]]. His son, [[Sergei Novikov (mathematician)|Sergei Novikov]], was also a mathematician.

==Early life and education==
Pyotr Sergeyevich Novikov was born on 15 August 1901 in [[Moscow]], [[Russian Empire|Russia]] to Sergei Novikov, a merchant, and Alexandra Novikov.<ref name="MacTutor1"/>

He served in the Red Army during the [[Russian Civil War]] from 1920 to July 1922.<ref name="MacTutor1"/> He studied at [[Moscow University]] from 1919 to 1920 and again from 1922 until he graduated in 1925.<ref name="MacTutor1"/> He studied under [[Nikolai Luzin]] until he finished his graduate studies in 1929.<ref name="MacTutor1"/>

==Career==
Novikov worked at the [[Moscow D. Mendeleev Institute of Chemical Technology]] from 1929 until 1934, when he joined the Department of Real Function Theory at the [[Steklov Institute of Mathematics]]. He was awarded his doctorate in 1935 and promoted to full professor in 1939.<ref name="MacTutor1"/> Novikov became head of the Department of Analysis at the [[Moscow State Teachers Training Institute]] in 1944.<ref name="MacTutor1"/> In 1957, he became the first head of the Department of Mathematical Logic at the Steklov Institute.<ref name="MacTutor1"/> He jointly held both positions until he retired in 1972 and 1973 respectively.<ref name="MacTutor1"/>

[[Sergei Adian]] and [[Albert Muchnik]] were among his students.<ref>{{MathGenealogy|id=55513}}</ref>

==Research==
Novikov is known for his work on [[Combinatorics|combinatorial]] problems in [[group theory]]: the [[word problem for groups]], and his progress in the [[Burnside problem]].<ref name="MacTutor1"/> In 1955, he proved the [[Novikov–Boone theorem]]: that there is a finite [[presentation of a group]]  {{math|⟨''S'' {{!}} ''R''⟩}} for which there is no algorithm which, given two words ''u'', ''v'', decides whether ''u'' and ''v'' describe the same element in the group.<ref>{{Citation|last=Novikov|first=Pyotr S.|author-link=Pyotr Novikov|year=1955|title=On the algorithmic unsolvability of the word problem in group theory|language=ru| zbl=0068.01301 | journal=[[Proceedings of the Steklov Institute of Mathematics]]|volume=44|pages=1–143}}</ref>

== Awards and honors ==
Novikov was elected a corresponding member and then a full member of the [[Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union]] in 1953 and 1960, respectively.

He was awarded the [[Lenin Prize]] in 1957 for [[mathematical proof|proving]] the [[undecidable problem|undecidability]] of the word problem in groups.<ref>S. I. Adian, ''Mathematical logic, the theory of algorithms and the theory of sets'', AMS Bookstore, 1977, {{ISBN|0-8218-3033-3}}, p. 26. (being Novikov's Festschrift on the occasion of his seventieth birthday)</ref> 

He received the [[Order of Lenin]] in 1961 and again in 1971. He was awarded the [[Order of the Red Banner of Labour]]. The [[State Prize of the Russian Federation]] was awarded to Novikov posthumously in 1999.{{cn|date=June 2024}}

==Personal life==
He was married to mathematician [[Lyudmila Keldysh]] (1904–1976).<ref name="MacTutor1">{{MacTutor Biography|id=Novikov|title=Petr Sergeevich Novikov}}</ref> Their son [[Sergei Novikov (mathematician)|Sergei Novikov]] (1938–2024) became the first Soviet mathematician to receive the [[Fields Medal]].<ref name="MacTutor2">{{MacTutor Biography|id=Novikov_Sergi|title=Sergei Petrovich Novikov}}</ref><ref name="MSU-death">{{cite web |url=https://math.msu.ru/node/2177 |title=Скончался Сергей Петрович Новиков |website=[[Moscow State University]] |first=Kirill Vladimirovich |last=Semenov |lang=ru |date=6 June 2024 |access-date=6 June 2024}}</ref>

He died on 9 January 1975 in Moscow.<ref name="MacTutor1"/>

==See also==
{{Portal|Mathematics}}
* [[List of second-generation Mathematicians]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Novikov, Pyotr}}
[[Category:1901 births]]
[[Category:1975 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Russian mathematicians]]
[[Category:Mathematicians from Moscow]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the D. Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology of Russia]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Moscow State Pedagogical University]]
[[Category:Full Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Moscow State University alumni]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Lenin Prize]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of Lenin]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour]]
[[Category:State Prize of the Russian Federation laureates]]
[[Category:Group theorists]]
[[Category:Soviet mathematicians]]


{{Russia-mathematician-stub}}
[[Category:Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery]]
[[Category:Russian scientists]]