Arshak Tonyan (1888-1942) and the rise of Mathematics in the 1919 founded University of Yerevan

Arshak Tonyan (1888-1942) and the rise of Mathematics in the 1919 founded University of Yerevan, a talk by Helmuth R. Malonek, Department of Mathematics, University of Aveiro, Portugal

Abstract

The foundation of a university is undoubtedly one of the most important educational and cultural undertakings of a new independent country. This applies also to the First Republic of Armenia (May 1918 – Dec. 1920), where in May 1919 the Council of Ministers decided to found a university in Yerevan. This was done in the context of extreme political instability characterized by the transformation of the former Russian Provinces.

The Armenian mathematician Arshak Tonyan was during the two first decades of the Yerevan State University (YSU) one of its most eminent scholars. Born as citizen of the Russian Empire he matriculated in 1910 in the Friedrichs-Universität Halle-Wittenberg (Germany) shortly before Georg Cantor retired from his chair in this university. At the beginning of World War I he was interned as a prisoner of war, but soon released, due to severe eye problems. In 1921 Tonyan was invited to teach in the YSU, where he actively worked for establishing mathematical education and a mathematical school in the YSU until his tragic fate as a victim of Stalinist repression after 1937.

Very often, the development of science in the early years of the Soviet Union is viewed solely with a view to the centers that already had a certain scientific potential before World War I. In contrast, this talk attempts to acknowledge in the person of Arshak Tonyan the difficult struggles in a small, peripheral Soviet republic.

About the speaker

Helmuth R. Malonek recently retired as professor of Mathematics of the University of Aveiro where he started to work in the Maths Department in 1992. He graduated from the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics of the State University of Yerevan (Armenia) in 1974 and received his PhD in Mathematics in Halle-Saale (Germany). His scientific interests cover the theory of the functions of complex and hypercomplex variables and their applications to partial differential equations and geometry. Motivated by a wide experience of teaching the history of mathematics, he also carries out research in this field. In Aveiro he founded the research group in complex and hypercomplex analysis, as well as the research group in the history of mathematics, which he still coordinates. He has supervised and co-supervised several doctorates in mathematics, two of which are dedicated to the history of this discipline.

Wine and nibbles provided.

Further information

Nearest Tube – Hendon Central
Nearest Train – Hendon Station

No charge is made to attend meetings; non-IMA members are welcome.

Image credit: Helmuth R. Malonek (personal photo)

Published 21st February 2023