In one Moscow school, a boy stopped attending classes. She doesn't go for a week, two … Lyova didn't have a phone, and classmates, on the advice of the teacher, decided to go to his house. Lev's mother opened the door. Her face was very sad. The guys greeted and asked timidly: "Why doesn't Lyova go to school?" Mom sadly replied, “He will no longer study with you. He underwent surgery.
It's unfortunate. Lyova is blind and cannot walk himself …"
Little Leva Pontryagin.
The guys were silent, looked at each other, and then one of them suggested:
- And we will take him to school in turn.
- And see off home.
- And we will help to do the lessons, - classmates chirped, interrupting each other.
Tears came to my mother's eyes. She led her friends into the room. A little later, feeling the way with his hand, Lyova came out to them with a bandage over his eyes. The guys froze. Only now did they really understand what a misfortune happened to their friend.
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Leva said with difficulty:
- Hello.
And then it fell from all sides:
“I'll pick you up tomorrow and take you to school.
- And I'll tell you that we went through algebra.
- And I’m from history.
Parents of Lev Pontryagin - Semyon Akimovich and Tatyana Andreevna Pontryagin.
Lyova did not know whom to listen to, and only nodded in confusion. Tears rolled down my mother's face. After leaving, the guys made a plan - who comes in when, who explains what subjects, who will walk with Lyova and take him to school. At school, the boy, who was sitting at the same desk with Lyova, quietly told him during the lesson what the teacher was writing on the blackboard. And how the class froze when Leva answered! How everyone rejoiced at his fives, even more than their own! Lev studied perfectly. The whole class also began to study better.
In order to explain a lesson to a friend in trouble, you need to know it yourself. And the guys tried. Moreover, in the winter they began to take Lyova to the rink. The boy was very fond of classical music, and his classmates went with him to symphony concerts …
At the Mathematical Olympiad for schoolchildren. Left: S. V. Yablonsky, L. A. Lyusternik, V. G. Boltyansky; on the right L. S. Pontryagin.
Lev graduated from the school with a gold medal, then entered the institute. And there were friends who became his eyes. After the institute, Loew continued to study and, in the end, became a world famous mathematician, academician Pontryagin. Do not count people who have received their sight for good.
S. A. Lefschetz and L. S. Pontryagin at the Mathematical Congress in Edinburgh. 1958 g.
Lev Semyonovich Pontryagin at work. 1960s Lev Semyonovich Pontryagin (1908-1988) - Soviet mathematician, one of the greatest mathematicians of the 20th century, academician of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, who lost his sight at the age of 14. He made significant contributions to algebraic and differential topology, oscillation theory, calculus of variations, and control theory. In control theory, Pontryagin is the creator of the mathematical theory of optimal processes, which is based on the so-called. the Pontryagin maximum principle; has fundamental results on differential games. The works of the Pontryagin school had a great influence on the development of control theory and the calculus of variations throughout the world.
A group of academicians on the day of graduation and the star of the Hero of Socialist Labor. In the center of L. S. Pontryagin and M. V. Keldysh. Moscow, Kremlin, 1969
During the presentation of his doctoral degree at the University of Salford. England, 1977
At the dacha with his wife Alexandra. 1970s.
On the day of the 75th birthday of Lev Semenovich Pontryagin. From left to right: S. M. Nikolsky, Yu. V. Prokhorov, L. S. Pontryagin, V. A. Melnikov, A. N. Tikhonov, S. P. Novikov, G. I. Marchuk.
Author: Avtandil Jinjikhashvili
Photo: L. S. Pontryagin. “Life of L. S. Pontryagin, mathematics, compiled by him"