Early life (1909–1921) Nikolay Bogolyubov was born on 21 August 1909 in
Nizhny Novgorod,
Russian Empire to
Russian Orthodox Church priest and
seminary teacher of
theology,
psychology and
philosophy Nikolay Mikhaylovich Bogolyubov, and Olga Nikolayevna Bogolyubova, a teacher of music. Six months after Nikolay's birth, the family moved to
Nizhyn, city of
Chernihiv Oblast, where his father taught until 1913. From 1913 to 1918, the family lived in
Kyiv. Nikolay received his initial education at home. His father taught him the basics of arithmetic, as well as German, French, and English. At the age of six, he attended the preparatory class of the Kyiv Gymnasium. However, he did not stay long in the gymnasium, the family moved to the village of
Velyka Krucha. From 1919 to 1921, he studied at the Velykokruchanska seven-year school – the only educational institution he graduated from.
Kyiv period (1921-1940) The family soon moved to
Kyiv in 1921, where they continued to live in poverty as the elder Nikolay Bogolyubov only found a position as a priest in 1923. After finishing the seven-year school, Bogolyubov independently studied physics and mathematics, and by the age of 14, he was already participating in the seminar of the Department of Mathematical Physics at
Kyiv University under the supervision of Academician
Dmitry Grave. In 1924, at the age of 15, Nikolay Bogolyubov wrote his first published scientific paper
On the behavior of solutions of linear differential equations at infinity. In 1925 he entered Ph.D. program at the Academy of Sciences of the
Ukrainian SSR under the supervision of the well-known contemporary mathematician
Nikolay Krylov and obtained the degree of
Candidate of Sciences (equivalent to a
Ph.D.) in 1928, at the age of 19, with the doctoral thesis titled
On direct methods of variational calculus. In 1930, at the age of 21, he obtained the degree of
Doctor of Sciences (equivalent to
Habilitation), the highest degree in the Soviet Union, which requires the recipient to have made a significant independent contribution to his or her scientific field. This early period of Bogolyubov's work in science was concerned with such mathematical problems as direct methods of the
calculus of variations, the theory of
almost periodic functions, methods of approximate solution of
differential equations, and
dynamical systems. This earlier research had already earned him recognition. One of his essays was awarded the
Bologna Academy of Sciences Prize in 1930, and the author was awarded the erudite degree of doctor of mathematics. This was the period when the scientific career of the young Nikolay Bogolyubov began, later producing new scientific trends in modern mathematics, physics, and mechanics. Since 1931, Krylov and Bogolyubov worked together on the problems of nonlinear mechanics and nonlinear oscillations. They were the key figures in the "Kyiv school of nonlinear oscillation research", where their cooperation resulted in the paper "
On the quasiperiodic solutions of the equations of nonlinear mechanics" (1934) and the book
Introduction to Nonlinear Mechanics (1937; translated to English in 1947) leading to a creation of a large field of non-linear mechanics. Distinctive features of the Kyiv School approach included an emphasis on the computation of solutions (not just a proof of its existence), approximations of periodic solutions, the use of the invariant manifolds in the phase space, and applications of a single unified approach to many different problems. From a
control engineering point of view, the key achievement of the Kyiv School was the development by Krylov and Bogolyubov of the
describing function method for the analysis of nonlinear control problems. In 1936, M. M. Bogolyubov was awarded the title of professor, and from 1936 to 1940, he chaired the Department of Mathematical Physics at
Kyiv University In 1939, he was elected a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR (since 1994 –
National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine). In 1940, after the reunification of Northern Bukovyna with Ukraine, Nikolay Bogolyubov was sent to
Chernivtsi to organize mathematical departments at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of
Chernivtsi State University.
In evacuation (1941–1943) After the
German attack against the
Soviet Union on 22 June 1941 (beginning of the
Eastern front of World War II), most institutes and universities from the western part were evacuated into the eastern regions, far from the battle lines. Nikolay Bogolyubov moved to
Ufa, where he became Head of the Departments of Mathematical Analysis at
Ufa State Aviation Technical University and at
Ufa Pedagogical Institute, remaining in these positions during the period of July 1941 – August 1943.
Moscow (1943–?) In autumn 1943, Bogolyubov came from evacuation to Moscow and on 1 November 1943 he accepted a position in the Department of Theoretical Physics at the
Moscow State University (MSU). At that time the Head of the Department was
Anatoly Vlasov (for a short period in 1944 the Head of the Department was
Vladimir Fock). Theoretical physicists working in the department in that period included
Dmitri Ivanenko,
Arseny Sokolov, and other physicists. In the period 1943–1946, Bogolyubov's research was essentially concerned with the theory of
stochastic processes and
asymptotic methods. In his work a simple example of an
anharmonic oscillator driven by a
superposition of incoherent
sinusoidal oscillations with
continuous spectrum was used to show that depending on a specific approximation time scale the evolution of the system can be either
deterministic, or a stochastic process satisfying
Fokker–Planck equation, or even a process which is neither deterministic nor stochastic. In other words, he showed that depending on the choice of the time scale for the corresponding approximations the same stochastic process can be regarded as both dynamical and
Markovian, and in the general case as a non-Markov process. This work was the first to introduce the notion of time hierarchy in
non-equilibrium statistical physics which then became the key concept in all further development of the statistical theory of irreversible processes. In 1945, Bogolyubov proved a fundamental theorem on the existence and basic properties of a one-parameter integral manifold for a system of non-linear differential equations. He investigated periodic and quasi-periodic solutions lying on a one-dimensional manifold, thus forming the foundation for a new method of non-linear mechanics, the
method of integral manifolds. In 1946, he published in
JETP two works on equilibrium and non-equilibrium statistical mechanics which became the essence of his fundamental monograph
Problems of dynamical theory in statistical physics (Moscow, 1946). On 26 January 1953, Nikolay Bogolyubov became the Head of the Department of Theoretical Physics at MSU, after Anatoly Vlasov decided to leave the position on January 2, 1953.
Steklov Institute (1947–?) In 1947, Nikolay Bogolyubov organized and became the Head of the Department of Theoretical Physics at the
Steklov Institute of Mathematics. In 1969, the Department of Theoretical Physics was separated into the Departments of Mathematical Physics (Head
Vasily Vladimirov), of Statistical Mechanics, and of Quantum Field Theory (Head
Mikhail Polivanov). While working in the Steklov Institute, Nikolay Bogolyubov and his school contributed to science with many important works including works on renormalization theory,
renormalization group, axiomatic
S-matrix theory, and works on the theory of dispersion relations. In the late 1940s and 1950s, Bogolyubov worked on the theory of
superfluidity and
superconductivity, where he developed the method of
BBGKY hierarchy for a derivation of kinetic equations, formulated microscopic theory of superfluidity, and made other essential contributions. Later he worked on
quantum field theory, where introduced the
Bogoliubov transformation, formulated and proved the
Bogoliubov's edge-of-the-wedge theorem and
Bogoliubov–Parasyuk theorem (with
Ostap Parasyuk), and obtained other significant results. In the 1960s his attention turned to the
quark model of
hadrons; in 1965 he was among the first scientists to study the new
quantum number color charge. In 1946, Nikolay Bogolyubov was elected as a Corresponding Member of the
Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union. He was elected a full member (
academician) of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR and in full member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR in 1953.
Dubna (1956–1992) Since 1956, he worked in the
Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR),
Dubna, Russia, where he was a founder (together with
Dmitry Blokhintsev) and the first director of the Laboratory of Theoretical Physics. This laboratory, where Nikolay Bogolyubov worked for a long time, has traditionally been the home of the prominent Russian schools in
quantum field theory, theoretical
nuclear physics,
statistical physics, and nonlinear mechanics. Nikolay Bogolyubov was Director of the JINR in the period 1966–1988.
Work in Ukraine after the WWII In the post-war years, M. M. Bogolyubov worked as the dean of the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics at
Kyiv University and headed the Department of Probability Theory at the Institute of Mathematics of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR (now –
NASU Institute of Mathematics). His first students in nonlinear mechanics were
Yurii Mitropolskyi and Yu. V. Blagoveshchensky, and in probability theory and mathematical statistics, I. I. Gikhman. In the first half of the 1960s, Bogolyubov worked on organizing the Institute for Theoretical Physics of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR (now – Bogolyubov Institute for Theoretical Physics of the
National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine) and from 1966 to 1973, he served as its director. When the institute was established in 1966, it consisted of three departments: Mathematical Methods in Theoretical Physics (Head: Academician Ostap Parasyuk), Theory of the Nucleus (Head:
Alexander Davydov), and Theory of Elementary Particles (Albert Tavkhelidze). In 1968, the institute organized the Department of Nuclear Reaction Theory (Head: Oleksiy Sytenko).
Family Nikolay Bogolyubov was married (since 1937) to Evgenia Pirashkova. of
Yurii Mitropolskiy,
Dmitry Shirkov, Selim Krein, Iosif Gihman, Tofik Mamedov,
Kirill Gurov, Mikhail Polivanov, Naftul Polsky, Galina Biryuk,
Sergei Tyablikov,
Dmitry Zubarev,
Vladimir Kadyshevsky,
Yuri Klimontovich, and many other students. His method of teaching, based on creation of a warm atmosphere, politeness and kindness, is famous in Russia and is known as the "Bogolyubov approach".
Awards Nikolay Bogolyubov received various high USSR honors and international awards. Although he was nominated 52 times for Noble Prize.. unfortunately he could not get a Nobel Prize.Nomination Achieve of Nobel Prize ;Soviet • Two
Stalin Prizes (1947, 1953) •
USSR State Prize (1984) •
Lenin Prize (1958) •
Hero of Socialist Labour, twice (1969, 1979) • Six
Orders of Lenin (1953, 1959, 1967, 1969, 1975, 1979) •
Order of the October Revolution (1984) •
Order of the Red Banner of Labour, twice (1948, 1954) •
Order of the Badge of Honour, twice (1944, 1944) ;Foreign awards •
Order of Cyril and Methodius, 1st class (Bulgaria, 1969) • Order "For merits", 2nd class (Poland, 1977) ;Academic awards • Award of the
Bologna Academy of Sciences (1930) •
Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics (
American Physical Society, 1966) • Gold Medal Helmholtz (
Academy of Sciences of the German Democratic Republic, 1969) •
Max Planck Medal (1973) •
Franklin Medal (1974) •
Gold Medal "For service to science and humanity" (
Slovak Academy of Sciences, 1975) •
Karpinski Prize (Germany, 1981) • Gold Medal Lavrent'ev (1983) – for his work "On stochastic processes in dynamical systems" •
Lomonosov Gold Medal (1985) – for outstanding achievement in mathematics and theoretical physics • Gold Medal of Lyapunov (1989) – for his work on sustainability, critical phenomena and phase transitions in the theory of many interacting particles •
Dirac Medal (1992,
posthumously) ;Academic recognition • Foreign Honorary Member of the
National Academy of Sciences (United States, 1959),
American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1960),
Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (1961); a foreign member of the
Polish Academy of Sciences (1962),
GDR Academy of Sciences (1966),
Hungarian Academy of Sciences (1970),
Academy of Sciences in Heidelberg (1968),
Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences (1980),
Indian Academy of Sciences (1983),
Mongolian Academy of Sciences (1983) • Honorary Doctor of the
University of Allahabad, India (1958),
Berlin (East Germany, 1960),
Chicago (USA, 1967),
Turin (Italy, 1969),
Wroclaw (Poland, 1970),
Bucharest (Romania, 1971),
Helsinki (Finland, 1973),
Ulan Bator (Mongolia, 1977),
Warsaw (Poland, 1977) ;Memory Institutions, awards and locations have been named in Bogolyubov's memory: • N.N. Bogolyubov Institute for Theoretical Problems of Microphysics (
Moscow State University) • Bogoliubov Institute of Theoretical Physics
National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (Kyiv, Ukraine) • Bogoliubov Laboratory of Theoretical Physics (
Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna) • Bogolyubov Prize (
Joint Institute for Nuclear Research) for scientists with outstanding contribution to theoretical physics and applied mathematics •
Bogolyubov Prize for young scientists (Joint Institute for Nuclear Research) •
Bogolyubov Prize (
National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine) for scientists with outstanding contribution to theoretical physics and applied mathematics • Bogolyubov Gold Medal (
Russian Academy of Sciences) • Bust of Academician NN Bogolyubov (Nizhny Novgorod) • Bust of Academician NN Bogolyubov (Dubna) •
Bogolyubov prospect () (Dubna's central street) • Commemorative plaque at the entrance of the Physics Department of Moscow State University In 2009, the
centenary of Nikolay Bogolyubov's birth was celebrated with two conferences in Russia and Ukraine: • International Bogolyubov Conference: Problems of Theoretical and Mathematical Physics 21–27 August, Moscow-Dubna, Russia. • Bogolyubov Kyiv Conference: Modern Problems of Theoretical and Mathematical Physics 15–18 September,
Kyiv, Ukraine. ==Research==