Early years One of nine children, Chebyshev was born in the village of Okatovo in the district of
Borovsk,
province of Kaluga. His father, Lev Pavlovich, was a Russian nobleman and wealthy landowner. Pafnuty Lvovich was first educated at home by his mother Agrafena Ivanovna Pozniakova (in reading and writing) and by his cousin Avdotya Kvintillianovna Sukhareva (in
French and
arithmetic). Chebyshev mentioned that his music teacher also played an important role in his education, for she "raised his mind to exactness and analysis".
Trendelenburg's gait affected Chebyshev's adolescence and development. From childhood, he limped and walked with a stick and so his parents abandoned the idea of his becoming an officer in the family tradition. His disability prevented his playing many children's games and he devoted himself instead to mathematics. In 1832, the family moved to
Moscow, mainly to attend to the education of their eldest sons (Pafnuty and Pavel, who would become lawyers). Education continued at home and his parents engaged teachers of excellent reputation, including (for mathematics and physics) the senior
Moscow University teacher , who had taught, among others, the future writer
Ivan Turgenev.
University studies In summer 1837, Chebyshev passed the registration examinations and, in September of that year, began his mathematical studies at the second philosophical department of Moscow University. His teachers included
N.D. Brashman,
N.E. Zernov and
D.M. Perevoshchikov of whom it seems clear that Brashman had the greatest influence on Chebyshev. Brashman instructed him in practical mechanics and probably showed him the work of French engineer
J.V. Poncelet. In 1841 Chebyshev was awarded the silver medal for his work "calculation of the roots of equations" which he had finished in 1838. In this, Chebyshev derived an approximating algorithm for the solution of algebraic equations of
nth degree based on
Newton's method. In the same year, he finished his studies as "most outstanding candidate". In 1841, Chebyshev's financial situation changed drastically. There was famine in Russia, and his parents were forced to leave Moscow. Although they could no longer support their son, he decided to continue his mathematical studies and prepared for the master examinations, which lasted six months. Chebyshev passed the final examination in October 1843 and, in 1846, defended his master thesis "An Essay on the Elementary Analysis of the Theory of Probability." His biographer Prudnikov suggests that Chebyshev was directed to this subject after learning of recently published books on probability theory or on the revenue of the Russian insurance industry.
Adult years In 1847, Chebyshev promoted his thesis
pro venia legendi "On integration with the help of logarithms" at
St Petersburg University and thus obtained the right to teach there as a lecturer. At that time some of
Leonhard Euler's works were rediscovered by P. N. Fuss and were being edited by
Viktor Bunyakovsky, who encouraged Chebyshev to study them. This would come to influence Chebyshev's work. In 1848, he submitted his work
The Theory of Congruences for a doctorate, which he defended in May 1849. In 1893, he was elected honorable member of the
St. Petersburg Mathematical Society, which had been founded three years earlier. Chebyshev died in
St Petersburg on 8 December 1894. == Mathematical contributions ==