Vladimir Aleksandrovich Ilyin (; May 2, 1928 – June 26, 2014) was a Soviet and Russian mathematician, Professor at Moscow State University, Doctor of Science, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences who made significant contributions to the theory of differential equations, the spectral theory of differential operators, and mathematical modeling.
Biography
Ilyin was allowed to skip the first grade and start school from the second grade in Moscow in 1936 and finished school with a gold medal in 1945. After graduating from the MSU Faculty of Physics in 1950 with Honours Ilyin continued education at the same faculty as a postgraduate student specializing in mathematical physics. In 1953 Ilyin obtained his Candidate of Science degree in Physics and Mathematics for the thesis «Diffraction of electromagnetic waves on some inhomogeneities», his scientific advisor being Andrey Tikhonov.
In 1958 he obtained Doctor of Science degree in Physics and Mathematics for his thesis «On convergence of expansions in eigenfunctions of Laplace operator».
In 1960 he was appointed Professor of the Faculty of Physics at Moscow State University.
From 1953 till the end of his life Ilyin worked at Moscow State University: at the Department of Mathematics of the MSU Faculty of Physics as an Assistant (1953—1957), as an Associate Professor (1957—1959), as a Professor (1959—1970); at the Department of General Mathematics of the MSU Faculty of Computational Mathematics and Cybernetics as a Professor (1970—1974), and the Head of the Department (1974—2014).
Since 1973 he also worked as a Chief Researcher at Steklov Institute of Mathematics (Department of Theory of Functions).
1987 - Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR
1990 - Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR
1991 - Academician of the Academy of Sciences
1996 - Academician of the International Higher Education Academy of Sciences
Since 1995 - Editor-in-Chief of monthly journal «Differential Equations» of the Russian Academy of Sciences Since 1998 - member of the editorial board and then Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Russian Academy of Sciences journal «The Proceedings of the Russian Academy of Sciences»
Ilyin was the author of more than 140 research papers and 17 monographs on mathematical analysis, analytical geometry, and linear algebra, which were published both in Russia and abroad. He supervised 28 Doctors of Sciences and more than 100 Candidates of Sciences in Physics and Mathematics. For several years he chaired the Expert Council of the Higher Attestation Commission. He was the member of the State Prize Committee of the Russian Federation. He was also the member of Scientific and Methodological Council on Mathematics under the Ministry of Education of Russia.
His son, Aleksandr Ilyin, the Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, is a Professor of the Department of Nonlinear Dynamic Systems and Control Processes at CMC MSU.
Teaching activities
Ilyin's 55-year scientific and pedagogical activity is connected with Moscow State University: with the Faculty of Physics, where he started his career, and with the Faculty of Computational Mathematics and Cybernetics. He supervised 28 Doctors of Sciences and more than 100 Candidates of Science in Physics and Mathematics. Several of his students are Members of the Russian and National Academies of Sciences.
Ilyin is considered to have been a brilliant lecturer. He wrote a lot of textbooks, which have become classical. Eight of them have been included into the series «Classical University Textbook». The lecture courses he gave within his pedagogical activity included: «Equations of Mathematical Physics», «Equations of Elliptic Type», «Functional Analysis», «Mathematical Analysis», and «Linear Algebra and Analytical Geometry».