K.A.Lurie

ANATOLII ISAKOVICH LURIE: EARLY YEARS

The following notes have been brought together by me in 1981-82, soon after my father's death. They were based on recollections of the family members that I heard at various times; many interesting facts have come to my attention from the reading of the old copies of the paper хPolytechnic" stored at the Fundamental Library of the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute. Also, in the father's papers, I discovered some documents related to an early period of his life and work.

I was trying to abstain from personal evaluations, or at least reduce them to a necessary minimum; this was not an easy task, and I probably did not succeed in pursuing it. Very few of this generation have survived, but their attitude towards what was happening has been communicated directly from mouth to mouth. It is hard to add anything to this.

The Author

"Anatolii, you remember so
much and relate it so vividly,
why not put it on paper?"

"To devil, Vsevolod, to devil!"

From a talk with a friend

PARENTS. CHILDHOOD

Anatolii Isakovich Lurie was born on the 6^th (19^th) of July 1901, in Mogilev-on-Dnieper. He was the fifth child, a long-awaited son to a family that had only daughters born over the years. * The oldest sister, Sophia Isakovna, was born ten years before, and the youngest, Isabella Isakovna, was three years older than her brother.

The father, Isaac Anatolievich Lurie, has lived a long life of work. He was born in 1864, to a big family of a small contractor. Having lost his father at the age of eight, he was left to the charge of his brothers, of whom especially close to him was brother Yaakov who later became a well-known ophthalmologist. Yaakov Anatolievich was a person of brilliant, versatile abilities; he was fluent in several languages and took great interest in philosophy and history. A youngster himself, almost a boy, he took charge of his brother's upbringing and kept a close eye on his education, sometimes with his fists put into action.

First, Isaac was put to the kheder (a Jewish elementary school), but this one roused his hatred very quickly. A dream about gymnasium has run against a material obstacle: the family fell into poverty after the father's death. Fortunately, it became known that in the neighboring Shklov (some 25 miles from Mogilev) it was possible to enter the gymnasium on a state scholarship once the entrance exams were passed flawlessly. Assisted by his brother, Isaac prepared himself well for the exams, but he needed money for a trip to Shklov. And here, also, a solution was found: for more than three months, Isaac denied himself dinners saving the three kopecks he was funded each day by the family for his meals. Having saved up about three rubles this way, he hired a "balagula" (a Jewish cabman) to bring him to Shklov. Having passed the exams, he won a scholarship and was accepted to the gymnasium. His food over these three months included green apples alone, which finally caused dysentery, and from that time on, he became very careful and restrained when it would come to food.

From the age of 13, Isaac Anatolievich supported himself by giving lessons. He studied brilliantly, and in 1887, after graduation from gymnasium, entered the medical school of the Kharkov University. He finished it in 1891, with the degree of a doctor with distinction, and a general practitioner.

An old photo shows Isaac Anatolievich leaned against the post at the "photographic facility". A tall and shapely man, he does not yet show a slightly grim appearance that later became a part of his look due to a beard.

The photo has been presented to Rosalia Ossipovna Granat who soon became a wife of Isaac Anatolievich. This was a happy marriage: Rosalia Ossipovna was boundlessly devoted, loving and selfless person, a solid support to her husband and children through her entire uneasy life.

The young couple had no income except the earnings of Isaac Anatolievich, and from the early days of her marriage Rosalia Ossipovna had to take charge of the family's daily round. The work of a district, later a community doctor, was uneasy, and often far from safe. The cholera, syphilis, trachoma were taking their toll at that time as the routine diseases in the Russian countryside. A doctor had to ride around, hold the long daily receptions, and visit epidemics. From 1892 until August 1893, Isaac Anatolievich served as a doctor in the Chaussy district, Mogilev province; later in this year, he participated in a campaign against cholera in Mogilev. From 1894, up to 1898 he was working as a district doctor in the Bykhov district, and from 1898 to 1901 served as a community doctor in the Vassilsursk district, Nijnii Novgorod province. In that same district, he almost lost his life when he was attacked by the local peasants during the cholera riot. In 1901, the family returns to Mogilev because Isaac Anatolievich again becomes a district doctor in Chaussy. By that time, Isaac Anatolievich, then 37, and Rosalia Ossipovna, then 31, were the parents to their five children.

In the beginning of 1904, Isaac Anatolievich was called for a military service in connection with the Russo-Japanese war. As a staff-captain, he spent about two years in Chita and Kharbin working at the military hospitals. And there, too, he had to deal with epidemics: at one time, he was appointed a commander of the regiment sent to liquidate a nidus of plaque; later he reported that through that march, the regiment would come across the ultimately extinct villages.

Rosalia Ossipovna and kids remained in Mogilev. By this time, there are related my father's first reminiscences: a boy of three, he memorized the Jewish pogrom.

A mob of black-hundreders yelling "Death to kikes!" was moving from one Jewish house to another, slaughtering people and crushing their miserable belongings (Mogilev at that time had a high Jewish population, mostly consisting of the poor). All was occurring without an open consent of the police, but with its clear sufferance. Rosalia Ossipovna managed to bring the kids to safety in a friendly Russian family, and went to a Governor for protection. As a result of her visit, a police guard was dispatched to the family residence, but it came up too late: the flat had already been plundered. *

Yaakov Anatolievich Lurie was in the town those days. He was waiting for the thugs at his residence giving a lesson of French to his little daughter. An axe was laid beside him. Later, Yaakov Anatolievich did much towards disclosure of odious preparations for the pogrom - the provocative rumors about sacrileges and ritual murders (the Beilis' case was still a way ahead). He openly accused the Mogilev city police in criminal sufferance and instigation towards the pogrom. These decisive and fearless actions did not remain without response: Ya.A. Lurie was sentenced to 5 years of exile in the Archangel province, and he was released from servicing the full term only by the manifesto of the 17^th of October.

In March 1906 Isaac Anatolievich returned home from the Far East decorated with a notorious medal "May the Lord Ascend You in a Due Course" as well as with an Order of Stanislaus "for a distinguished and humble service". From that moment, there started his continuous career as a doctor; this career lasted until 1941 when it was terminated by the war.

The working schedule of a practicing doctor was intensive. Since early morning, a queue of patients was formed at the entrance of the house; many a man would come from afar. Isaac Anatolievich quickly received popularity as an excellent therapist who never failed to properly diagnose the problem; with a time, his popularity has spread far beyond the town. The poor were treated free. *

The practice was vast: after a daily reception, Isaac Anatolievich visited his patients at home, riding by a cab around various parts of the town. He also used to go to the countryside; sometimes, he was accompanied in these trips by the younger kids - Betya (Isabella), and Tolya. Isaac Anatolievich also carried out the duties of a school sanitary doctor and at the same time headed the Department of General Medicine at the Mogilev Jewish hospital.

Slightly grim- looking, he was free of the sentimental feelings not only towards his patients, but also towards his own kids. Isabella Isakovna and Anatolii Isakovich would later recall that every spring and autumn, their father subjected them to numerous shots, entertaining great fears of many pernicious infections.

The daily life of the family was following its usual round. Rosalia Ossipovna was handling the house. The cellars were full of various stuff, and the stocks were continuously renewed. She personally walked to the local market accompanied by a lame black poodle Sharik who was living in the house through many years. One day, when Isaac Anatolievich and Rosalia Ossipovna went to a local theatre (which was a rare occurrence), Sharik tailed on to them, and disclosed his presence by a loud bark amidst the performance.

In summer, the family would leave for a dacha rented in a near countryside. The Mogilev environs are very spectacular, and the kids were happy to go there. Isaac Anatolievich did not like the dacha, and often did not interrupt his work in summer. He enjoyed his free time taking care of a small vegetable garden not far from the house.

Relatives and friends would come to visit the family almost every day. Yaakov Anatolievich would come for a glass of tea and occupy the seat at the table reserved especially for him. Often there was a lively chatting, but there were days where Yaakov Anatolievich would sit silent throughout the evening never dropping a single word ever.

The family was not religious (I.A. liked pork and ate it with the rye bread on the Passover), though Rosalia Ossipovna observed some rituals. By her desire, a teacher was at one time invited to give the kids the lessons in Hebrew and religion; however, these visits never left any notable trace in their minds. The kids were never petted, their toys were in a scarce supply, but their parents treated them with boundless and selfless love that only became stronger as time passed by. Relations among the kids were most friendly, but a little Tolechka was an object of special affection and protection from his sisters' side. The sister Lena who was six years older, would throw herself with her fists ready against everyone who would somehow offend him. By age, the sister Betya was the closest; she preserved a deep devotion to her brother through her entire life. *

The sisters grew up, and entered the gymnasium; in 1911, the Tolya's turn was up. The percent share established under Alexander III, restricted the contingent of Jewish kids accepted to gymnasiums, and therefore it was crucial to pass the entrance exams without flaw. A system of a preparatory training at home was popular, and many gymnasium teachers were a part of this business.

"A Jewish boy should be able to read by the age of four", - would say the father. And he actually learned to read by that age himself. He read a lot, and liked it, and by 10 years was writing with absolute literacy. An absolute literacy is an innate feature; the father inherited it from his mother and possessed in full through his entire life, scornfully declining illiterate innovations like "due of the order", or "thankfulness and gratitude". * The initial knowledge in arithmetic he also received from the mother, and after a few lessons with a teacher, got well prepared for the exams. Nevertheless, for a better chance, it was decided to hold the exams not in Mogilev, but in Moscow where there was living an old friend (since the University times) of Isaac Anatolievich, Ivan Petrovich Silinich. And Rosalia Ossipovna with the son left for Moscow.

A dictation in the Russian language was done perfectly, but arithmetic caused a problem. Tolya quite correctly solved the problems offered but accompanied his explanation by an extensive comment that occupied nearly a notebook. The instructor was surprised by an excessively detailed solution, and graded the work C. When Rosalia Ossipovna came for explanations, he asked: "What is this you want, Madame, your son has been graded a satisfactory grade?" - "But he is a Jew!" - she answered. - "What did you say? How didn't I guess it before? " - and the instructor, sincerely distressed, immediately replaced C with A.

In a photo taken a few weeks after, we see a first grader Tolya Lurie dressed in a uniform; on his belt, there is an emblem with the letters M.A.G. - the Mogilev Alexander Gymnasium.

The gymnasium was founded in 1819, during the reign of Emperor Alexander I; in 1919, its centennial was celebrated, and in 1969 its 150^th anniversary. In the father's reminiscences, the staff of instructors was extremely strong. After some 35-40 years, when my sister and I were at school, the father related much about his teachers, and we compared them with our own; this comparison was usually not in our favor. The Russian language was taught by I.N. Palivoda who at one time served as an inspector, the German - by A.M. Rosenberg, the French - by B.F. Klenze. The father revealed especially warm reminiscences about his teacher in history, I.N. Dreisin. All of these people were firmly devoted to their mission; they treated students with profound tactfulness and the sense of their human dignity. Starting with the first grade, nobody addressed the students by "thou"; it was just impossible to imagine the otherwise. *

From the school years, there often remain some quite insignificant episodes. For example, when A.M. Rosenberg entered the class room, he would say: "Und nun, meine Herren, we shall write and listen!" Then somebody of the students asked: "Alexander Martynovich, and will it be possible to write but not listen (or listen but not write)?" Sometimes he was asked: "Alexander Martynovich, is that right you are known to be a strict but fair person? " - "Oh, ja, oh, ja!"- was the reply.

The principal, I.G. Svirelin, did not enjoy the student's sympathy. His lessons (he taught Latin) were quite boring. Sometimes, when the class faced problems translating the Roman authors, Svirelin (called "Leiba" by the students) engaged in general interrogation calling one after another by the class list. When he reached the letter "L", he stopped it because Tolya Lurie would come to rescue.

He studied brilliantly, getting A on all subjects. B were a rarity, and C- the events that were memorized for long, some of them - for the whole life. For example, in the first term Tolya was called by the teacher in geography who asked him to show an island on the map. He found a tiny spot somewhere amidst the Pacific. "Please show a larger one!' -asked the teacher. Another spot was pointed, this one a bit larger. "Still larger!" - teacher insisted. Then Tolya showed Australia. The teacher lost his temper and graded him C, but since than the father nourished a profound sympathy for Australia considering it to be the best island in the world.

The atmosphere in the class was quite good. Tolya made some friends at school, the closest of them being Ronya Rabinovich. They found common interest in playing chess: Tolya has already been playing well due to his training with uncle Yaakov. In the class, there were a few Jewish students, but there never was any anti-Semitic manifestation.

Notwithstanding the fact that in a school program on the Russian literature the leading position was given to"Taras Bul'ba", and in "Taras" itself a special emphasis was made on the profoundly anti-Semitic episodes, notwithstanding all that, the teachers succeeded in separating in their students' minds a great artist from an ink-poisoned black-hundreder. Their efforts were successful: such pieces as "Taras Bul'ba" and "The Dead Souls" were among the father's most beloved creations by Gogol.

Lessons in natural sciences did not leave bright reminiscences with the father. At lessons in physics given by G.I. Saker, the students had to stick to the endless problems about a "calorimeter with stirrer"; the father repeated many times that these problems "worked for a disgust towards the subject that survived for many years to come".

The father would revive the Saker's lessons in his memory each time when he faced the carelessness revealed by some physicists when they needed to explain the basic things. When I was a student, we had a long course of general physics read by Professor D.N.Nasledov, a brilliant lecturer. At one time, when D.N. was ill, another Professor came up to replace him. Desiring to demonstrate the derivation of the equation of a pendulum, this man applied the tangent instead of sine, but for the small angles arrived, of course, at the equation of harmonic oscillations. (Remarkably, later on he reserved for this argument to motivate his "derivation"). "A typically "physical" dirt" - was the father's reaction when I told him about this case. Another example: once the father was invited, along with other colleagues, to A.F. Ioffe;

Abram Fedorovich was talking about the waves traveling back and forth along the beam. When the father noticed that a beam does not conduct waves, A.F. looked at him as if he had come from a madhouse.

Soon after the war started, Mogilev became residence for the Army High Command. The town was occupied by senior staff and escort persons; the Governor's mansion on the steep bank of Dnieper was turned into the residence of the Tsar. Isaac Anatolievich was called for work at the recruiting office that was in charge of conscription. At one of the sessions, he found a young man, a Jewish by nationality, unfit for a military service. Another member of the commission, Colonel Bekarevich, allowed himself an anti-Semitic escapade declaring that "these kikes stick up for each other everywhere". Without hesitation, Isaac Anatolievich turned towards the offender and slapped him in his face. The story might have a grave end: Isaac Anatolievich, who was Lieutenant Colonel, could be tried by a court martial. And now, as before, Rosalia Ossipovna came to the rescue: she went directly to the Governor and stood on behind her husband. Cases like this never repeated in the future: people felt a great respect for I.A. But this episode itself remained in the memory of his children who admired the behavior of their father when he stood up to defend his human dignity. "This is how every decent person should act in similar circumstances"- the father would say many years later.

The code of the human decency was opening itself to him not only through the real life, but also through the literature. At this time, his literary preferences and tastes were taking shape. Apart from Gogol, the father's top preference was Chekhov, with his strikingly brief, precise and expressive novels; also, Lev Tolstoi was certainly his best favorite. One time, right before his exam in gymnasium, the father spent a night without sleep unable to tear himself away from reading the final chapters of "Anna Karenina". "The War and Peace" he read even before, and would read and reread this great novel many times in the future. Some parts of it he knew almost by heart. Such scenes as the Balashov's arrival to Napoleon, or the talks between the old Prince Bolkonskii and Princess Maria, he recalled with admiration through his entire life. He disliked Platon Karataev, but the scene of Petya Rostov's death would go beyond his resistance: he laid the book aside stirred to the bottom of his soul.

The father's affection for Tolstoy was not concentrated on his novels alone. With a profound admiration, many a time did he read and reread "Khadji-Murat" (written when the author was already a very old man), considering this novel the Tolstoy's best. He took a deep impression from the most penetrating "Death of Ivan Il'ich"; about a short novel "A Captive in the Caucasus", the father was saying that, in his opinion, nothing better has ever been written in the Russian language. He admired the "Alphabet", but declined the moralizing pieces like "Alyosha-the-Pot" or "How Much Land a Man Needs", treating them as trivialities unworthy of the great artist.

The father's attitude to Dostoyevsky was different. His top preference was the "Karamazov Brothers", with the boundless penetration of the author into psychology of his heroes. He was ravished by the speeches of the prosecutor and the defender just as he was thrilled by Porfirii Petrovich in the "Crime and Punishment". At the same time, the author's strive for bringing his heroes into one crowded gathering, into one room, his deliberate abuse of the artistry and brevity of the language went across the father's aesthetic flair. Maybe it was against this background that he was so attached to the sculptured elegance of Chekhov's novels of which "The Sweetheart" was his beloved.

Among the poets, his favorite was Tutchev, whose famous "Silentium!" he knew by heart, and often cited. This sublime piece expresses the frame of mind that always was close to father's heart: "The thought turned in words is lie!" "Away with all extra!" - this was his indispensable requirement towards any text, and first of all, towards his own work. Remarkably, in his books and papers one will barely find what is called the leading arguments. Precision of facts is far more expressive and persuasive than all of the thinkable words, - this principle was his through his entire life.

Another poet who roused father's affection was Sasha Cherny. His poem about Farfurnik, full of wit and good humor, was often recalled by the father who liked to cite it, and always quite in time.

Of foreign authors, the father was very attracted to Dickens, especially to those of his novels where the acting heroes are children, such as "Little Dorrit", "David Copperfield", and "Oliver Twist". "The Forsyth Saga" by Galsworthy was among his beloved, he admired the author's mastery, and his sympathy was always given to Soames and old James Forsyth, whereas Irene was definitely his dislike. When, at one time, a marvelous British movie on this novel was demonstrated on the TV, the father did not miss a single part though otherwise the TV would leave him quite indifferent. He was generally attracted by the big chronicles, such as "Buddenbrooks" by Thomas Mann, and especially "Le Tibeau", where Marten Du Gard presented the unforgettable figure of Antoine Tibeau- a selfless medical doctor.

The lives and deeds of outstanding people always grasped the father's attention. This is why he was so fond of Stefan Zweig whose artistic imagination revived a gigantic person of Magellan. And that same Zweig resurrected for the readers an epoch of the Great French revolution along with its gloomy genius - Joseph Fouche. The father was extremely intrigued by the figure of this creator of a system of universal police observation desiring to comprehend the psychology of an unscrupulous politician obsessed with insatiable thirst for power.

When he was in his senior terms, the father began to take a serious interest in mathematics. At first, his attention was attracted by selected problems, mostly geometrical; once his initial attempts to solve them failed, it was perceived like a challenge. There was some kind of a sportive excitement in it, but soon it gave place to a more serious reading of books that went beyond the school curriculum. The books were well available, many of them published by the popular "Mathesis" publishers. Isaac Anatolievich was not extremely generous when it came to the pocket expenses of his kids, and the father paid for the books from the money he earned by giving lessons. By the end of his school period, the father covered the courses of analytic geometry and the differential calculus.

The stormy events were roaring around. The February revolution was met with universal enthusiasm: the odious autocracy was overthrown in a week. The town has turned into a non-stop rally that embraced everyone, including students. Most of the speakers were soldiers who were universally welcome. The army was falling apart, and this process took a massive character by the fall 1917. Soon after the October uprising, a regiment of armed sailors arrived to Mogilev to occupy the residence of Army High Command and to dismiss the Commander-in -Chief, General N.N. Dukhonin. The General was murdered by the sailors at the Mogilev railway station.

A few months before, in August 1917, Yaakov Anatolievich passed away, having contracted an incurable disease when doing surgery to a trachoma-infected patient. A big crowd has gathered for his funeral, the procession was moving towards the Jewish cemetery, passing by the residence of High Command where at that time there was General M.D. Bonch-Bruevich with his staff officers. He recalls in his memoirs, that they were feared by the street noise, and went out to see what was happening. Somebody told them: "Local Jews are burying their Rabbi."

Soon after the town was occupied, first by the Polish Legion (under command of General Dovbor-Musniczky), and later, by the Germans. The frontier was going along the river Dnieper: its left bank, with a part of the town named Luppolovo, remained in the hands of the Red Army. The Germans were correct with the population, though there already was a strong evidence of army's disintegration. From dawn to dark, the soldiers were involved in trade, painstakingly trying to get food and send it back home, to starving Germany. The classes went on until the autumn 1918, when all students of the eights term were given the graduation certificates. The father graduated with a gold medal, but never received the medal itself.

The ways of the classmates diverted almost instantly. Many found themselves at the fronts of the Civil war; most of the students moved to Don, to join the White Army. Ronia Rabinovich, a long-time friend of the father, left for Palestine. The father met almost no one of his class in the future, and knew nothing about their fate.

THE YEARS OF STUDY

In November 1918, Mogilev was again occupied by the Red Army, and the Soviet power established itself in town. The country was amidst the Civil war, universal disarray was spread around, on the railways, there was a complete disorder, and massive epidemics prevailed. Isaac Anatolievich was working on the epidemic of typhus at the local hospital (where, by his own words, the patients "would recover like flies"). In such circumstances, there was no way to consider the further study, and the father started working at the local "narobraz" (the Department of Education), as the library instructor and a member of the commission in charge of the liquidation of illiteracy (his official affiliation was "the Secretary of the Division of Out-of-School Education at the Department of Public Education at the District-Town Executive Committee"). His duties in the "narobraz" involved acquisition of the library funds assembled from the books requisitioned from the landlords in the Mogilev province. The father liked this work, and took an interest in it. At this time, his former teacher of history, Ilya Nikolaevich Dreisin, who also was working at the "narobraz", appeared to be among his "subordinates". Later, the father recalled his profound feeling of awkwardness with respect to Ilya Nikolaevich as he had been put into a preposterous position of his senior.

The work with the books was interesting for the father also because at that time he was deeply involved in reading, mostly the texts on mathematics and mechanics. Among them, there was the "Analytical Geometry" by Andreev, "Cours d'Analyse" by Jordan, the "Rational Mechanics" by Appell and Dotteville. The books were bought at the local market.

At that same time, the father read Marx's "Das Kapital", and the "Anti--Duering", by Engels. The first has left an impression of something substantial, supported by facts, whereas the second was memorized as a superficial notebook. Later, when both texts had become a subject of a mandatory study, the father would prefer the exposition by Marx.

The work at narobraz could not stay on for too long. It was time to think about further study. By that time (1920), the father's self interests have not formed up yet, and, with some influence from the family members, he decided to become a mining engineer. The influence would come from the uncle Vladimir Ossipovich (the brother of Rosalia Ossipovna), who had graduated from the College of Mines and for many years was living in Yekaterinburg in the Urals, working at the Mining Test Office, and also for the various Gold Mining companies. As a result, in autumn 1920, the father entered the School of Prospecting, the Ural Institute of Mines. Yekaterinburg at that time was a fairly large (much larger than Mogilev), but a quite provincional town. The father had residence at the uncle's home located in one of the major streets (now Malyshev Street). I first saw this house some 20 plus years later when our family was evacuated in Yekaterinburg (then Sverdlovsk), and we first took residence at the widow of Vladimir Ossipovich. In my recollections, this was a fairly big log cabin, with a blind fence and gates around it, and with a smell of old stuff inside. Having arrived in Sverdlovsk after another 40 years, I never found a trace of it, but located the site then occupied by a huge new construction. Somebody told me that the cabin had been demolished not too long before.

The studies at the Institute of Mines did not satisfy the father. The disciplines taught there were more like the recipes mandatory for direct fulfillment. Mine-surveillance was an exception; towards it, the father felt interest, but this was of course not enough. Some diversity came from the summer field practice that the students took at the mining sites in the near countryside.

By the end of his second year, the father decided it was time to quit.

In 1923, he transferred himself to the School of Physics and Mechanics of the Petrograd Polytechnic Institute. This School was at that time the only center of the physical-mechanical education in the nation. Founded in 1918 by Academician A.F.Ioffe, it had many outstanding scholars with European reputation who served as its Professors. Mathematics was taught by S.N.Bernstein, Ya.D.Tamarkin, A.A.Adamov, N.M. Guenther, physics- by A.F.Ioffe, N.N.Semenov, Ya. I.Frenkel, D.S. Rozhdesvenskii, V.R. Bursian, Yu. A. Krutkov, V.K. Frederiks; among the lecturers in mechanics were A.A.Fridman, I.V. Meshcherskii, E.L. Nikolai. Due to an intensive independent study, the father was well prepared, and had to pass just a few additional exams to get accepted. He found a residence close to the Institute, having rented a room from a landlady in a quiet street with a pretentious name "the prospect of Carl and Amelia".

From this time on, the father's life was closely tied with the Polytechnic Institute where he was serving for little less than 60 years, with a short break (about 3 years) during the war. The student population through his early years in the Institute was low, but the quality of teaching was extraordinary. This is how he recalled his student years: "The main part was occupied by theoretical physics that at that time was living through the critical years of its formation. Lectures in physics were given by ya. I. Frenkel, an outstanding scholar and a charming person. It was not easy to follow his presentations, especially because the mathematical side was often sacrificed for the appeals to a physical intuition. It was even more so with regard to the seminar headed by A.F. Ioffe, which by the lack of intelligence and maturity I treated as a boring corvee. I was captured by the lectures on mechanics given by A.A.Fridman. Much space is needed to give a proper account of diverse and plentiful achievements of this man who passed away only at 37 years of age (in 1925). One may recall that he initiated the Army meteorological service during the war (WW I), worked out the first tables for the air-bombing, and was a founder of the first plant in Russia engaged in manufacturing the navigation instruments for the airplanes. On the other hand, he was an author of an epoch-making work on hydrodynamics of compressible fluids, as well as of a fundamental paper on the general relativity that received a due evaluation by the physicists only forty years later when it became a foundation of the current concepts in cosmology.

The course of theoretical mechanics was constructed by A.A. Fridman on a solid base of vector calculus; this was the first experience at that time in Russia (and not only there); the course was remarkable for the elegance it offered through handling the technical details, it encouraged the independent thinking and averted from the fears towards attempts of your own analysis ".

After father's death, I found in his papers the notes of Fridman's lectures on dynamics of material point (1923), and kinematics of continuous medium (1924); these notes totally confirm the above. To day, when the vector language has become universal in every course of mechanics, it is difficult to believe what a strong resistance it encountered at those years, especially from the older generation. Even such an outstanding man as A.N. Krylov, would call the vector language "the saving of chalk". The efforts spared by A.A.Fridman who felt no fear for the inertia of archaic traditions, did not pass in vain: his teaching method has won and received a universal prevalence.

The lectures of Fridman left a deep trace in the father's memory. May be not one of his teachers did he recall with such profound warmth through his entire life. Alexander Alexandrovich Fridman was an exclusively bright and far looking individual, the man totally free of vanity and endlessly devoted to science. A typical example is presented by his own attitude to his work on the general relativity, the work that earned praise by Einstein himself and that only at this time received a proper evaluation by physicists. A.A. treated this work as one of those "funny" examples when it occurred possible to obtain solution to the Einstein's equations in a non-stationary case. This semi-ironic attitude revealed itself when Fridman called the initial instant in the problem of expanding Universe "the moment of creation", which years after became the reason for blame from the side of illiterate "critics".

The teaching at that time was distinguished for its "liberalism": there was no mandatory lecture attendance, as well as no examination sessions. This "freedom" worked well towards encouraging the independent reading. The textbooks in Russian were in short supply, and the students had to use the German and French texts, the texts in English still being a rarity. The father has always attached great importance to a habit for independent reading. He particularly considered the preparation for a student's exam based on the notes alone an evidence of leisure and inertia of thinking. This is how he recalled his own experience as a student:

"Mathematically, I was quite well prepared by that time, as I managed to read two volumes of Goursat and all three volumes of Appell. Having also in my reserve two volumes of the "Studies in Electric in Magnetic Phenomena", by I.I. Borgmann, I courageously set off to the first lecture by Yaakov Il'ich (Ya. I. Frenkel - Auth.). To my surprise, it turned out that this science not only contained neither of an amber stick nor a cat fur, but also had no magnetic masses in it. A traditional construction that started with electrostatics was also declined, and all that was difficult and inhabitable to me, all the more because Yaakov Il'ich had nothing to offer in the spirit of his original course both in Russian and in French that was the language I could read (his own book on electrodynamics appeared some ten years after that). At that time, there was no suitable course of the vector calculus (leave alone the "Vectorial Calculus" by Somov where there were no actual vector operations), but the exam on electrodynamics was lying ahead. As a way out, Yaakov Il'ich recommended to study the "Theorie der Elekrizitaet", by Abragham. My German was not quite good, but after a month of study I managed to overcome the first volume, and came to Ya. I. for exam. "What have you read?"- was his question? - "The first volume by Abragham". - "And how about the second, have you read it, too?"- "No, I haven't." - "Go back home and read it." I had to comply. But when I came back a month later, the conversation was even shorter. "Have you read the second volume?" - "Yes, I have." - уWell, please give me your exam document." "

This episode vividly reveals both Yaakov Il'ich's high demands, and his confidence for people. In the father's case, he was dead right: the father was not of those who abused somebody's confidence.

And the father also recalls: "In those years, as I see it also to-day, there existed a very good book "A Kinetic Theory of Gases", by A.K. Timiriasev. But the course of statistical mechanics, as it was taught by Ya. I. (I did not take it since it had been given in 1922) again had nothing in common with the existing tradition. I had to study it by the notes of the previous year's attendants, as well as the course of thermodynamics. In the latter one (dated to 1922), there was presented a detailed account of a famous paper by Caratheodory on the foundations of thermodynamics, and all that was quite novel for me after the boredom and headache produced by the cycles and saturated vapors". How can one fail to recall Saker at this point?

In June 1925, the father graduated from the School of Physics and Mechanics with a degree of engineer-physicist, on the specialty "Mechanics"; his diploma work was named "The Theory of Straightforward-Directing Mechanisms". This work was about finding the mechanisms that create an approximately straightforward motion; from a methodic standpoint, the work was original because the solution in it was obtained by the methods of the theory of functions of a complex variable that never found application to these problems before. The paper was published in the "Journal of Applied Physics" (vol. 2, # 3 - 4, 1925).

After graduation, the father was left for the Ph.D. study at the Department of Mechanics, "by recommendation of Associate Professor L.G. Loitsianskii and Professor A.A. Fridman'; he completed his Ph.D. studies in the middle of 1929.

Fortunately, the plan was preserved of the father's Ph.D. studies, this plan drawn up in the beginning of 1927; also, there exist some detailed reports about his activity. "The entire plan is split into two parts: 1) the work on a further study of mechanical and mathematical disciplines, and 2) a suggested independent work. The first part, in its turn, is also split into two sections: (i) a mandatory part of the program, (ii) its conditional part, to be completed if time permits

1. The program of the study of the basic mathematical and mechanical disciplines.
1. A mandatory part

1) Mathematics. The main goal will be a further study of the methods of solution of the problems of mathematical physics and particularly, the theory of special functions, such as Bessel, spherical, elliptic, etc. The text that will be used for this study, include:^

^A star (*) here and below denotes the texts already known to me in part, and the cross (+) will be related to the books that have already been examined in detail but will referred to as the background texts.

(*) 1. Courant und Hilbert, Methoden der Mathematische Physik.

2.Weber, Riemann, Mises, Die partielle Differentialgleichungen.

(*) 3.Steklov, The Basic Problems of Mathematical Physics.

4.Whittaker, Modern Analysis, p. II.

(*) 5. Lacour et Appell, Fonctions elliptiques.

6. Wangerin, Therie des Potentials und Kugelfunktionen.

7. Bolza, Variationsrechnung.

(*) 8. Krylov, The Equations of Mathematical Physics in Application

Towards Engineering Problems.

Because of their fundamental importance for applied mathematics, the theory of functions and the theory of conformal mapping should as before remain among the objects of my study. As before, the basic text will be:

(*) 9. Forsyth, Theory of Functions.

Apart from these texts covering selected topics, I shall use the following as the general texts on Analysis:

(+) 10. Goursat, Cours d'Analyse.

11. Picard, Traite d'Analyse.

2) Mechanics of a material point and a solid body. This part of my plan may be treated as covered to a significant extent through the last year. My task will therefore be to remain in contact with these disciplines through the next two years covered by this plan. As the basic texts, I shall use the following

(*)12. Whittaker, Analytische Dynamik.

(*)13. Appell, Traite de mecanique, vols. I-III.

Appell, Sur une forme generale des equations de la dynamique.

On gyroscopes:

Grammel, Der Kreisel.

Boulanger, Dynamique des corps tournants.

3) Applied mechanics. I intend to work in two directions:

1. The study of the literature that appeared in Germany over the last several years (Alt, Federhofer, and others) about the so-called kinematic synthesis. Unfortunately, I was so far unable to examine the relevant works because of the absence of the complete set of the Zeitschrift fuer Angewandte Mathematik und Mechanik in the local libraries I have an access to.
2. In the field of machine dynamics, I shall have to restrict my studies with the survey by Mises published in the Enz. d. Math. Wisseschaften:

15. Mises, Die dynamische Probleme d. modernen Maschinenbau.

4) My most significant task for the next two years will be the study of the theory of elasticity. Apart from the special monographs that I shall use through my everyday work, I am planning a detailed study of the most fundamental results in this domain, specifically from the following texts:

(+) (*) 16. Timoshenko, A Course in the Theory of Elasticity, p. 1, 2.

(*) 17. Love, The mathematical theory of elasticity.

18. Clebsch-S.Venant, Theorie de l'elasticite des corps solides.

19. Mathieu, Theorie de l'elasticite.

The monographs that may be now considered for further study:

(*) 20. Nikolai, On the theory of an elastic curve of double curvature.

(+) 21. Kolosov, A plane problem of the theory of elasticity.

22. Foeppl, Drang und Zwang.

I shall also consider mandatory the study of the survey paper by v. Karman from the Enz. d. Math. Wissenschaften:

23. v. Karman, Festigkeitsprobleme im Maschinenbau.

5,6) The education of a person specialized in mechanics would be incomplete without coverage of a vast field of hydromechanics and the potential theory. Therefore, I consider appropriate the study of the following texts:

24. Lamb, Hydrodynamics.

(+) 25. Zhukovskii, The theoretical foundations of aviation.

(*) 26. Satkevich, Aerodynamics.

Also, I consider the study of a classical text

27. Boussinesq, Applications des potentials.

Finally, in conclusion of this part of the program, I must add that one of my tasks for the future will be to follow the periodic literature on applied mathematics and mechanics. I lay the main significance to the reading of the Zeitschrift fuer Angewandte Mathematik und Mechanik along with the study of papers that are most relevant to my everyday work.

7) Apart to the listed applied disciplines, I consider as absolutely necessary to fill through the coming two years the gap in my background on the foundations of mechanics. To this end, I am planning the study of the basics of the theory of relativity in connection with the accompanying mathematical disciplines, i.e. the tensor calculus and the geometry of multidimensional spaces. The following texts will serve towards this goal:

(*)28. Appell, Traite de mecanique, t. 5.

(*)29. Fridman and Frederiks, Foundations of the tensor calculus.

(*)30. R.Lagrange, Calcul differentiel absolu.

31. De- Donder, La gravifique einsteinienne.

Lastly, I consider necessary the acquaintance with the modern quantum, or the so-called wave mechanics. I am planning to study the following books:

(*)32. Born, Vorlesungen ueber Atommechanik.

(*)33. Schroedinger, Abhandlungen zur Wellenmechanik.

In addition to that, I shall be following the journal publications on wave mechanics, but this may be related more to the subsequent part of the program.

c) A conditional part

Because of an extensive volume of the first part of the program, I cannot treat mandatory the commitment to complete the tasks listed in its second part. Therefore, under the section b), I am listing disciplines that will be studied provided the availability of time.

1) Mathematics. The acquaintance with the basics of the set theory and the notion of the Lebesque integral in connection with its significance for the current investigations on mathematical physics.

2) Mechanics of a solid body. Jacobi, Vorlesungen ueber Dynamik.

3) Applied mechanics. The study of the fundamental text on machine dynamics:

34. Tolle, Regelung der Kraftmaschinen.

4) Theory of elasticity. All that is related to this theory has been made a part of the mandatory program.

5) The acquaintance with the theory of turbulent motion of fluids.

6) Foundation of mechanics. The study of the book:

35. Eddington, Relativitaetstheorie.

The periodic literature on wave mechanics.

7) As one of my tasks for the future period I consider at least the reconstruction in my memory of the foundations of the theory of electricity, particularly, through the study of the book:

36. Frenkel, Lehrbuch der Elektrodynamik.

1. A suggested independent work

1) In section 3a of the first part of the program, I mentioned the study of the literature on the kinematic synthesis. This stays in connection with the necessity to complete my work on this subject carried out through the last year and since than remained unfinished. Combining my results with those spread in the literature, I intend to produce a paper, presumably, of a review type.

2) I also intend to systematize the material already gathered on the application of the complex analysis towards certain engineering problems. Specifically, this is an application of the Bieberbach's conformal transform to the problem of an airfoil (the work by Hoendorf), as well as the use of the Schwarz-Christoffel's formula for the calculation of a magnetic field in a transformer (the works by Carter and Bergmann). This material will form a base for another review paper that will also include my own results on the theory of torsion obtained by the Bieberbach's method

3) My main task for the subsequent two years will be an independent work on the theory of elasticity. I intend to make a final choice of the theme of this work after I complete a number of more or less small selected problems, such as the calculation of the shape of a thin elastic bar loaded by a concentrated force, that I am now doing by a suggestion of Professor E.L. Nikolai. As to the work on the main theme which will basically serve as the goal and result of the Ph.D. study, I am not planning to initiate it earlier than in the next year".

This plan, dated 15^th of February 1927, is remarkable for many respects. First, for the breadth of the interests of its author, who not too long before had reached his 25^th year of age. Through this plan, we already recognize a future scholar whose interests embrace all of mechanics. The plan reveals a clear understanding of the role played by mathematical methods, an indispensable tool of every investigation in exact sciences. It also demonstrates a striking interest towards the novel, non-traditional problems, that were familiar to only a few at that time, and only years later seized attention of the scientific community; such are the problems of control and stability (see reference to the book by Tolle), to which the father was fated to make an outstanding contribution.

One cannot leave unnoticed, that when he speaks about his interests in elasticity, the father underlines his intention to start with the "small problems", i.e. examples, and only after that move on towards the more general issues. This work style was his through his entire life as a scholar; not a single general statement or conclusion existed for him without examples.

Another feature of the plan cannot go unnoticed, too: this is the amount of the work involved. Diligence was always the father's nature; at home he was seen every day sitting with a cigarette at his desk. He laid enormous respect to any labor and saw no excuse for the arrogance towards the work of others sometimes displayed even by talented people. It will be right to say that he placed work ahead of talent. The following episode (related to a much later time) vividly illustrates this feature of him. A renowned scholar, an author of a popular textbook in his field, written in co authorship with a colleague, has got into a heavy car accident, and was badly injured. As a result, he lost his former ability for active work. He expressed the opinion that, after the accident, he no longer was what he had been before, but he still preserved enough to perform like (at this point, he pronounced the name of his colleague and coauthor).- "You pity this scoundrel?" - asked the father when he learned about this case from a colleague.

The plan, naturally, keeps silence about the father's teaching activity that started through the winter of 1926. At this time, he was in charge of the training classes in mechanics at the 1^st term of the School of Physics and Mechanics. "At first", - he later recalled, - "not one solution matched the answer in the Meshcherskii's collection (I.V.Meshcherskii was the Head of the Department of mechanics at that time- Auth.), but soon it was over, the results would match the answers, and so it became possible to master this simple science" At the same time, the father carried on the classes on applied mechanics at the 3^rd term, and was trying, as time permitted (2 hours of class time per week), to use for his teaching the material borrowed from the technical journals (Proceedings of the Engineering Society, Z. f. Angew. Math. u. Mech.).

In one of his reports, the father quotes his colleague, an experienced teacher, who said: "The first year of teaching brings little profit to students, but a much larger - to teacher himself." "I think", he adds, "that my limited personal experience confirms these words."

The father loved teaching. He would say that every group of students involves a few people (say, 1 or 2 individuals) who understand (or are able to understand) everything; among them, there happen to be those who come across every 5 years, every 10 years Never through the exams did the father prohibit the use of the class notes, attaching major importance to conceptual understanding, rather than tovirtual knowledge. When this theme was debated among the colleagues, he liked to quote Clemenceau who once said that he had to work closely with two individuals of whom one knows everything but understands nothing, while another knows nothing, but understands everything (he bore in mind Poincare and Briand). Of course, a certain level of knowledge was implied, but the abundance of knowledge could never conceal the lack of understanding.

The father's teaching load drastically increased through the subsequent years when he had to take care of the students' classes in mathematics and mechanics not only at the School, but also at a new Division of Agricultural Engineering, and, at the same time, carry out the laboratory sessions on the machine control (the course by Professor E.L.Nikolai). He also was engaged in the training sessions in mathematics for a special group of party and trade union activists who were being prepared for eventual occupation of the leading posts in industry. In a photograph, this group is represented sitting around the father who looks like a youngster among those, much older people. The father preserved warm recollections of this class; he met with almost nobody of them in the future; apparently, none of those people survived through 1937 and the war.

The teaching occupied a lot of time: in 1928-29, there were added classes at the Institute of Railway Engineers. The father had to begin his day very early; after a long trip across the town in an overcrowded and frozen tram, he had to make it by the time when the classes started. But the father was young and full of energy, and, seemingly, knew no fatigue.

In May 1926, a happy event occurred in the father's life: he married Bertha Yakovlevna Granat, the daughter of Rosalia Ossipovna's younger brother, i.e. his first cousin. The young people knew each other for a long time, since Mogilev; they would also meet in Yekaterinburg where Bertha Yakovlevna arrived to visit her uncle. In the family, this was the second case of marriage between the cousins: the father's older sister, Sophia Isakovna, has long before married her cousin Solomon Yakovlevich, the son of Yaakov Anatolievich. Solomon Yakovlevich Lurie, later a renowned historian of ancient Greece and at the same time an outstanding historian of science, took residence in St.Petersburg still before the revolution; he occupied a flat in the Bolshoi Prospect, the Petrograd district. After the revolution, when the campaign for reduction of per person living space has started, this flat appeared impossible to hold, and its population increased due to the addition of numerous relatives, among them Anatolii Isakovich and Bertha Yakovlevna. This flat served as our family residence until 1937.

What was the atmosphere at the Polytechnic Institute at this time? A rough idea may be gained from the old copies of the local paper "Tovarishch", later renamed into "Industrial'nii", and still later - into "Polytechnic"; these papers also help to revive some memorable events occurred in this period. Here are some fragments.

27. On the Death of A.A. Adamov. About Deceased Teacher

. . Through the difficult years of 1919-20, when the famine burst out in Leningrad, A.A. with the family left for Bologoye, but this relocation did not prevent him from giving his regular lectures and training sessions at our Institute. We shall never forget his selfless service and the sacrifices he made towards science and his students.

In order to arrive in time for his classes, he had to take a night train, walk from the railway station (apparently, the Moscow station, not the Finland station - Auth.) across the town to the Institute, and about 2-3 a.m. settle somewhere for the rest of the night.

For the first time, he would sleep on a kitchen stove at the student's hostel. Later, a group of students arranged a small but a warm room for his stay, and he occupied this room through his regular arrivals over the next year and a half.

The students took care of some elementary comfort, too, they would bring him food, got a lamp, heated the room, etc. Despite all of the hardships, A.A. never missed his classes, through which he also set examples of selflessness .

30. At the Meeting at the Rector's Office

The methods of teaching should be transformed. Lectures should be cut to a minimum, and the seminar sessions introduced instead. A special mention has been made about the lack of interest from the side of industry towards forming up a required type of a specialist

There was an intensive discussion of the problems put on the agenda, and a special emphasis was made on the mood and attitude of the faculty towards working out the novel teaching plans and programs as well as towards producing plans and programs that present no difference from the old versions

13.03.30

On the second day of the decade, 14.03.30, in the Grand Physical Auditorium, there will be continued the meeting on the topic: "On the nature of the electric current". Speakers include: 1) Prof. Ya. I. Frenkel; 2)Acad. V.F.Mitkevich. In the Chair: Prof. M.A.Shatelen.

The father later recalled the discussion that flared up at this meeting between Ya. I. and V.F. on the reality of the magnetic vector lines. When Ya. I. compared these lines with the meridians and parallels on the globe, the confused and startled V.F. announced: "My meridian is red"

"How much one cares to pronounce such banality!"- said the father about this episode.

The theme of the father's Ph.D. thesis was hydrodynamics of a viscous fluid. The Navier-Stokes equations that govern the motion of such fluid are known to be nonlinear and unamenable to integration; this one becomes possible after certain simplifications that convert the equations to linear. Such simplifications come about for small Reynolds numbers, i.e. for a large viscosity. With this assumption, the father applied the Laplace transform to the linearized equations; as a result, the problem of motion of a sphere under the action of time-dependent force, has been reduced to an integral equation which, in its turn, obtained solution also by the Laplace transform. Of special interest was the asymptotic case of large values of time. It turned out that the velocity that was established appeared to be the one predicted by the stationary Stokes' law of resistance. This physically clear conclusion was, however, quite unobvious mathematically. A similar analysis has been conducted for the case of a rotating sphere. The formula for the moment of resistance was obtained, and its derivation appeared to be possible without solving the corresponding integral equation.

When the father moved on to the problem of a non-stationary motion of an infinite cylinder, he had to face a bad presage in the form of a Stokes' paradox that denies existence of a stationary solution to the problem. The father obtained the formula for the resistance of a cylinder through its non-stationary motion, at by passing to a limit related to the velocity stabilization, arrived at the analog of the Stokes' formula. This result at first looked paradoxical, since it cannot be obtained directly from the equations of a stationary motion. However, independently from the father, the same result was simultaneously obtained by L.G. Loitsianskii, on the totally different ground of an approximate theory of resistance of the moving bodies.

Another part of the thesis was about the problems of motion of the solid bodies in a viscous fluid in a more exact formulation suggested by Oseen. Here, the father obtained solutions for an ellipsoid as well as for an elliptic cylinder; to this end, he applied the perturbation technique that had just recently (1927) been suggested by Schroedinger.

This "qualification work", as the theses were then called, was defended by the father on the 28^th of February 1930. His opponents included A.A.Satkevich, V.A.Fock, and L.G.Loitsianskii; the latter concluded his report with the phrase: "A.I.Lurie is entering a new phase of his scientific activity as a fully mature and finished scholar who has a lot ahead of him."

Still before his thesis' defense, the father met at the meeting of the Leningrad mechanical society with Professor Burgers, a well-known Dutch specialist, who worked in Delft and was visiting the USSR at that time. Having learned about the interests of a young colleague, Professor Burgers drew his attention to the work on the motion around bodies carried out in Sweden (Uppsala), by Prof. Zeylon, Faxen, and others; the work of Oseen himself (who also lived in Sweden) was, of course, well known to father. Professor Burgers recommended that the father went to Sweden to get acquainted with their work on site; he also invited him to Delft where there was a great activity towards working out an experimental technique for measuring the velocity fields (the so called thermal anemometry). Prof. Burgers initiated an application to the GUS (the State Scientific Council); also, the School sent a letter supporting the father's application to Narkompros (the People's Commissariat for Education) for a scientific trip to Sweden and Holland for one year. Apparently, the Narkompros denied it, or simply left unanswered; in the end of ends, the father never came to Sweden, whereas he was luckier with Holland some thirty years later when he spent several hours in Amsterdam awaiting his plane without a cent in his pocket under a pouring rain.

At this point my talk has reached its chronological bounds. But before I finish, I cannot help recalling an episode that occurred at a quite different time, namely, a few days after the father had passed away.

No business in Russia may be carried out without a paperwork, and in order to arrange the funeral in Komarovo, a major document has been initiated, this document amenable to be signed by the Head of the Sestroretsk Executive Committee. On the fixed date, Yevgenii Petrovich Gil'bo and myself arrived at the appointment. The name of the Head was no matter what it was, though I memorized his patronymic: Il'ich. He had a long lasting all round view of the document, and before he resolved to sign it, announced: "Remember, no one of the relatives will be buried there". At the first moment, I was stunned by this revelation, but the choice was zero, so you had to memorize it. This was first class funeral anyway With his lips, to drink honey. At last, the Head took a pen and slowly traced out letter after letter across the upper left corner: " Permit asan exception" ( as an was, of course, written in one). Given the moment, it is easy to imagine my reaction If this is an exception, what is the rule? A naСve question But a moment later, leaving the office, I thought: "But he is right Il'ich is right!" Remarkably, this man, involuntarily, in three (no, in two!) words has summed up the father's entire life! And in fact, his life, as the life of many of his generation, wasn't this life all based on exceptions? Wasn't it an exception that the family survived through the Mogilev pogrom, that the father remained alive through the Civil war when the cost of a human life was zero? Wasn't it an exception that he was not brought through the millstones of purges, first by the "social origin", and later on, just for no particular reason, by a roster, in 1937-38? Wasn't that an exception, that when at one night in 37 the doorbell rang and the father went out to open, he saw before him not "the dear guests", but a drunk yard-keeper lent against the door button? Wasn't that an exception that Isabella Isakovna arrived in Mogilev on the 19^th of June, and a few days after, on the 25^th, she took the parents out of town almost by force? Wasn't that an exception that the father was evacuated by Galerkin at the end of August, and two hours after the train had passed the Mga station, this little town was occupied by the German paratroopers? Wasn't that an exception that the coryphaeus of science didn't get to mathematics and mechanics, but almost got to physics, and who knows how many years of life it cost to Yaakov Il'ich? And they said at a time, that the "Algebra" by Kiselev already had the eye upon it .Wasn't that an exception that A.I. was, to general surprise, elected to the Academy? And last, but not least, wasn't his burial in Komarovo arranged "asan exception"?

But there is another exception, probably, the most significant one. This is that, in spite of all, the father did what he was destined to do, feci, quod potui, that he did what he did. Without this exception, we would never read the books he left behind, we wouldn't have an outstanding collective that he created (again, "asan exception"!), and took more pride in it that he took in any other of his achievements. When you think of all that from the 20 years' time distance, you realize that he derived his strength from science, this eternal value, for which he lived, from his intercourse with his students, colleagues, and friends, whom he loved and was devoted to, and considered all the rest, like his teacher Fridman, as sheer waste of time.