Mstislav Vsevolodovich Keldysh. Biographical information. The Mystery of Academician Keldysh Keldysh's son Peter
Mstislav Vsevolodovich Keldysh is one of the outstanding Soviet scientists in the field of applied mathematics and mechanics, a major organizer Soviet science, as well as one of the ideologists of the Soviet space program.
Mstislav Vsevolodovich was born on February 10, 1911 in Riga in the family of associate professor Vsevolod Mikhailovich Keldysh. In 1915, the family was evacuated to Moscow. 
M.V. Keldysh in early childhood. 1912
Vsevolod Mikhailovich Keldysh
In 1927, Keldysh graduated from school, but was not accepted into the institute; There were also difficulties with entering the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Moscow State University due to my social background and the presence of an uncle who left with the White Army. 
M.V. Keldysh in the arms of his great-grandmother, surrounded by his brothers, sister and mother (1914−1915)
M.V. Keldysh at the age of 9 years. 1920
However, thanks to his outstanding abilities, in 1931 Keldysh graduated from the university and became an employee of TsAGI (in the city of Zhukovsky, Moscow region). Then he worked at Moscow State University and the Steklov Mathematical Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences. 
M.V. Keldysh with a group of Moscow State University graduates (top row 3rd from right) (1931)
In 1938 he became a Doctor of Science, in 1946 - an academician. In 1946, together with S.P. Korolev and I.V. Kurchatov, he led the creation of nuclear missile weapons. 
S. P. Korolev, I. V. Kurchatov, M. V. Keldysh
Photo of M. V. Keldysh in the group of Stalin Prize laureates in the Moscow House of Scientists after the presentation of diplomas and badges of honor (1947). From left to right: M. V. Keldysh, ac. N. I. Meshchaninov, Doctor of Technical Sciences V. A. Vanyukov, V. I. Zborsky, G. V. Akimov.
In 1953, Keldysh took the position of director of the Institute of Applied Mathematics of the USSR Academy of Sciences. The scientist’s main works relate to the fields of mathematics, mechanics and aerogasdynamics of aircraft. Keldysh contributed huge contribution in the development of computational and machine mathematics, led the work on the creation of computers. 
Photos of M. V. Keldysh with children at the dacha. 1950s
He was one of the initiators of the development of space exploration, heading it from the mid-50s. development of theoretical prerequisites for launching artificial bodies into near-Earth orbits; took part in the creation of the first artificial Earth satellite. 
Photo of M. V. Keldysh in the Kremlin. 1956
Among those present: L. I. Brezhnev, I. G. Ehrenburg, ac. I. G. Petrovsky, M. I. Romm
Formed a number of basic theoretical principles of modern aerodynamics and rocket and space technology. 
M.V. Keldysh during a speech at the House of Scientists at the General Meeting dedicated to human space flight.
In 1961, after the flight of Yu. A. Gagarin, Keldysh became president of the USSR Academy of Sciences. He was an honorary member of many foreign academies. He was awarded seven Orders of Lenin, three Orders of the Red Banner of Labor, medals and various foreign orders. 
Photos of M. V. Keldysh with cosmonauts Yu. A. Gagarin and K. P. Feoktistov at a press conference. 10/21/1964
Photo of M. V. Keldysh among the participants in the session of the General Meeting of the USSR Academy of Sciences in the House of Scientists (11/16/1961)
From left to right: K. I. Skryabin, V. A. Trapeznikov, M. V. Keldysh, A. V. Topchiev, A. N. Nesmeyanov, K. V. Ostrovityanov
After the end of the period cold war“Soviet-American scientific cooperation took on new forms. Bilateral meetings and symposia were held, problems of mathematics, meteorology, radio astronomy, etc. were jointly discussed. In 1962, an agreement was concluded between the USSR Academy of Sciences and the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration on cooperation in the use of outer space for peaceful purposes. 
Photo of M. V. Keldysh during a meeting with the President of the US National Academy F. Seitz (09/16/1963)
In subsequent years, the USSR Academy of Sciences established and expanded connections with other scientific organizations USA. In 1963, the President of the US National Academy of Sciences F. Seitz and the President of the American Council of Cognitive Societies F. Burkhard visited the USSR Academy of Sciences. 
Photo of M. V. Keldysh with American cosmonaut T. Stafford. 1972
Photo of M. V. Keldysh as part of a delegation of Soviet scientists in Stockholm in connection with the 50th anniversary of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences. 1972
Interesting Facts:
- When S. A. Chaplygin (according to other sources, I. F. Petrov) demanded that his employees at TsAGI learn (under the guidance of an instructor) the ability to fly airplanes, Keldysh’s successes were so impressive that he was offered to become a professional pilot (according to his recollections M. L. Gallaya).
- In 1960, in preparation for the launch of the first automatic station to Mars, as part of the scientific equipment, it was planned to place a device (spectroreflexometer) at the station, which should determine whether there is water on Mars, and thereby whether there is life on Mars. Keldysh proposed testing the device under terrestrial conditions. The device showed that there is no life on Earth and was removed, resulting in a savings of 12 kilograms (according to the memoirs of B.E. Chertok). 
Bust of M. V. Keldysh in Riga
Mstislav Vsevolodovich died on June 24, 1978 in Moscow; An urn with his ashes is installed in the Kremlin wall.
Keldysh Mstislav Vsevolodovich (nationality - Russian) was a Soviet scientist in the field of mathematics and mechanics, academician and president of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Played a key role in the Soviet space program.
Son of a talented father
Keldysh's father Vsevolod Mikhailovich was a military civil engineer who graduated from the Riga Polytechnic Institute. There he married Maria Alexandrovna Skvortsova, who devoted herself to raising children. Her father was an artillery general, from the nobility. Vsevolod Mikhailovich's father was a military doctor with the rank of general, also from the nobility. Keldysh was always proud of his noble origins, which caused him problems in a communist country. Due to the nature of Vsevolod Mikhailovich’s work, the family traveled to different cities. He lectured at technical institutes and took part in the design and construction of the Moscow metro and the Moscow-Volga canal.
Keldysh Mstislav Vsevolodovich: biography
Keldysh Mstislav was one of seven children. Their mother taught them German and French, and also instilled in them a love of music. His sister Lyudmila became a famous mathematician, and his brother Yuri became a musicologist.
Keldysh Mstislav Vsevolodovich, whose family moved to Riga in 1909, where his father lectured at the Polytechnic Institute, was born on 02/10/1911. In 1915, the German army invaded Latvia and the staff of the Riga Polytechnic Institute was evacuated to Moscow. Here the family experienced hardship, living outside the city for several years, but the parents loved classical music and often attended concerts in the city. The children recalled one day in 1917 when their mother fed the whole family fried onions, since there was no other food. By the end of 1918, the family moved to Ivanovo-Voznesensk, as the father began teaching at the institute, to which the Riga Polytechnic Institute was annexed.
Study in Moscow
In 1923, the family moved to Moscow, and Mstislav, who was 12 years old, attended school No. 7 in Krivoarbatsky Lane. Boy, by appearance and in behavior reminiscent of a gypsy child, he was mischievous and grumpy.
Keldysh was proud of his noble origins, although it would have been easier for him if he had hidden it. In the official forms he always entered the entry “social origin - noble”, so in 1927 he was denied admission to the Institute of Civil Engineers.
Elder sister Lyudmila, contrary to the wishes of her father, who saw his son as an engineer, convinced him to study mathematics. Mstislav entered the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics at Moscow State University and graduated on July 24, 1931. On the strong recommendation of teacher Keldysh Lavrentiev, the talented graduate was assigned to the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute.
Work at TsAGI
Excellent conditions for research were created at TsAGI. Here Keldysh met Leonid Sedov, with whom he began close scientific cooperation and friendship that influenced future fate scientist.
In 1934-37, a series of articles on aerohydromechanics was published, the author of which was Keldysh Mstislav Vsevolodovich. The growth of a talented scientist began with the solution to one of the aviation problems of that time - sudden strong vibrations that could destroy the plane. His theoretical work helped overcome this problem. In addition, he conducted research for his doctoral dissertation on the use of polynomial series to represent harmonic functions and complex variables, which he defended in 1938.
Keldysh Mstislav Vsevolodovich: family and his children
In 1938, after a long courtship with a married woman, Keldysh married Stanislava Valerianovna. The next year his daughter was born, and in 1941 his son Peter. The son graduated from the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics, and the daughter subsequently worked at the Keldysh Museum.
Talented mathematician
Keldysh continued his research and often collaborated with his former teacher Mikhail Lavrentiev. One of the topics in which he was interested then was the Dirichlet problem.
Mstislav Keldysh was a talented mathematician and in theory he made a particularly fundamental contribution to the applied branches of aerodynamics. He was the government's chief theoretician and organizer of computational work related to jet engines and space in the 1940-60s.
The problem of aircraft vibration was just one of the first problems he worked on. The second related problem was the shaking that often occurred in the front when landing. This is where his experience gained in solving the vibration problem came in handy, and his solution to the shimmy problem, along with detailed instructions for engineers on how to fix it, was described in a 1945 paper. While working at Zhukovsky TsAGI, he did not leave the Mathematical Institute, heading the Department of Mechanics from its founding in April 1944 until 1953.
Examples of the works of this period that he undertook at the Steklov Institute: “On mean square approximations by polynomials of functions of a complex variable” (1945), “On the interpolation of entire functions” (1947). It is worth noting that, although these works relate to abstract mathematics, Keldysh’s interest in these problems arose thanks to ideas that arose when solving applied mathematical problems.
Space and nuclear weapons
After World War II, Mstislav Keldysh became increasingly involved in the management of major research projects that were implemented in the USSR. In 1946, he left TsAGI to become head of the Jet Research Institute, a position he held for nine years.
He was vice-president of the USSR Academy of Sciences in 1961-62 and its president in 1962-75. At his 60th birthday celebration in 1971, he spoke of his regrets about ending scientific research and a focus on management and administration. Still he played important role in the development of Soviet nuclear weapons, as well as the space research program. For example, he was one of three scientists who proposed the Soviet space satellite program in 1954, and in 1955 he became chairman of the commission created to oversee the program. The first successful launch of Sputnik in 1957 began an intensive program of space exploration, and Keldysh was involved in this through a number of different organizations, such as the department of applied mathematics that he headed.
Work at the Academy of Sciences
In 1959, the Interdepartmental Scientific and Technical Council was created, the head of which Mstislav Keldysh was appointed.
The biography of the scientist is marked by his tenure as president of the USSR Academy of Sciences, where he managed to carry out serious reforms. In particular, the CPSU rejected genetics because it did not correspond to its ideology, and instead supported the politically correct but anti-scientific theories of Trofim Lysenko. In 1964, when his colleague Nikolai Nuzhdin was proposed as a full member of the Academy, Andrei Sakharov, a colleague of the scientist in the development of nuclear weapons, opposed it. The candidacy was rejected, and Keldysh contributed to the creation of conditions for the development of science without political interference, which was extremely difficult in the political situation that existed in the USSR at that time.
In 1975, Mstislav Keldysh resigned from his post for health reasons. It is believed that this was partly due to overwork, partly due to the stress caused by the difficulties in defending scientific ideals in a situation where science was used as the main tool of political struggle. Keldysh died on June 24, 1978 and was buried with honors in the necropolis near the Kremlin wall.
Government awards
Keldysh received many awards both in his country and from foreign countries. He was awarded the State Prize (1942) and the Order of the Red Banner of Labor (1943) for his work on aircraft vibration. In 1946, he was awarded another State Prize for his work on shimmy.
In 1943 he was elected a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences and a full academician three years later. In 1956 he received the title of Hero of Socialist Labor for solving defense problems and the following year he received the Lenin Prize. In 1961, he again became a Hero of Socialist Labor, this time for his work on rockets and Vostok, the world's first manned spacecraft, which carried Yuri Gagarin. He was awarded the Order of Lenin six times and medals several times.
World recognition
Finally, he was elected to the Central Committee of the CPSU (1961) and a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (1962). In addition, a lunar crater was named in his honor and discovered in 1973.
Keldysh family
Vera Vsevolodovna Keldysh,
TsAGI
M.V. Keldysh grew up in a large, friendly family. His parents had 7 children and 16 grandchildren. Thanks to some of them, in recent decades, the rare surname Keldysh has gained fame and was even included in the “Dictionary of Russian Surnames,” according to which the surname Keldysh is “of Turkic origin: keldi (geldi)- "he came"; w- suffix of endearment. But it is too early to consider the answer final. Maybe we should look for a source in the Finno-Ugric languages... The surname remains one of the most interesting anthroponymic mysteries” (Nikonov V.A. Dictionary of Russian surnames. - M., 1993, p. 5).
There is no news about the Finnish or Turkic origin of the ancestors in family legends There are no Keldysh left. It is known that Mstislav Vsevolodovich’s great-grandfather Foma Simonovich Keldysh came from the bourgeois class, was Orthodox by religion and served as a psalm-reader in Warsaw. How long he lived in Poland and where he was born has not yet been established. His wife Alexandra Iosifovna, nee Michoml, according to some sources, had a poor command of the Russian language.
On March 27, 1839, according to the old style in Warsaw, in the Orthodox Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, the son of the psalm-reader of the same cathedral, Thomas Simonovich Keldysh, and his wife Alexandra Iosifovna were baptized. They named him Mikhail.
Mikhail Fomich received his secondary education at the Volyn Theological Seminary, higher education at the Warsaw and then at the St. Petersburg Medical and Surgical Academies. In 1862, after completing a course at the academy, Mikhail Fomich was assigned as a “medic for business trips” at the First Military Land Hospital in St. Petersburg; the following year, he was appointed to the Caucasian Military District, where he served in different places and in different positions for about twenty years, taking part in the Caucasian (1817-1864) and Russian-Turkish (1877-1878) wars. While serving in the Grozny military hospital, the young doctor conducted research on “Caucasian tropical fevers,” which formed the basis of his dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Medicine.
In 1870 M.F. Keldysh was assigned to the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea in the Krasnovodsk detachment, took part in its reconnaissance and traveled on camels throughout the Trans-Caspian region. In 1873, he would write later, “my wanderings through the sandy snowdrifts of the Trans-Caspian desert ended.” For his efforts to stop epidemics of scurvy and cholera in the detachment, he was awarded the Order of St. Anna, 3rd degree, and St. Vladimir, 4th degree.
In 1879, having again visited the Trans-Caspian region as part of the Akhal-Teke expedition, M.F. Keldysh was the first to compile a medical and topographical description of this then virgin region and made an outline of the sanitary condition of the troops stationed there. The results of his work were published in the "Medical Collection" of the Caucasian Medical Society and in the "Military Medical Journal". For services to the fatherland, Mikhail Fomich Keldysh was awarded the rank of general and ranked among the nobility.
Grandfather - Keldysh Mikhail Fomich
A long period of life of M.F. Keldysh took place in Odessa, where in 1886-1894. he served as the chief physician of a military hospital. In subsequent years, Keldysh became a brigade and corps doctor, and then a district military medical inspector of the Kazan Military District. Having retired in 1904, two years later he and his family moved to Riga, where his son’s family lived. M.F. died Keldysh in 1920 in Crimea.
Mikhail Fomich's wife Natalya Nikolaevna Keldysh came from the noble class; she graduated from the Smolny Institute for Noble Maidens. (Her maiden name is Brusilova, she was the cousin of General A.A. Brusilov. Adjutant General A.A. Brusilov was the commander of the 8th Army from the beginning of the First World War. Since March 1915, he was the commander-in-chief of the armies of the Southwestern Front and carried out a successful offensive, which went down in history under the name “Brusilovsky breakthrough.”) It was from his mother that Mstislav Vsevolodovich’s father, Vsevolod Mikhailovich Keldysh, blond with blue eyes, inherited his appearance.
Vsevolod Mikhailovich Keldysh (1878‑1965) was born in Vladikavkaz. He studied at the gymnasium in Odessa, then in Riga, where he continued his education at the Polytechnic Institute. His wedding to Maria Alexandrovna Skvortsova took place in Riga.
Maria Alexandrovna (nee Skvortsova)
and Vsevolod Mikhailovich Keldyshi - parents
Maria Alexandrovna (1879‑1957) was born in Tiflis and grew up in a noble family. Her grandfather, General Nikolai Skvortsov, during Caucasian War was seriously wounded, and he was left to recover in the Georgian house where the mother and daughter lived. The mother was still a relatively young woman, a widow; She looked after the wounded man, and he asked her to marry him. However, the widow refused and advised him to marry her daughter. So the future great-grandmother Mstislava ended up in St. Petersburg, where she was assigned to the Smolny Institute for Noble Maidens so that she could receive an appropriate upbringing. Then the general married her, and Georgian blood flowed into the Keldysh family. Mstislava's mother Maria Alexandrovna recalled that on major holidays her grandchildren were taken to congratulate their grandmother, who was an important lady, surrounded by the respect of her adult sons. One of them was an infantry general, also a participant in the Caucasian War, Alexander Nikolaevich Skvortsov, and was the father of Maria Alexandrovna. He died in 1905, and the children of Maria Alexandrovna and Vsevolod Mikhailovich Keldysh did not know him. His wife Sofya Iosifovna (1857-1945) helped her daughter raise their children. Her maiden name was Kovzan; judging by her surname, she had Polish roots. However, it would be unfair to say that the Keldysh family is entirely of Polish origin. Like most Russian families with non-Russian-sounding surnames, the Keldysh family was made up of many nationalities, which is especially clearly seen in the genealogy of Maria Alexandrovna.
Grandfather - Skvortsov Alexander Nikolaevich
Another romantic story, more like a legend, is also connected with her ancestors and explains how gypsy blood got into the Keldysh family. A gypsy camp stopped near a certain noble estate in Ukraine, where Maria Alexandrovna’s great-great-grandfather, a young doctor, was visiting. When this camp left, they found an abandoned sick girl in that place. The owners of the estate took her to their house, the doctor cured the girl, and she remained to live in the landowner's house. When the girl grew up, the doctor married her. This is how gypsy blood joined the Keldysh family. It was most clearly visible in Mstislav and his older brother Alexander - both in their appearance and in their character.
Mstislav Vsevolodovich, the fifth child in the family, was born in 1911 in Riga, where at that time father Vsevolod Mikhailovich was already teaching at the Polytechnic Institute. Before this, the family of engineer V.M. Keldysh lived in different cities Russia, at his place of service. The first in the family was a daughter, Lyudmila, born in 1904 in Orenburg, then in 1905, a son, Alexander, was born in Helsingfors (now Helsinki), and in 1907, in St. Petersburg, Yuri (George). In Riga, where the family returned again because Vsevolod Mikhailovich was elected to the position of associate professor at the Polytechnic Institute, the following were born: Mikhail (1909), then Mstislav (1911) and Lyubov (1914).
In the arms of grandmother Mstislav, on the left - mother, brother Mikhail,
sister Lyudmila, brothers Alexander and Yuri
In 1915, due to the invasion of Latvia by the German army, the Riga Polytechnic Institute was evacuated to Moscow, where the Keldysh family also moved. There were then six children, of whom the eldest, Lyudmila, was eleven years old, and the youngest, Lyubov, was a little over a year old. There were no relatives in Moscow, it was very difficult for food and housing. For several years I had to live outside the city in Losinoostrovskaya. My parents, who were big fans of classical music, could not deny themselves the pleasure of attending concerts; sometimes after they ended they returned home from Moscow on foot. It was especially difficult in 1917-1918. The elder sister recalled that one day the mother fed the family only fried onions, since there was no other food in the house. Brothers Alexander and Yuri, who reached the age of 12 and 10 and received from their mother elementary education, we went to school in Moscow by train. These trips at that time were very dangerous. Sometimes the boys had to ride on the roof of a crowded carriage.
At the end of 1918, the father sent the family to the city of Ivanovo-Voznesensk, where part of the Riga Polytechnic Institute was transferred. He himself visited there from time to time, since his main work was in Moscow. In Ivanovo-Voznesensk thanks to ARA (America Relief Administration - American administrative assistance, a charitable organization that existed in 1919-1923 and aimed at helping countries affected by the First World War; during the famine in the Volga region soviet government allowed the activities of the ARA in the RSFSR) a relatively well-fed existence began. This charitable organization helped children and intellectuals. Six-year-old sister Lyubov attended APA dinners.
In 1919, Vsevolod Mikhailovich informed our grandfather Mikhail Fomich that he had a daughter, whom he decided to name Vera, because he believed in better life. In 1923, my father received an apartment in Moscow and moved his family there. Children Yuri, Mikhail, Mstislav and Lyubov were assigned to the Seventh Experimental Demonstration School in Krivoarbatsky Lane. Since then, the whole family lived in Moscow without a break. In the 1920s, Vsevolod Mikhailovich taught at the Higher School of Civil Engineering (VISU), which was separated from the Moscow Higher Technical School named after. N.E. Bauman, and from 1932 - at the Military Engineering Academy transferred from Leningrad. At the Academy V.M. Keldysh first headed the department of reinforced concrete, and then the department of building structures. In addition, he constantly went on business trips, was a member of state selection committees, and consulted on all large construction projects - the Dnieper Hydroelectric Power Station, the Dnieper Aluminum Plant, the Canal named after. Moscow, Moscow Metro, bridges over the Moscow River, Balakhninsky paper mill and many others.
Father - Vsevolod Mikhailovich Keldysh
In 1942, Vsevolod Mikhailovich was awarded military rank Major General. But by character he was a purely civilian man: when he was given a weapon, he was upset and hid it away. Then the firearms were taken away and one dagger was left, which is still kept by the daughter of Lyubov Vsevolodovna, who lived with her father before his last days.
The father supported a large family. His dependents, in addition to his children, wife and mother-in-law, were his mother, who lived separately. Mother and mother-in-law, as former generals, did not receive pensions. Everyone lived at the expense of their father, who was one of the highly paid specialists, and the family was financially secure relatively well. Before and after the war, parents often vacationed in the south, often taking their younger daughters with them.
At the age of 80, my father retired, received a general's pension and worked as a consultant in the construction department of the State Planning Committee. He died suddenly at the age of 87. Two days before his death, Vsevolod Mikhailovich suddenly started talking about his imminent death, and on November 19, 1965 he passed away. He survived his wife by 8 years, both of them are buried in the Donskoye cemetery, where the family crypt is located. In addition to Mstislav’s parents, both grandmothers and other relatives are buried there.
The mother, who devoted herself entirely to the family, was mainly involved in raising the children. My father often returned from work at 9–10 pm. (IN Stalin times meetings of various commissions sometimes continued until 12 at night.) The moral foundations in the family were firm, and here the father did not accept compromises. Children received the basics of literacy at home and by the age of 4-5 they could already read. The family had a big library children's and Russian classical literature. Even before school, all the children knew German, mostly oral speech, which was mastered under the guidance of a German teacher. Besides, in Soviet time The mother was helped with the housework by the former Bonna of the older children, a Latvian from Riga. Maria Alexandrovna, who spoke German and French well, spoke to this woman in German. They also addressed the children in German, but the children stubbornly answered in Russian.
Everyone in the family was fond of opera and classical music concerts; at home there were often conversations on these topics and new releases were discussed. Maria Alexandrovna played the piano well, and in her youth her parents often played four hands on their free evenings. Of course, all the children received some musical education, but only brother Yuri, on whom his mother had special hopes, showed obvious musical abilities. She originally dreamed of him becoming a pianist, but he had small hands. Then Maria Alexandrovna began to cherish the idea of Yuri becoming a conductor. As you know, Yuri Vsevolodovich eventually became a historian and musicologist. He is the author of about a hundred works - monographs and textbooks on the history of the development of Russian musical art. Yuri Vsevolodovich Keldysh died in 1995 at the age of 88.
Maria Alexandrovna's brother Nikolai Alexandrovich often appeared in the house, and he also played the piano well. He was an officer in the tsarist army and was very poor during Soviet times. He didn’t have his own instrument, and when he came to visit his sister, he took his soul away. Then Nikolai Alexandrovich was arrested and served time on the White Sea Canal. In Moscow, he was left without a means of support by his sick wife, whom our parents helped with money. In general, they always had to help numerous relatives. Upon his return, my uncle received a “minus”, that is, he did not have the right to live in a number of cities, and settled in Uglich. At the beginning of the war, news came that Nikolai Alexandrovich was arrested again. The family never heard anything more about him.
Mstislav Vsevolodovich's parents were not religious. But grandmother Sofya Iosifovna, who lived with the family and was mainly involved in raising her youngest granddaughter Vera, was a believer. She attended church and took the girl with her and taught her prayers. One day, one of my friends asked her parents why they allowed their grandmother to take their daughter to church, to which the mother replied: “When she grows up, she’ll figure it out on her own.”
The family preserved icons, the silver frames of which were sold during difficult times in Torgsin, and also traditionally celebrated major religious holidays, mainly Christmas and Easter. As for the older brothers and sister, who were, of course, baptized at birth, in the 20s they were ardent atheists. The family lived near the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, and the youth went there for the Easter service, during which they sang best forces Bolshoi Theater. After the religious procession, the children burst into the house, where a large table was already set with Easter cakes, a mountain of colored eggs and pyramids of Easter cheese. Dyeing eggs was the responsibility of the children, who were usually supervised by Mstislav Vsevolodovich.
The house in which the Keldyshes lived was located in Antipyevsky Lane, between the Pushkin Museum and Gogolevsky Boulevard. The lane was very quiet and green. Nearby, in a garden surrounded by a stone fence, there was the Marx and Engels Institute. In the spring, luxurious lilac branches hung over the fence, which the boys, of course, broke off. Children always dreamed of entering this garden, but strangers were not allowed there. The apartment was in a semi-basement and consisted of five and a half rooms. The sixth, four-meter room, was tiny and was intended for servants. It was occupied by the eldest of the brothers, Alexander, and the other three brothers lived in a large narrow room. There were three iron beds, a large desk and a piano. This room was always smoky, full of people, noisy and fun. Younger sisters were sometimes not allowed there. Yuri was the only one who didn’t smoke or make any noise. He sat at the piano for hours, completely immersed in the music, not noticing what was happening around him. I was told about such a scene from our life. Yuri, disconnected from everything, sits at the piano and plays. Then one of the brothers puts me on his shoulders and says: “Drag him by the hair.” I pull him by the hair, and he continues to play... Of all four brothers, Yuri was the most meek and, to some extent, his mother’s favorite. True, my mother, unlike my father, did not have pronounced preferences. My father’s favorite was Lyubov Vsevolodovna, one of the youngest. The eldest daughter Lyudmila was quite independent and always went her own way. Then four boys were born in a row: Alexander, Yuri, Mikhail and Mstislav. When the now most famous of the Keldysh, Mstislav Vsevolodovich, was born, there was disappointment in the family - again a boy. It was Mstislav, a “gypsy boy” in appearance and behavior, who was especially mischievous and cocky of all the brothers. The other “gypsy kid”, Alexander, was not much inferior to him. And finally, three years later, a girl, Lyubov, was born, who had an easy-going and gentle character. She became her father's favorite.
The passage room served as the family's dining room. There was a large dining table, chairs and a buffet, and in the evenings they put a samovar on coals. Young people often gathered in the house, mostly students and graduate students, friends of Lyudmila’s sister, who studied at the mathematics department of Moscow University. Future world-famous mathematicians A.N. passed through the house. Kolmogorov, I.V. Arnold, P.S. Alexandrov, future husband of Lyudmila P.S. Novikov and others. It was very interesting for the younger sisters to sit somewhere in a corner and listen to their conversations; Mstislav was often present there. The 20s passed, when people were not yet afraid to speak, and heated debates flared up on the topic of the day. Sometimes the father also took part in them. Once, in response to young people’s complaints about modern life, Vsevolod Mikhailovich said: “You are unhappy modern life, and I couldn’t find a job I liked in tsarist time, went entirely into teaching. And now I have an interesting and lively job."
Friends of Yuri Vsevolodovich from the music technical school also gathered. Scriabin. This group of musicians was interesting. The young people knew how to have fun, they played various games - charades with dressing up, stepping over chairs while blindfolded, and the chairs were removed without the “walker” noticing. Very often, parents were present and willingly welcomed all the children’s friends into their home.
Meanwhile, terrible times of repression were approaching, which in one way or another affected almost all family members. In 1935, Maria Alexandrovna, an elderly woman with a heart condition, was taken to the Lubyanka on a “black crow”. (At that time, a campaign was being carried out in the country to confiscate gold, mainly gold coins, from the population. Large specialists, the old intelligentsia and the former kulaks were subject to inquiry. For the former, the pressure came mainly through their wives, and my father already knew about this from the stories of his colleagues. ) A few days later, Vsevolod Mikhailovich’s nerves “lost” and he was unable to go to work. A week later, he was invited by telephone to the Lubyanka for a confrontation with his wife. Before leaving home, he called Yuri to his place, gave him all the gold things that were in the family (rings, brooches, men's watches) and said: “They are calling me. If necessary, give it all there.” At Lubyanka, the parents were offered to give away everything they had, but in the end they said: “You can keep these trinkets for yourself.” A few hours later, father and mother returned home.
Since then, every late call caused fear in the house. On the night of November 6-7, 1936, the “black raven” came for brother Mikhail, who was a graduate student Faculty of History university. He was very interested in his specialty - medieval history Germany - and studied all night long. In 1936, about a hundred people were arrested at the history department, mostly graduate students and teachers. In the summer of 1937, an official response was received to another request from the parents, stating that their son had been sentenced to 10 years without the right to correspondence. After 10 years, a notification came that Mikhail died in the camp in 1944. In the 60s, he was posthumously rehabilitated. The truth has only become clear in our days. Several years ago, the newspaper "Evening Moscow" published a list of those innocently convicted and executed, whose ashes were buried in a common grave in the cemetery at the Donskoy Monastery. Thus it became known that Mikhail was shot on May 29, 1937.
In 1938, it was the turn of brother Alexander, who spent more than a year in Lubyanka. Alexander was convicted as a French spy, was in a transit cell and was looking forward to being sent to the camp, because he thought it would be better there. However, at that moment Yezhov was removed and Beria was appointed, and a temporary review of a number of cases began. The charge of espionage against Alexander was dropped, but new charges of anti-Semitism were brought. A trial took place, at which most of the witnesses, among whom was his first Jewish wife, refuted the charges, and Alexander was released straight from the courtroom. He was at the front throughout the war. First - as a scout near Moscow, then in quartermaster units. In his youth, Alexander dreamed of becoming a dramatic actor, but eventually became an administrator at the State Concert. Until the last days of his life, even after two heart attacks, Alexander could not sit in one place for a long time. He traveled all over the country from Kaliningrad to Sakhalin and always, upon returning, spoke with pleasure about his trips. He died relatively early, at 68 years old.
Of the sisters of Mstislav Vsevolodovich, the brightest and strong personality there was the eldest, Lyudmila (1904-1976). A famous mathematician, one of the closest students of the prominent scientist N.N. Luzina, by the age of 36 she defended her dissertation for the scientific degree the doctors mathematical sciences, having by that time already had three children. Subsequently, Lyudmila Vsevolodovna had two more children. Until the end of her life, already being seriously ill, she worked at Moscow University and at the Mathematical Institute. V.A. Steklov Academy of Sciences of the USSR. She paid special attention to graduate students, helped them and morally supported them not only in overcoming scientific problems, but also in critical life situations. Lyudmila influenced her brother Mstislav when he chose the profession of mathematician - contrary to the wishes of his father, who wanted Mstislav, like him, to become a builder. Lyudmila Vsevolodovna's two sons inherited outstanding abilities in the exact sciences. The first son from Lyudmila Vsevolodovna’s first marriage, Leonid Veniaminovich Keldysh, is a theoretical physicist, academician, member of the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences, at one time he was the director of the Physical Institute of the Academy of Sciences (FIAN). The youngest son, Sergei Petrovich Novikov, is also an academician, a mathematician, who, it seems, has received all the international prizes in mathematics that exist.
Elder sister Lyudmila Vsevolodovna Keldysh,
Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, topologist
The only one of the children who, at the insistence of her father, inherited his profession as a civil engineer is Lyubov Vsevolodovna. She lived with them until the end of her parents’ lives and is now the keeper of the archives of the Keldysh family.
Keldysh Mstislav Vsevolodovich 1911-1978). Soviet scientist in the field of mathematics, mechanics, space science and technology, statesman, organizer of science.
Born on January 29 (February 10), 1911 in Riga in the family of Vsevolod Mikhailovich Keldysh, an adjunct professor at the Riga Polytechnic Institute, a major civil engineer (later an academician of architecture). Mother - Maria Alexandrovna (nee Skvortsova) - a housewife. In 1915, the Keldysh family moved from front-line Riga to Moscow. In 1919-1923 Keldysh lived in Ivanovo, where his father taught at the Polytechnic Institute, organized on the initiative of M.V. Frunze. In Ivanovo he began studying at high school, having received the necessary initial training at home from Maria Alexandrovna. Upon returning to Moscow (1923), he studied at a school with a construction focus, in the summer he went with his father to construction sites and worked as a laborer. Keldysh’s penchant for mathematics manifested itself in the 7th and 8th grades; teachers even then recognized his extraordinary abilities in the exact sciences.
Keldysh Mstislav Vsevolodovich
In 1927 he graduated from school and wanted to get his father’s profession of a civil engineer, which he liked, but he was not accepted into the construction institute where his father taught because of his youth (only 16). On the advice of his older sister Lyudmila, who graduated from the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Moscow State University and studied mathematics under the scientific guidance of N.N. Luzin, he entered the same faculty of Moscow State University. While studying at the university, Keldysh established scientific contacts with M.A. Lavrentiev, which later grew into many years of scientific cooperation and friendship. In the spring of 1930, simultaneously with his studies, he began working as an assistant at the Electrical Mechanical Engineering Institute, then also at the Stanko-Instrumental Institute (STANKIN).
After graduating from Moscow State University in 1931, on the recommendation of Academician A.I. Nekrasov, Keldysh was sent to the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute named after N.E. Zhukovsky (TsAGI). The scientific life of TsAGI at that time was headed by S.A. Chaplygin, and seminars were regularly held under his leadership. Participants in the seminar were also M.A. Lavrentiev, N.E. Kochin, L.S. Leibenzon, A.I. Nekrasov, G.I. Petrov, L.I. Sedov, L.N. Sretensky, F.I. Frankl, S.A. Khristianovich; many of them subsequently became famous mechanical scientists. Keldysh worked at TsAGI until December 1946, first as an engineer, then as a senior engineer, head of a group, and from 1941 as head of the dynamic strength department.
The initial period of Keldysh’s work at TsAGI was associated with research into nonlinear flow problems. In the works of this cycle, Neumann's external problem for nonlinear elliptic equations with application to the theory of a wing in a compressed gas (1934) and Rigorous justification of the theory of Zhukovsky's propeller (1935) (done in collaboration with F.I. Frankl), To the theory of an oscillating wing (1935, together with M.A. Lavrentiev) for the first time, the influence of the compressibility of the medium on the aerodynamic characteristics of streamlined bodies was strictly considered and the well-known Zhukovsky theorem on lift force was generalized; It was established for the first time that thrust occurs under certain modes of wing oscillation. He studied the theory of the impact of a body on a liquid and the movement of bodies under the surface of the liquid (float of a seaplane, hydrofoil.
We worked selflessly, but did not think about the meaning of our work. And only when, barely catching our breath after the launch, we heard how this launch was perceived throughout the world, we realized that the space age of mankind had begun.
Keldysh Mstislav Vsevolodovich
Continuing to work at TsAGI, in the fall of 1934 Keldysh entered graduate school (then supplemented by a two-year doctoral program) at the Steklov Mathematical Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences under Lavrentiev, where he studied issues of the theory of approximation of functions, closely related to the applied topics of his work (hydro-, aerodynamics) . In 1935, without defense, he was awarded the academic degree of Candidate of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, in 1937 - the degree of Candidate of Technical Sciences and the title of professor in the specialty "aerodynamics". On January 26, 1938, he defended his doctoral dissertation on the topic On the representation of functions of a complex variable and harmonic functions by series of polynomials.
The repressions of the 1930s did not spare the Keldysh family. In 1935, Maria Alexandrovna spent several days in prison; a company was taking place in the country to confiscate gold from the population. In 1936, brother Mikhail, at that time a graduate student in the history department of the university, studying medieval Germany, was arrested. He received 10 years without the right to correspondence (as was later established, he was shot in the spring of 1937). In 1938, brother Alexander was arrested on charges of espionage, then the charge was changed to anti-Semitism. In court, however, the charges were dropped and he was released.
The cycle of works by Keldysh and his colleagues in the pre-war and war years was devoted to vibrations and self-oscillations of aircraft structures. His research laid the foundations for methods of numerical calculation and modeling in wind tunnels of the flutter phenomenon (strong vibrations of aircraft wings that occurred at certain aircraft speeds and led to its destruction). Keldysh's results not only led to the development of simple and reliable measures to prevent flutter, but also became the basis of a new branch of science on the strength of aircraft structures. It is known that in German aviation in the period 1935-1943, 146 accidents due to flutter were recorded. In the process of work, Keldysh’s group had to endure intense polemics; opponents appealed to high authorities (up to the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)).
The results of Keldysh’s work played a big role in the creation of high-speed aviation in our country.
In October 1941, Keldysh with his wife Stanislava Valerianovna and three children, along with other TsAGI employees, were evacuated to Kazan, where he continued to work. In April 1942 he was awarded the Stalin Prize of the 2nd degree for scientific works to prevent aircraft destruction. During the war years, along with scientific and experimental research at TsAGI, he was involved in the implementation of the developed recommendations in aircraft design bureaus and aircraft factories. This activity was marked by the Orders of the Red Banner of Labor (1943) and Lenin (1945). In 1944 Keldysh was awarded a medal"For the defense of Moscow."
Closely related to his studies of aircraft oscillations and flutter are his studies of the stability of the front wheel of a three-wheeled landing gear, which made it possible to propose expedient and simple design measures to eliminate shimming (self-excited turns and displacements) of an aircraft wheel during takeoff or landing, which led to the destruction of the front landing gear of the aircraft. According to available data, there were more than 150 accidents related to “shimmies” in German aviation, and not a single one in domestic aviation. In 1946, for research in this area, he was awarded the Stalin Prize of the 2nd degree for the second time.
The success of Keldysh's applied work is due not only to his deep intuition as a mechanical engineer and experimenter, but also to his outstanding talent as a mathematician, a sophisticated theorist and creator of computational algorithms and methods. Conversely, many of his fundamental mathematical studies had their origin in problems arising from his work in mechanics. As a mathematician, Keldysh contributed to the theory of functions, potential theory, differential equations, and functional analysis. Great importance have Keldysh's results in mechanics, covering hydrodynamics, aerodynamics, gas dynamics, and mechanics of aircraft structures. Keldysh learned a lot from communicating with aircraft designers, primarily S.A. Lavochkin and A.N. Tupolev.
In September 1943, Keldysh was elected a corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences in the Department of Physical and Mathematical Sciences. In June 1944, he became the head of the recently created department of mechanics at the Mathematical Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences and remained in this position until 1953. A scientific seminar worked at the department, bringing together specialists in aeromechanics. At the same time, he resumed teaching at Moscow State University, which began in 1932, he lectured at the faculties of mechanics, mathematics and physics and technology, headed the department of thermodynamics, and led a research seminar on the theory of functions of a complex variable. From 1942 to 1953 Keldysh was a professor at Moscow State University. Many of his students of that time became prominent scientists, among them academicians A.A. Gonchar, D.E. Okhotsimsky, T.M. Eneev.
At the end of 1946, Keldysh was elected a full member of the USSR Academy of Sciences in the Department of Technical Sciences. Has begun new period his activities, associated with the names of the “three Ks”: I.V. Kurchatov, S.P. Korolev and M.V. Keldysh. Immediately after his election as an academician, he was appointed head (since August 1950, scientific director) of the leading research institute (NII-1 of the Ministry of Aviation Industry, now the M.V. Keldysh Center), which dealt with applied problems of rocket science. Since that time, the main direction of Keldysh’s activity has been related to rocket technology. The world's first intercontinental missile was launched in the USSR on August 21, 1957.
In 1949, Keldysh became a member of the Communist Party, and was subsequently elected a member of the CPSU Central Committee (since 1961), a delegate to the CPSU congresses (XXII, 1961; XXIII, 1966; XXIV, 1971; XXV, 1977).
In the post-war years. Keldysh was involved in solving problems of nuclear energy and computational mathematics. New research methods were required, first of all effective methods and means of mathematical calculation. The need to create them caused a revolution in the field of computational mathematics, which radically changed its general scientific significance. Keldysh was one of the first to predict the role of computational mathematics in increasing the efficiency of scientific and technical research. Having met the creators of the first domestic computer, M.A. Lesechko and Yu.Ya. Bazilevsky, he became an expert in this field. In 1953, he became the founder of the Institute (until 1966 - Department) of Applied Mathematics of the USSR Academy of Sciences and its permanent director. The development of modern computational mathematics in our country is largely connected with the activities of this institute, which now bears his name.
Keldysh took part in the work on creating a nuclear missile shield both as the leader of large teams and as the author of many scientific and technical ideas and computational methods. At this time he published works on assessing the consequences nuclear explosion: On assessing the effect of an explosion at high altitudes (1950, together with L.I. Sedov) and Point explosion in the atmosphere (1955, together with D.E. Okhotsimsky and others)
In 1956 he was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor, and in 1957 his scientific achievements were awarded the Lenin Prize.
He made outstanding contributions to the development of Soviet space science and technology. Having started working on space topics in 1946 in creative collaboration with S.P. Korolev, he was one of the initiators of a wide expansion of work on the study and exploration of space. From the beginning of 1956, he headed one of the leading areas in their implementation. His contribution to the formation and successful development of such scientific directions like mechanics space flight and space navigation. Since 1953, work has been carried out at the Mathematical Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences to solve the problems of launching an artificial satellite into Earth orbit, culminating in its successful launch and placement into orbit on October 4, 1957. Keldysh played a decisive role in the creation of a relatively cheap launch vehicle for launching satellites into orbit for scientific programs (satellites of the “Cosmos” family). He led the “Lunar” program, including flights of automatic stations of the “Luna” family, directed by Keldysh. Involved research teams in the program, led meetings and seminars to discuss research results and adopt further plans. The first apparatus was sent to the Moon on January 2, 1959. On October 4, 1959, photographs of the far side of the Moon were received (from the Luna-3 apparatus). In 1966, a soft landing was made on the surface of the Moon, and an artificial satellite (Luna-10) was launched into its orbit. In October 1970, Luna-16 launched, delivering samples of lunar soil to Earth, then the launch of the automatic station Luna-17 with the self-propelled vehicle Lunokhod-1; In total, by 1976, 34 devices of the Luna series were launched. The first three launches of spacecraft to the Moon ended in disasters: the R-7 rockets successfully launched into Earth orbit artificial satellites, exploded in flight. Keldysh was able to understand the cause of the disasters - the development of vibrations in the rocket fuel system. No less effective is Keldysh’s participation in the Venus research program associated with the automatic stations of the “Venera” family (starting with “Venera-4”, 1967); the “Venera-7” apparatus (1970) showed that the pressure on the surface of Venus is 100 Earth atmospheres , temperature 400° C. The role of Keldysh in the exploration of Mars is great. In 1960, in preparation for the launch of the first automatic station to Mars, Keldysh proposed testing instruments intended for the study of Mars under terrestrial conditions. This made it possible to identify ineffective equipment and save tens of kilograms in the weight of the automatic station. He traveled to test sites and cosmodromes during the preparation and launch of spacecraft, was a member of various commissions on space problems, was the chairman of expert commissions, commissions to analyze the causes of accidents, in particular, was the chairman of an emergency commission to determine the causes of crew death spacecraft"Soyuz-11" (cosmonauts G.T. Dobrovolsky, V.N. Volkov and V.I. Patsaev (1971).
Identification of new scientific and technical problems, development of space technology, formation of comprehensive scientific and technical programs, flight control issues - this is not a complete list of problems that were part of Keldysh’s activities. In 1961, for special services in the development of rocket technology, the creation and successful launch on April 12, 1961 of the world's first spaceship "Vostok" with a man on board, he was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor for the second time.
On March 18, 1965, the first human spacewalk was carried out (cosmonaut Alexei Leonov). Keldysh made a huge contribution to the joint Soviet-American space flight Soyuz-Apollo (1975) and the development of flights under the Intercosmos program.
He was one of the initiators of the creation of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology in 1951 (in the city of Dolgoprudny, Moscow region) and gave lectures for some time; for a long time he was the head of the department.
A large period of Keldysh’s life is associated with his activities in the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences, which began in October 1953 and continued until the end of his life. Since 1953 he has been Academician-Secretary of the Department of Mathematics of the Academy of Sciences. In 1960 he was elected vice-president, and in May 1961 - president of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
Heading the USSR Academy of Sciences from 1961 to 1975, he provided all possible support for the development in our country not only of mathematics and mechanics, but also of new directions modern science, such as cybernetics, quantum electronics, molecular biology and genetics. In 1062, the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences decided to build a complex of biological institutes in the city of Pushchino. Under Keldysh, a comprehensive audit of the activities of T.D. Lysenko took place, which made it possible to expose the pseudoscientific concepts of “Lysenkoism” that denied genetics. In the lists full members The Academy was posthumously restored by N.I. Vavilov, and his merits in biology and agricultural sciences were confirmed.
The years when Keldysh held the post of President of the USSR Academy of Sciences were the most rapid growth Academy, turning it into the largest center of fundamental science. In 1971, for exceptional services to the state in the development of Soviet science and technology, great scientific and social activities, and in connection with his 60th anniversary, Keldysh became three times Hero of Socialist Labor (the eleventh three times Hero for the entire time this title was awarded).
He developed international scientific cooperation and coordination of scientific research in every possible way. On scientific visits he visited Germany and England (1965), Czechoslovakia (1963, 1970), Japan (1964), Poland (1964, 1973), France (1965,1967), Romania (1966), Bulgaria (1966, 1969), Hungary (1967), Canada (1967), Italy (1969), Sweden (1969), Spain (1970), USA (the first official visit of the Russian Academy of Sciences for its entire existence, 1972). Keldysh spoke German fluently and French, also read in Italian, already in mature age(after 50) began to study English. His merits received international recognition, among his titles: academician of the German Academy of Naturalists "Leopoldina" (GDR, 1961), academician of the Academy of Sciences of Mongolia (1961), academician of the Academy of Sciences of Poland (1962), academician of the Academy of Sciences of Czechoslovakia (1962), honorary member of the Academy Sciences of Romania (1965), honorary foreign member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (1966), honorary foreign member of the American Academy of Sciences and Arts in Boston (1966), corresponding member of the German Academy of Sciences in Berlin (1966), honorary member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1968 ), honorary member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (1970), honorary member of the Academy of Finland (1974); honorary doctor from the University of Delhi (1967), honorary doctor from the University of Budapest (1967), honorary doctor from the University of Lagos (Nigeria, 1968), honorary doctor from the Charles University in Prague (Czechoslovakia, 1974), honorary doctor from the Indian Statistical Institute (1974).
Keldysh did a lot of work in the Committee for Lenin and State Prizes of the USSR in the field of science and technology, heading it from 1961 until his death. His reviews of the presented works have independent scientific interest. He fully supported the transition to mass machine production, which made labor easier. He highly appreciated the introduction of cotton and tea harvesting machines. IN last years During his life, Keldysh was interested in the problem of creating solar power plants in space orbit.
On January 10, 1973, Keldysh underwent surgery on blood vessels, performed by American professor M. De Becchi (who refused the fee for the operation and expressed gratitude for the honor of operating on Keldysh).
Awarded the Order of Lenin (1945, twice 1954, 1956, 1961, 1967, 1975), the Red Banner of Labor (1943, 1945, 1953), medals "For Valiant Labor in the Great Patriotic War" Patriotic War"(1945), "800 years of Moscow" (1947), "20 years of Victory" (1965), "For valiant work in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of V.I. Lenin" (1970), "30 years of Victory" (1975). Knight of the Order of the Legion of Honor (Commander) (1971), highest orders a number of other countries.
Golden medal named after M.V. Lomonosov of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1976).
He died on June 24, 1978. The urn with Keldysh’s ashes was buried in the Kremlin wall near Red Square in Moscow.
Mstislav Vsevolodovich Keldysh - photo
Mstislav Vsevolodovich Keldysh - quotes
We worked selflessly, but did not think about the meaning of our work. And only when, barely catching our breath after the launch, we heard how this launch was perceived throughout the world, we realized that the space age of mankind had begun. 
The Academy became the headquarters of Soviet science.
The works and deeds of the scientist are known. But what was this man like, whose centenary Russia is now celebrating? Let's turn the pages of the memoirs of our contemporaries.
Memorial office of M. V. Keldysh at the Institute of Applied Mathematics, which bears his name.
M.V. Keldysh in the Valley of Geysers in Kamchatka. Early 1970s.
M. V. Keldysh speaks at a meeting of the Academic Council.
The year is 1920. The future academician and president of the USSR Academy of Sciences is nine years old.
Graduates of the Faculty of Physics of Moscow State University in 1931. M. Keldysh is third from the right in the top row.
Academicians A. P. Alexandrov, M. V. Keldysh and I. V. Kurchatov.
M. V. Keldysh and S. P. Korolev.
Brothers Alexander, Yuri, Mikhail and Mstislav. 1919
On vacation in the Moscow region.
Monument to M. V. Keldysh next to the Institute of Applied Mathematics on Miusskaya Square in Moscow. Sculptor V. Klykov.
Gold medal named after M. V. Keldysh, established by the Academy of Sciences.
Mstislav Vsevolodovich is a unique phenomenon. This has not happened and will not happen. He made an impression on me intelligent person in the broadest sense of the word: beautiful gray hair, a beautiful face, and what was striking when communicating with him was the impression that you were dealing with nuclear reactor, who is outwardly intelligent, but the main thing in him is his inner being. This continuous burning, extraordinary internal heat, a huge amount internal energy, - the impression of something hidden, powerful in this person...
Academician O. G. Gazenko.
1931 Of course, a person, first of all, and probably only, is famous for his deeds. As they say: “I am a poet, that’s what makes me interesting.” But still…
The young man is slightly above average height, thin, rather frail in build, very dark, with blue-black hair and lively dark eyes. The movements are impetuous, sharp, when walking, it pushes the shoulder forward, as if spreading the air with it. Given the prevailing nihilistic attitude towards one's appearance at that time, one noticed the absence of bubbles on trousers, highly polished shoes, a tie and an always shaved face. In these little things one could see thorough training. "A boy from a good family."
There are few friends among peers - he gravitates towards older people. He speaks quietly, is laconic, and there is no special beauty in his everyday speech. If he is angry, he speaks even more quietly, and for some reason a noticeable “French accent” appears in his speech. Changes in mood are fast, almost instantaneous. Good manners are immediately visible. But he doesn’t give the impression of being bookish, out of this world, human, or neat. Does not tolerate familiarity and familiarity. Maybe, as they say, for the sake of a sweet soul, “shave off” your interlocutor... M.V. simply did not know how to use strong words. They didn’t work out for him... He “shaved off” politely and more efficiently...
Two different sides of character coexisted in him. A rational mindset somehow coexisted with increased emotionality...
Communication with prominent scientists could not but affect Keldysh’s development of a certain worldview, one might say, a professional one. One of his requirements is uncompromising exactingness towards himself. The entire situation at TsAGI has always provided examples of such an attitude to business...
The years of work at TsAGI were years of learning, formation, and maturation of Mstislav Vsevolodovich Keldysh not only as a scientist, but also as an organizer of science. Essentially the problem of flutter, flutter made Keldysh a scientist-engineer...
Doctors of physical and mathematical sciences Ya. M. Parkhomovsky and L. S. Popov.
On one of the first days of December 1946, the chief generals at the institute (NII-1) were replaced by a 35-year-old academician, gentle, outwardly calm, with intelligent manners and a quiet voice, who, it would seem, does not know how to give orders. M.V. Keldysh comes from a field of science far from the scope of activity of NII-1; If they knew about him at the institute, it was by hearsay. New leader Of course, he sees the difficult situation in the team, feels the tense and sometimes irritated and distrustful atmosphere created by the turmoil of the past year. He, M.V. Keldysh, will have to infuse new strength into people, give them the right target guidelines...
Candidate of Technical Sciences Yu. G. Demyanko.
He had the quality of an expert, the ability to ask that one question that clarifies the problem. He saw deeply and far ahead. He couldn't help but work.
What struck me was the respect, the degree of respect that he rightly won not only among scientists, but also among the heads of design enterprises in various industries. After uttering the first phrase: “I came to you on behalf of Academician Keldysh,” further negotiations proceeded amazingly easily...
Academician B.V. Rauschenbach.
Upon S.P. Korolev’s return from Germany, in the second half of 1947, I introduced him to M.V. Keldysh. As far as I remember, the first acquaintance took place at NII-1 in the office of M.V. Keldysh, where we came for consultations on a number of issues that interested us. At first, S.P. was reluctant to contact us with NII-1 MAP. And this is understandable - after all, this institute, previously called the RNII, was organized on his initiative, and here he worked fruitfully for a long time.
Close contact between our organization and NII-1, between M.V. Keldysh and S.P. Korolev was established during research on the T-1 topic and the experimental cruise missile (ECR) with a ramjet engine (SPVRD) M.M. Bondaryuk (the team he headed was at that time part of NII-1)…
Academician V.P. Mishin.
D.E. Okhotsimsky and I witnessed such an amazing circumstance. This time everything was going so badly at the cosmodrome that the engineers sat day and night, and Mstislav Vsevolodovich and his employees had nothing to do. Then suddenly Mstislav Vsevolodovich announces that he will give a course of lectures on the substantiation of the theory of relativity. It's amazing that his head couldn't stop working. There were five listeners. There were no books, just a head, a pencil and paper. Mstislav Vsevolodovich said: “This is not my idea, I remembered, and I’m interested in telling you.” Based general properties space and time, he built the entire theory of relativity in five lectures...
Academician B.V. Rauschenbach.
Keldysh is a Russian nugget, a diamond head! Behind him, like behind a stone wall, nothing was scary. I was present at Baikonur when spaceship was launched into orbit inaccurately. Corrections will be required, but how much? V.P. Glushko (he was in charge then) ordered his ballistician to go and calculate it on a computer. He left.
Mstislav Vsevolodovich took a box of Kazbek cigarettes out of his pocket, figured something out on it with a pen, and half a minute later said in a quiet, calm voice: “Twenty corrections.” Glushko glanced at him briefly, but did not react. About half an hour later the ballistician returned. “Well, how many did you count there?” - asked Glushko. - “Twenty corrections, Valentin Pavlovich”...
Cosmonaut A. A. Leonov.
I want to note character traits and features inherent creative activity Keldysh. Firstly, this is an invariable sense of the new, the ability to find and define this new, to understand it. Secondly, this is the method itself - the desire is always for a purely practical, complete solution to the problem and the desire to establish specific recommendations applicable to life; and with all this very high level research, correct development and solution of this problem.
Keldysh as a scientist is very distinguished by his wide and close connections with industry, with design bureaus, factories and flight testing organizations.
Keldysh is the organizer, scientific director and the most direct participant in the development of the most complex problems of space exploration...
Academician S.P. Korolev.
In one of the conversations we showed Keldysh the whole syllabus for our MIPT student from the first to the last year, where mathematics, physics and other sciences were studied very deeply and seriously. He looked, thought and said: “What if there is a student who knows all this? Where will we go then? I paused and said: “Mstislav Vsevolodovich, there is no such student.” After this, I felt that the conversation had become less formal, and therefore continued: “At Novosibirsk University they teach general and theoretical physics together starting from the 1st year. Do you think maybe we should switch to this system?” Keldysh thought for a moment (those eyes, eyes, eyes...) and replied: “In education we need healthy conservatism. You are doing everything right”...
Academician O. M. Belotserkovsky.
They say that M.V. Keldysh blessed Academician I.G. Petrovsky to become the rector at Moscow State University and recommended observing three rules, which, as I understood, were his life principles:
1. Do not fight evil, but take up and do good, good deeds.
2. Do not listen to complaints in the absence of the person against whom the complaint is made.
3. Do not promise anything to anyone, but if you have promised, then do it, even if the circumstances have worsened.
They say that when Petrovsky asked why one should not fight evil, etc., he replied: because in this fight evil uses all means, and you only use noble ones, and therefore you will lose and suffer. Not listening to complaints is very useful - the number of complainants immediately decreases, and when both sides come, the analysis of the case is accelerated due to the absence of unfounded claims. Finally, it is better not to promise and do what is asked, than to promise but not do it if circumstances interfere.
So Mstislav Vsevolodovich Keldysh was wise...
Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences V.A. Egorov.
Mstislav Vsevolodovich - knight of science. Everything is for science and for the sake of science. I don't know such a second person. I am absolutely sure that he actually gave his life for science.
Many on the Presidium of the Academy were afraid of him. He taught order. He did not tolerate idle talk and deception, he knew how to quickly understand the essence of the problems under discussion, find the main link, discarding everything secondary and unimportant. Mstislav Vsevolodovich was very demanding of others, but even more demanding of himself.
I would say that Mstislav Vsevolodovich was unmercenary in the best sense of the word. He served as director of the institute and president of the Academy of Sciences. It would seem - funds, staff for the institute - you just have to blink. But he never blinked. He did not do anything for his institute to a greater extent than for others, he even did less. In this regard, he was fantastically scrupulous! You need to be able to curb yourself in order to limit your native institute in terms of funds and staff. He was mercilessly demanding of himself.
But despite the external severity, Mstislav Vsevolodovich was a very humane person. Keldysh had an amazing sense of truth. He understood people very well. Some people say that they lay softly but are hard to sleep on. About Keldysh I would say: he lays hard, but sleeps softly.
I maintain that at the same time he was a very kind and sympathetic person. There are people who show their kindness, and Mstislav Vsevolodovich was shy in his kindness. He often did good things to people, but never showed it. And in reality he was a very shy person.
If you ask me what attracts me most about Mstislav Vsevolodovich, then I will answer - the ability to see and support the new, emerging. I remember we came to A.N. Kosygin to report on microbial protein (which is now produced in large quantities). I reported, Keldysh actively supported me. When they left, Mstislav Vsevolodovich said: “Well, you said some nonsense there.” And he explained to me my mistakes...
Academician G.K. Scriabin.
During Mstislav Vsevolodovich's stay on the captain's bridge of our ship... The Academy of Sciences has grown in all respects, its authority has increased immeasurably... I would also say that the faithful tuning fork that Mstislav Vsevolodovich gives to our academic choir is extremely important. If I try to express what kind of tuning fork this is, I would say this - this is the development of fundamental science and, through this fundamental science, a fundamental contribution to the practice and economy of the country...
Academician A. N. Nesmeyanov.
His name personified the Academy of Sciences for many years, and his significance went far beyond the Academy of Sciences... Brilliant natural gifts were concentrated in one person with such strength, with such brilliance that as a result a figure of very large scale arose both in science and in government activities. This is a man of great intelligence. Nature generously rewarded our president with many spiritual riches, and the president generously spent his spiritual and intellectual forces, generously to the point of extravagance... He evoked a feeling of surprise with his tirelessness in his work, a sense of surprise with the scale of his activity and, I must say, evoked a feeling of great human sympathy , despite some outwardly harsh traits of his character. He was unusually responsible for his activities, unusually self-critical, sometimes even to the point of self-torture.
Academician M. A. Markov.
In general, there was some kind of mystery in Mstislav Vsevolodovich, it always surrounded him. He was an outstanding man, and his authority was largely related to the authority of his personality, and not all those titles and attributes that accompanied his name. Everyone who interacted with him clearly fell under his charm and the strength of his personality... and almost everyone felt some kind of awe and respect for his person towards Keldysh. He was special person. This aura of exclusivity always surrounded him, wherever he was.
In modern history there have been very few people like Mstislav Vsevolodovich. And his contribution to science, to the development of life, is so great that it makes no sense to discuss it. Everything that Mstislav Vsevolodovich touched was also illuminated by the significance of his personality. I think that his image will be remembered for a very long time. This is one of the most outstanding people that we have ever known...
Academician Yu. A. Osipyan.
From the very beginning space age Keldysh took a direct part in solving numerous scientific and organizational problems. At the same time, his very close friendship with Sergei Pavlovich Korolev turned out to be extremely fruitful for the practical advancement of the entire mass of problems not only in technology, but also in higher education. political spheres- this was necessary at that time.
Mstislav Vsevolodovich Keldysh was the chairman of N-number (it’s hard to even count!) of all kinds of expert commissions, and not a single new project in astronautics or rocketry received the green light without the corresponding conclusion of the expert commissions headed by M. V. Keldysh, vested with very great rights. His word was sometimes decisive - for some it was murderous, for others it was inspiring. I had to work on many of these commissions, and I observed how Keldysh (a mathematician!) was able to delve very meticulously into small engineering problems.
But this is not enough. He considered it absolutely necessary to be present during the preparation of space launches directly at the test site. And Keldysh, surprisingly, walked at night and watched how preparations were being made for the launch of the launch vehicle and spacecraft, participated in meetings state commission and all kinds of operational meetings.
1960 When preparing the first launch on Mars, Sergei Pavlovich came up with a proposal to Keldysh, who was at the test site: “We need to facilitate ourselves at the expense of scientific equipment, otherwise the meaning of this launch is completely lost. What to remove?
There was such a heavy instrument, a spectroreflexometer, which, in the event of a successful, close flyby, was supposed to show whether there is water there, on Mars, and thereby - is there life on Mars? If you remove this device from the board, then in many ways not only the meaning of the launch itself is lost. Keldysh tells Korolev: “This is also a terrible blow for Professor Lebedinsky, who put a lot of effort into the creation of this device. I cannot come out with such a proposal. But there is an idea..."
He invites Professor Lebedinsky and explains that the current situation with the scales is extremely difficult. Therefore, there is a proposal: remove the device from the spacecraft, organize the equivalent of everything on board to turn it on, install a radio telemetry system of the same type in the steppe and in this way check what will be recorded by the device in the Kazakh steppe, a kilometer from our base .
We spent the night working on organizing the experiment. We brought out a radio telemetry system and a spectroreflexometer, recorded and processed the results. It turned out - “there is no life on Earth.” “Well, if this is the case,” says Keldysh, “we will remove your device from the board.” Thus, at Keldysh’s suggestion, we won 12 kilograms. True, the launch on Mars failed for other reasons.
February 1961. Another series of launches to Venus. The first launch failed. Preparations for a new launch are underway. Sergei Pavlovich literally twists the arms of all of us who were preparing the launch: we must make sure that we carry out the launch on February 10, on the day of M.V. Keldysh’s fiftieth birthday. And he immediately worked with us all these days and nights. But by February 10 it didn’t work out; we were two days late. On February 10, Korolev, in his house, despite the difficult launch preparation schedule, nevertheless decided to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Mstislav Vsevolodovich with a small banquet. There was nothing but champagne and a very modest appetizer. We gathered, but Keldysh was not there. He lived in a hotel about 200 meters from the royal house together with A. Yu. Ishlinsky. Finally they covered this distance against the cold wind. We hurried and raised our glasses “to the health of Mstislav Vsevolodovich, to his further cooperation with us.” We had only just finished the first thing when we heard the siren of a fire truck rushing past our house. Korolev calls his assistant: “Find out what happened there?” He quickly returns and says: “Keldysh is burning.”
How come Keldysh is here!
It turned out that two respected scientists - Keldysh and Ishlinsky - were playing chess and forgot about the invitation. When they remembered, while leaving for the celebration from their hotel room, they did not turn off the electric stove with a lousy spiral, which fell onto the table and set fire to a mass of scientific notes lying on it. The fire was quickly extinguished. Keldysh endured the toasts addressed to him, after which he said: “Now, from those remains of champagne that we still have, let’s drink to the success of the launches to Venus.”
The enthusiasm that Keldysh showed in the Venus research program energized everyone. Indeed, he possessed some kind of magical power that was transmitted to everyone - from ordinary testers to developers and scientists.
In stressful situations, Mstislav Vsevolodovich acted as a perfect damper for possible fluctuations and at the same time retained only his inherent inner intelligence.
I want to remember one critical moment when M. V. Keldysh simply shocked me. In October 1962, the world stood on the brink of nuclear war (the Cuban Missile Crisis).
In those days, we were preparing to launch an automatic interplanetary station(AMC). The tension was incredible. It so happened that in October 1962, S.P. Korolev flew to Moscow on urgent matters, and Keldysh remained at the test site as deputy chairman of the state commission for the launch of the spacecraft to Mars. The time window for launch was very narrow, so we were in a hurry, as always. Finally they took the rocket - the Martian carrier - to the launch pad. This was the same platform from which Yuri Gagarin was launched into space in 1961. The start is usually prepared by a military team.
When I went to the installation and testing building, I learned that all of us civilians were being removed from work, and the military was urgently unsheathing the duty R-7 combat missile standing to the side. (According to the combat schedule, in the event of an aggravation of the international situation and the threat of nuclear aggression, it is necessary to dock a nuclear warhead, stored in a completely different secret location, and then take it to the launch site.)
Boris Evseevich, you have nothing to do here today,” said Colonel Kirillov. - I have the command to remove the Martian vehicle from the launch pad and put the combat R-7 in its place. Now they must bring a warhead for docking with the missile, so we ask everyone to leave. Mstislav Vsevolodovich already knows everything and is now in the marshal’s house. I'll give you my car, go to him.
I am outraged, but I submit to the force and go to that very house to pour out my emotions on Mstislav Vsevolodovich. And suddenly I can’t believe my eyes...
M. V. Keldysh, A. Yu. Ishlinsky, L. A. Voskresensky and V. P. Finogeev (N. A. Pilyugin’s deputy) are sitting at the table and calmly playing preference. Mstislav Vsevolodovich, after listening to me, said: “Calm down, now it’s not up to us, let the military work, don’t interfere.” It simply amazes me that M.V. plays preference in such an environment (by the way, I had never seen him play preference before and didn’t know that he could)... At this time Colonel Kirillov’s car pulls up, he gets out and shouts: “All clear! We made peace!”...
Often, observing Keldysh during the preparations for space launches, it seemed to me that he was very overworked. At a large number of all kinds of meetings and meetings that took place with us day and night, he sometimes sat with his eyes closed and seemed to fall asleep. I remember that at a meeting of one emergency commission, A. Yu. Ishlinsky, with his usual brilliance, made a report on why the main gyroscopic device failed during the preparation of the launch vehicle. Korolev, who chaired the meeting, was waiting for Keldysh’s comments, and Keldysh was sleeping. But suddenly he opened his eyes and said quite calmly: “After such a wonderful report by Alexander Yulievich, even to those who do not know the theory of gyroscopes, it will become clear that it is necessary to fly without gyroscopes at all.” General laughter cleared the situation.
He had such a property of pretending to be asleep, so that the speakers sometimes lost their vigilance and said things that they should not have said in front of Keldysh. In fact, his brain, his consciousness of a truly real genius, did not know rest...
I am now talking only about one area of \u200b\u200bM.V. Keldysh's activity - rocket and space technology, in which he was continuously involved not as a consultant, but as a high and responsible leader, vested with very great rights.
After one very difficult meeting of the emergency commission led by Keldysh, at which the accident with the death of the cosmonauts was dealt with, he held a meeting of the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences. Nikolai Alekseevich Pilyugin, as a member of the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences, was present at this meeting (on humanitarian issues) and was amazed. He shared with me: “Where and when does M.V. Keldysh find time to prepare on issues that I personally understand nothing about?!” He was completely shocked by how deeply Keldysh delved into humanitarian problems, and his authority in these scientific circles was extremely great.
Keldysh was the true leader of our science. As president of the Academy of Sciences, he went far beyond the rights and opportunities that the state formally allocated to science. He raised science, education and thereby the greatness of the country. These are the people who should lead the country.
The activity of M.V. Keldysh as an exceptional organizer of science was truly a real productive force, which raised the authority of our country to a height unattainable today.
Academician B. E. Chertok.
Material prepared by senior Researcher Memorial office-museum of academician M.V. Keldysh Galina Ezerova. Quotes used from the book “M. V. Keldysh. Creative portrait according to the memoirs of contemporaries" (M.: Nauka, 2001 and 2002).
