VSEVOLOD IVANOVICH ROMANOVSKY

(05.12.1879-06.10.1954)

Vsevolod Ivanovich Romanovsky is a great scientist and a generous supervisor who has a special place among scientists, writers and artists. He made a great contribution to the development of science, literature and art of our country and left a rich heritage.

The scholar was born in 1879 in Verniy (now Alma-Ata). His father was exiled to this city because he had taken part in the rebellion against the Russian Empire for the independence of Poland. Vsevolod's father died when he was 12 and with his mother, he moved to Tashkent to make a living. He studied vocational school here and after graduating from it, entered the St. Petersburg Institute of Technology, but his interest in mathematics encouraged him to study at the university. To study in university, candidates had to have a specialized school diploma. Therefore, he returned to Tashkent, studied for another year, and in 1901 entered the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of St. Petersburg University.

V.I. Romanovsky was already distinguished from other students by his talent in his student years, and after graduation, he was taken to the university to conduct research. It is noteworthy that the young mathematician worked also on Oriental poetry and philosophy during this period, but did research and tremendous works in mathematics and considered it as the main research subject. Later he disappointed not being an Orientalist and even said, "I should have been an Orientalist, I regret that I was not engaged in Oriental poetry and philosophy." It is not surprising since V.I. Romanovsky proudly considered himself a "Turkist", and St. Petersburg was one of the major centers of oriental studies.

Despite the great success in science, due to financial difficulties, V.I. Romanovsky had to return to Tashkent. Here he taught mathematics at the school where he studied. In 1910 he was invited to the University of Warsaw as a professor and worked there. Later He continued his career at Rostov University as a professor. In spite of his high career in both cities, he thought about returning to Tashkent. He wrote about it in his diary as follows: “Less than a year after I left Tashkent, I began to miss Turkestan. From the day I came here to work, I have no peace of mind. Every autumn I want to leave the university and return to the country. I had felt so much sophistication during my walks in the Chirchik and in the mountains. Losing them breaks my heart. Even the rain reminds me of the mountains of Central Asia.” (from the book “Vsevolod Ivanovich Romanovsky” by A.N. Bogolyubov and G.P. Matvievskaya, published in Moscow in 1997). He even expressed his feelings in poetry. One of them is called "To the Heart of Asia" and was dedicated to Samarkand.

Finally, in 1918, V. I. Romanovsky returned to Tashkent and started working at the school. The scientist wanted to open a university here. He wrote letters and articles justifying the need for the establishment of a university. In particular, in an article published in the “Turkestan teacher” newspaper in the 1st issue of 1918, we can read the following lines:

“Turkestan is a land of ancient and high culture and a rich and unique country with great potential for development. It witnessed the greatness of the time of Amir Timur. But shortly after his death, there was a crisis in the country. Now a new progress period must begin in its place. This development must be based on the harmony of the mind with nature. This is the future of Turkestan, its entire territory and the future of all its citizens. The first step in this situation is to establish a university in Tashkent.”

V.I. Romanovsky worked at the Turkestan Public University (now the National University of Uzbekistan named after Mirzo Ulugbek) from the first day of its opening until the end of his life. In 1943, the Institute of Mathematics and Mechanics of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan was established and he appointed as director, additionally he continued to teach at the Turkestan Public University. The famous scientist died in 1954. Following the testament of V.I. Romanovsky, a ten thousand-volume personal library was donated to the Faculty of Mathematics. Thus, the scholar's books became the basis of the faculty library. Now it is called the Romanovsky room, which is one of the favorite classrooms for the bachelor, master and Ph.D. students of the Faculty of Mathematics.

Let's go back to the period when the university was established in Tashkent. Local people had little access to education at this university. The point is that in order to study at university, students had to have a certain amount of knowledge. However, both the governors of the Russian Empire and the Bolsheviks kept Uzbek schools at a level that "served to end illiteracy." In addition, it was necessary to train teachers who could work in secondary education.

Under such circumstances, V.I. Romanovsky paid special attention to every native who entered the faculty. T.N. Qori-Niyazi was one of the first Uzbek youth to enter the university. Later, a friendly relationship developed between them. T. N. Qori-Niyazi remembered it in his book "Life Lessons":

“I was in close relationship with V.I. Romanovskiy (mathematician), L. N. Korzhenevsky (geographer) and L. A. Oshanin (anthropologist), who are Russian scientists, worked at the Central Asian State University (Turkestan Public University was renamed as Central Asian State University. This was not accidental. Each of these scientists spent almost his entire life in Uzbekistan. All three of them had common qualities in their work: politeness, honesty, humanity and sincerity.

V. I. Romanovsky was my mentor. He knew the East, especially Central Asia very well. He was fluent in many languages, especially French, German, English, Arabic and Persian. Romanovsky was very humble, even could be – a model of humility. "

In addition to teaching, V.I. Romanovsky was a well-known scientist in Europe in the field of probability theory of mathematics, he can even be called one of the founders of mathematical statistics. Therefore, in the 20s of the last century, he began to train scientific personnel in the field of mathematics at the university. He mentored mathematicians such as N.N Nazarov, V.N Peregudov. At the same time, he worked with every local student at the university.

This was reported by the academician T.A. Sarimsakov, who was accepted to the university in 1931. The academician wrote in his book Life Passes: "Although Professor V. I. Romanovsky did not teach freshmen, he paid attention to me and asked about my studies." Noticing the young student’s ability in mathematics, the professor involved him in scientific research. T. A. Sarimsakov recalled that: “In 1936, I defended my diploma work and graduated from the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Central Asian State University. The supervisor of the diploma work was my honored teacher V.I. Romanovsky.” This passage from the book is also noteworthy: “According to the distribution plan, I was appointed a teacher at the Bukhara State Pedagogical Institute. But Because of Professor V. I. Romanovsky’s insistence on taking me to university, I accepted as an assistant at the university. Later when I was a post-graduate student, my supervisor, was again Professor V. I. Romanovsky. "

Under the scientific guidance of the scholar, T.N. Qori-Niyazi became the first doctor of science in the field of mathematics from the local population. Moreover, T.A. Sarimsakov became the first researcher, mathematician-professor in Central Asia.

Another favorite student of the scholar is academician S.H. Sirojiddinov. Unfortunately, Sa’dihon Sirojiddinov died early and did not have the opportunity to write memories about his research advisor. But it is known from the conversations of the scientist and also from the memories of his colleagues, that the supervisor and the researcher were extremely close. In particular, S. H. Sirojiddinov's little brother A. Hasanov recalled it as follows: “My brother served at the war, and in 1942-43 there were great changes in the war; the Germans were defeated first on the thresholds of Stalingrad, then on the Oryol-Kursk front. In this regard, V.I. Romanovsky met with Usmon Yusupov, the head of the republic, and said that it was necessary to think about the scientists and try to keep them alive. As a result, scientists, miners, teachers and artists were called from the war. In particular, Sa'dihon Hasanovich returned from the war. He came back and entered the post-graduate school founded by Romanovsky and soon defended his dissertation."

V.I. Romanovsky, who knew Sirojiddinov's mathematical potential well, sent him to study for a doctorate at Moscow State University. He called A. N. Kolmogorov, one of the most famous professors of the university and asked him to be the academic advisor for the young scientist. As a result, S.H. Sirojiddinov defended his doctoral dissertation in a short time. A scientist who worked for several years at Moscow State University returned to Tashkent in 1956 after V.I. Romanovsky's death. He came back in order to strengthen mathematical research in our country and to lead the scientific school of probability theory and mathematical statistics, which was supervised by T.A. Sarimsakov. In the second half of the twentieth century, the Romanovsky-Sarimsakov-Sirojiddinov scientific school was the main supplier of mathematical personnel to all Central Asian universities. Dozens of doctors of sciences and hundreds of doctors of philosophy did their research work and graduated from this scientific school.

Today, in more than 20 universities in the country, a number of research institutes of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan, especially the Institute of Mathematics named after V. I. Romanovsky, professional mathematicians, scientific and pedagogical staff in applied mathematics, mechanics, computer science, modeling, statistics, economic mathematics are being prepared. No matter which educational institution of independent Uzbekistan you can meet students and teachers of V.I. Romanovsky's school.

Scholar V.I. Romanovsky, who knew Turkestan and Uzbekistan as his motherland and loved it and served it faithfully was awarded the Order of “For great commitment” in 2004.