ACADEMICIAN NU'MON YUNUSOVICH SATIMOV

Nu'mon Yunusovich Satimov - Uzbek scientist, doctor of physical and mathematical sciences, professor, member of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan, winner of the State Prize named after Abu Rayhan Biruni.

N.Y.Satimov is the founder of the Tashkent Scientific School of Optimal control and Differential Games, a scientist who made a significant contribution to the theory of differential games.

He was born on December 15, 1939 in Andijan, afterwards he studied at school №29. In 1956 he entered the Central Asian State University (now the National University of Uzbekistan named after Mirzo Ulugbek), Faculty of Physics and Mathematics. From 1958 N.Y.Satimov continued his studies at the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics of the Moscow State University named after M.V.Lomonosov. After graduating from the university, he returned to his homeland and in 1962-1965 entered to the graduate school of the Institute of Mathematics named after V. I. Romanovsky of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan. From 1965 to 1968 he worked as a junior researcher at this institute. In 1968 he began working at the Tashkent State University. In 1971 he was appointed head of the newly established department of "Applied Mathematics". From 1974 to 1976 he worked as a senior researcher at the Institute of Mathematics named after V.A.Steklov of the USSR Academy of Sciences in Moscow. Then he returned to Tashkent and continued to lead the department of "Applied Mathematics". In 1985-1987, N.Y. Satimov worked as a dean of the Faculty of Applied Mathematics and Mechanics of Tashkent State University. From 2000 to the end of his life he worked as a senior researcher at the Institute of Mathematics named after V.I.Romanovsky of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan.

In 1968 N.Y.Satimov successfully defended his PhD dissertation and after 9 years in 1977 he defended his doctoral dissertation at the Institute of Mathematics named after V.A.Steklov. He obtained the title of professor in 1978, was a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan in 1979, and a full member in 2000.

N.Y.Satimov was one of the world's leading scholars in the field of differential equations and mathematical control theory and their applications. He is the author of the textbook, 2 monographs and more than 180 scientific articles in these fields, most of which were translated from Russian into English.

N.Y.Satimov as a postgraduate student studied the theory of optimal processes under the supervision of a well-known mathematician B.Boltyanskii, and starting 1970 he began to work with a group of mathematicians on a new direction - the theory of pursuit-evasion differential games at Tashkent State University. This field of mathematics was founded by the American mathematician R.Isaacs, later it was developed by L.S.Pontryagin, one of the greatest mathematicians of the 20th century in USSR.  N.Y.Satimov's the first deep result in this direction was the strengthened Pontryagin's method of solving the first pursuit problem. He then investigated L.S.Pontryagin's method for the evasion differential game problems collaboratively with E.F.Mishchenko and M.S.Nikol’skii and obtained his deep result on evasion differential games of several pursuers.

Since 2000, N.Y. Satimov studied the control problems in systems with distributed parameters, and achieved original results in this research area. The scientist is also well-known for his contribution in the theory of classical games (jointly with L.A. Petrosyan and A.A.Azamov), in the theory of discrete time games, and in ordinary  differential equations.

Under the scientific supervision of N.Y. Satimov more than 20 candidates of sciences, 8 doctors of sciences were successfully defended their dissertations.

Beyond a talented researcher, he was also a skilled educator, sincere friend and scientific leader.  He actively participated in the organization of the Republican Mathematical Olympiads and summer physics and mathematics schools. In his free time, he loved to play mini-football, table tennis and swimming regularly, and had a personal library with full of fiction books.

Nu’man Yunusovich Satimov has a special place in the history of mathematics in Uzbekistan. At present, his students and followers continue the scientific school he founded. He was a great scientist and an extraordinary man whose work and legacy will live on for many years. Mathematicians of Uzbekistan always remember N.Satimov as their favorite scientist.