Academician A. N. Krylov’s works in astronomy, mechanics, applied mathematics and history of science

Abstract

The scientific legacy of Alexei Nikolaevich Krylov (1863–1945) in applied mathematics, astronomy, celestial mechanics and navigation is discussed on the occasion of his recent 150th jubilee in 2013. Alexei Krylov belonged to the outstanding scientific St. Petersburg School in Mathematics, Mechanics and Astronomy, the latter especially with regard to classical celestial mechanics and practical navigation. Celestial mechanics in Russia was developed in the 19th century not by professional astronomers, but mainly by theoretical works of scholars in mathematics and mechanics. Alexei Krylov published many scientific works in applied mathematics, classical and applied mechanics, hydrodynamics, elasticity theory, ballistics, ship dynamics, navigation and orbital celestial mechanics. His interest in the history of science was focused on the scientific legacy of such outstanding thinkers as Galilei, Newton, Euler, Lagrange, Ostrogradsky, Tchebyshev, Lyapunov and others. He translated Isaac Newton’s “Principia” and Leonard Euler’s “Theory of the Moon” from Latin into Russian. His multiple comments found in these publications has contributed greatly to our modern understanding of these theories. Krylov’s outstanding scientific legacy in ship theory is widely known. However, in this publication we evaluate his works in applied mathematics, celestial mechanics and navigation. His interest in these sciences emerged in the 1880s during his course of study at the Naval School, the Naval Academy in St. Petersburg, and later during his pedagogical work as Professor of the Naval Academy, where he lectured for many years. Krylov’s textbooks based on his lectures in applied mathematics were widely used by educators in the 20th century. Many of Krylov’s fruitful ideas were developed later by his students and colleagues in St. Petersburg. Refs 26.