Bogdan Bojarski on Dmitrii Menshov

This short account is based on an interview Bogdan Bojarski gave at the Institute of Mathematics, Academia Sinica on 30 November 2006.

https://www.math.sinica.edu.tw/interviewindexe/journals/4792?keywords%5B%5D=Bogdan+Bojarski

Bogdan Bojarski on Dmitrii Menshov.

I started my Ph.D. studies at Moscow State University with D E Menshov as my advisor. Menshov was a remarkable man and outstanding mathematician working in real analysis and trigonometric series.

Menshov had a rather small room, very tiny, as his whole flat. There was one bed, one narrow small table near the window and two chairs. The room was very narrow too, so the channel between the bed and the side wall, leading from the window to the entrance door, was very narrow too. It didn't allow the second chair to pass from its place near the entry door to the table at the window, where we have both been working, unless carrying it up over the bed. I knew that very deep and difficult results were discovered by D E Menshov in his work. After my first visit to him at his house, as a young man of 20 years old, I was overwhelmed by the feeling of admiration to Dmitrii Menshov for his determination and ability to create such deep mathematics in the most modest, even austere life conditions. Leaving the place I will remember that feeling for all my life; I seemed to understand how much devotion I should be ready to give to discover deep mathematics!!

I attended Menshov's university seminars. In the seminar room there was a long blackboard fixed to the front wall. A rather narrow strip separated the blackboard from the long narrow front table with the following bench rows. Dmitrii Menshow used to sit in the first row. As he was rather tall and of thin posture with long hands, it was possible, in the case he didn't agree with a formula written on the blackboard by the lecturer, just to stand up, lean over the table and correct the formula with the chalk in his hand, directly from his chair. His informal, though in essence very strict manners and behaviour impressed me very much as the youngest participant of his seminars. He was very remarkable in his comments arousing respectful admiration and enthusiasm from the young students for doing mathematics. All that was very, very stimulating.

While D Menshov was living a rather solitary and strictly peculiar everyday life, his impact on the mathematical thinking and career of many young mathematicians, including myself, was tremendous.

Last Updated June 2025