1903-1987

Russian Mathematician

In discussing great mathematicians, the word "genius" is so often used that its effect sometimes seems blunted, yet in the case of Andrei Nikolaevich Kolmogorov the term is exceedingly apt. Though he is best known as the founder of probability theory, Kolmogorov contributed to virtually every area of mathematics as well as to fields ranging from physics to linguistics.

Kolmogorov's father, a Russian agriculturist named Nikolai Kataev, was killed in World War I, and his mother, Mariya Kolmogorova—who was not married to Nikolai—died giving birth to their son in the town of Tambov on April 25, 1903. Kolmogorov was raised by his mother's sister in the village of Tunoshna. He showed his brilliance at the age of five when he noted the pattern 1=1², 1+3=2², 1+3+5=3², and so on.

At age 17, Kolmogorov enrolled at Moscow University and worked his way through college as a...