1821-1894

Russian mathematician whose best known papers deal with prime numbers. Appointed professor of mathematics at the University of St. Petersburg in 1847, Chebyshev also studied problems involving probability theory, quadratic forms, orthogonal functions, and the theory of integrals. In mechanics, he worked on solutions to convert, by mechanical coupling, rotary motion into rectilinear motion, resulting in what is called Chebyshev parallel motion. Later in life, he became a foreign member of the Institut de France and the Royal Society of London.