num_pages: 120
description: In this essay smuggled out of Russia a renowned Soviet mathematician speaks out against the policies of the Steklov In­stitute in Moscow, which controls much of mathematical life in the Soviet Union. They control VAK, the certification commission that has the final say in ap­proving doctoral dissertations, and as Dr. Freiman documents, seem to be pursuing a policy that will make all of Russian higher mathematics Judenfrei. “The numbers m and n have the same prime factors. The numbers m-1 and n-1 possess the same property. Are the mul­tiples of this pair of numbers m and n finite or infinite? Explain.” This was the special question asked Sasha Navodvor­sky during his oral entrance examination for the Mathematical and Mechanical School at Moscow University. He, who had received a perfect score on his writ­ten examinations, did so poorly on his oral exam that he was denied entrance. (His brother had recently left for Israel.) Freiman’s essay against the corruption of the minds and souls of men was prompted by his own student (identified only as B. in the essay) falling victim to this depraved system. Kafkaesque and Orwellian, the selection process Freiman describes is made possible by a blend of pathological anti-Semitism on the part of key individuals in the Institute and the unique Soviet system of rewards and punishments. The insidious process has proven effective to a remarkable degree. The Soviet Academy of Sciences contains only a single Jewish mathematician and the Steklovka is now Judenfrei.
language: English
title: It Seems I Am a Jew: A Samizdat Essay on Soviet Mathematics
titlecomplete: It Seems I Am a Jew: A Samizdat Essay on Soviet Mathematics (Science and International Affairs)
ratings_count: 3
publisher: Southern Illinois University Press