Victor Andreevich Toponogov

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Victor Andreevich Toponogov
Born March 6, 1930(1930-03-06)
Tomsk, Russia
Died November 21, 2004 (aged 74)
Residence Russia
Occupation Mathematician
Known for Differential geometry
Spouse Ljudmila Pavlovna Goncharova

Victor Andreevich Toponogov (1930-03-062004-11-21) was a Russian mathematician, noted for his contributions to differential geometry and so-called Riemannian geometry "in the large".

During Toponogov’s childhood, his father was subjected to Soviet repression; the label "son of an enemy of the people" impeded his academic progress until Joseph Stalin's death in 1953. After finishing school in 1948, Toponogov entered the department of Mechanics and Mathematics at Tomsk State University, and graduated with honours in 1953. He defended his Ph.D. thesis at Moscow State University in 1958.

Toponogov's scientific interests were influenced by his scientific advisor, Abram Fet (a well-recognized topologist and specialist in variational calculus in the large, a pupil of Lazar Lyusternik), and by the works of Aleksandr Danilovich Aleksandrov. (Later, the class of metric spaces known as CAT(k) spaces would be named after Élie Cartan, Aleksandrov and Toponogov.)

Toponogov published over forty papers and books during his career.

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