Alexander Esenin-Volpin
Alexander Esenin-Volpin | |
|---|---|
| Александр Есенин-Вольпин | |
| Born | Alexander Sergeyevich Esenin-Volpin May 12, 1924 |
| Died | March 16, 2016 (aged 91) |
| Citizenship | Soviet Union United States |
| Alma mater | Moscow State University |
| Occupations | Mathematician, human rights activist, Soviet dissident, poet |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mathematics |
| Institutions | Boston University |
Alexander Sergeyevich Esenin-Volpin (Russian: Алекса́ндр Серге́евич Есе́нин-Во́льпин, IPA: [ɐlʲɪˈksandr sʲɪrˈɡʲejɪvʲɪtɕ jɪˈsʲenʲɪn ˈvolʲpʲɪn] ⓘ; May 12, 1924 – March 16, 2016) was a Russian-American poet and mathematician known for his foundational role in ultrafinitism. Esenin-Volpin was a prominent Soviet dissident and a leader of the Soviet human rights movement during the 1960s.
Esenin-Volpin was the son of the famous Russian poet Sergei Yesenin and graduated as a Candidate from Moscow State University in 1949. Esenin-Volpin was imprisoned in psikhushkas as a political prisoner several times between 1949 and 1969, spending a total of six years incarcerated for anti-Soviet agitation for publishing samizdat. Esenin-Volpin was exiled to the United States in 1972 and worked as a professor and librarian.
Esenin-Volpin's name is also written Ésénine-Volpine and Yessenin-Volpin in his French and English publications.