https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2020/10/26/water-on-the-moon/

  • Pezevenk [he/him]
    ·
    4 years ago

    BTW I didn't know Kolmogorov was gay lol, that owns, I learned real analysis from his book.

    • gammison [none/use name]
      ·
      edit-2
      4 years ago

      Yeah in the 1930s he reportedley gave fake testimony during the Luzin affair in 1936 because, according to some later soviet mathematicians, the NKVD blackmailed him over a relationship he had with Pavl Aleksandrov. It's not totally clear how true this is though. I lean towards it possibly being overembellishment as it was imo an open secret. The testimony itself though was definitely bs, as the whole affair was crap by Kolman against "counterrevolutionary" mathematicians.

      • Pezevenk [he/him]
        ·
        4 years ago

        I looked it up and there doesn't seem to be conclusive evidence this happened.

        • gammison [none/use name]
          ·
          edit-2
          4 years ago

          I think it's virtually certain he was in a long term relationship with Aleksandrov. They lived together for years. One of my professors interviewed some old soviet mathematicians and they were like, yeah everyone knew.

          It's not totally clear the Luzin testimony was gotten via blackmail though.

          • Pezevenk [he/him]
            ·
            4 years ago

            Yeah, the gay part is pretty well known from what I understood, the blackmail thing is what I didn't find much evidence for.