?
Reasons for the Success of the Soviet Mathematical School
It is widely known that Soviet school of exact sciences, was among the strongest in the world, particularly in terms of physics and mathematics. Why? This is the question we would like to address in this paper by collecting and summarizing different viewpoints on this issue expressed by prominent mathematicians. Many of them witnessed the most fruitful period, the “golden years” of Soviet science and played a major role in the subsequent development of Soviet/Russian mathematics. There is little controversy in the explanations provided by different people; the only essential differences are in the emphases. Thus the list of factors may be regarded as precisely determined. This paper simply aims at communicating them to a non-mathematical community interested in issues of science and education.