Nikolai Nikolaevich Luzin (Никола́й Никола́евич Лу́зин) (December 9, 1883 - January 28, 1950), Soviet/Russian mathematician. He was noted for his work in descriptive set theory and aspects of mathematical analysis with strong connections to point-set topology. He was the eponym of Luzitania, a loose grouping of young Moscow mathematicians in the first half of the 1920s. They adopted his set-theoretic orientation, and went on to apply it in other areas of mathematics, in some cases (such as Kolmogorov's) with the highest distinction.

He started studying mathematics in 1901 at Moscow University, earning his Ph.D. in 1901. His advisor was Dimitri Egorov.

During the civil war in Russia (1918 - 1920) he left Moscow for the Polytechnical Institute Ivanovo-Voznesensk, but returned to Moscow in 1920.

In July-August 1936 Luzin was criticised in Pravda, notably for publishing his best papers in western journals and only minor ones in the USSR. Other accusations include holding reactionary ideas and claiming other's work as his own. After the series of articles, Soviet mathematicians published papers only rarely abroad.

A crater on Mars was named in his honor.

External links

Nikolai Nikolaevich Luzin (http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Mathematicians/Luzin.html) and The case of Academician Nikolai Nikolaevich Luzin (http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Miscellaneous/other_links/Luzin.html)