mathematics

Stanislav Smirnov

Stanislav Smirnov is a mathematics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Stanislav Smirnov rather than just read about it. In short: Stanislav Konstantinovich Smirnov (Russian: Станисла́в Константи́нович Cмирно́в; born 3 September 1970) is a Russian mathematician currently working as a professor at the University of Geneva. He was awarded the Fields Medal in 2010.

Key takeaways

Stanislav Smirnov belongs to mathematics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Stanislav Smirnov to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Stanislav Smirnov from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Stanislav Konstantinovich Smirnov (Russian: Станисла́в Константи́нович Cмирно́в; born 3 September 1970) is a Russian mathematician currently working as a professor at the University of Geneva. He was awarded the Fields Medal in 2010. His research involves complex analysis, dynamical systems and probability theory.

Career Stanislav Smirnov graduated Saint Petersburg Lyceum 239, a highly selective high school, which is alma-mater for many well-known mathematicians. During his high-school years, he won two perfect scores in International Mathematical Olympiad 1986 and 1987. He received his undergraduate and master degree in mathematics from the Saint Petersburg State University, one of the top universities in Russia, in 1992. In 1996, he defended his Ph.D. thesis, Spectral Analysis of Julia Sets, at Caltech, with Nikolai Makarov as his primary thesis advisor. After spending time at Yale University and Princeton's Institute for Advanced Study as a postdoc, Smirnov joined the faculty of the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm in 1998. In 2003, he become a professor in the Analysis, Mathematical Physics and Probability group at the University of Geneva. In 2010, Smirnov became the founding director of the Chebyshev Laboratory in Saint Petersburg State University in Russia.

Research Smirnov has worked on percolation theory, where he proved Cardy's formula for critical site percolation on the triangular lattice, and deduced conformal invariance. The conjecture was proved in the special case of site percolation on the triangular lattice. Smirnov's theorem has led to a fairly complete theory for percolation on the triangular lattice, and to its relationship to the Schramm–Loewner evolution introduced by Oded Schramm. He also established conformality for the two-dimensional critical Ising model.

Awards Smirnov was awarded the Saint Petersburg Mathematical Society Prize (1997), the Clay Research Award (2001), the Salem Prize (joint with Oded Schramm, 2001), the Göran Gustafsson Prize (2001), the Rollo Davidson Prize (2002), and the Prize of the European Mathematical Society (2004). In 2010 Smirnov was awarded the Fields Medal for his work on the mathematical foundations of statistical physics, particularly finite lattice models. His citation reads "for the proof of conformal invariance of percolation and the planar Ising model in statistical physics".

Publications Probability and Statistical Physics in St. Petersburg, American Math Society, (2015)

References

External links Media related to Stanislav Smirnov at Wikimedia Commons

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Stanislav Smirnov

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Stanislav Smirnov claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In mathematics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Stanislav Smirnov before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Stanislav Smirnov ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Stanislav Smirnov

In research: Stanislav Smirnov appears in mathematics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Stanislav Smirnov in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Stanislav Smirnov is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1970 births, 20th-century Russian mathematicians, 21st-century Russian mathematicians, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Stanislav Smirnov outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Stanislav Smirnov in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Stanislav Smirnov means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Stanislav Smirnov out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Stanislav Smirnov in simple terms?

Why does Stanislav Smirnov matter?

Because it connects several mathematics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Stanislav Smirnov?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Stanislav Smirnov.