Editing Pafnuty Chebyshev (section)

== Biography ==
=== Early years ===
One of nine children,<ref Name=MacTutor>[http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Chebyshev.html Biography in MacTutor Archive]</ref> Chebyshev was born in the village of Okatovo in the district of [[Borovsk]], [[province of Kaluga]]. His father, Lev Pavlovich, was a Russian nobleman and wealthy landowner. Pafnuty Lvovich was first educated at home by his mother Agrafena Ivanovna Pozniakova (in reading and writing) and by his cousin Avdotya Kvintillianovna Sukhareva (in [[French language|French]] and [[arithmetic]]). Chebyshev mentioned that his music teacher also played an important role in his education, for she "raised his mind to exactness and analysis".{{citation needed|date= October 2022}}

[[Trendelenburg gait|Trendelenburg's gait]] affected Chebyshev's adolescence and development. From childhood, he limped and walked with a stick and so his parents abandoned the idea of his becoming an officer in the family tradition. His disability prevented his playing many children's games and he devoted himself instead to mathematics.{{citation needed|date= October 2022}}

In 1832, the family moved to [[Moscow]], mainly to attend to the education of their eldest sons (Pafnuty and Pavel, who would become lawyers). Education continued at home and his parents engaged teachers of excellent reputation, including (for mathematics and physics) the senior [[Moscow University]] teacher {{ill|Platon Pogorelsky|ru|Погорельский, Платон Николаевич}}, who had taught, among others, the future writer [[Ivan Turgenev]].{{citation needed |date= October 2022}}

=== University studies ===

In summer 1837, Chebyshev passed the registration examinations and, in September of that year, began his mathematical studies at the second philosophical department of Moscow University.{{citation needed|date= October 2022}} His teachers included [[Nikolai Brashman|N.D. Brashman]], [[N.E. Zernov]] and [[Dmitri Perevoshchikov|D.M. Perevoshchikov]] of whom it seems clear that Brashman had the greatest influence on Chebyshev. Brashman instructed him in practical mechanics and probably showed him the work of French engineer [[Jean-Victor Poncelet|J.V. Poncelet]].
In 1841 Chebyshev was awarded the silver medal for his work "calculation of the roots of equations" which he had finished in 1838. In this, Chebyshev derived an approximating algorithm for the solution of algebraic equations of ''n<sup>th</sup>'' degree based on [[Newton's method]]. In the same year, he finished his studies as "most outstanding candidate".{{citation needed|date= October 2022}}

In 1841, Chebyshev's financial situation changed drastically. There was famine in Russia, and his parents were forced to leave Moscow.{{citation needed|date= October 2022}} Although they could no longer support their son, he decided to continue his mathematical studies and prepared for the master examinations, which lasted six months. Chebyshev passed the final examination in October 1843 and, in 1846, defended his master thesis "An Essay on the Elementary Analysis of the Theory of Probability." His biographer Prudnikov suggests that Chebyshev was directed to this subject after learning of recently published books on probability theory or on the revenue of the Russian insurance industry.{{citation needed|date= October 2022}}

=== Adult years ===
In 1847, Chebyshev promoted his thesis ''[[pro venia legendi]]'' "On integration with the help of logarithms" at [[St Petersburg University]] and thus obtained the right to teach there as a lecturer. At that time some of [[Leonhard Euler]]'s works were rediscovered by P. N. Fuss and were being edited by [[Viktor Bunyakovsky]], who encouraged Chebyshev to study them. This would come to influence Chebyshev's work. In 1848, he submitted his work ''The Theory of Congruences'' for a doctorate, which he defended in May 1849.<ref name=brit/> He was elected an [[Professor|extraordinary professor]] at St Petersburg University in 1850, ordinary professor in 1860 and, after 25 years of lectureship, he became merited professor in 1872. In 1882 he left the university and devoted his life to research.{{citation needed |date= October 2022}}

During his lectureship at the university (1852–1858), Chebyshev also taught practical mechanics at the [[Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum|Alexander Lyceum]] in [[Tsarskoe Selo]] (now Pushkin), a southern suburb of [[St Petersburg]].{{citation needed|date= October 2022}}

His scientific achievements were the reason for his election as junior [[academician]] (adjunkt) in 1856. Later, he became an extraordinary (1856) and in 1858 an ordinary member of the [[Russian Academy of Sciences|Imperial Academy of Sciences]]. In the same year he became an honorary member of [[Moscow University]]. He accepted other honorary appointments and was decorated several times. In 1856, Chebyshev became a member of the scientific committee of the ministry of national education. In 1859, he became an ordinary member of the ordnance department of the academy with the adoption of the headship of the commission for mathematical questions according to ordnance and experiments related to ballistics. The [[French Academy of Sciences|Paris academy]] elected him corresponding member in 1860 and full foreign member in 1874. In 1878, Chebyshev presented a paper on garment cutting, inspired by a lecture by [[Édouard Lucas]], to the French Association for the Advancement of the Sciences.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tapia |first1=Victor |year=2025 |title=Chebyshev and Garment Cutting: Debunking Some Myths |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00283-025-10409-x |journal=The Mathematical Intelligencer |volume= |issue= |pages=1–5 |doi=10.1007/s00283-025-10409-x}}</ref>

In 1893, he was elected honorable member of the [[St. Petersburg Mathematical Society]], which had been founded three years earlier.{{citation needed|date= October 2022}}

Chebyshev died in [[St Petersburg]] on 8 December 1894.<ref name=brit/><ref name=McT/>