Boris Berezovsky (businessman)
A mathematician who wielded immense influence over 20th-century mathematics, setting an agenda of unsolved problems that guided the field for decades.
1946–2013 (age 67)·Russian businessman·Birthday: January 23·Baby Boomers
Biography
David Hilbert did not just solve mathematical problems; he defined the very landscape on which they existed. Occupying a chair at the University of Göttingen, he turned it into the world's mathematical capital. His early work in invariant theory was so definitive it was said to 'kill' the subject. He then revolutionized the understanding of algebraic number fields with his 'Theory of Algebraic Number Fields'. But his most lasting impact was visionary. At the 1900 International Congress of Mathematicians, he presented a list of 23 unsolved problems, a roadmap that would challenge and inspire generations. He later plunged into the foundations of mathematics, championing formalism—the idea that mathematics is a game of symbols following clear rules. His call to arms, 'We must know, we will know,' epitomized his belief in the solvability of all mathematical questions, a conviction later challenged by Gödel's incompleteness theorems.
Baby Boomers
1946–1964
The largest generation in history at the time. Shaped by postwar prosperity, the Vietnam War, the sexual revolution, and Watergate. They questioned every institution their parents built — then ran them.
Boris was born in 1946, placing them squarely in the Baby Boomers. The events that shaped this generation — postwar prosperity, civil rights, Vietnam, and the counterculture — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Boris Was Born
The biggest hits of 1946
#1 Movie
The Best Years of Our Lives
Best Picture
The Best Years of Our Lives
Boris's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1946Born
United Nations holds its first General Assembly
Gas: $0.21/galHome: $5,150Min wage: $0.40/hrPresident: Harry S. Truman"Prisoner of Love" — Perry ComoBest Picture: The Best Years of Our Lives
1951Started school
First color TV broadcast in the US
Gas: $0.27/galHome: $7,925Min wage: $0.75/hrPresident: Harry S. Truman"Too Young" — Nat King ColeBest Picture: An American in Paris
1959Became a teenager
Fidel Castro takes power in Cuba
Gas: $0.30/galHome: $12,400Min wage: $1.00/hrPresident: Dwight D. Eisenhower"The Battle of New Orleans" — Johnny HortonBest Picture: Ben-Hur
1962Could drive
Cuban Missile Crisis brings the world to the brink
Gas: $0.31/galHome: $12,800Min wage: $1.15/hrPresident: John F. Kennedy"Stranger on the Shore" — Acker BilkBest Picture: Lawrence of Arabia
1964Could vote
Civil Rights Act signed; Beatles arrive in America
Gas: $0.30/galHome: $13,450Min wage: $1.25/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"I Want to Hold Your Hand" — The BeatlesBest Picture: My Fair Lady
1967Turned 21
Summer of Love in San Francisco; first Super Bowl
Gas: $0.33/galHome: $14,250Min wage: $1.40/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"To Sir, with Love" — LuluBest Picture: In the Heat of the Night
1976Turned 30
Apple Computer founded; US bicentennial
Gas: $0.59/galHome: $29,300Min wage: $2.30/hrPresident: Gerald Ford"Silly Love Songs" — WingsBest Picture: Rocky
1986Turned 40
Challenger disaster; Chernobyl nuclear meltdown
Gas: $0.86/galHome: $66,600Min wage: $3.35/hrPresident: Ronald Reagan"That's What Friends Are For" — Dionne & FriendsBest Picture: Platoon
1996Turned 50
Dolly the sheep cloned
Gas: $1.23/galHome: $99,700Min wage: $4.75/hrPresident: Bill Clinton"Macarena" — Los del RioBest Picture: The English Patient
2006Turned 60
Twitter launches; Pluto reclassified as dwarf planet
Gas: $2.59/galHome: $174,700Min wage: $5.15/hrPresident: George W. Bush"Bad Day" — Daniel PowterBest Picture: The Departed
2013Died at 67
Edward Snowden reveals NSA surveillance programs
Gas: $3.53/galHome: $152,800Min wage: $7.25/hrPresident: Barack Obama"Thrift Shop" — Macklemore & Ryan LewisBest Picture: 12 Years a Slave
Key Achievements
- Presented a famous list of 23 unsolved problems at the 1900 International Congress of Mathematicians, which directed mathematical research for the 20th century.
- Developed the concept of Hilbert space, a fundamental framework for functional analysis and quantum mechanics.
- Made groundbreaking contributions to invariant theory, algebraic number theory, and the foundations of geometry.
- Authored 'Grundlagen der Geometrie' (Foundations of Geometry), which provided a modern axiomatic treatment of Euclidean geometry.
- Championed and developed the formalist philosophy of mathematics.
Did You Know?
Hilbert's 23 problems included the Riemann Hypothesis and the continuum hypothesis, which remain unsolved to this day.
He had a famous rivalry with intuitionist mathematician L.E.J. Brouwer over the foundations of mathematics.
The saying 'No one shall expel us from the Paradise that Cantor has created' is attributed to him, defending set theory.
He was the doctoral advisor to a remarkable number of influential mathematicians, including Hermann Weyl and John von Neumann.
The text on his tombstone in Göttingen is his defiant motto: 'Wir müssen wissen. Wir werden wissen.' (We must know. We will know.)
“Wir müssen wissen. Wir werden wissen. (We must know. We will know.)”
