Vladimir Andreevich Steklov (1863–1926)

The article outlines the life and work of Vladimir Andreevich Steklov, a full member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, where the Mathematical Institute was named after him. The article is being released for the 150th anniversary of the scientist. The authors employ his Recollections, published in 1991 by the Leningrad Department of the Institute for the History of Science and Technology (IHST) of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (Scientific Heritage, vol. 17), as the main source of information about Steklov's life and work, the development of his personality, and his mathematical and public career. The article highlights the decisive role Vladimir Steklov played in the formation of the Russian Academy of Sciences as the successor of the Imperial St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences and its transformation into the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. The information about Vladimir Steklov's contribution to this area comes from the archives of the Russian Academy of Sciences and from Science in the First Years of Soviet Rule (1917–1925), a collection of documents published by the Leningrad Department of the IHST in 1968. The article also summarizes Vladimir Steklov's scientific achievements in mathematical physics and mechanics.