Myhailo Yadrenko

For his scientific and pedagogical activities, Yadrenko was awarded numerous medals. In particular, he was awarded the State Prize of Ukraine (2004).

Yadrenko was a skilled teacher. His lectures were characterized by mathematical rigorousness, high scientific level, and clarity of presentation. Many Ukrainian experts in probability theory and mathematical statistics learned these branches of mathematics at his lectures. Yadrenko was the author of 24 textbooks on different branches of mathematics, including Probability Theory and Mathematical Statistics (Russian: "Теория вероятностей и математическая статистика") and an unparalleled book of problems in probability theory (written together with A. V. Skorokhod, A. Ya. Dorogovtsev, and D. S. Sil’vestrov), the English version of which was published in 1997 in the United States.

Yadrenko is one of the initiators of the introduction of the new mathematical study program "Statistics" in Ukraine. From 1997 to 2001, he headed the Statistical Aspects of Economics global international project within the framework of the TEMPUS-TACIS program of the European Community.

In 1995, for the first time in Ukraine, Yadrenko began to deliver lectures on actuarial mathematics and the theory of insurance risk. Together with his disciples M. M. Leonenko, Yu. S. Mishura, and V. M. Parkhomenko, Yadrenko published the first Ukrainian textbook on econometrics and contemporary financial and actuarial mathematics.

As a scientist, Yadrenko is known for his works on the theory of random fields and their statistical analysis. He wrote more than 200 articles in this field, the majority of which were translated into English. A survey of the results obtained by Yadrenko in the theory of random fields can be found in the paper "On Yadrenko’s works in the theory of random fields". Yadrenko's monograph "Spectral Theory of Random Fields" became a handbook for experts in random fields. This book was awarded the Prize of Ukrainian Ministry of Education, and its English version was published in 1983 in the United States.

In 1970, the Probability Theory and Mathematical Statistics journal (Ukrainian: "Теорія ймовірностей та математична статистика") was founded on Yadrenko's initiative. This journal has played an important role in the development of the world-renowned Kiev school of probability theory. Since 1974, the journal is translated into English and is republished by the American Mathematical Society.

He also made tremendous contributions to the training of talented young mathematicians. For more than 40 years, he was an organizer of mathematical circles for scholars and school mathematical competitions at different levels. Since 1970, Yadrenko headed the jury of All-Ukrainian mathematical competitions for schoolchildren and students. He also headed the All-Ukrainian correspondence competitions in physics and mathematics, and for many years he delivered TV lectures on mathematics for schoolchildren.

In 1969, Yadrenko founded another periodical edition, a collection of popular-science articles In the World of Mathematics (Ukrainian: "У світі математики"). In 1995, this periodical collection was transformed into a popular scientific, methodological, and historical journal. This journal is intended for a broad circle of readers interested in mathematics from schoolchildren to professional mathematicians.

In 1966, Yadrenko became the head of the Department of Probability Theory and Mathematical Statistics, a position he held for more than 32 years. Under his guidance, the researchers of the department carried out research in the spectral theory of random fields (in particular, his doctoral-degree thesis, which is a Soviet doctorate, was devoted to this theory), asymptotic methods in probability theory, the theory of stochastic differential equations, and applied problems in probability theory and mathematical statistics. The Department of Probability Theory and Mathematical Statistics was repeatedly distinguished as the best department of Kiev University.

From 1955 to 1958, he was a postgraduate student at the Kiev University. In those years, Yadrenko began his studies of homogeneous and isotropic random fields. These investigations were presented in his candidate-degree thesis.

From 1950 to 1955, Yadrenko was a student at the Department of Mechanics and Mathematics at the Kiev University, where he attended lectures of prominent mathematicians and teachers such as N.N. Bogolyubov, B.V. Gnedenko, and I.I. Gikhman. Under their guidance, Yadrenko began his scientific studies and published his first scientific work devoted to the investigation of properties of random walks.

Myhailo Yosypovych Yadrenko (Ukrainian: Михайло Йосипович Ядренко) was born April 16, 1932, in the village of Drimailivka (Kulykivka district, Chernihiv region, Ukraine) and died September 28, 2004, in Kyiv, Ukraine. Yadrenko was a prominent Ukrainian mathematician and pedagogue, Corresponding Member of the Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences, and head of the Department of Probability Theory and Mathematical Statistics at Kiev State University of Ukraine.