Three Mathematicians and One Book
I’ve been throwing away my old math books: the information is easily accessible online. Yesterday, I stumbled upon a book I hadn’t used in a long time. I opened it and started laughing.

The inscription says, “To Tanya, in memory of Sasha Beilinson’s PhD thesis defense. May you always be in a good mood. Volodya, June 30, 1988.”
Suddenly, this one book connected three famous mathematicians: Neil Koblitz, Alexander Beilinson, and Volodya. For my readers who don’t speak Russian: Volodya is the nickname for Vladimir. Can you guess who Volodya is?
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Bitte:
This one https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Voevodsky, or Arnold himself?
27 September 2026, 10:58 pmtanyakh:
Bitte, neither.
28 September 2026, 10:05 amAnton:
Alexander Beilinson -> Vladimir Drinfeld
28 September 2026, 11:44 amtanyakh:
Yes, Anton. BTW, the book title is a good hint.
28 September 2026, 11:49 am