History EMS Newsletter June 2020 13 ing the next year, Yuri passed all school exams and was subsequently allowed to complete his university programme. He graduated in 1951, having written several research papers by that time. These works became the foundation of his PhD thesis com- pleted under the super- vision of Selim Krein, who played an impor- tant role in the devel- opment of the func- tional analysis school in Kiev. Soon after, Selim moved to Voronezh University. Yuri was very close to his teacher, always acknowledged his influence and remained in contact with him for his whole life. In 1951, Yuri took up a position at the Kiev Poly- technic Institute (The National Technical University of Ukraine at present), where he would remain for the entirety of his career, first as an assistant and eventually as a full professor and member of the Ukrainian Acad- emy of Sciences. Yuri played a major role in forming the mathematical curriculum of the Institute. In the 70s and 80s he developed the mathematical programmes of the departments of Applied Mathematics, Mathemati- cal Methods of System Analysis and the (new at that time) Faculty of Physics and Technology. Additionally, Yuri was one of the leaders of the successful independ- ent post-graduate programme “Mathematics for Engi- neers”, which was taught in Kiev for nearly two decades. Later, in the 90s, he also led mathematical programmes at the newly-founded Soros University. Very soon Yuri became a significant figure on the Kiev mathematical scene. At that time, mathematical life in Soviet research centres was concentrated around big inter-institutional seminars, famous examples being Gelfand’s and Dobrushin’s seminars in Moscow. Yuri supervised major Kiev seminars “Random processes and distributions in functional spaces” (together with A. Skorokhod) and “Algebraic Structures in Mathemati- cal Physics”. He was also an important contributor to the seminar “Group methods in solid-state physics”. Due to his friendly and energetic personality and vast know- ledge of a variety of mathematical fields, Yuri played a Yuri L. Daletskii and the Development of Infinite Dimensional Analysis Yana Belopolskaya (St Petersburg University of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Russia) and Alexei Daletskii (The University of York, UK) Yuri L’vovich Daletskii was born on 16 Decem- ber 1926 in Chernigov, a small town near Kiev in Ukraine, at that time a republic of the Soviet Union, to a family of mixed Jewish-Polish descent. The English spelling of Yuri’s sur- name is ambiguous, other versions (accord- ing to MathSciNet) being Dalecky, Daleckii and Daletsky. Yuri was raised by his mother and stepfather. At the beginning of the 1930s the family moved to Kiev, where Yuri went to school. The Second World War did not allow him to finish it. Fleeing from advancing German Nazi troops, Yuri’s family headed to Eastern Ukraine and then the Caucasus. Yuri was then sent further east to Kemerovo, a city in Western Siberia, where he lived with his uncle. At an early age, Yuri fell in love with mathematics and music. He had inherited a good voice from his par- ents and sang in a children’s choir (Yuri’s cousin became a professional opera singer). At the age of thirteen, Yuri survived paralytic poliomyelitis. Although the illness destroyed his singing voice and any chance of a profes- sional musical career, his love and deep understanding of music became an important part of his personality. In order to overcome the illness’ residual effects, Yuri took up gymnastics and became quite proficient at it, staying physically strong and fit throughout his life. In his teens, Yuri spent a lot of time reading math- ematical books, and his mathematical knowledge far exceeded school level. In 1944 he was admitted as a stu- dent to the Mining Institute in Kemerovo. Soon after, he volunteered for the Soviet army and participated in the war against Japan. Yuri was demobilised in 1946 and returned to Kiev, where he started his studies at the Mechanics and Math- ematics Faculty of Kiev University. Alongside the study and research work, Yuri actively participated in students’ organisations and the public life of the university. Just weeks before the final examinations, he was expelled for criticising the rector (although the formal reason given was the absence of a secondary school certificate). Dur- Yuri L. Daletskii after demobilisation from the army, 1946. At work (1971).