Russian translation
Submitted 30 March 1998, via Michal.Marvan@fpf.slu.cz
Posted 15 April 1998
 

Averbuch's Russian Translation

To make the Russian translation by Prof. Vladimir Averbuch readily viewable throughout the world, it has been necessary to offer several alternative formats.

• HTML format. To exploit this, you will need a web browser that has been specially prepared to render cyrillic characters. These are uncommon except in countries where a cyrillic script enjoys official status. However, under Netscape in versions >= 3.x you can probably perpare yourself by:
  • installing cyrillic KOI8-R fonts. Get them here for Macintosh
  • choosing cyrillic KOI8-R as Netscape "Document encoding"
  • then selecting within Netscape suitable cyrillic KOI8-R fonts
• DVI format. To exploit this you need a DVI driver and the Washington Cyrillic fonts wncyb10, wncyi10, wncysc10, wncyr10, wncyb10, wncyi10. Explore http://www.ams.org (or the CD) to obtain these fonts.
• PDF format (36Ko). To exploit this you need Acrobat Reader in version >= 3.0. This utility is freely distributed by Adobe Inc. Explore http://www.adobe.com (or the CD) to obtain this Reader.
• Old PDF format (84Ko). This is what you need if you have Acrobat Reader 2.x. But it is over twice as big.
• Latinized format. This format, presented immediately below, should be viewable everywhere. It can be saved as an ASCII text file. Unfortunately, latin transcriptions offer mediocre readability.

Vystuplenie Davida Gilhberta po radio
(v Kënigsberge, 8 sentyabrya 1930 g.)

Instrumentom, posredstvom kotorogo osushchestvlyaetsya vzaimodejstvie mezhdu teoriej i praktikoj, mezhdu myshleniem i nablyudeniem, sluzhit matematika. Ona vozvela soedinitelhnyj most i postoyanno sovershenstvuet ego, vsë povyshaya i povyshaya ego nesushchuyu sposobnosth. Otsyuda yasno, chto matematika lezhit v osnove vsej nashej sovremennoj kulhtury, v toj mere v kakoj poslednyaya osnovana na tom, chto chelovek pronikaet s pomoshchhyu mysli v suth yavlenij prirody i stavit ikh na sluzhbu sebe.

Eshchë Galilej govoril: "Prirodu mozhet ponyath lishh tot, kto izuchil eë yazyk i znaki, posredstvom kotorykh ona izqyasnyaetsya s nami." Yazyk zhe ètot -- matematika. A znaki -- matematicheskie figury!

Kant vyskazalsya tak: "Ya utverzhdayu, chto v kazhdoj dannoj estestvennoj nauke sobstvenno nauki imeetsya rovno stolhko, skolhko tam soderzhitsya matematiki." I dejstvitelhno, my ovladevaem estestvenno-nauchnoj teoriej, lishh vylushchiv eë matematicheskoe yadro i polnosthyu ochistiv ego. Bez matematiki nevozmozhny sovremennaya astronomiya i fizika. 'Eti nauki v svoej teoreticheskoj chasti prosto-naprosto rastvoryayutsya v matematike. Imenno svoimi prilozheniyami -- ètimi i mnogimi drugimi -- zasluzhila matematika to uvazhenie, kotorym ona polhzuetsya u shirokoj publiki.

Nesmotrya na èto, vse matematiki otkazyvayutsya prinyath prilozheniya za merilo stoimosti dlya matematiki. Gauss govorit o volshebnom ocharovanii, kotoroe delalo teoriyu chisel lyubimoj naukoj pervykh matematikov. Nelhzya dazhe voobrazith eë neischerpaemye bogatstva, po kotorym ona daleko prevoskhodit vse ostalhnye oblasti matematiki. Kroneker sravnival matematikov, zanimayushchikhsya teoriej chisel, s lotofagami, kotorye, raz otvedav lotosa, uzhe ne mogli bolhshe bez nego obkhodithsya.

Velikij matematik Puankare vystupil kak-to s bolhshoj rezkosthyu protiv Tolstogo, kotoryj zayavlyal, chto lozung "nauka dlya nauki" -- bezrassudstvo i gluposth. Dostizheniya sovremennoj promyshlennosti, naprimer, voobshche by ne poyavilish na svet, kogda by sushchestvovali odni praktiki i kogda by ètim dostizheniyam ne sposobstvovali ne zainteresovannye v nikh gluptzy.

Chesth chelovecheskogo dukha, -- tak skazal znamenityj kënigsbergskij matematik Yakobi, -- vot edinstvennaya tzelh nauki.

Ne nado verith tem, kto segodnya s filosoficheskoj minoj i tonom prevoskhodstva prorochit zakat kulhtury, i vpadath v ignorabimus. Net dlya nas, matematikov, nikakogo ignorabimus, i, po moemu ubezhdeniyu, net i dlya estestvennykh nauk voobshche. Vmesto duratzkogo ignorabimus provozglasim nash kontr-lozung: My dolzhny znath -- my budem znath!

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