A. M. Zamorzaev (1927-1997)

IUCr Newsletter (1998). 6(4), 19.

Professor Alexander Mihailovich Zamorzaev, doctor of physical-mathematical sciences and a world-renowned scientist in the field of geometrical crystallography and discrete geometry, died on Nov. 1, 1997. He was born in Leningrad on Jan. 23, 1927, and graduated in 1950 from the U. of Leningrad where he received an M.A. degree in l953.

In his dissertation "Generalization of Fedorov Groups", he developed the general theory of antisymmetry. Beginning with a small group of students, Zamorzaev established the Kishinev Geometry School at the newly-opened U. of Kishinev (KGU), a scientific center for the study of discrete geometry in the USSR, and site of the Second General Geometry Conference in Harkow in 1964.

A.M. Zamorzaev is the author of three important theories of geometry and mathematical crystallography, those of 1) multiple antisymmetry; 2) similarity symmetry and conformal symmetry; and 3) P-symmetry, including generalizations of A. V. Shubnikov's antisymmetry and N. V. Belov's color symmetry. The three theories were the basis of his doctoral dissertation "Theory of Antisymmetry and its Different Generalizations". Under the scientific guidance of Zamorzaev, 107 graduate thesis, ten M.A. dissertations and three Ph.D. dissertations were completed. Kishinev's followers applied the theory of P-symmetry to the study of multidimensional crystallography and, the discrete symmetry groups of Lobachevski and Minkowski spaces. The methods developed by Zamorzaev in the field of P-symmetry opened new prospectives for further generalizations.

The works of A.M. Zamorzaev are modern, relevant and well received. He was awarded the Fedorov Prize of the Acad. Sci. USSR in 1973 for fundamental contributions to the development of the theory of symmetry and the Republic Moldova prize for Science and Technology in 1974 for his fundamental study of discrete geometry. In 1977 he received a honorary title for his accomplishments in science and pedagogy, and in 1989 he was elected Correspondent-member of the Acad. Sci. R. Moldova.

A. E Palistrant,
S. V.Jablan