Andrei Monin
Encyclopedia
Andrei Sergeevich Monin was a Russian
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....

 physicist
Physicist
A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...

, applied mathematician, and oceanographer. Monin was known for his contribution to statistical theory of turbulence
Turbulence
In fluid dynamics, turbulence or turbulent flow is a flow regime characterized by chaotic and stochastic property changes. This includes low momentum diffusion, high momentum convection, and rapid variation of pressure and velocity in space and time...

 and atmospheric physics
Atmospheric physics
Atmospheric physics is the application of physics to the study of the atmosphere. Atmospheric physicists attempt to model Earth's atmosphere and the atmospheres of the other planets using fluid flow equations, chemical models, radiation balancing, and energy transfer processes in the atmosphere...

. He served as the Director of the P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology
Shirshov Institute of Oceanology
Shirshov Institute of Oceanology in Moscow, is the largest institute for ocean and earth science research, in Russia, established in 1946.- Fleet :* RV Akademik Ioffe...

 of the USSR Academy of Sciences
Russian Academy of Sciences
The Russian Academy of Sciences consists of the national academy of Russia and a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation as well as auxiliary scientific and social units like libraries, publishers and hospitals....

. He was instrumental in developing the Shirshov Institute into one of the largest scientific centers for ocean and earth science
Earth science
Earth science is an all-embracing term for the sciences related to the planet Earth. It is arguably a special case in planetary science, the Earth being the only known life-bearing planet. There are both reductionist and holistic approaches to Earth sciences...

 studies.

The Monin–Obukhov similarity theory and the Monin–Obukhov Length are named after Monin and Russian Academician Alexander Mikhailevich Obukhov
Alexander Obukhov
Alexander Mikhailovich Obukhov was a Russian physicist and applied mathematician known for his contribution to statistical theory of turbulence and atmospheric physics. He was one of the founders of modern boundary layer meteorology...

.

Life and work

Monin was born on 2 July 1921 in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

 to S. A. Monin, an Assistant Professor of the Moscow Pedagogical Institute. He joined the Mechanical and Mathematical Faculty of the Lomonosov Moscow State University in 1938 and received his bachelor's degree in 1942. Monin then enrolled for the post-graduate programme in the same University.

Military career
In 1943, Monin was called up for military service
Military service
Military service, in its simplest sense, is service by an individual or group in an army or other militia, whether as a chosen job or as a result of an involuntary draft . Some nations require a specific amount of military service from every citizen...

 in the ranks of the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...

 where he was asked to join the military courses of weather forecasters organized at the Higher Hydrometeorological Institute of the Red Army. He joined in the rank of lieutenant and sent to the 3rd Baltic Front
3rd Baltic Front
The 3rd Baltic Front was a front of the Red Army during the Second World War. It was set up on 21 April 1944 and disbanded on 16 October that year after taking part in the occupation of the Baltic states by the USSR in summer and autumn 1944....

 where he was section leader of a frontal meteorological station. He served in the army during the whole military campaign from the liberation of Pskov
Pskov
Pskov is an ancient city and the administrative center of Pskov Oblast, Russia, located in the northwest of Russia about east from the Estonian border, on the Velikaya River. Population: -Early history:...

 until the liberation of Riga
Riga
Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,...

. In 1945, Monin was attached to the Central Institute of Weather Forecasting of the Red Army. In 1946, he was demobilized and worked as a research fellow at the Central Institute of Weather Forecasting.

Education and early career
In 1946, Monin came back to Moscow State University to continue his post-graduate programme under the direct guidance of Academician Andrey Kolmogorov
Andrey Kolmogorov
Andrey Nikolaevich Kolmogorov was a Soviet mathematician, preeminent in the 20th century, who advanced various scientific fields, among them probability theory, topology, intuitionistic logic, turbulence, classical mechanics and computational complexity.-Early life:Kolmogorov was born at Tambov...

 who prepared and defended his Candidate's thesis on the theory of atmospheric turbulence. In 1951 Monin started to work at the Atmospheric Physics Department at Geophysical Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences, which later recognized as the Atmospheric Physics Institute (presently The Obhukov Institute of Atmospheric Physics). At the latter Institute he was a senior scientist, Head of a department and a scientific consultant. In 1956 he defended his Doctor's thesis on the theory of turbulent diffusion.

Awards and honors

A. S. Monin had received many honors and medals: among them are:
  • Foreign member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
    American Academy of Arts and Sciences
    The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...

    , 1973.
  • Foreign member of the United States National Academy of Sciences
    United States National Academy of Sciences
    The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...

    , 1976.
  • Honorary Doctor of the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, 1986.
  • Academician of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, 1991.
  • State Prize in the field of science, 1980.
  • Yu. M. Shokalsky
    Yuly Shokalsky
    Yuly Mikhailovich Shokalsky was a Russian oceanographer, cartographer, and geographer.A grandson of Anna Kern, Pushkin's celebrated mistress, Shokalsky graduated from the Naval Academy in 1880 and made a career in the Imperial Russian Navy, helping establish the Sevastopol Marine Observatory and...

     Prize, 1986.
  • Alexander Friedmann Prize by Russian Academy of Sciences in 1993.

Books authored

Monin was a prolific author of scientific works on various topics, including theory of turbulence, atmospheric physics, planetology, and meteorology. He was the author of about 620 scientific publications, including 24 monographs and the ten-volume "Okeanologia". Almost all of his books have been translated into foreign languages.

Noted for its clarity as well as its comprehensive treatment, the book "Statistical Fluid Mechanics: Mechanics of Turbulence", co-authored with A. M. Yaglom
Akiva Yaglom
Akiva Moiseevich Yaglom was a Soviet and Russian physicist, mathematician, statistician, and meteorologist. He was known for his contribution to the statistical theory of turbulence and theory of random processes. Yaglom spent most of his career in Russia working in various institutions, including...

, is considered to be a classic work on theory of turbulence. Science
American Association for the Advancement of Science
The American Association for the Advancement of Science is an international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsibility, and supporting scientific education and science outreach for the...

 while reviewing this book had observed: "If ever a book on turbulence could be called definitive, it is this book by two of Russia's most eminent and productive scientists in turbulence, oceanography, and atmospheric physics."
  • A. S. Monin, An Introduction to the Theory of Climate, D. Reidel Publishing Company, Netherlands, 1986.
  • A. S. Monin, Theoretical Geophysical Fluid Dynamics, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Netherlands, 1990.
  • A. S. Monin and A. M. Yaglom, Statistical Fluid Mechanics: Mechanics of Turbulence, Dover Publications
    Dover Publications
    Dover Publications is an American book publisher founded in 1941 by Hayward Cirker and his wife, Blanche. It publishes primarily reissues, books no longer published by their original publishers. These are often, but not always, books in the public domain. The original published editions may be...

    , 2007.
  • A. S. Monin, Weather Forecasting as a Problem in Physics, The MIT Press, 1972.
  • A. S. Monin and R. V. Ozmidov, Turbulence in the Ocean, D. Reidel Publishing Company, Netherlands, 1985.

External links

  • Monin Andrei Sergeevich at the Russian Academy of Sciences
    Russian Academy of Sciences
    The Russian Academy of Sciences consists of the national academy of Russia and a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation as well as auxiliary scientific and social units like libraries, publishers and hospitals....

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