Michael Brin

Michael Brin is a prominent American mathematician specializing in dynamical systems and ergodic theory. A professor emeritus at the University of Maryland, College Park, his research has significantly advanced the understanding of hyperbolic dynamics and the statistical properties of chaotic systems. He is also widely recognized as the father of Sergey Brin, the co-founder of Google.

Early life and education

Born in Moscow within the former Soviet Union, he demonstrated an early aptitude for the sciences. He pursued higher education at the prestigious Moscow State University, a leading institution for mathematics during the Soviet era. Under the supervision of renowned mathematician Dmitri Anosov, a key figure in the Moscow Mathematical Society, he completed his doctoral studies, focusing on the rigorous analysis of dynamical systems.

Career and research

After emigrating to the United States in the 1970s, he joined the faculty of the University of Maryland, College Park, where he spent the majority of his academic career. His research is central to modern ergodic theory, particularly the study of systems with non-uniform hyperbolicity. A landmark contribution is the Brin–Katok theorem, co-authored with Mikhail (Misha) Katok, which provides a fundamental local entropy formula for Borel probability measures under a continuous map. He has made profound contributions to the theory of geodesic flow on manifolds of non-positive curvature, collaborating with other leading figures like Yakov Pesin and Boris Gurevich. His work often intersects with statistical mechanics and the thermodynamic formalism, exploring the deep connections between chaos, entropy, and dimension.

Awards and honors

In recognition of his foundational work, he was elected a fellow of the American Mathematical Society in 2012. His influential monograph, *Introduction to Dynamical Systems*, co-authored with Garrett Stuck, is a standard graduate text used in universities worldwide. The enduring impact of the Brin–Katok theorem ensures his legacy within the international mathematics community, particularly among scholars at institutions like the Institute for Advanced Study and the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute.

Personal life

He is married to Eugenia Krasnokutskaya, a former researcher at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Their son, Sergey Brin, co-founded the technology giant Google with Larry Page. The family's emigration from the Soviet Union in 1979, partly due to antisemitism and seeking better academic opportunities, is a noted part of their narrative. He maintains a connection to his cultural heritage and has been supportive of various scientific and educational initiatives.

Selected publications

* Brin, Michael; Katok, Mikhail. "On local entropy." *Geometric dynamics (Rio de Janeiro, 1981)*, Lecture Notes in Mathematics, vol. 1007, Springer-Verlag. * Brin, Michael; Stuck, Garrett. *Introduction to Dynamical Systems*. Cambridge University Press. * Brin, Michael; Gurevich, Boris; Pesin, Yakov. "Partial hyperbolicity, Lyapunov exponents and stable ergodicity." *Journal of the European Mathematical Society*. * Brin, Michael. "Topological transitivity of one class of dynamical systems and flows of frames on manifolds of negative curvature." *Functional Analysis and Its Applications*.

Category:American mathematicians Category:University of Maryland, College Park faculty Category:1947 births Category:Living people Category:Mathematicians from Moscow Category:Ergodic theorists