Yuri Vladimirovich Linnik (January 8, 1915 – June 30, 1972) was a Soviet mathematician active in number theory, probability theory and mathematical statistics.

Biography

Linnik was born in Bila Tserkva, in present-day Ukraine. He went to Saint Petersburg University where his supervisor was Vladimir Tartakovsky, and later worked at that university and the Steklov Institute. He was a member of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union, as was his father, Vladimir Pavlovich Linnik. He was awarded both Stalin and Lenin Prizes. He died in Leningrad.

Work in number theory

Work in probability theory and statistics

Infinitely divisible distributions

Linnik obtained numerous results concerning infinitely divisible distributions. In particular, he proved the following generalisation of Cramér's theorem: any divisor of a convolution of Gaussian and Poisson random variables is also a convolution of Gaussian and Poisson. He has also coauthored the book on the arithmetics of infinitely divisible distributions.

Central limit theorem

Statistics

Selected publications