The Idiot The Idiot The Idiot (pre-reform Russian: ; post-reform ) is a novel by the 19th-century Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. It was first published serially in the journal "The Russian Messenger" in 1868–9. The title is an ironic reference to the central character of the novel, Prince (Knyaz) Lev Nikolayevich Myshkin, a young man whose goodness, open-hearted simplicity and guilelessness lead many of the more worldly characters he encounters to mistakenly assume that he lacks intelligence and insight. In the character of Prince Myshkin, Dostoevsky set himself the task of depicting "the positively good and beautiful man." The novel examines the
Sergei Nikolaevich Chernikov Sergei Nikolaevich Chernikov Sergei Nikolaevich Chernikov (11 May 1912 – 23 January 1987; ) was a Russian mathematician who contributed significantly to the development of infinite group theory and linear inequalities. Chernikov was born on 11 May 1912 in Sergiyev Posad, in Moscow Oblast, Russia, to Nikolai Nikolaevich, a priest, and Anna Alekseevna, a housewife. After graduating from secondary school, he worked as a labourer, as a driver, as a book-keeper and as an accountant. Until November 1931 he taught mathematics in a school for workers. From 1930 he was an external student of the Pedagogic Institute of Saratov State