Vladimir Andreyevich Steklov was an outstanding Russian mathematician and mechanic, as well as a professor. He became the organizer and first director of the Physics and Mathematics Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, which was later named in his honor.

Steklov was born on January 9, 1864, in Nizhny Novgorod to a priest's family. His abilities in mathematics and physics manifested early at the Nizhny Novgorod Noble Institute. In 1882, he enrolled in the physics and mathematics faculty of Moscow University, but his first year did not go well, and in 1883 he transferred to Kharkiv University.

In his third year, Steklov met Alexander Mikhailovich Lyapunov, whose lectures inspired many students to study mathematics. Under Lyapunov's influence, Steklov found his calling and began engaging in scientific activities.

After graduating from Kharkiv University in 1887, he became an assistant in the mechanics department two years later. In 1891, he was awarded the title of privat-docent, and in 1893 he became a master of applied mathematics. By 1901, he had been awarded a doctorate in applied mathematics. By this time, he was already known for his work in mechanics and mathematical physics.

From 1894, Steklov taught mechanics at the Kharkiv Technological Institute. From 1902 to 1906, he headed the Kharkiv Mathematical Society and simultaneously served as the dean of the mathematics faculty.

His scientific works mainly concern mathematical physics and the theory of differential equations. Steklov considered the application of mathematical methods in natural sciences important and insisted on clarity and rigor in mathematics, following the traditions of the Petersburg mathematical school of Chebyshev.

In his works on mathematical physics, he investigated the expansion of functions into series based on given orthogonal systems and introduced a method for smoothing functions, known as Steklov functions.

In 1912, Steklov became a full member of the Petersburg Academy of Sciences. After the revolution, he actively participated in transforming the Imperial Academy of Sciences into the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and became its vice-president in 1919.

Steklov organized and headed the Physics and Mathematics Institute, which later split into the Institute of Mathematics and the Institute of Physics. Based on the Institute of Mathematics, new institutions emerged, including the Mathematical Institute and its St. Petersburg branch. A crater on the far side of the Moon is named in his honor.

He wrote scientific-biographical books about Lomonosov and Galileo, as well as works on Chebyshev, Lobachevsky, Ostrogradsky, Lyapunov, and other scientists. In 1924, he visited America and wrote a book titled "To America and Back. Impressions."

Vladimir Andreyevich Steklov died on May 30, 1926, in Gaspra, Crimea, from heart failure and was buried at the Volkovskoe Cemetery in St. Petersburg.