Computational group theory in St. Petersburg (Q1303326)

Following the ever-increasing tendency -- now manifested all over the world -- of a powerful and unprecedented development of computational group theory (CGT) -- a special branch of computer algebra --, the study under review discusses the history and progress of this field in the school of St. Petersburg (Leningrad). After a brief discussion on the main characteristics of such a field (such as the capacity of performing calculations with several kinds of groups), a special section is devoted to the groups of Burnside type. Attention is paid here to A. I. Skopin, one of the first mathematicians in St. Petersburg having manifested a special interest in CGT. Thus, one of his main concerns referred to the structure of the lower central series of groups of Burnside type, of prime-power exponent. Influenced by D. K. Fadeev, undisputable founder of the St. Petersburg school of algebra, and his teacher, Skopin came to extend his new ideas and methods on computer applications. The results of his investigations, the analysis of the difficulties he had to face (of quite various nature), have been materialized in Skopin's Ph. D. thesis, publicly defended in St. Petersburg, in 1991. Apart from the rich information it provides, the present study outlines the celebration of Skopin's 70th birth anniversary.