DEDICATION

Our school is dedicated to teacher, mentor, and friend, Dr. Yuri B. Chernyak, MIT research scientist and former associate professor of physics at Moscow State University.  Dr. Chernyak taught mathematics and physics to undergraduates for many years at the MIT Concourse Program.  He was the co-author, along with Professor Robert Rose, of "The Chicken from Minsk", a collection of brain teasers of the kind he used in teaching.  The book has been published in 10 languages.

"The goal of mathematical education in particular was, in a very athletic sense, to train the bain."

"The best educational system in Russia was very much in the European tradition.  The goal was not the professional training, but intellectual, moral, and ethical development.  Euclidian Geometry was taught from Grades 6 through 9, followed by one year of trigonometry, but never with any emphasis on practical applications.  The purpose was to teach systematic thought and the perception of the beauty of mathematics and other intellectual constructions."