Yuri Roslov

Юрий Викторович Рослов (09-01-1963 - 28-02-2015) Russian chess composer (Yuri Viktorovich Roslov)

Yuri Roslov was a geophysicist. 
He composed about 40 studies, as mentioned by Yochanan Afek in his studies column in The Problemist, September 2015.

XGeo wrote:

Yuri Victorovich Roslov (1963 – 2015) died at the age which is thought of as a peak of life, time of personal self-fulfillment and complete mastery of professional skills. Foundation and guidance of XGeo was only one and far from the main episode in his multifaceted activity. However, it was his leadership that made XGeo successful and presented a unique opportunity of collaboration with the remarkable personality and first-rate specialist.

Beginning of career

Yuri Roslov was a graduate of the Chair of Physics of the Earth of St Petersburg University, Department of Physics. The university was also the place where he began his career: first postgraduate course and getting his Ph.D., then work at the university Institute of Physics. His thesis adviser was Tatiana Yanovskaya, an outstanding mathematical geophysicist, a pupil of Georgy Petrashen.' These names and Yuri's first works [1-3] indicate that Yuri Roslov as a scientist was formed in the walls of the famous St Peterburg school of dynamic theory of elastic wave propagation, which combined the highest level of theoretical investigations with vivid interest in practice of seismic experiments. It is enough to mention that mathematical justification of ray method – the main instrument of any specialist in seismology and seismics – was performed by mathematicians of this school. The theoretical works [2-3] were recognized by the professional community. In the 80s and early 90s Yuri was a regular participant of the famous Petrashen's seminars at the Mathematical Institute. The first experience as a field engineer influenced Yuri's outlook as much as mathematical problems of seismic wave propagation.

"The first blows on my mentality of a mathematician of homogeneous media were struck in 1986 when I worked for some time in Kola Institute of Geology after graduating from the university… The world of horizontal homogeneous spaces began collapsing from the first step – setting a measuring tool… If you want to be successful even in theoretical geophysics, you must work with field engineers and geologists in order to understand your place in the technology of geophysical prospecting and have enough knowledge in adjacent fields… Symptomatically, those terms geophysicist, geologist are now being replaced with geoscientist which underlines the critical importance of integral knowledge of the Earth in addition to specialization… It was my field experience that defined my evolution as a researcher from the simplest to more and more complex models aimed at more precise description of real media. Seismic tomography was the most important stage in this evolution."