P. L. Chebyshev (1821–1894) and his contacts with Western European scientists

This paper is concerned with (a) a brief outline of Chebyshev's life; (b) certain background material in connection with Chebyshev's work on approximation and integration in finite terms; (c) the question of whether he already was in Paris in 1842, 10 years prior to his established and presumed first trip to Western Europe; d) his contacts with Catalan, Liouville, Hermite, Lucas, d'Ocagne, Laussedat, and Dwelshauvers-Dery; (e) his contacts with Dirichlet, Borchardt, Kronecker, and Weierstrass; and (f) Chebyshev's last two trips to the West. It is argued that the great Russian scientist did not work in isolation at St. Petersburg. Instead, he was in personal contact, at least until 1884, with many of the greatest European scientists of the time.