Moscow State School 57

The school circa 1877.

In 1877, Karl Masing, a Russian engineer and educator, founded a realschule in Maly Znamensky Lane,[4] which soon became one of the most progressive vocational schools in Russia.[5]

After the October Revolution, the realschule was converted into a boarding school with courses in aesthetic arts and renamed to School 4. It became popular with the Soviet establishment, with top government officials sending their children there.[6]

In 1936, the school was transformed again, converting back to a vocational school and acquiring the number 57 in Moscow's educational system.[7]

School 57 today

In 1968, Nikolay Konstantinov, a Russian educator in mathematics, established specialized math classes at the school. Konstantinov's teaching methodology still is used in these classes to this day and has been shared with other educational centers.[8]

The high school offers specializations in humanities, biology, and mathematics, as well as a general track. In 2008–2013, the school merged with two other schools in different locations of the Khamovniki District of Moscow, in conformity with recent reforms in educational policy.

One of the faculties in the school. Best specialists in STEM subjects are working with students from 8th to 11th grade in order to make them able to win All-Russian Olimpiad for schoolchildren. Academic curriculum includes advanced calculus (differentiation, integration, number theory, eyc), advanced mecanics, optics, molecular theory as well as English language for academic purposes.[16]

Individual approach lies in the core of the specialized math classes' educational process. Teaching the specialized math classes isn't limited to faculty staff – additional instructors, many of whom are volunteering alumni, are involved in order to give every student necessary attention. Rather than having to learn the material from a textbook, students discover it through solving sequences of problems. Solutions are presented by the students to the instructors in one-on-one discussions.[17] This method, introduced by Konstantinov, proved to be effective and was adopted by other educational institutions in both Russia and abroad, including School 179, the Independent University of Moscow and the Faculty of Mathematics at Higher School of Economics. Several School 57 teachers have also written textbooks[18][19][20] that follow the method.

School 57 holds an annual math competition for sixth and seventh graders from Moscow schools, sometimes accommodating more than 300 students.[31] During the competition, students interact with professors, as well as mathematics graduate and postgraduate students of Moscow universities. The competition consists of two rounds and a series of lectures on various subjects by school teachers and alumni professors.[32]

Since 2012,[33] the school has been hosting a mathematical summer camp for high school students, where university professors offer a number of introductory courses in different areas of college level mathematics. School 57 students are admitted automatically, students of other Moscow schools receive a spot in the camp based on results of a competition. The Summer Мath Сamp is jointly organized by the school, the Higher School of Economics and Yandex. In 2016, the Summer Мath Сamp had 15 courses and 80 students. The topics covered in the camp's course include the Young tableau, knot invariants and Schubert polynomials. Students who have the School 57 math camp's honors certificate have a better chance at getting into the Higher School of Economics.[34]

Collection of graduation pins and badges of Moscow School 57 from 1970s to 2018

In September 2016, a series of lectures by notable alumni was launched in a joint effort by the school's alumni and students' parents.[35] Lectures take place in all three buildings of the school, the speakers include Alexander Barulin and Anatoly Starostin.

School 57 has a tradition of keeping in touch with its alumni.

Classical School 57 logo contains a mathematical root symbol hidden in its counterform.

Among the notable alumni, most work in the field of mathematics. However, the list also contains well-known scholars in other disciplines, as well as politicians, businessmen, and public figures.

Elena Bunina

Vadim Moshkovich

Konstantin Sonin

• Vitaliy Arnold (1968-2017), mathematician.
• Pavel Bardin (born 1975), film director, screenwriter and producer.
• Boris Barkas (1953–2007), poet, songwriter, author of songs for Alla Pugacheva and Mashina Vremeni
• Valentin Baryshnikov, editor of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
• Roman Bezrukavnikov (born 1973), mathematician, professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Alexei Bondal (born 1961), mathematician
• Alexandre Bouzdine (born 1954), theoretical physicist in the field of superconductivity and condensed matter physics, professor at the University of Bordeaux
• Maxim Braverman (born 1966), mathematician.
• Grigory Bubnov (born 1970), economist, president of Moscow Technological Institute
• Elena Bunina (born 1976), mathematician, former head of Yandex in Russia
• Dmitry Dolgopyat (born 1972), Russian-American mathematician, professor at the University of Maryland, College Park
• Ruben Enikolopov (born 1978), economist, former rector of New Economic School.
• Alex Gerko (born 1979), english trader and billionnaire
• Mark Greenberg (translator) (born 1953), interpreter, winner of the Andrei Bely Prize
• Mikhail Kalyakin (born 1963), director of the Zoological Museum of Moscow University
• Mikhail Kapranov (born 1961), mathematician, professor at Yale University
• Azim Karimov (born 1991), conductor
• Tatyana Kasatkina (born 1963) philosopher, philologist
• Anna Kashina, writer, author of The Princess of Dhagabad
• Andrey Khazin (born 1969), historian, art critic, professor of Moscow State University
• Egor Kholmogorov (born 1975), publicist, political figure
• Natalia Kholmogorova (born 1976), public figure, interpreter, journalist
• Mikhail Khovanov (born 1972), Russian-American mathematician, inventor of Khovanov homology, professor at Columbia University
• Alexander Klyachin (born 1967), entrepreneur and investor
• Andrey Kozarzhervsy (1918–1995), philologist, professor of Moscow State University
• Ekaterina Krongauz (born 1984), journalist
• Alexander Kuznetsov (born 1973), mathematician, professor at the National Research University – Higher School of Economics
• Artemy Lebedev (born 1976), designer, founder of the design company Art. Lebedev Studio
• Mikhail Levandovskii (born 1972), a four time world champion in What? Where? When?
• Ernst Lissner (1874–1941), painter
• Sergei Lukianov (born 1963), biochemist, president of Russian National Research Medical University
• Yuri Mahlin (born 1969), physicist
• Vladimir Matetsky (born 1952), composer and producer
• Alexander Mezhirov (1923–2009), poet
• Roman Mints (born 1976), violinist
• Petr Mitrichev (born 1985), competitive programmer
• Maksim Moshkow (born 1966), public figure
• Vadim Moshkovich (born 1967), businessman and philanthropist
• Nikolai Nadirashvili (born 1955), mathematician, professor of Aix-Marseille University
• Nikita Nekrasov (born 1973), physicist, professor at Stony Brook University
• Mikhail Ostrovskiy (born 1979), economist, professor of Stanford Graduate School of Business
• Igor Pak (born 1971), mathematician, professor at the University of California, Los Angeles
• Nikolai Pertsov (1924-1987), scientist
• Nadezhda Plungyan (born 1983), art historian
• Iosif Polterovich (born 1974), mathematician, professor of the Université de Montréal
• Viktor Przhiyalkovsky (born 1982), mathematician
• Kirill Reshetnikov (born 1975), poet
• Leonid Reyzin, computer scientist, professor at Boston University
• Valery Rubakov (born 1955), physicist
• Alexei Savvateev (born 1973), mathematician
• Irina Shostakovskaya (born 1978), poet, winner of the Andrei Bely Prize
• Vera Serganova (born 1961), mathematician, professor at the University of California, Berkeley
• Konstantin Sonin (born 1972), economist, professor at the University of Chicago
• Maxim Sonin (born 1998), writer
• Georgiy Starostin (born 1976), linguist
• Anton Suvorov (born 1973), economist, rector of New Economic School
• Yana Tokareva (born 1976), poet, philologist, interpreter
• Larisa Trembovler (born 1966), Israeli politician, wife of Yigal Amir
• Askar Tuganbaev (born 1977), businessman, creator of Rutube
• Misha Verbitsky (born 1969), mathematician, professor at IMPA in Rio de Janeiro.
• Mikhail Voloshin (born 1953), Russian-American theoretical physicist, professor at the William I. Fine Theoretical Physics Institute
• Alexander A. Voronov (born 1962), Russian-American mathematician
• Boris Zakhoder (1918–2000), poet and children's writer
• Olga Zondberg (born 1972), author
• Anton Zorich (born 1962), mathematician, professor at the Institut de mathématiques de Jussieu – Paris Rive Gauche

The schools faculty includes a mathematician and professor Alexander Shen, an educator, geometer, author of several geometry textbooks Rafail Gordin, director of the Moscow Center for Continuous Mathematical Education, head of development of Unified State Exam Ivan Yashchenko.

Former faculty includes poet and novelist Igor Vishnevetsky, mathematician and Soviet dissident Tatyana Velikanova, biologist, founder of the biological classes at School 57 and other Moscow schools Galina Sokolova.