Essay of history of topological education in Nizhny Novgorod

The history of the development of topological education in Nizhny Novgorod is described — from the first lecture on topology for schoolchildren, given in 1939 by Professor A.G. Mayer, to the present. The need for knowledge of topology for further research was first understood in Nizhny Novgorod by representatives of the school of academician A.A. Andronov on the theory of nonlinear oscillations and the qualitative theory of differential equations. An important moment was organization by S.I. Alber in 1964 Gorky topological school, in which many outstanding mathematicians took part (D.V. Anosov, M.L. Gromov, S.P. Novikov, Y.G. Sinai, etc.) However, the specialist in real algebraic geometry, Professor D.A. Gudkov, became the "motor" for introducing topology into the educational process. This activity took place in close cooperation with Leningrad Professor V.A. Rokhlin and his students O.Ya. Viro and V.M. Kharlamov.