Kolmogorov’s mother died in childbirth and he was brought up by his aunt. Before enrolling at Moscow U in 1920 he spent some time as a railway conductor. A brilliant student, he obtained fundamental results in Fourier series (1922), logic (1925), and probability (1929). In 1929 he joined the faculty of Moscow U, becoming Professor in 1931. He was successively appointed Professor of Probability in 1938, of Statistical Methods in 1966, of Mathematical Statistics in 1976, and of Logic in 1980. Kolmogorov also worked on such practical projects as turbulence, the motion of the planets, the theory of fire, telecommunications scheduling, and the landing of planes on aircraft carriers. His work is now especially remembered by statisticians in the context of the Chapman–Kolmogorov equations for Markov processes and the non-parametric Kolmogorov–Smirnov test for a specified distribution. He was devoted to the development of talent in others, particularly the young, and worked to improve the teaching of mathematics in secondary schools. He was elected FRS in 1964 and a member of the NAS in 1967.

http://www.kolmogorov.com Website with links.