A historical oversight: Vladimir P. Kolgan and his high-resolution scheme

The Russian landmark paper “Application of the principle of minimizing the derivative to the construction of finite-difference schemes for computing discontinuous solutions of gas dynamics” by Vladimir P. Kolgan is discussed in a historical–technical perspective. The 1972 paper already featured a Godunov-type scheme for the Euler equations with second-order spatial accuracy, and a limiter to make it monotonicity-preserving. The work remained little known within and completely unknown outside the USSR, largely because of Kolgan’s untimely death in 1978. To honor Kolgan’s contribution to CFD, an English translation of his paper is included in this issue of the Journal of Computational Physics. Facts about Kolgan’s life are presented here, and an appraisal is given of the originality of his ideas.