Russia Day
June 12 - Russia Day
II. Charming and Beautiful “Russian Power”
III. Russian Geniuses with Foreign Origin
IV. Foreigners who Greatly Contributed to the Glory of Russia
The foundations of astrophysics, physical chemistry and aerodynamics, the periodic table of elements, a professional scuba diving suit and a knapsack parachute, the first artificial satellite of the Earth and the first human flight into space, the first lasers and much more were inscribed into the history of science by Russians. Some examples follow.
A contribution of the Russian polymath Mikhail Lomonosov to the world science is invaluable. He was the first
- to formulate the basic provisions of the kinetic theory of gases;
- to prove that Venus has an atmosphere which is denser than that of the Earth, this discovery considered the beginning of astrophysics as a science;
- to lay the foundations of physical chemistry;
- to spell out the law of conservation of matter and motion;
- to provide a scientific concept of the ore veins and their dating;
- to develop a scientific theory of atmospheric electricity, scientifically proved the wave nature of light and electricity.
Nikolai Pirogov is a famous Russian surgeon, to whom the world owes many important discoveries. He made a huge contribution to anesthesiology. He was the first surgeon to use ether anesthesia for field surgery, with about 10,000 surgeries of this kind performed.
In February 1869, Russian scientist Dmitri Mendeleev reported the discovery of one of the fundamental laws of nature - the periodic law of chemical elements, which allows not only to accurately determine many properties of already known elements, but also to predict the properties of those yet to be discovered.
Thomas Edison is erroneously considered to be the only inventor of the incandescent lamp. Many important contributions to the development of this familiar device were made by scientists of various nationalities: British Warren De la Rue and Joseph Wilson Swan, German Walther Nerst, Americans William Coolidge and George Starr, Russian scientists Alexander Milashenko and Pavel Yablochkov. The crucial role was played by the discoveries of the German inventor Heinrich Goebel and the Russian scientist Alexander Lodygin, who was the first to use tungsten instead coal or charred fibers in an incandescent filament. Thomas Edison’s input concerned the familiar lamp shape, a screw cap with a cartridge, and a plug with a socket.
The question of the paternity of the radio is still debatable. Almost every country has its own scientist who is credited with invention of this device. Thus, in Russia this scientist is Alexander Popov whose priority is supported by many weighty arguments. On May 7, 1895, he arranged first demonstrations of the reception and transmission of radio signals over a considerable distance. He was the first not only to use the receiver in practice, but also the first to send a radio message. Both events had taken place before Marconi was issued a patent as the radio inventor.
In 1899, in Saint Petersburg, engineer Ippolit Romanov presented a four-wheeled carriage designed to carry two passengers. Its maximum speed was 39 km / h, while its very complicated charging system limited the distance to be covered to 60 km. This electric car was to become the forefather of the modern trolleybus.
Nikolay Zhukovsky developed the theoretical foundations of aviation and methods of aircraft designing. In 1904, Nikolay Zhukovsky discovered the law determining the airplane wing lift. He also designed the main types of the airplane wings profiles and propeller blades, and developed the propeller vortex theory.
In 1902, the Russian photographer Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky designed a special camera capable of taking three pictures of the same image. Each of them was passed through three light filters: red, green, and blue. As a result, he was able to get negatives of exceptional quality, achieving the most natural color reproduction.
The first step to television broadcasting was made by Boris Rosing, who formulated “Method of electric transmission of images over distances” in 1907. He was able to successfully transmit and receive a sharp image on the screen of a simple device that was a prototype of the modern TV kinescope.
Among those who helped Boris Rosing in his experiments was a student of the St. Petersburg Institute of Technology Vladimir Zvorykin. He applied Boris Rosing’s principle to design and construct, and eventually commercialized the modern TV-set. Speaking about his main brainchild, Vladimir Zvorykin admitted that he did not expect it to become "a monster capable of brainwashing all mankind". The universally acclaimed "father of television" added: "There are some parts in it that I was particularly good at, the best of them being the switch-off button".
Leonardo da Vinci is known to be credited with the idea of the parachute. However, the early umbrella parachutes used in aviation were cumbersome, heavy, inconvenient and unreliable. It was the Russian actor Gleb Kotelnikov who came up with the idea of the modern knapsack parachute. On hearing about the fatal accident resulting in pilots’ death he unexpectedly gave up his acting career and in 1911 presented the parachute design similar to the one used today. However, due to the fears of the commander-in-chief of the Russian military aviation Grand Duke Alexander that pilots would be too eager to use it in case of slightest danger the patent for the invention was not issued. It was only in 1924 that Gleb Kotelnikov received the patent for his invention and refused his copyright in favour of the state.
Vladimir Demikhov was not a doctor, actually he was a biologist. In 1937, as a third-year student of the biology Department of Moscow State University, he designed a mechanical heart and implanted it in a dog, that survived for about three hours. In 1946, he was the first in the world to perform a heart transplant from one dog to another. In the same year, he performed the transplantation of a heart and a lung of the same dog that survived for several days. Vladimir Demikhov's experiments were a real breakthrough in cardiovascular surgery.
The history of inventing laser dates back to Einstein’s theory of the interaction of radiation with substance. Attempts to design a laser prototype called maser were not successful until 1955. In 1962, two Russian physicists Nikolay Basov and Alexander Prokhorov developed a quantum generator. Simultaneously, the American Charles Townes received similar results, however, his device was not able to work in a constant mode. In 1964, Nikolay Basov, Alexander Prokhorov, and Charles Townes shared the Nobel prize in physics.
Some of the brightest pages in the history of our country are associated with the name of Sergei Korolev: the first artificial Earth satellite, the first manned flight into space, the first cosmonaut in open space, long-term work of the space station and many more.
Soviet ophthalmologist Svyatoslav Fedorov was the first to perform vision corrective surgery using keratotomy (special incisions on the eye cornea), transplant donor corneas. He also developed a new method of glaucoma surgery, and became a pioneer of laser eye microsurgery.
Alexey Pazhitnov got the idea of Tetris in 1984 after seeing the Pentomino puzzle designed by the American mathematician Solomon Golomb. Alexey Pazhitnov did not just take the idea, but developed and elaborated it: in his version, figures are to be collected in a glass in real time. What made the game even more exciting is that figures consisting of four elements could turn around their own center of gravity during the fall. As a result, this computer game named “Tetris" was to become the most famous in the world.
II. Charming and Beautiful “Russian Power”
Russian women, famous all over the world for their beauty and richness of the inner world, inspired many famous writers, poets, artists, composers, scientists and sportsmen. Without them many poetic and musical masterpieces would probably not have appeared, great discoveries would not have been made and world records would not have been set. Let's name just a few Russian women who have contributed to the work of their famous husbands.
Anne de Russie or Agnès de Russie married the French king Henrich I in 1051. Anne actively participated in political process and sometimes used to sign documents for her husband. Some laws signed by Henrich had a PostScript: “With the consent of my wife Anna”.
A daughter of Imperor Pavel I married Prince Willem Orange-Nassau, a Crown Prince of the Netherlands. In 1840, Anna Pavlovna became a Queen. Nine years later her husband passed away, leaving a lot of debts. To save the situation, Queen Anna addressed her brother, the Russian Emperor Nicolas I for help. She asked him to buy an art collection of her husband for the huge sum of 4,5 million guilders to “save her children and the family’s honor”. The Russian Emperor agreed, and all the financial issues were settled.
The biggest love of Jose Raul Capablanca was his wife Olga Chagodaeva. It was she who convinced genious grandmaster to return to chess when he decided to quit. By the way, Capablanca was not only a chess-player but also a diplomat, and his first post was a consul in St.Petersburg.
A wife of Pablo Picasso - Olga Khohlova was one of the muses of the amorous Spaniard. Her diverse images can be seen in many of the artist's pictures.
Elena Diakonova (Gala) known as the "Muse of surrealism", is mostly known from the portraits by her husband Salvador Dali, but she was the one who also inspired her first husband, French poet Paul Eluard and the German artist Max Ernst.
Russian poetess Maria Kudasheva (Koudacheva), an important member of the Russian literary movement of the first quarter of the 20th century, whom Marina and Anastasia Tsvetaeva called their third sister, became the "good genius" of Romain Rolland, his wife, secretary, literary agent and translator.
Young Vera Makinskaya (Vera Calman) was the biggest love of Hungarian composer Imre Calman. She arrived in Vienna from the city Perm’ (Urals) hoping to make a theatrical career.
The writer and translator, winner of the Goncourt prize, Elsa Triolet (Ella Kagan) was the wife and the Muse of the French poet Louis Aragon. Her beauty and talent were admired not only by her husband, who dedicated his poems to Elsa. As a tribute to her Henri Matisse painted a picture “Eyes of Elsa” and Yves Saint Laurent created one of his masterpieces. Elsa-Ella was born in a prosperous Moscow family and was the younger sister of the legendary Lily Brick - the main woman in the fate of Vladimir Mayakovsky.
The family happiness of the famous English economist John Maynard Keynes was assured by his Russian wife Lydia Lopukhova (Lydia Lopokova), a ballet dancer who used to dance with Vaclav Nijinsky and became a real Ambassador of Russian culture in the UK.
III. Russian Geniuses with Foreign Origin
Many Russian statesmen, military commanders, writers, artists and composers had blood of different ethnicities, which in no way hindered them from being truly Russian, both in mind and spirit. The grandfather of the great Russian poet Alexander Pushkin was brought from Ethiopia, the poet Mikhail Lermontov had Scottish ancestors, Alexander Herzen's mother was German, Fyodor Dostoevsky had Polish blood, and Konstantin Paustovsky - both Turkish and Polish. Vasily Zhukovsky's mother was a Turkish woman. Vladimir Dal, an author of the multi-volume “Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language” was a hundred percent Dane, but a very “Russified one”. The mother of the "most Russian" composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky had both French and Austrian ancestors. Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov was of Czech-Lithuanian descent. The founder of the Moscow Conservatory, Anton Rubinstein, was a German, and the artist Karl Brullov - French. Mikhail Barclay de Tolly, Russian General, hero of the war with Napoleon, came from an old Scottish family (Monuments to him are erected both in Moscow and in St.Petersburg). A major Russian statesman, Chairman of the Committee of Ministers (1903-1906), Sergei Witte was a descendant of migrants from the Netherlands.
IV. Foreigners who Greatly Contributed to the Glory of Russia
A contribution of foreigners into Russian history, art and science is undoubtedly very significant. Russia is a multi-national state, in the creation and formation of which participated people of various nationalities, including representatives of the country's indigenous peoples, as well as those who came to Russia as European celebrities or were born in Russia, where their ancestors moved to. They served Russia faithfully, enriched its culture with their talent, and our country gratefully cherishes their memory. Let us name some of them.
1. One of the most prominent rulers of Russia was the Prussian Princess Sophia Augusta Frederica, who became the Russian Empress Catherine the Great. During her reign, the borders of the Russian Empire were greatly expanded to the West and South (incorporation of Novorossiya, Crimea, and some regions of Caucasus in the 18th century). Thanks to a large extent to the personal efforts of the Empress, who was fond of literary activities, collected masterpieces of painting and corresponded with French enlighteners, from the cultural perspective Russia became one of the greatest powers in Europe. In general, the policy of Catherine and her reforms fit in with the enlightened absolutism of the XVIII century.
2. Princess Sophie-Dorothea of Baden, who received the Orthodox name Maria Feodorovna, became the mother of two Russian emperors — Alexander I and Nicholas I. Maria Feodorovna followed the policy of Europeanization of Russia begun by Peter I and continued by Catherine II. Highly educated, interested in culture and arts, she created the so-called Palace of the Muses at her "small court" in Pavlovsk and Gatchina, surrounding herself with poets, writers, artists, musicians and scientists.
3. Elena Pavlovna (before the adoption of Orthodoxy - Princess Frederika Charlotte Marie of Württemberg) was the wife of Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich, the younger brother of Alexander II. She was an important state and public figure, a supporter of the abolition of serfdom and the great liberal reforms, the founder of the Russian “Red Cross” society.
4. In 1866, Crown Prince Alexander Alexandrovich (the future Emperor Alexander III of Russia) married Princess Marie Sophie Frederikke Dagmar who was the daughter of King Christian IX of Denmark. After conversion to Orthodoxy, she got the name of Maria Feodorovna. Until the February Revolution of 1917 in Russia, she was very active in doing good deeds. Thanks to her, the tales of Hans Christian Andersen who was occasionally invited to tell stories to Dagmar and her siblings when they were children, became popular in Russia.
5. Leonhard Euler was born in 1707, in Basel, Switzerland. Soon after graduating from the University of Basel, he moved to Russia in 1727. In Russia he served in the navy before joining the St. Petersburg Academy as a professor of physics and later heading its mathematics division. In the mid-1740s, Euler was appointed the mathematics director of the newly created Berlin Academy of Science and Beaux Arts, but after receiving patronage from Catherine II in 1766 he returned to Russia to head the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences.
Over his career, Euler came up with an array of principles which laid the foundation for much of modern mathematics. He was a revolutionary thinker in the fields of geometry, trigonometry, calculus, differential equations, number theory and notational systems among a legion of other accomplishments. His work also focused on the fields of astronomy, acoustics, mechanics and music.
Euler spent about half of his life in Russia, greatly contributing to developing the Russian science. He managed to master Russian language within the first year of his stay in Russia, and part of his works, especially text-books, were written in Russian.
6. The genius of physics Boris Jacobi, the elder brother of the great German mathematician Carl Gustav Jacobi, moved to Russia at the invitation of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He accepted Russian citizenship and always considered Russia his second homeland. It was in Russia that he created the method of electroplating — the process of metal deposition on a mold, allowing you to create perfect copies of the original object. For this discovery Jacobi received the Demidov prize in Russia and a large Gold medal in Paris. A synchronous telegraph device with direct (without decoding) indication of the transmitted letters was another invention of the scientist. He also supervised the construction of the first cable lines in St. Petersburg.
7. It is difficult to overestimate the contribution of the "Russian Italian" Osip (Giuseppe) Bove in the renovation of Moscow. The Bolshoi theatre, the Moscow Manege, the Triumphal gate and many other significant buildings of the city can be listed among his constructions.
8. The best European architects were invited to Russia to participate in the construction of Saint Petersburg: Italians Carl Rossi and Bartolomeo Rastrelli, Frenchman Auguste Monferrand, Swiss Domenico Trezzini. The streets of this beautiful city are decorated with statues by the Frenchman Etienne Falconet and Russian sculptor with German roots Peter Klodt.
9. Activities of the Spanish scientist and engineer Augustin Betancourt are not only limited to erection of the concrete bridges, plants, factories and other most complicated constructions. He made a great input into the general planning of the Russian transport system, as well as into the organization and development of Russian higher engineering education. In 2003, a monument to Betancourt was erected in St. Petersburg.
- Monuments to Peter the Great, Russian Emperor-reformer are erected in Belgium (Antwerp, Brussels, Spa), the United Kingdom (London), the Netherlands (Zaandam, Rotterdam).
- the number of countries where monuments to a Russian poet Alexander Pushkin are erected amounts to nearly fifty including Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Belorussia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Cuba, Cyprus, Egypt, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico, Moldova, Montenegro, Norway, the Philippines, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine (about 50 monuments), the USA, Uzbekistan.
- There are five monuments to Russian writers and poets in Baden-Baden (Germany): to Ivan Turgenev, Vasily Zhukovsky, a memorial plate to Nikolai Gogol and two monuments to Fyodor Dostoevsky.