History of science and technology

147-159

Authors: Iryna Hrushytska

In 2020, the scientific community will celebrate the 90th birthday of Vitaly Grigorevsky – the Ukrainian astronomer, a specialist in satellite astronomy, a representative of a scientific school of an outstanding Ukrainian scientist, corresponding member of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, a director of the Odessa Astronomical Observatory – a professor Vladimir Platonovich Tsesevich. In the article on the basis of complex use of biographical method and methods of bibliographic and source analysis the basic milestones of life and scientific activity of Vitaly Grigorevsky are investigated. The Kherson, Odessa before-Chisinau, Chisinau and Odessa after-Chisinau periods of the scientist's life and work at the Odessa and Chisinau State University, Odessa Technological Institute named after M. V. Lomonosov. The basic directions of scientific researches of the scientist are defined: physical processes in semi-regular variable stars, photometric researches of artificial satellites of the Earth, research of geometry and motion of artificial satellites of the Earth and small planets, optimization of technological processes by mathematical methods with use of electronic computing methods. The contribution of Vitaly Grigorevsky to the formation and development of a new direction of scientific research in the 1960s - photometric observations of artificial satellites of the Earth is shown. The international aspect of Vitaly Grigorevsky's scientific and organizational activity and his work in the Commission on Multilateral Scientific Cooperation between the Academies of Sciences of Socialist Countries are covered. The activity of Vitaliy Grigorevsky as the initiator and coordinator of cooperative research in the field of photometric observations of artificial satellites of the Earth under the SPIN program was noted. The SPIN program included the stations of the People's Republic of Bulgaria, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, the Hungarian People's Republic, the German Democratic Republic, the Polish People's Republic, the Soviet Union and the United Arab Republic (Egypt). The little-known facts about the scientist's biography are covered.

175-185

Authors: Oleksandr Isaienko, Svitlana Isaienko

History of science and technologies as a branch of scientific knowledge is aimed at studying the most significant ideas of prominent scientists and practitioners and their influence on the world science development and the technologies’ advancing. In the opinion of the authors of the article, one of such figures of the early twentieth century is Academician I. H. Aleksandrov. Historical and scientific analysis of life and activity of I. H. Aleksandrov as a scientific theoretician, engineer, a science organizer is of high topicality due to the scale and versatility of his scientific contribution. Scientific creative work of I. H. Aleksandrov can be divided into five main directions of development of science and technologies: hydraulic engineering, hydropower, geographic zoning, railway transport and irrigation. In the context of the development of hydraulic engineering and hydropower, I. H. Aleksandrov had world-class achievements that glorified national science. But till recent years I. H. Aleksandrov is mostly recognized as the designer and one of the constructors of the Dnipro hydroelectric power station near Zaporizhzhia (1927-1932) (he prepared a project and directed the construction of the largest hydroelectric power station in Europe at that time) or as a creator and developer of the methodology for economic zoning of the Soviet Union. Other achievements and ideas of Academician I. H. Aleksandrov are rarely mentioned in the scientific papers and researches. The article concludes that the breadth of scientific and technical interests of I. H. Aleksandrov was the result both of his individual abilities and of the thorough theoretical and practical training received by a young engineer I. H. Aleksandrov from the highly qualified teaching staff of the Moscow Higher Technical School and the Moscow Engineering School of the Office of the Ways of Communications. I. H. Aleksandrov’s gigantic working capability played an important role in his life as well. Great number of sources showed that occupying different positions, I. H. Aleksandrov participated in solving complex technical issues of contemporary epoch, and his scientific interests had always been in the context of the tasks of the engineering and science of his time. I. H. Aleksandrov initiated scientific discussions on the construction of ports and canals, in his work he contributed in every way to the development of home industry in general, and to hydraulic engineering in particular. The authors assert that the modern view on the scientific heritage of I. H. Aleksandrov in the context of the development of hydraulic engineering, hydropower and rail transport unambiguously acknowledges that in a concentrated-generalized form ideas, theories and concepts, put forward and scientifically grounded by Academician I. H. Aleksandrov almost a hundred years ago, even today contribute to the development of scientific and technological process.

197-210

Authors: Hanna Deforzh

The objective of the research is to reveal the main areas of research of Academician M. V. Pavlova in scientific works "Essay on the history of fossil ungulates" in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, to show the contribution of these works to the world of palaeozoological science. The scientific novelty is that the life path and academic heritage of academician M. V. Pavlova was investigated in complex in the context of the development of Palaeozoology for the first time in Ukrainian historiography, and her scientific biography was reconstructed; the history of domestic palaeozoology is presented through the prism of M. V. Pavlova work and her scientific school; the published and handwritten works of the scientist were analyzed, which enabled to deepen the knowledge about the history of the national palaeozoological science and its influence on the development of world science. She demonstrated the importance of fossil mammal research for stratigraphic constructions. The founder of paleontology, as a scholarly discipline, is considered a prominent George Cuvier. Also, Paleontology and its section of Palaeozoology were created, such world-renowned scholars as Albert Godry, Otniel Marsh, Edward Cop, Volodymyr Kovalevsky, Melchior Neumire, Louis Dollo, Henry Osbourne, and others. To this galaxy of scientists-paleozoologist belongs also our compatriot, academician M. V. Pavlova (1854-1938). It was established that Maria Vasylivna Pavlova (in the girlhood M. V. Gortynskaya) is an entire era in the development of Palaeozoology. She is an outstanding specialist in the study of fossil mammals, the organizer and promoter of Palaeozoology Science. Maria Vasylivna is a world-class paleozoologist, a well-known specialist in scientific circles who was personally familiar with many prominent paleo scientists, for example, Albert Godri, who was her teacher at the Sorbonne, and with Henry Osborne she studied together at the same university, supported the connections with him all her life. The first woman-paleontologist, woman-professor, female academician in the Russian Empire, thanks to whom the domestic paleontology was allocated to independent biological science and which, with its research, laid the foundation for the development of paleontology (palaeozoology) in Ukraine. Works on the history of a large number of groups of fossil ungulates ended one of the cycles of M. V. Pavlova works, that showed the monophyletic development of most of the ungulates, the number of Tertiary and Quaternary faunas in the territory of the Russian Empire and in general in Ukraine.

225-232

Authors: Oksana Pylypchuk

The research of the scientific heritage of the Kyiv Law Society, which worked at the Kyiv University of St. Vladimir in the second half of the XIX and early XX centuries, is of current relevance within the framework of civil society development in Ukraine. The variety of its scientific directions speaks of the tireless desire of the members of the Society to improve the national legislation, to solve a number of legal problems and to promote the development of legal science in the Ukrainian lands. This article investigates the problems in the field of railway transport to have been actively discussed at the meetings of the Kyiv Law Society. The main steps in the creation of a unified railway legislation in the Russian Empire in the second half of the XX century, which was mandatory for all railways in the country, are outlined. The role of the Commission for the Study of Railways in Russia of E. T. Baranov, which was created to study the state of railways in the country, has been considered. It is shown that the Commission consisted of leading scientists and public figures of the country – A. F. Koni, S. Yu. Vitte, А.А. Vendrykh, М.М. Annienkov and others. It has been stated that the main purpose of the Commission's activity was to collect the necessary materials from foreign and domestic railway and judicial practice, which could be studied as much as possible with the participation of representatives of science, trade, military affairs and industry, with the purpose of creating the General Statute of Railways of the Russian Empire, which became the first codified source of law precisely in the railway business. It has been shown how the KLS took part in this process. The speeches of individual scientists such as O. F. Kistiakivskyi, D. I. Pikhno, M. Ye. Krainskyi, A. H. Dolzhanskyi, O. F. Kvachevskyi who spoke on the problems of railway jurisprudence, put forward their proposals, discussed the possibilities of appropriate changes in the development of the railway industry and held discussions at the meetings of the Society have been analyzed. In addition, the history on the creation of the General Statute of Railways, its content and significance for the railway business in the Russian Empire, which became the first step in the formation of a unified legal field on the entire network of national railways, have been revealed.