History of science and technology

271-273

Authors: Oleh Pylypchuk, Oleh Strelko, Yulia Berdnychenko

The issue of the journal opens with an article dedicated to the formation of metrology as government regulated activity in France. The article has discussed the historical process of development of metrological activity in France. It was revealed that the history of metrology is considered as an auxiliary historical and ethnographic discipline from a social and philosophical point of view as the evolution of scientific approaches to the definition of individual units of physical quantities and branches of metrology. However, in the scientific literature, the little attention is paid to the process of a development of a centralized institutional metrology system that is the organizational basis for ensuring the uniformity of measurements. The article by Irena Grebtsova and Maryna Kovalska is devoted to the of the development of the source criticism’s knowledge in the Imperial Novorossiya University which was founded in the second half of the XIX century in Odesa. Grounding on a large complex of general scientific methods, and a historical method and source criticism, the authors identified the stages of the formation of source criticism in the process of teaching historical disciplines at the university, what they based on an analysis of the teaching activities of professors and associate professors of the Faculty of History and Philology. In the article, the development of the foundations of source criticism is considered as a complex process, which in Western European and Russian science was the result of the development of the theory and practice of everyday dialogue between scientists and historical sources. This process had a great influence on the advancement of a historical education in university, which was one of the important factors in the formation of source studies as a scientific discipline. The article by Tetiana Malovichko is devoted to the study of what changes the course of the probability theory has undergone from the end of the 19th century to our time based on the analysis of The Theory of Probabilities textbook by Vasyl P. Ermakov published in 1878. The paper contains a comparative analysis of The Probability Theory textbook and modern educational literature. The birth of children after infertility treatment of married couples with the help of assisted reproductive technologies has become a reality after many years of basic research on the physiology of reproductive system, development of oocyte’s in vitro fertilization methods and cultivation of embryos at pre-implantation stages. Given the widespread use of assisted reproductive technologies in modern medical practice and the great interest of society to this problem, the aim of the study authors from the Institute for Problems of Cryobiology and Cryomedicine of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine was to trace the main stages and key events of assisted reproductive technologies in the world and in Ukraine, as well as to highlight the activities of outstanding scientists of domestic and world science who were at the origins of the development of this area. As a result of the work, it has been shown that despite certain ethical and social biases, the discovery of individual predecessor scientists became the basis for the efforts of Robert Edwards and Patrick Steptoe to ensure birth of the world's first child, whose conception occurred outside the mother's body. There are also historical facts and unique photos from our own archive, which confirm the fact of the first successful oocyte in vitro fertilization and the birth of a child after the use of assisted reproductive technologies in Ukraine. In the next article, the authors tried to consider and structure the stages of development and creation of the “Yermak”, the world's first Arctic icebreaker, and analyzed the stages of preparation and the results of its first expeditions to explore the Arctic. Systematic analysis of historical sources and biographical material allowed to separate and comprehensively consider the conditions and prehistory for the development and creation of “Yermak” icebreaker. Also, the authors gave an assessment to the role of Vice Admiral Stepan Osypovych Makarov in those events, and analyzed the role of Sergei Yulyevich Witte, Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev and Pyotr Petrovich Semenov-Tian-Shansky in the preparation and implementation of the first Arctic expeditions of the “Yermak”icebreaker. The authors of the following article considered the historical aspects of construction and operation of train ferry routes. The article deals with the analysis and systematization of the data on the historical development of train ferry routes and describes the background for the construction of train ferry routes and their advantages over other combined transport types. It also deals with the basic features of the train ferries operating on the main international train ferry routes. The study is concerned with both sea routes and routes across rivers and lakes. The article shows the role of train ferry routes in the improvement of a national economy, and in the provision of the military defense. An analysis of numerous artefacts of the first third of the 20th century suggests that the production of many varieties of art-and-industrial ceramics developed in Halychyna, in particular architectural ceramic plastics, a variety of functional ceramics, decorative tiles, ceramic tiles, facing tiles, etc. The artistic features of Halychyna art ceramics, the richness of methods for decorating and shaping it, stylistic features, as well as numerous art societies, scientific and professional associations, groups, plants and factories specializing in the production of ceramics reflect the general development of this industry in the first half of the century and represent the prerequisites the emergence of the school of professional ceramics in Halychyna at the beginning of the 20th century. The purpose of the next paper is to analyze the formation and development of scientific and professional schools of art-and-industrial ceramics of Halychyna in the late 19th – early 20th centuries. During the environmental crisis, electric transport (e-transport) is becoming a matter for scientific inquiry, a subject of discussion in politics and among public figures. In the program for developing the municipal services of Ukraine, priorities are given to the development of the infrastructure of ecological transport: trolleybuses, electric buses, electric cars. The increased attention to e-transport on the part of the scientific community, politicians, and the public actualizes the study of its history, development, features of operation, etc. The aim of the next study is to highlight little-known facts of the history of production and operation of MAN trolleybuses in Ukrainian cities, as well as to introduce their technical characteristics into scientific circulation. The types, specific design solutions of the first MAN trolleybus generation and the prerequisites for their appearance in Chernivtsi have been determined. Particular attention has been paid to trolleybuses that were in operation in Germany and other Western European countries from the first half of the 1930s to the early 1950s. The paper traces the stages of operation of the MAN trolleybuses in Chernivtsi, where they worked during 1939–1944 and after the end of the Second World War, they were transferred to Kyiv. After two years of operation in the Ukrainian capital, the trolleybuses entered the routes in Dnipropetrovsk during 1947–1951. The purpose of the article by authors from the State University of Infrastructure and Technologies of Ukraine is to thoroughly analyze unpaved roads of the late 18th – early 19th century, as well as the project of the first wooden trackway as the forerunner of the Bukovyna railways. To achieve this purpose, the authors first reviewed how railways were constructed in the Austrian Empire during 1830s – 1850s. Then, in contrast with the first railway networks that emerged and developed in the Austrian Empire, the authors made an analysis of the condition and characteristics of unpaved roads in Bukovyna. In addition, the authors considered the first attempt to create a wooden trackway as a prototype and predecessor of the Bukovyna railway.

284-299

Authors: Irena Grebtsova, Maryna Kovalska

The article is devoted to the study of the development of the source criticism’s knowledge in the Imperial Novorossiya University which was founded in the second half of the XIX century in Odesa. Grounding on a large complex of general scientific methods, and a historical method and source criticism, the authors identified the stages of the formation of source criticism in the process of teaching historical disciplines at the university, what they based on an analysis of the teaching activities of professors and associate professors of the Faculty of History and Philology. In the article, the development of the foundations of source criticism is considered as a complex process, which in Western European and Russian science was the result of the development of the theory and practice of everyday dialogue between scientists and historical sources. This process had a great influence on the advancement of a historical education in university, which was one of the important factors in the formation of source studies as a scientific discipline. The history of individual scientific disciplines cannot be understood outside the context of the development of science altogether, therefore the authors paid attention to the change of scientific paradigms in the period under the study. It is noted that reforms in the field of education and the development of European historical knowledge have become the main components of the formation of historians, who, with their scientific activities at the theoretical and practical levels, contributed to the development of the special historical disciplines. The article reveals a gradual increase in the number of courses taught at the historical department of the Faculty of History and Philology, in which teachers used the opportunity to teach students to work with various types and kinds of sources. The authors examine the contribution of the historians of Odesa in the XIX – early XX century in the process of institutionalization of historical disciplines, in the formation of a complex of special historical disciplines, which resulted in the actualization of their scientific works in subsequent years. As a result of the study, the authors came to the conclusion that the professors of the departments of general and Russian history, with their teaching and scientific activities, laid the foundations of source criticism as a special scientific discipline, raising theoretical problems in their lecture courses, and at the training workshops, teaching students how to work with sources in practical terms.

315-328

Authors: Maryna Petrushko, Volodymyr Piniaiev, Taisiia Yurchuk

The birth of children after infertility treatment of married couples with the help of assisted reproductive technologies has become a reality after many years of basic research on the physiology of reproductive system, development of oocyte’s in vitro fertilization methods and cultivation of embryos at pre-implantation stages. Given the widespread use of assisted reproductive technologies in modern medical practice and the great interest of society to this problem, the aim of the study was to trace the main stages and key events of assisted reproductive technologies in the world and in Ukraine, as well as to highlight the activities of outstanding scientists of domestic and world science who were at the origins of the development of this area. The paper used historical methods to study and interpret the texts of primary sources and present scientific historical events. In addition, the current trends in assisted reproductive technologies are covered based on the results of our own, more than 30 years of experience in the field of reproductive biology and medicine, and the achievements of world scientists. As a result of the work, it has been shown that despite certain ethical and social biases, the discovery of individual predecessor scientists became the basis for the efforts of Robert Edwards and Patrick Steptoe to ensure birth of the world's first child, whose conception occurred outside the mother's body. There are also historical facts and unique photos from our own archive, which confirm the fact of the first successful oocyte in vitro fertilization and the birth of a child after the use of assisted reproductive technologies in Ukraine. Over the last 20 years, assisted reproductive technologies have continued to grow, addressing many other issues of reproductive potential preservation and infertility treatment. State of the art methods of assisted reproductive technologies include the development of cryopreservation method of gametes and embryos by vitrification, genetic screening of embryos in order to prevent the hereditary diseases transmission and embryo transfer with chromosomal abnormalities, the birth of a child “from three parents” in severe cases of mutations in the mitochondrial genome, etc.

351-382

Authors: Oleksij Fomin, Alyona Lovska, Anatolii Horban

Sustainable development of the transport industry can be provided through the introduction of combined transport systems. And one of the most promising ones is the train ferry transport system which combines railway and marine transport facilities. The article deals with the analysis and systematization of the data on the historical development of train ferry routes and describes the background for the construction of train ferry routes and their advantages over other combined transport types. It also deals with the basic features of the train ferries operating on the main international train ferry routes. The study is concerned with both sea routes and routes across rivers and lakes. The article shows the role of train ferry routes in the improvement of a national economy, and in the provision of the military defense, as it was described by Vinogradov at the example of Saratovskaya Pereprava (route) and by Karakashly and Shklyaruk at the example of the lighter Ishimbay which was loaded from the side. The authors have analyzed the development of the train ferry routes serviced by the ice-breaking train ferries Baikal across Lake Baikal, and the ferries Sakhalin linked mainland Russia and Sakhalin Island. The article deals with the peculiarities of transportation by trains ferries in the USA, Japan, Azerbaijan, Dagestan, Germany, Lithuania, and some other countries, and presents the analysis of the operational features of Ukrainian train ferries which connect Ukraine with Bulgaria, Georgia, and Turkey. Besides, the article describes some peculiarities of the loading and transportation of passenger trains by train ferries. The study deals with structural peculiarities, and processing technology used for modern train ferries operating across the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea and the Baltic Sea. The research is based on the analysis of works by Egorov (the Marine Engineering Bureau, Ukraine). The research emphasizes the importance of train ferry transportation for the sustainable development of national economies including the economy of Ukraine.

411-436

Authors: Anatoliy Lytvynenko, Viktor Sarancha, Viktoriia Shabunina

The growth of the vehicle assets and bus services in Ukrainian cities increases the level of environmental pollution. During the environmental crisis, electric transport (e-transport) is becoming a matter for scientific inquiry, a subject of discussion in politics and among public figures. In the program for developing the municipal services of Ukraine, priorities are given to the development of the infrastructure of ecological transport: trolleybuses, electric buses, electric cars. The increased attention to e-transport on the part of the scientific community, politicians, and the public actualizes the study of its history, development, features of operation, etc. The historiographic analysis carried out by the authors allows us to say about insufficient coverage by Ukrainian researchers of a number of aspects and periods in the history of e-transport. A small number of special works on the history of the operation of foreign-made trolleybuses in Ukrainian cities in the first half of the 20th century and an analysis of their technical characteristics determine the relevance and scientific novelty of this study. When writing the work, Ukrainian and foreign scientific reference publications, monographs, papers, mainly from foreign electronic resources, have been used. The authors have used both general scientific (analysis, synthesis, deduction, induction) and historical research methods, in particular, problem-chronological, comparative-historical, retrospective methods, etc. The aim of the study is to highlight little-known facts of the history of production and operation of MAN trolleybuses in Ukrainian cities, as well as to introduce their technical characteristics into scientific circulation. The etymology of the model names of German trolleybuses, which usually consisted of the names of the manufacturers of chassis, body, and electrical equipment, has been clarified. The types, specific design solutions of the first MAN trolleybus generation and the prerequisites for their appearance in Chernivtsi have been determined. Particular attention has been paid to trolleybuses that were in operation in Germany and other Western European countries from the first half of the 1930s to the early 1950s. In the mid-1930s, the MAN plant in Nuremberg began production of trolleybuses; its models had the most modern constructive solutions at that time, a characteristic design and a state-of-the-art heating system. Depending on the length, German manufacturers divided the trolleybus models into four types. As a result of problems with the operation of the bus fleet in Chernivtsi, the city authorities have decided to build a trolleybus line in the city; four trolleybuses manufactured by the MAN plant were purchased. The paper traces the stages of operation of the MAN trolleybuses in Chernivtsi, where they worked during 1939–1944 and after the end of the Second World War, they were transferred to Kyiv. After two years of operation in the Ukrainian capital, the trolleybuses entered the routes in Dnipropetrovsk during 1947–1951. The technical characteristics of the first MAN trolleybus generation, which were operated in Ukrainian cities, have been presented and analyzed. It was determined that in all the main indicators and operational parameters, they were as close as possible to similar models of German trolleybuses. The proposed methodology and the structure of the study can later be used to write papers on the history of science and technology, in particular, of an e-transport.

7-9

Authors: Oleh Pylypchuk, Oleh Strelko, Yulia Berdnychenko

In the new issue, our scientific journal offers you thirteen scientific articles. As always, we try to offer a wide variety of topics and areas and follow current trends in the history of science and technology. In the article by Olha Chumachenko, оn the basis of a wide base of sources, the article highlights and analyzes the development of research work of aircraft engine companies in Zaporizhzhia during the 1970s. The existence of a single system of functioning of the Zaporizhzhia production association “Motorobudivnyk” (now the Public Joint Stock Company “Motor Sich”) and the Zaporizhzhia Machine-Building Design Bureau “Progress” (now the State Enterprise “Ivchenko – Progress”) has been taken into account. Leonid Griffen and Nadiia Ryzheva present their vision of the essence of technology as a socio-historical phenomenon. The article reveals the authors' vision of the essence of the technology as a sociohistorical phenomenon. It is based on the idea that technology is not only a set of technical devices but a segment of the general system – a society – located between a social medium and its natural surroundings in the form of a peculiar social technosphere, which simultaneously separates and connects them. Definitely the article by Denis Kislov, which examines the period from the end of the XVII century to the beginning of the XIX century, is also of interest, when on the basis of deep philosophical concepts, a new vision of the development of statehood and human values raised. At this time, a certain re-thinking of the management and communication ideas of Antiquity and the Renaissance took place, which outlined the main promising trends in the statehood evolution, which to one degree or another were embodied in practice in the 19th and 20th centuries. A systematic approach and a comparative analysis of the causes and consequences of those years’ achievements for the present and the immediate future of the 21st century served as the methodological basis for a comprehensive review of the studies of that period. The article by Serhii Paliienko is devoted to an exploration of archaeological theory issues at the Institute of archaeology AS UkrSSR in the 1960s. This period is one of the worst studied in the history of Soviet archaeology. But it was the time when in the USSR archaeological researches reached the summit, quantitative methods and methods of natural sciences were applied and interest in theoretical issues had grown in archaeology. Now there are a lot of publications dedicated to theoretical discussions between archaeologists from Leningrad but the same researches about Kyiv scholars are still unknown The legacy of St. Luke in medical science, authors from Greece - this study aims to highlight key elements of the life of Valentyn Feliksovych Voino-Yasenetskyi and his scientific contribution to medicine. Among the scientists of European greatness, who at the turn of the XIX and XX centuries showed interest to the folklore of Galicia (Halychyna) and Galician Ukrainians, contributed to their national and cultural revival, one of the leading places is occupied by the outstanding Ukrainian scientist Ivan Verkhratskyi. He was both naturalist and philologist, as well as folklorist and ethnographer, organizer of scientific work, publisher and popularizer of Ukrainian literature, translator, publicist and famous public figure. I. H. Verkhratskyi was also an outstanding researcher of plants and animals of Eastern Galicia, a connoisseur of insects, especially butterflies, the author of the first school textbooks on natural science written in Ukrainian. A new emerging field that has seen the application of the drone technology is the healthcare sector. Over the years, the health sector has increasingly relied on the device for timely transportation of essential articles across the globe. Since its introduction in health, scholars have attempted to address the impact of drones on healthcare across Africa and the world at large. Among other things, it has been reported by scholars that the device has the ability to overcome the menace of weather constraints, inadequate personnel and inaccessible roads within the healthcare sector. This notwithstanding, data on drones and drone application in Ghana and her healthcare sector in particular appears to be little within the drone literature. Also, little attempt has been made by scholars to highlight the use of drones in African countries. By using a narrative review approach, the current study attempts to address the gap above. By this approach, a thorough literature search was performed to locate and assess scientific materials involving the application of drones in the military field and in the medical systems of Africans and Ghanaians in particular. The paper by Artemii Bernatskyi and Vladyslav Khaskin is devoted to the analysis of the history of the laser creation as one of the greatest technical inventions of the 20th century. This paper focuses on establishing a relation between the periodization of the stages of creation and implementation of certain types of lasers, with their influence on the invention of certain types of equipment and industrial technologies for processing the materials, the development of certain branches of the economy, and scientific-technological progress as a whole. The paper discusses the stages of: invention of the first laser; creation of the first commercial lasers; development of the first applications of lasers in industrial technologies for processing the materials. Special attention is paid to the “patent wars” that accompanied different stages of the creation of lasers. A comparative analysis of the market development for laser technology from the stage of creation to the present has been carried out. Nineteenth-century world exhibitions were platforms to demonstrate technical and technological changes that witnessed the modernization and industrialization of the world. World exhibitions have contributed to the promotion of new inventions and the popularization of already known, as well as the emergence of art objects of world importance. One of the most important world events at the turn of the century was the 1900 World's Fair in Paris. Thus, the author has tried to analyze the participation of representatives of the sugar industry in the World's Fair in 1900 and to define the role of exhibitions as indicators of economic development, to show the importance and influence of private entrepreneurs, especially from Ukraine, on the sugar industry and international contacts. The article by Viktor Verhunov highlights the life and creative path of the outstanding domestic scientist, theorist, methodologist and practitioner of agricultural engineering K. G. Schindler, associated with the formation of agricultural mechanics in Ukraine. The methodological foundation of the research is the principles of historicism, scientific nature and objectivity in reproducing the phenomena of the past based on the complex use of general scientific, special, interdisciplinary methods. For the first time a number of documents from Russian and Ukrainian archives, which reflect some facts of the professional biography of the scientist, were introduced into scientific circulation. The authors from Kremenchuk National University named after Mykhailo Ostrohradskyi presented a fascinating study of a bayonet fragment with severe damages of metal found in the city Kremenchuk (Ukraine) in one of the canals on the outskirts of the city, near the Dnipro River. Theoretical research to study blade weapons of the World War I period and the typology of the bayonets of that period, which made it possible to put forward an assumption about the possible identification of the object as a modified bayonet to the Mauser rifle has been carried out. Metal science expert examination was based on X-ray fluorescence spectrometry to determine the concentration of elements in the sample from the cleaned part of the blade. In the article by Mykola Ruban and Vadym Ponomarenko on the basis of the complex analysis of sources and scientific literature the attempt to investigate historical circumstances of development and construction of shunting electric locomotives at the Dnipropetrovsk electric locomotive plant has been made. The next scientific article continues the series of publications devoted to the assessment of activities of the heads of the Ministry of Railways of the Russian Empire. In this article, the authors have attempted to systematize and analyze historical data on the activities of Klavdii Semyonovych Nemeshaev as the Minister of Railways of the Russian Empire. The article also assesses the development and construction of railway network in the Russian Empire during Nemeshaev's office, in particular, of the Amur Line and Moscow Encircle Railway, as well as the increase in the capacity of the Trans-Siberian Railway. The article discusses K. S. Nemeshaev's contribution to the development of technology and the introduction of a new type of freight steam locomotive for state-owned railways. We hope that everyone will find interesting useful information in the new issue. And, of course, we welcome your new submissions.

26-37

Authors: Leonid Griffen, Nadiia Ryzheva

The article reveals the authors' vision of the essence of the technology as a sociohistorical phenomenon. It is based on the idea that technology is not only a set of technical devices but a segment of the general system – a society – located between a social medium and its natural surroundings in the form of a peculiar social technosphere, which simultaneously separates and connects them. The main objective purpose of the technosphere is to promote the effective rendering of society-generated entropy outwards; it defines the features of the technosphere as a sociohistorical phenomenon. The analogues of such material formations take place also in wildlife (from the spider-web to the beaver dam) but are very few and arise from the implementation of instinctive programs of the species. In a person's consciousness, such programmes are not given by “nature”, they are formed on the basis of “desobjectivation” of technical objects available in society. In the process of “desobjectivation” the essence, the “logic of the subject” becomes the achievement of a person and due to his abilities is filled with new meaning. As a result, the technology is a materially ideal phenomenon: on the one hand, it is a set of technical objects and on the other hand – technical thinking of a person, the highest manifestation of which is technical sciences nowadays. Properly technical objects are created by society to meet the individual and social needs of a person. These are primarily consumption items; due to their manmade nature, the question of production means development arises, which over time becomes increasingly important, especially by virtue of their significant impact on social relations (which in time also require certain technical devices for their implementation). The complex of these devices forms the techno sphere of society as a compound integrity. Not only groups of different in application technical objects become the constituent parts of the technosphere, but also their conglomerates designed to perform certain functions, which, similar to the biological branch, were called techno enosis; in the latter at the account of a peculiar “competition”, the development of these components in particular and the technosphere integrally takes place. However, despite consistency, the technosphere is a subsystem of a society, therefore, there is no perspective of creating certain laws of its development and an appropriate coherent periodization. For this reason, the scientific periodization of the development of technology as such is connected with the purpose of the given research and is defined by it.

54-67

Authors: Sergii Paliienko

The article is dedicated to an exploration of archaeological theory issues at the Institute of archaeology AS UkrSSR in the 1960s. This period is one of the worst studied in the history of Soviet archaeology. But it was the time when in the USSR archaeological researches reached the summit, quantitative methods and methods of natural sciences were applied and interest in theoretical issues had grown in archaeology. Now there are a lot of publications dedicated to theoretical discussions between archaeologists from Leningrad but the same researches about Kyiv scholars are still unknown. The archaeological theory includes both generalizations made on the basis of archaeological sources and archaeological methodology. The article emphasizes the history of methodology studies at the IA AS UkrSSR during the mentioned period. The research is based on evidence from the annual reports on a work of the Institute from the Scientific archive of the Institute of Archaeology NASU. According to the documents the theory was mentioned in the early 1950s because of publication of new J. V. Stalin’s works. However, that time as well as at the beginning of the next decade, when works started under three volumes of “The Archaeology of the UkrSSR”, it was written that attention to theoretical issues was focused at the Institute, not enough. At the IA AS UkrSSR discussions on archaeological methodology started in the 1960s when papers on theoretical issues, applying cybernetic, methods of natural sciences and statistical methods into archaeology were regularly presented at sessions of the Academic council. Yu. N. Zakharuk was the most active employee of the Institute who worked in this field. In addition to presentation of papers at conferences, and sessions of the Academic council and publications, he was an executor of the scheduled work ‘Methodological and methodic issues of archaeological science’ in 1968–1970. Also it was planed to publish a book on theoretical issues. In other words, the IA AS UkrSSR was the first archaeological establishment in the USSR where the work on archaeological methodology was scheduled. According to circumstances this work had not been completely finished but the Ukrainian scholar was invited to hold the position of deputy director at the Institute of Archaeology AS USSR in Moscow. Despite a skeptical attitude to the theory among most Soviet archaeologists Yu. N. Zakharuk was able to intensify the work on theoretical issues in Soviet archaeology. A separate theoretical session, which was organized by him at the Plenum of the IA AS USSR in Moscow in 1972, might be considered as an initialization of theoretical archaeology as a new sub-discipline in the USSR.

84-102

Authors: Liudmyla Vaniuha, Yaroslava Toporivska, Oksana Hysa, Iryna Zharkova, Mykola Bazhanov

Among the scientists of European greatness, who at the turn of the XIX and XX centuries showed interest to the folklore of Galicia (Halychyna) and Galician Ukrainians, contributed to their national and cultural revival, one of the leading places is occupied by the outstanding Ukrainian scientist Ivan Verkhratskyi (in some other sources – Verkhratsky). He was both naturalist and philologist, as well as folklorist and ethnographer, organizer of scientific work, publisher and popularizer of Ukrainian literature, translator, publicist and famous public figure. I. H. Verkhratskyi was also an outstanding researcher of plants and animals of Eastern Galicia, a connoisseur of insects, especially butterflies, the author of the first school textbooks on natural science written in Ukrainian. The scientist also wrote poetry and translated from foreign languages. The article covers the life and scientific and pedagogical activities of I. H. Verkhratskyi – one of the founders of Ukrainian natural science, who made a significant contribution to the development of Ukrainian natural terminology and nomenclature, the author of the first textbooks on botany, zoology, mineralogy. The authors believe that I. H. Verkhratskyi can be considered one of the founders of Ukrainian scientific terminology in Natural Science, and today his works in this area remain relevant. These works are also valuable from the historical and cognitive points of view as one of the sources for studying the process of formation of the Ukrainian literary language and scientific and natural terminology. I. H. Verkhratskyi devoted himself to the establishment of the Ukrainian literary language, its scientific and journalistic backgrounds, and made a significant contribution to lexicography, dialectology, and schooling. Based on the scientific publications and memoirs of his colleagues and students, the authors have recreated the main stages of his biography and considered his professional career. His activity in the field of formation of natural science terminology have been considered in detail. Dialectological materials of the scientist and researcher I. H. Verkhratskyi are still actively used to study the Galician and Transcarpathian dialects. His achievements as a scientist, teacher and popularizer of science has been summarized.

125-149

Authors: Artemii Bernatskyi, Vladyslav Khaskin

The paper is devoted to the analysis of the history of the creation of the laser as one of the greatest technical inventions of the 20th century. This paper focuses on establishing a relation between the periodization of the stages of creation and implementation of certain types of lasers, with their influence on the invention of certain types of equipment and industrial technologies for processing the materials, the development of certain branches of the economy, and scientific-technological progress as a whole. In preparing the paper, the generally accepted methods, which are widely used in the preparation of historical research works, have been applied: the historical method – for the study and interpretation of the texts of primary sources and the search for other evidence used for research, as well as for the presentation of historical events associated with the development of laser technology; the historical-genetic method – for studying the genesis of specific historical phenomena and analyzing the causality of changes in the development of laser technology; the historical-critical method – for displaying cause-and-effect relationships, reconstructing events that influenced the development of laser technology; the method of historical periodization. The variety of different possible options for the use of lasers did not allow placing all the collected materials within the framework of one paper, and therefore, the authors have decided to dwell on the facts, which, in the opinion of the paper’s authors, are the most interesting, significant, poorly studied, and little known. The paper discusses the stages of: invention of the first laser; creation of the first commercial lasers; development of the first applications of lasers in industrial technologies for processing the materials. Special attention is paid to the “patent wars” that accompanied different stages of the creation of lasers. A comparative analysis of the market development for laser technology from the stage of creation to the present has been carried out. It has been shown that the modern market for laser technology continues to develop actively, as evidenced by the continued stable growth of laser sales over the past 10 years. This indicates that the demand for laser technology is inextricably linked with the development of high technology production and scientific-technological progress. The analysis has shown that recently, the trends in the use of laser technology have changed; in particular, their industrial and medical applications are decreasing, while there is an increase in their use in the fields of sensor production and communication.

171-190

Authors: Victor Verhunov

The article highlights the life and creative path of the outstanding domestic scientist, theorist, methodologist and practitioner of agricultural engineering K. G. Schindler, associated with the formation of agricultural mechanics in Ukraine. The methodological foundation of the research is the principles of historicism, scientific nature and objectivity in reproducing the phenomena of the past based on the complex use of general scientific, special, interdisciplinary methods. For the first time a number of documents from Russian and Ukrainian archives, which reflect some facts of the professional biography of the scientist, were introduced into scientific circulation. The main directions of fruitful pedagogical and scientific activities of K. G. Schindler, key segments of his creative search, which determined the further development of agricultural engineering, his leadership in the scientific community were described. It was proved that Professor K. G. Schindler has the primacy in founding the Station of Testing for Agricultural Machines and Tools at the Kiev Polytechnic Institute, which provided students of agronomic and mechanical faculties with the opportunity to get acquainted with the existing types and designs of tillage machines, systematically test its research methods. In addition, the station carried out scientific work on the study of certain issues of agricultural mechanization, development of methods and devices for research of agricultural machinery and implements. The seven functions of the agronomic-type research station developed by scientists for the first time in Europe at the beginning of the last century have become a reference point for many generations of researchers of agricultural machinery. K. G. Schindler was the first in the world to theoretically substantiate the need to improve the design of tillage equipment depending on soil and climatic conditions, made a significant contribution to the theory of soil deformation with the shelf of the plow body. In addition, he improved the Sakka dynamometer, developed a control dynamometer to check traction dynamometers and other devices, improved existing and developed new designs of tillage machines. K. G. Schindler was the first in Ukraine to teach a course in agricultural engineering.

212-232

Authors: Mykola Ruban, Vadym Ponomarenko

In the article on the basis of the complex analysis of sources and scientific literature the attempt to investigate historical circumstances of development and construction of shunting electric locomotives at the Dnipropetrovsk electric locomotive plant has been made. It was found that during the 1960s and 1970s, the team of designers of the Dnipropetrovsk plant, having strong research and production potential, at the request of the Ministry of Railways of the USSR developed and built unique samples of shunting electric locomotives of the VL41 and VL26 series to meet the needs of Soviet main-line railways with modern high-tech electric vehicles. It is proved that in the absence of thorough experience and, accordingly, the possibility of a rapid technological breakthrough in the development of main-line locomotives, during the experimental operation of shunting electric locomotives VL41 and VL26, several design shortcomings were identified, which led to their further use exclusively on the house tracks of enterprises, and designers of Dnipropetrovsk plant later focused on the development and construction of traction units for industrial application commissioned by the Ministry of Ferrous Metallurgy of the USSR. At the same time, the construction of the main-line railway equipment to the order of the Ministry of Railways allowed the staff of the enterprise to gain valuable experience, which was later used in the implementation of the renewal program of rolling stock of Ukrzaliznytsia. Although today the Dnipropetrovsk plant is in decline, the analysis of historical circumstances of formation and design and technological heritage of electric locomotive construction in Ukraine is of fundamental importance both in the general perspective of the development of domestic transport engineering, and the railway industry in particular. Further study of the history of Dnipropetrovsk electric locomotive plant requires clarification of the historical circumstances of institutionalization of the Special Design and Technology Bureau of the enterprise from the creation of industrial electric locomotives and traction units to the development and re-equipment of main traction rolling stock and specialized repair equipment within the state enterprise “Ukrainian Research Design Institute of Electric Locomotive Engineering”.