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The man who taught the sons of Alexander II to understand Russian minerals

еремеев
© Павел Еремеев/ Александр II c детьми

Since the children of the royal dynasty received a home education, the personalities of their tutors played a crucial role in shaping the worldview of future sovereigns. Mentors for the grand dukes were selected with particular care...

Admissible were exclusively "persons of good character, conduct based on sound intellect and honesty, and who could treat their children pleasantly and kindly" - reasoned Catherine II, in whose era were laid the basic principles of education of the heirs to the throne and the grand princes.

The teachers of the tsesarevich children were cultural figures, internationally renowned scientists, clergymen, and members of the armed forces. Take, for example, Alexander II. His mentor and teacher of the Russian language was a poet and a close friend of Pushkin's Vasily Zhukovsky. The outstanding statesman Count Mikhail Speransky taught him the basics of law, Minister of Finance of Russia Yegor Kankrin taught him economics, Minister of foreign policy was British Ambassador Philip Brunnov, military activities were taught by General Carl Merder.

Is it any wonder that for his five sons the monarch, who had received an excellent education, expanded the list of disciplines and found the best teachers. He found it necessary to teach them mineralogy and geology, and to do this he invited the greatest Russian mineralogist of his time - Paul Eremeev. How did he deserve the attention of the tsar?

Александр II
© Семейное фото во главе с Александром II. Около 1873 год

Pavel Vladimirovich was born in 1830 in the settlement of Turinsky in Perm province into the family of a mining engineer, a graduate of the Mining Cadet Corps, who contributed to science by compiling German and French dictionaries of technical terms on mining, geology, mineralogy, and crystallography. His father died when the boy was 12 years old. Given his parent's merits, he was accepted as a regular student in the Corps on government pay.

After graduation in 1851, the young man was sent on a business trip to the Tula region to explore a deposit of hard coal. It was the first of a series of numerous expeditions, during which Yeremeev studied the genesis, composition and structure of rocks and combustible minerals of our country.

During the first decade of his professional career the young scientist explored the coal basin near Moscow, Tula, Tver, Samara and other provinces near the Volga, the mines of the Urals and Altai, Turkestan region. There he visited the most important and promising enterprises and ore deposits: Kamsko-Votkinsky plant, Tagil copper and iron mines, Berezovsky mine, Kamensky ironworks, Goroblagodatsky plants, gold ore deposits in Zlatoust and Miass, Salairsky and Zmeinogorsky silver mines, Guryevsky ironworks... It is important to understand that he was not just evaluating the efficiency of the technological process and the quality of the products in production. He was no less interested in the geological structure of the regions.

золотой прииск
© Миасский золотой прииск

From everywhere he brought notebooks filled with observations and sketches, which later became articles in scientific journals - more than 400 in total, which is considered a very outstanding indicator. Each of them reported one or more entirely new, mostly sensational and scientific data: whether a new case of twin fusion, or a new rare geometric form, or a new case of pseudomorphization... Thus, Pavel Vladimirovich discovered a new rock, found in the Ilmensky mountains and named Uralite syenite, consisting of feldspar and Uralite. His achievements include a paleontological study, which described new forms, siphonotretaladogensis and lingualantiquissima, which are rare in our Cambrian strata.

The mineral heremelevite, an aluminium borate with additional fluorine anions, also owes its discovery to the scientist. It was first discovered on the mountain Soctui in the Eastern Transbaikalia, and was given to Jeremeev, who was recognized by his contemporaries as "the most prominent representative of descriptive mineralogy in Russia". As the famous geologist Alexander Karpinsky wrote, "having conducted research on a huge number of minerals," he is rightly considered the best expert on them. Specialists constantly turned to Pavel Vladimirovich for advice, opinion or counsel. His students, qualified geologists and even prominent statesmen sent him samples of mineral discoveries from all over the country.

The crystal interested Yeremeyev, and after a series of studies of his own, he sent samples to his Russian-German mineralogist Andrei Artsruni, French chemist Augustin Damour, and German mineralogist Martin Webski for further investigation. Each of them made a different contribution to the determination of the composition and description of the stone, but the common decision was to name it after Pavel Yeremeev, "the scientist-engineer who first brought it to the attention of mineralogists."

еремеевит
© Форпост Северо-Запад

By the way, nowadays, this aquamarine-like blue crystal is considered very rare and collectible. Jeremeievite, which is most often found in Namibia and Burma, is impossible to buy on the market, but only through different jewelry companies. Depending on the quality and color, the price for a piece starts from $2,000 per carat and may reach several tens of thousands of dollars. Jewelry with this gem has an antique value.

Yeremeev was one of the first Russian researchers who used microscopic methods to study minerals that allowed him to go one step ahead of his colleagues. He discovered new crystallographic forms of copper, platinum, corundum, tinstone, brukite, beryl, zircon and many other minerals.

But it was not only his scientific work and participation in endless expeditions that made Yeremeev a mentor to the sons of Emperor Alexander III between 1874 and 1880. At that time he was not even a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences (he was elected the following year, in 1875, and became an academician in 1894).

еремеев
© Павел Еремеев

It is one thing to accumulate knowledge oneself and quite another to be able to teach and inspire young minds. Although at that time the fame of Mendeleev, Vyshnegradsky, Sechenov, Solovyov was thundering, it did not overshadow Pavel Vladimirovich's teaching and oratory talents, which were noted by the students of the Forestry, Technological Institute and Institute of Railway Transport. However his alma mater was always in the first place - for more than 40 years Yeremeev gave his lectures at the Mining Institute. In 1866 he became a professor of mineralogy, and in 1877 he headed the department of mineralogy.

In addition to the great princes among other prominent students were the great grandson of the famous Russian inventor Sergei Kulibin, the famous traveler and geologist Ivan Mushketov, and the first elected president of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Director of the Geolkom Alexander Karpinsky. With the latter the scientist was especially brought closer together by joint work on the study of the geology of Russia and the preparation of a multi-volume edition of "Materials on the geology of Russia", 14 volumes of which were published under the editorship of Yeremeev.

The activity of Pavel Vladimirovich in St. Petersburg Mineralogical society, one of the oldest scientific societies in Russia, uniting leading researchers in the field of mineralogy and earth sciences, was of great significance. For more than 20 years he remained the secretary of this organization, and in 1892 he became its director. He was concerned with its affairs also on the last day of his life.

On January 6, 1899 Pavel Yeremeev was preparing the report for the annual meeting of the society till three in the morning, and at 8 am the founder of the mineralogical science in Russia died.