"Nizhny Novgorod Archimedes", as contemporaries called Ivan Kulibin, did not graduate from any university, which, however, did not prevent him from becoming a member and head of the mechanical workshop of the Imperial Academy of Sciences of Russia. At a young age, the famous inventor, born in 1735, was trained in locksmithing, turning and watchmaking, but the main baggage of knowledge still received thanks to his curiosity, persistence and feverish desire to create. But how did he feel about the idea of the need for a classical education?
This man in an old-fashioned caftan and with an okladistoyu beard, a clear look and purposeful business-mindedness strongly stood out against the background of the "high society" of the time. Behind the embroidered uniforms and shining orders often hid noble semi-education "Mitrofanushek" and superficially perceived court society of the French Enlightenment.
For example, the vast majority of Kulibin's inventions, the possibility of use of which was confirmed by our time, then was not realized. This is a 300-meter single-arch bridge across the Neva River, and mechanical ships to work on the rivers, capable of replacing the labor of burlaks, and the first achromatic microscope. Contemporaries were impressed only by outlandish automata, amusing toys, cunning fireworks. He reminded Geron of Alexandria, who invented back in the I century AD the first steam engine, odometer and automatic doors, but in his time famous for water organ and marionette theater.
Although Ivan Petrovich himself was self-taught, a genius of the people, he was acutely aware of the importance of systematic and specialized education for the development of society and regularly sought advice from the foremost scientist-engineers of his time. Therefore, to his children he wanted to give a full-fledged base of knowledge and skills, which would become the linchpin for a future successful career.
In the first half of the 19th century, the choice of institutions of higher education was extremely small - a few academic universities and institutions training professional military officers. The oldest technical institution of higher education in Russia - the Mining Cadet Corps (now the Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University) was the most suitable from the point of view of the tasks that, in Ivan Kulibin's opinion, should lie on the university for the education and training of young people. He gave his three sons - Semyon, Alexander and Peter - there.
Teaching in the corps was put on such a high level that it gained him great fame. By the decree of Tsar Alexander I it was equalized in its rights with the university, "as such an educational institution, which by the importance and extensiveness of the sciences and knowledge read in it is one of the first in the state."
The students, mostly children of noble origin", studied not only general education subjects, but also special subjects - mining and mining engineering, mechanics, metallurgy, geodesy, surveying and other specialized disciplines." In addition, Gorny was in close ties with the Berg Collegium, the Ministry of Finance and the largest enterprises of the industry.
Although Ivan Petrovich himself did not belong to the nobility, taking into account the disposition to him of the royal family, the corps went to meet the inventor.
Kulibin's eldest son - Semyon Ivanovich - after his studies received the rank of collegiate assessor, served in the Ministry of Finance and in 1815 became an expeditor of the Mining Expedition to the Kolyvan-Voskresensky and Nerchinskiy plants of the Cabinet of His Imperial Majesty. Biographers agree that his father valued him more than any other child, consulted with him and was in constant correspondence.
Even less is known about the other offspring of the self-taught mechanic Peter - only that he was brought up in the Corps of Mining Engineers and then went to serve in Siberia.
Much more information has been preserved about the successes of Alexander Ivanovich Kulibin. He graduated in 1820 and was sent to the Nerchinsky mining district, where he headed prospecting and exploration parties throughout Transbaikalia. He conducted research on silver ores of the Vozdvizhensky mine, gold- and tin-bearing ores of the Adun-Chelonsky ridge, described 80 kinds of minerals, some of which were found and determined for the first time. In addition to direct engineering work, he was concerned with the training of miners in production and developed the regulations for the Nerchinsk Mining School.
In the following years, Alexander Ivanovich held the positions of assistant manager of the Zmeinogorsk region and manager of the Loktev silver smelting plant in Altai.
"Star hour" son Kulibin came in 1830, when in connection with the transfer of mines and factories on lease to the Ministry of Finance, he was instructed to make a detailed description of the enterprises. The work was done so thoroughly and professionally that Emperor Nicholas I "for excellent and diligent service and work" awarded him the Order of St. Vladimir of the 4th degree.
In 1834, the talented mining engineer was appointed manager of all state gold mines in the Altai mining district, but in 1837 a hunting accident cut short Alexander Ivanovich's life.
A close friend of Kulibin was a famous poet and his classmate Nikolai Yazykov. Both were passionately fond of poetry and wrote poetry while still a student, which caused Ivan Petrovich some concern - whether the young man was not devoting too much time to lyrics. Already in nineteen years Alexander was published in the magazine "Competitor of Enlightenment and Charity". But his father worried in vain. Leaving for Siberia, the young man was drawn into the practical business of an engineer, gave himself entirely to work in the fields and henceforth published exclusively in scientific journals.
Yazykov took the death of his friend hard and dedicated several poems to him:
I came to entrust my raptures to you
And heard your just judgment.
О! How pleasant was then
My friendly advice was so pleasant.
It is worth saying that in the family of Alexander were born three sons Nicholas, Konstantin and Vladimir, who followed in the footsteps of his father.
Thus, the eldest grandson of the famous mechanic Nicholas in 1851 graduated from the Institute of the Corps of Mining Engineers first on the list, with a large gold medal and the entry of his name on the "gold plaque" of the Institute.
He became a professor and then professor emeritus of metallurgy, halurgy and assay art at the university, bringing up a whole pleiad of talented engineers during his thirty-year teaching career. The future first president of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexander Karpinsky, the outstanding crystallographer Evgraf Fedorov and the explorer of Central Asia, the Urals and Siberia Ivan Mushketov studied under him. Moreover, Nikolai Alexandrovich taught chemistry to Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich. In different years he was the director of the Mining Department of Russia, a member of the Mining Council and the Mining Scientific Committee, Deputy Minister of State Property. In short, the famous expression "nature rests on the children of geniuses" is absolutely inappropriate here.
Vladimir Alexandrovich was known as a talented inventor. He created the famous "kulibinka" - a floating machine that lifted sand from the river bottom and, washing it, selected gold. Its use made the development of gold placers much cheaper, as the dredge directly transferred the gold-containing sand to the "kulibinka", hence, the washed material did not have to be hauled away. It was thrown back into the river, into the mined-out space.
Surprisingly, Ivan Kulibin's great-grandchildren later became mining engineers. This profession became a family vocation in the famous dynasty. The names of Kulibin, the authors of articles on mining, never left the pages of the magazines "Herald of Gold Industry" and "Mining Journal". Manufacturers, scientists and organizers of science.
