HISTORICAL NOTE

on the establishment and opening of the Tomsk Technological Institute of Emperor Nicholas II.

Compiled by commission of the Council of the Institute by Acting Extraordinary Professor

A. I. Efimov.

The Tomsk Technological Institute of Emperor Nicholas II, in the form in which it was opened on December 6, 1900, and in which it continues gradually to develop today, represents the final result of a whole series of gradually expanding projects. The starting point in the history of the Institute’s origin is a letter with which the former Minister of Public Education, the late Count I. D. Delyanov, addressed, on June 25, 1895, the former trustee of the West Siberian educational district, the late V. M. Florinsky. In this letter, pointing to the nearing completion of the construction of the great Siberian railway line and to the need to train in this region knowledgeable people who could guide the disclosure of the natural riches contained in the depths of Siberia, Count I. D. Delyanov considered it timely to raise the question “of establishing at Tomsk University a faculty of physics and mathematics, but with certain modifications in the teaching of the subjects comprising that faculty, in accordance with local needs.” With these aims, Count Delyanov believed that in the newly projected faculty it would be necessary “to strengthen the teaching of practical sciences, such as technical chemistry, practical mechanics, agronomy, etc., with the organization of a special department of the faculty for the study in general of knowledge having application to technical and industrial practice,” and asked V. M. Florin-

—after discussing the matter, to present the nearest considerations concerning the organization, on the above-mentioned principles, of a faculty of physics and mathematics at Tomsk University, and concerning the amount of the credit necessary for this purpose.

The direct consequence of the letter was the invitation by the trustee of the West Siberian educational district of Messrs. professors of the Imperial Tomsk University: A. I. Sudakov, E. R. Wagner, N. F. Kashchenko, and A. M. Zaitsev to a meeting on 11 August 1895 for the preliminary discussion of the question of establishing a faculty of physics and mathematics.

The result of this meeting was a fairly detailed plan for the proposed faculty, according to which the curriculum of the basic division of the faculty of physics and mathematics remained in its usual form, with divisions into mathematics and natural sciences; but from the 7th or 8th semester onward, students wishing to devote themselves to technical activity were allowed to enroll in one of the special categories; moreover, depending on the choice of division, students of the natural-sciences division might be required to have preliminary preparation in the necessary mathematical subjects, and students of the mathematical division in the necessary natural sciences. The course of study in the technical divisions, as in the medical faculty, was extended by one year, and the time from the 7th or 8th semester through the 10th inclusive was to be devoted to the study of applied knowledge in the agro-technical and mining fields, accompanied by the necessary excursions, after which the students would receive the right to present themselves for examination at the existing special institutes (technological, mining, and agricultural), unless it should prove possible to grant the right of final examinations and the conferral of technical titles to a special state examination commission on site.

The entire range of sciences of the new faculty was distributed among newly established chairs and chairs already existing in the medical faculty; moreover, from the latter 4 chairs were transferred to the faculty of physics and mathematics: botany, zoology, chemistry, and mineralogy; the total number of professors was brought up to 21, among whom were listed not sala—

professors belonging to the general university statute: technology of animal and vegetable products (1), mining (2), and the art of construction (1).

At the same time, it was proposed that the study of mechanisms and machines necessary for mining, in particular, be attached to the chair of applied mechanics, which existed according to the staff of the physico-mathematical faculties, while assaying was to be assigned to analytical chemistry.

For the realization of these aims it was deemed necessary to leave the existing teaching premises for the use solely of the medical faculty; to supplement the university buildings by erecting two separate three-story blocks: 1) a block for chemistry, technology, and agronomy; 2) a block for the physical and biological sciences; and 3) an astronomical observatory. The cost of all these buildings was estimated approximately at 264,600 rubles.

All the above considerations were presented on 27 October 1895 by the trustee of the West Siberian Educational District to the Minister of Public Education, and, together with the opinions on this subject of the directors of the Technological Institutes of St. Petersburg and Kharkov, served as material for discussion of the question in a special commission formed under the Ministry of Public Education, under the chairmanship of the now deceased member of the Council of the Minister of Public Education, Emeritus Professor of Moscow University, Doctor of Physics, Active State Councillor N. A. Lyubimov, consisting of the director of the department of the Ministry of Public Education, Active State Councillor N. M. Anichkov; the chairman of the learned committee of the Ministry of Agriculture and State Properties, Doctor of Chemistry, Active State Councillor I. P. Arkhipov; the director of the St. Petersburg Technological Institute, State Councillor Kh. S. Golovin; member of the Council of the Minister of Public Education, Doctor of Medicine, State Councillor V. K. Anrep; professors of the Imperial St. Petersburg University: Doctor of Chemistry, State Councillor N. A. Menshutkin, and Doctor of Mathematics, State Councillor Yu. V. Sokhotsky; and professors of the St. Petersburg Technological Institute: State Councillor P. V. Koturnitsky and Doctor of Physics, State Councillor N. A. Gezehus, former and first rector of the Imperial Tomsk University.

The following questions were submitted for discussion by the commission:

“1. To what extent, and to a sufficient extent or not, could the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics contribute to satisfying in Siberia the need for persons with higher technical education, if instruction were expanded by opening various courses in the subjects of the technical sciences, if certain new chairs were established, new instructors brought in beyond those provided for in the staffing of physics and mathematics faculties at other faculties, and the examinations for students who had attended the additional courses were correspondingly altered.

“2. Could not the above-mentioned aim be achieved by establishing within the faculty, in addition to the direct divisions of physics and mathematics and natural history, a further special division of engineering and technology, with its own special curriculum, separate instruction, and special teaching and auxiliary institutions for practical classes. May it be hoped that such a division would attract to itself a number of students commensurate with the significance of the expenditures required for its implementation.

“3. Should there not, finally, be organized—whether in greater or lesser connection with the university, or without such connection—a special institute, admission to which would not be limited to persons possessing a certificate of maturity; and, if it should be found useful to place the institute in Tomsk in connection with the university not merely incidentally, then it is necessary to determine what this connection might be with respect to administration, premises, supervision of students, instruction and teaching-auxiliary institutions, and the conditions under which students might transfer from the university to the institute.”

Having answered the first two questions in the negative, the commission came to the conclusion that, for the training of the scientifically educated engineers and chemical technologists needed by Siberia, an independent Technological Institute should be established in Tomsk, with two divisions: civil-engineering and chemical-technological, and with strengthened instruction in electrical engineering and metallurgy, in view of the rapidly increasing importance of the former for all branches of industrial and factory activity, and of the importance of the latter for the development of mining in Siberia.

In connection with the proposal to establish in Tomsk an independent Technological Institute, the commission also discussed the question of opening a Faculty of Physics and Mathematics at Tomsk University, and found this timely, especially in view of the possibility of combining certain subjects of instruction at the University and at the Technological Institute in the hands of the same professors.

For the construction and equipment of all the necessary buildings and educational auxiliary institutions of the Institute, the commission considered it necessary to allocate up to 1,700,000 rubles; and for annual maintenance, on condition that the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics be opened, 206,300 rubles; and, in the very first year of construction of the Institute buildings, to assign 12,000 rubles for the maintenance of the director, the clerk, office expenses, etc.

For the construction of a special stone building to house the auditoriums and laboratories of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics, and for the adaptation of the already existing astronomical house, the commission considered it necessary to allocate 100,000 rubles, and for the maintenance of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics, 71,050 rubles annually.

Thus the total one-time expenditure of the treasury was determined by the commission at up to 1,812,000 rubles.

The Minister of Finance, State Councillor S. Yu. Witte, to whom the above considerations were communicated, saw no obstacle to including in the supplementary estimate of the Ministry of Public Education a conditional credit of 400,000 rubles, with the proviso that the subsequent allocation of this sum should be justified by a detailed submission to the State Council.

Nevertheless, in view of the memorandum received by the Ministry of Public Education from the head of the Main Chamber of Weights and Measures, State Councillor D. I. Mendeleev, concerning the possibility of establishing technical departments at universities, and of the arrival in St. Petersburg of the trustee of the West Siberian Educational District, V. M. Florinsky, Count Delyanov deemed it necessary to submit the question to a second discussion and entrusted this work to the aforementioned commission, which, in addition to its former members, included: the trustee of the West Siberian Educational District, State Councillor V. M. Florinsky; the head of the department of industrial schools, State Councillor I. A. Anopov; the trustee of the Moscow Educational District

i.e., N. P. Bogolepov and Professor of the St. Petersburg Technological Institute, Actual State Councillor N. I. Tavil’darov.

As on the first occasion, the commission came to the conclusion that it was necessary to establish in Tomsk an independent Technological Institute; as for the simultaneous opening of a Faculty of Physics and Mathematics at Tomsk University, this time it was deemed more prudent to postpone the opening of that faculty, guided, among other things, by the consideration that the majority of those entitled to enter the University would undoubtedly prefer to choose practical activity for themselves and would go to the Technological Institute.

As a result, the estimate for the annual maintenance of the projected Institute was raised to 214,310 rubles. The cost of erecting the buildings), for the preparation of whose plans the Ministry of Public Education made use of the plans of the Kharkov Technological Institute with certain modifications—whose usefulness, according to the statement of its director, had been demonstrated by experience—was determined at 1,262,609 rubles*); the cost of the interior arrangement of the premises was calculated at 351,000 rubles; and up to 4% of the construction sum, i.e. up to 65,000 rubles, was allocated for remuneration for the execution of the plans and estimates, technical supervision, drawings, and travel expenses, so that the total expenditure amounted to approximately 1,650,000 rubles. It was found possible to begin construction work on the main building in the spring of 1896 using the 200,000 rubles assigned for conditional release under the estimate of the Ministry of Public Education, in place of the 400,000 rubles previously entered.

In view of the shortness of the building season in Tomsk, it was proposed that the entire construction of the Institute’s premises be carried out over the course of 6 years, while the opening of the Institute was not to take place before 1900, since only by that time could one expect to complete the main building and the necessary educational auxiliary institutions.

Simultaneously with the decision of this question in St. Petersburg, in Tomsk correspondence was underway between the Administration of the West Siberian

*) The main building, the physical and mechanical laboratory, the chemical laboratory, the chemical workshop, the mechanical workshop, and the residential buildings.

**) With the price existing in Tomsk of 65 rubles per cubic sazhen of building.

of the educational district and by the Tomsk City Duma concerning the cession to the city of the plot of land necessary for construction, with the indispensable condition that the city allot a site near the University; and the vacant area opposite the university botanical grounds was indicated.

At the meeting of 15 January 1896, the City Duma resolved to designate the indicated plot, amounting to 6634 square sazhen, for the construction of the Tomsk Technological Institute.

On 12 February 1896, Count I. D. Delyanov submitted to the State Council a proposal for the establishment in the city of Tomsk of a Technological Institute, together with a draft of the staff of the Tomsk Practical Technological Institute, and requested that the draft staff be submitted for the Highest approval and that His Imperial Majesty’s Highest command be sought:

I. To establish, from 1 July 1900, in the city of Tomsk, a Practical Technological Institute on the basis of the Code of Laws, vol. XI, part 1, arts. 1145–1183, ed. 1893, granting to those serving in the institute the same rights and privileges enjoyed by persons serving in Western Siberia in educational service.

II. To permit the expenditure of the credit of 200,000 rubles entered under the provisional appropriation in § 13, art. 1 of the estimate of the Ministry of Public Education for 1896, using 3,750 rubles of it for the maintenance of the director of the institute, with his appointment from 1 July 1896, and the remaining sum for the construction of premises for the Tomsk Technological Institute.

III. To authorize the Minister of Public Education to enter the sums thereafter lacking for the erection of buildings for the Tomsk Technological Institute, as needed and by agreement with the Minister of Finance, in the estimates of the Ministry of Public Education for 1897, 1898, 1899, 1900, and 1901, as well as the credits required for the maintenance of the Institute in the first years of its existence, while the courses are not yet at full scope.

The State Council, at a meeting of the united Departments of State Economy and Laws on 14 March 1896, in the presence of the Minister of Public Education, the Assistant [[unclear: continuation cut off]]

State Comptroller and the Comrades of the Ministers of Ways of Communication, Agriculture and State Domains, Internal Affairs and Finance, and with the participation of the Comrade State Secretary, expressed full sympathy with the proposal of State Secretary Delyanov, but, in view of the length of time required for the construction of the buildings of the said Institute, found the indication of the opening date and the approval of the staff premature; the resolution of the question of curricula, in view of their noted differences from those in the St. Petersburg and Kharkov Institutes and the possibility of further departures at the next discussion of the question in accordance with local conditions, it recognized as more convenient to postpone until the approval of the staff, while the filling of the post of director from July 1, 1896, it regarded as hardly called for by actual necessity. Guided by this, the State Council resolved:

I. To establish in the city of Tomsk a practical Technological Institute.

II. To permit that the credit in the amount of 200,000 rubles for the expenses forthcoming in 1896 for the construction of buildings for the said Institute, entered as a conditional appropriation in Art. I § 13 of the current estimate of the Ministry of Public Education, be expended for its intended purpose.

III. To grant the Minister of Public Education: 1) the sums required, in excess of the credit indicated in Sec. II, for the construction and equipment of the buildings of the Tomsk practical Technological Institute, to enter, by agreement with the Minister of Finance, in the estimates of the Ministry of Public Education for 1897–1901, and 2) proposals concerning the date of opening and the particular features of the organization of the said Institute, as well as its staff, to submit in due time, in the proper manner, to whom it should be submitted, for approval according to the established procedure.

The Sovereign Emperor was pleased most highly to approve the above-stated opinion of the State Council on April 29, 1896, and to command that it be carried out; of this the Minister of Public Education, on May 21, 1896, notified the trustee of the West Siberian educational district, asking him, at the same time, to submit to ...

The Ministry of Public Education was presented with a list of persons whose participation in the work of the proposed executive commission, under the chairmanship of the trustee, for the construction of the institute buildings would be useful, and was informed of the transfer to the disposal of the trustee of the educational district of the 200,000 rubles allocated for construction.

On May 28, 1896, the required list was submitted by the trustee of the educational district to the Ministry, and by a telegram of the Minister of Public Education dated June 9, 1896, the construction commission was approved under the chairmanship of the trustee of the educational district, V. M. Florinsky, consisting of the rector of the Imperial Tomsk University, the Tomsk city mayor, the member of the city council P. I. Bogomolov, and the builder of the buildings, the architect of the West Siberian Educational District F. F. Gut; at the same time permission was granted to hold the ceremony of laying the buildings of the Technological Institute on July 6, 1896.

On June 12, 1896, the first meeting of the above-mentioned commission took place in the trustee’s apartment, devoted to discussing those arrangements that had to be carried out by the time of the laying, for which about three weeks remained. The construction commission resolved to send telegrams announcing the time of the laying: to Their Excellencies the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Agriculture and State Domains, the Minister of Ways of Communication and his deputy; to the Most Reverend bishops of Omsk, Tobolsk, and Krasnoyarsk; to the Governors-General of Irkutsk, Priamurye, and the Steppe region; to the trustees of educational districts; to representatives of Russian universities, technological and other higher educational institutes; to the chairman of the Imperial Russian Technical Society; and to certain Siberians known for their broad philanthropy in support of education in their native region. Secondary educational institutions of Western Siberia, the chief inspector of schools of Eastern Siberia, the head of the Altai Mining District, and some other persons and institutions of the nearest Siberian cities were to be notified of the day of the laying in writing; at the site, ceded in the amount of 3,000 sq. sazhens by the Imperial Tomsk University from the university botanical garden and located opposite the previously mentioned plot allotted to the Institute by the Tomsk Ci—

by the City Duma, preparatory work for the laying of the foundation was begun, consisting of clearing the site, procuring building materials—of which 31 cubic sazhen of rubble stone were delivered free of charge by the Tomsk city administration—and erecting a pavilion for the ceremony of laying the foundation.

On July 6, 1896, on the anniversary of the visit to the city of Tomsk by the Heir Tsarevich, now the happily reigning Sovereign Emperor, after a thanksgiving service and the consecration of the site performed by His Grace Makarii, Bishop of Tomsk and Barnaul, the laying of the foundation of the first lecture building of the Technological Institute took place in the presence of the Tomsk governor, Major General A. A. Lomachevsky, the trustee of the West Siberian Educational District V. M. Florinsky, and representatives of the university, the educational department, the administration, and the city society. At the site of the foundation-laying speeches were delivered by the trustee of the district, by the acting rector of Tomsk University, Professor M. F. Popov, by the city mayor A. P. Karnakov, by Professor V. V. Sapozhnikov, and by the director of the Tomsk men’s gymnasium V. P. Shchepetev; after which, in the premises of the public assembly, a ceremonial breakfast arranged by the Tomsk city society was held, at which toasts were proclaimed and the greetings received were read aloud*).

Construction work in the summer of 1896 was limited to fencing the site and procuring building materials.

In the construction season of 1897, trenches were dug and the foundation along the façade was laid, but the construction did not proceed further because of the absence of a detailed plan of the building.

In the construction season of 1898, 50,000 rubles were allocated for the building; but, owing to the absence of a heating plan, only the laying of the plinth along the façade of the main building was carried out.

The departure of the trustee of the West Siberian District, V. M. Florinsky, from Tomsk in the month of August 1898, and then his death in St. Petersburg on January 3, 1899, prompted the Ministry of Public Education to attend to the appointment of a director of the Tomsk Technological Institute; and by the Highest command on January 24, 1899, Professor

) See Description of the Celebration of the Laying of the Foundation of the Tomsk Technological Institute on July 6, 1896*. Tomsk, printing house of P. I. Makushin.

of the Kharkov Technological Institute in the Department of Food Technology, engineer-technologist, State Councillor E. L. Zubashev, upon whom, on May 21, 1899, was also laid the chairmanship of the Building Committee.

With the appointment of E. L. Zubashev as director of the Institute, the question of the Tomsk Technological Institute enters its third and final phase.

On the basis of personal familiarization on site during the summer of 1899 with the contemporary technical and industrial conditions and needs of Siberia, E. L. Zubashev drew up a new draft curriculum for the Technological Institute, together with a detailed explanatory note thereto.

Pointing to the insufficiency and difficulty of attracting educated technicians to Siberia and to the possibility of the development there, in the more or less near future, of the most diverse branches of industry, E. L. Zubashev, in the above-mentioned note, gives preference to the type of higher school of a polytechnic character over the type of the technological institutes of St. Petersburg and Kharkov, and adduces in favor of the former type also the considerations by which the Ministry of Finance was guided in preparing the project for the Polytechnic Institute of Emperor Alexander II in Kiev, namely: the greater flexibility and adaptability of polytechnic institutes to diverse and changing conditions and branches of industry; the possibility of entrusting the teaching not only of the principal subjects of a department, but also of secondary ones, to outstanding specialists, since subjects secondary in one department prove to be principal in another; the beneficial influence of communication among representatives of various branches of technology upon the development and improvement of teaching, which is especially important in a remote region; finally, considerable savings in expenses owing to the many chairs, laboratories, and offices common to all departments, as well as to a single administration. On the basis of these considerations, the Tomsk Technological Institute was planned by him as comprising four departments: 1) mechanical, with subdepartments in factory and plant engineering, railway engineering, and electro-

technical; 2) chemical, with special development of metallurgy and with a possible division into subdepartments of agricultural-factory industry and metallurgy; 3) civil engineering; and 4) mining.

It was proposed that students be divided among departments from the very first year, and the duration of the course of study was set at 5 years.

As for the system of instruction, alongside lectures it was proposed, in place of recitations, to give broad development to practical classes both in the theoretical and in the technical sciences, which, before completion of the course, were to culminate, in addition to the usual project defended before examination commissions, in a diploma work representing the student’s independent scholarly work on a question not especially difficult, but of scientific interest and not constituting a simple repetition of facts already known and firmly established in science. Finally, it was considered desirable to establish schools attached to the workshops and technical laboratories: for example, a school for fitters at the mechanical workshops and a school for distillers at the distilling laboratory.

During the construction period of 1899, 480,000 rubles were placed at the disposal of the construction commission; the walls of the lecture building were erected, and it was covered with an iron roof.

The above-mentioned draft curriculum and staffing plan of the Institute, prepared by E. L. Zubashev, together with an explanatory note, were, by order of the Minister of Public Education, the late N. P. Bogolepov, considered in October 1899 by a special commission chaired by the head of the Department of Industrial Schools, i.e., I. A. Anopov, and including the director of the St. Petersburg Technological Institute, Kh. S. Golovin; member of the academic committee of industrial schools N. I. Tavildarov; professors of the St. Petersburg Technological Institute A. A. Voronov, A. D. Gatsuk, D. F. Selivanov, K. A. Posse, and P. V. Koturnitsky; and the director of the institute, E. L. Zubashev. This commission worked out the final drafts of the statute, staffing plan, and curriculum of the Tomsk Technological Institute, which formed the basis of the submission introduced by the Minister of Public Education to the State Council on March 16, 1900.

In this submission the Ministry of Public Education, deeming it necessary to open the first courses of the mechanical and chemical departments in the autumn of 1900, and calculating the total sum for the initial establishment, equipment, and furnishing, according to the new project for the Tomsk Technological Institute, at 2,100,000 rubles, requested:

I. That the appended drafts of the regulations and staff of the Tomsk Technological Institute be submitted for the approval of His Imperial Majesty.

II. That, for the maintenance of the Institute in 1900, forty-four thousand eight hundred eighty rubles be assigned; that the Minister of Public Education be granted the right, by agreement with the Minister of Finance, to enter in the draft estimates of subsequent years the sums necessary for this purpose henceforth, until the Institute is opened in the full complement of all courses. The aforesaid expenditure in 1900 for the maintenance of the Institute is to be charged to the credit assigned for needs unforeseen in the estimates. From this same source, forty-five thousand rubles are to be released, necessary for the one-time expenses occasioned by the opening of the Institute.

III. That, annually for a period of 3 years, beginning in 1901, ten thousand rubles be released for the preparation of professors of the Institute.

IV. That the Minister of Public Education be granted the right, upon the opening of the Institute, to appoint professors directly from among persons satisfying the requirements of the regulations on the Institute.

V. That, pending the resolution of the general question of the service rights acquired by completing a course in educational institutions, persons who have received from the Tomsk Technological Institute a diploma conferring the title of mechanical engineer, electrical engineer, chemical engineer, civil engineer, or mining engineer, upon entering state service in established staff positions as technicians, be granted the right to promotion: to those most distinguished—in the rank of the tenth class, and to the others—in the rank of the twelfth class.

Subsequently, on 29 April 1900, the Minister of Public Education requested the Highest permission for the naming ...

... of the future Institute as the “Technological Institute of Emperor Nicholas II.”

The first discussion of the draft, on May 10, 1900, in the United Departments of Industry, Sciences and Trade, Laws, Civil and Ecclesiastical Affairs, and State Economy, took place in the presence of the Minister of Agriculture and State Domains, the State Comptroller, the heads of the ministries of Public Education and Ways of Communication, the Assistant Ministers of Internal Affairs, Senator Durnovo, and of Finance, Privy Councillor Kokovtsov, the Assistant Chief Administrator of His Imperial Majesty’s Own Chancellery, who had arrived in place of the Minister of War, the director of the Pedagogical Museum of Military Educational Institutions, Lieutenant General Makarov, and those invited to give explanations: member of the Council of the Minister of Public Education, Actual State Councillor Tavil'darov, and the director of the Tomsk Technological Institute, State Councillor Zubashev, as well as with the participation of the Assistant State Secretary.

During the discussion of the draft, considerable differences arose among the members of the State Council: ten members, proceeding from the consideration that the St. Petersburg Technological Institute, while not being a polytechnic, followed all the successes of technical knowledge, opened new courses within itself, and that its alumni work successfully in various branches of industry, found that, in the degree of adaptability to the demands and needs of industry, technological institutes of the original type are not inferior to polytechnics, and that the Tomsk Technological Institute should be organized according to the same model as the St. Petersburg and Kharkov institutes, with only two departments in all; twelve members, however, giving preference for the new institute to the polytechnic type, disagreed among themselves on the question of the mining department: five members believed that, among the others, a mining department should also be opened, while seven members, although not unconditionally opposed to this department, considered it more prudent to exclude it for the time being from the composition of the institute until the question of the necessity and location of the higher mining educational institution then being proposed in the Urals had been clarified.

Nikolai Pavlovich Bogolepov,
Minister of Public Education.

† March 2, 1901.

To limit, in Article 3 of the draft statute, the items of expenditure of the Institute’s special funds) and to extend Article 25, concerning the privileges of persons born in or who have completed a course at secondary educational institutions in Siberia, to such persons of Asiatic Russia in general, the Departments decided to submit the above-stated divergent opinions for discussion by the General Assembly of the State Council, which, at its session of June 3, 1900*, agreed with the opinion of twelve members on the question of giving the Tomsk Technological Institute a polytechnical character, and with the opinion of five members on the question of opening a mining department, and resolved:

I. To submit the draft statute on the Tomsk Technological Institute of Emperor Nicholas II for the Most High approval of His Imperial Majesty.

II. To release in 1900, for the maintenance of the Institute specified in Section I, forty-four thousand eight hundred eighty rubles, and for one-time expenses occasioned by its opening, forty-five thousand rubles, from the credit allocated under the state budget for needs not provided for in the estimates.

III. To authorize the Minister of Public Education: 1) upon the opening of the Institute specified in Section I, to appoint professors directly from among persons satisfying the requirements of the statute on the Institute; and 2) to prepare a draft staff**) of the Tomsk Technological Institute of Emperor Nicholas II and submit it for approval in the established manner, with the calculation that it may be put into effect from January 1, 1901.

IV. Pending resolution of the general question of the service rights acquired by completion of a course in educational institutions, to grant to persons who have received from the Tomsk Technological Institute of Emperor Nicholas II a diploma for the title of mechanical engineer, chemical engineer, civil engineer, and mining engi—

*) With the exception of expenditures for allowances to employees and their families, for additional remuneration of professors, instructors, and laboratory assistants for special classes, for travel expenses of professors and other persons in the academic division, and for additions to sums assigned for the maintenance and repair of the institute buildings.

) The staff of the Tomsk Technological Institute of Emperor Nicholas II, reviewed in the Department of Industry, Sciences, and Trade and in the General Assembly of the State Council, was, on January 4, 1901**, Most Highly approved, of which the Minister of Public Education notified the trustee of the educational district by a proposal of January 20, 1901.

…an engineer, upon entering state service in established technical positions, the right to promotion: for those graduating with distinction—to the rank of the tenth class, and for the rest—to the rank of the twelfth class.

V. Articles 1, 5, 6, 31, and 33 of the draft statute on the Tomsk Technological Institute of Emperor Nicholas II are to be set forth in accordance with the opinion of 5 members of the Joint Departments of Industry, Sciences and Trade, Laws, Civil and Ecclesiastical Affairs, and State Economy.

The Emperor, on June 12, 1900, most highly approved the stated opinion of the State Council and ordered it to be carried out; of this the Minister of Public Education notified the trustee of the West Siberian Educational District by a communication of June 30, 1900, asking him, at the same time, to attend to the provision, for the first year being opened as part of the mechanical and chemical departments of the institute, of professorial and teaching personnel; and in a communication of July 17, 1901, in view of the imminent readiness of the necessary part of the lecture building, he permitted classes to begin in the second half of September, with competitive examinations to be held in due time, i.e., on August 16, 18, 19, and 21. Moreover, in the event that the competition did not take place, it was proposed to enroll as students all those who appeared for the examination, and to fill the remaining vacancies with applicants from among persons who had not gained admission by competition to other higher specialized educational institutions, on the basis of their certificates or attestations and of the marks received in competitive examinations at other educational institutions. Pupils of Orthodox theological seminaries were also admitted to the competitive examinations; and, in the absence of a competition, they were to undergo a supplementary examination in mathematics and physics. As for persons of the Jewish faith, the number of vacancies for them was limited to 5% of the total number of students. In view of the extremely limited teaching staff and the impossibility of choosing from among them deans of departments, the Minister of Public Education deemed it necessary, for the 1900–1901 academic year, to depart from the statute, having requested the Most High permission to grant the Council of the Institute authority to conduct all matters which, according to the statute, fell within the sphere of activity…

deans and committees for economic and student affairs, which followed on July 28, 1900.

The competitive examinations were held at the time indicated above, with the participation, in Russian language, of Acting Inspector of the Tomsk Alekseevsky Realschule P. N. Berezhkov and teacher of the Tomsk Gymnasium P. M. Vyatkin; in mathematics, of teachers of the Tomsk Realschule I. V. Bogomolov and V. S. Titov, and of the Tomsk Gymnasium I. A. Bystrzhitsky and S. V. Bobov; in physics, of professor of Tomsk University F. Ya. Kapustin and assistant D. A. Smirnov.

As a result, of the 66 persons who took the examination, 57 were admitted to the mechanical department. For the remaining vacancies, 48 persons were admitted to the chemical department, and, with the permission of the Minister of Public Education, in addition to this 24 persons were admitted to the mechanical department and 3 persons to the chemical department. Moreover, on the basis of § 25 of the Statute on the Tomsk Technological Institute, 66 persons entered the mechanical department without competition and 8 persons the chemical department, making a total of 206 students. Of these, three persons did not appear and did not submit documents, and of the remaining 203 persons, 145 persons entered the mechanical department and 58 persons the chemical department.

The newly admitted students were distributed by faith as follows: Orthodox 173, Old Believers 1, Catholics 12, Lutherans 2, Jews 14, and Armenian-Gregorians 1. By place of birth: natives of European Russia 107, of Asiatic Russia 96; by secondary education received: graduates of higher educational institutions—1, gymnasiums—54, realschulen—99, cadet corps—8, theological seminaries—8, industrial schools—15, commercial schools—5, Gatchina Orphan Institute—1, Lyceum of Tsarevich Nicholas—1, land-surveying schools—1.

By year of completion of the course: 1900—103, 1899—58, 1898—15, 1897—7, 1896—7, 1895—3, 1894—4, 1893—2, 1892—1, 1891—2, 1887—1.

Meanwhile, urgent construction work was proceeding on the 300,000 rubles released in 1900, and during the construction period of 1900, in the lecture building the vaults and the building were brought up, the inside and outside were plastered, floors were laid, carpentry work was carried out and the windows were glazed, while in the opposite,

on the site assigned by the city, the middle part of the chemical building was brought above ground and covered with an iron roof.

Summing up the results of the construction and the expenditures, and taking into consideration the work forthcoming in the future year 1901, on July 19, 1900, the Building Committee petitioned for the release in 1901, for construction needs, of up to 455,000 rubles, this sum representing the difference between the estimated cost (including heating and apartments) of the lecture building (537,214 rubles 11 kopecks), the chemical building (405,750 rubles), and half the cost of the physical building (110,000 rubles), on the one hand, and the sum actually released for construction work in 1896, 1898, 1899, and 1900 (598,000 rubles), on the other.

In reply to this petition, the official administering the Ministry of Public Education, Assistant Minister N. A. Zverev, on August 23, 1900, informed the trustee of the educational district that, owing to the insufficiency of the Ministry’s construction credit, only 400,000 rubles could be released for construction work in 1901, and, in addition, 126,000 rubles for the maintenance of the Institute in the same year.

On September 18, 1900, the director of the Technological Institute reported to the trustee of the West Siberian Educational District that the rooms in the lecture building necessary for the beginning of classes would be ready by September 24; but since many of the teaching staff, owing to late appointment, would not have time to arrive by that date, the director considered it possible to begin classes in the first days of October, limiting the occasion to a prayer service and postponing the solemn opening of the Technological Institute until December 6, the name day of the Sovereign Emperor. These proposals were approved by a telegram from the official administering the Ministry, Assistant Minister N. A. Zverev.

On October 5, 1900, the first meeting of the Institute’s teachers took place under the chairmanship of the director of the Institute, attended by: the professor of theology, Archpriest D. N. Belikov; the extraordinary professor of chemistry, D. P. Turbaba; and the instructors: in mathematics, V. L. Nekrasov; in geodesy, L. N. Lyubimov; and in drawing, M. I. Yuzhakov. The subjects of discussion were: the procedure for opening the lectures and classes, and their provisional timetable.

On October 9, 1900, at 10 o’clock in the morning, the opening of classes at the Institute followed.

It began with a prayer service, conducted in the large drawing hall by the instructor of Theology, Professor of the Imperial Tomsk University, Archpriest D. N. Belykov, attended by the trustee of the West Siberian Educational District, Actual State Councillor L. I. Lavrentyev; the Director of the Institute, E. L. Zubashev; Prof. D. P. Turbaba; the instructors: in mathematics, V. L. Nekrasov; in geodesy, L. N. Lyubimov; in drafting, M. I. Yuzhakov; in drawing, F. F. Gut, K. K. Lygin, and P. F. Fedorovsky; the officials of the Institute’s office; and all the newly admitted students. During the prayer service the choir of students of the Imperial Tomsk University sang.

Before proclaiming “Many Years” to the Reigning House, Archpriest D. N. Belykov delivered the following address:

Lord, bless!

“A great undertaking is beginning, an undertaking as important as it is difficult—a new undertaking in Siberia. Classes are opening in an institution where higher technical knowledge is to be taught and developed, and from which it is to proceed and spread for the elevation of cultural life in the vast borderland of great Russia.

Academic and scholarly work is beginning in the newly born Tomsk Technological Institute of Emperor Nicholas II.

To you, young people, has fallen, we hope, the happy lot of being the first students of the new Institute, the first workers within its walls. Special hopes are attached to you, hopes that on your part you will strive to establish the high dignity of your alma mater, that each of you, upon leaving here, will appear in the field of state or public service as a figure not only honorable and useful, but one lofty in his enlightenment, development, and in all the qualities of a morally good person.

And for you, young students, the time has come for life and activity with a consciousness of duty—the duty that is so clearly determined by your position.

You are undertaking scientific studies, success in which, whatever one's gifts, is achieved by diligence and application. You are undertaking scientific studies in a higher educational institution, where your energy for work, without any external pressure upon your will, will be called forth only by the work itself and by your conscious and at the same time heartfelt attitude toward that work.

Scientific studies and constant, unflagging diligence in them—this is your first and sacred duty—a duty so obvious, so definite, that if I allow myself to point it out, it is solely from the desire to warn youth against the wasteful expenditure of precious time.

Yes, young people, you must know, and as deeply as possible imbue yourselves with the knowledge, that time spent unproductively in youth is an irreparable loss—the loss over which, with bitter complaints against themselves, people so often lament in mature years.

Duty is a heavy burden only in the case when it is performed without any inner inclination, without a heartfelt attraction to it. The burden of your scientific and specialized studies in this institution is already lightened by the fact that these studies have been chosen by you freely. But it will be lightened still more when, through diligent relation to science, you come to love it, for it is impossible not to become attached to that over which one labors long and persistently; it is impossible not to love that which broadens understanding, which in every detail of acquired knowledge promises beneficent applicability to a living and vital cause.

The duty of diligent study in the sciences is, above all, a duty concerning you personally, your own interests. But at the same time it is your duty to the institution into which you have entered and which, in the person of its appointed leaders, professors, and instructors, will reveal the full measure of its concern for your intellectual development and your scientific enrichment.

Closely connected with the duty of which I speak is that which, I have no doubt, you will especially cherish and toward which you will be very zealous. I mean your student honor. Need it be said that the consciousness of student dignity can in no way rest upon the mere title of student alone. I think that, together with me, you will acknowledge the justice and

the lawfulness of the student’s honor only when it is accompanied by the selfless dedication of young energies to the noblest of human pursuits—the labor of scholarly occupation. Without deep immersion in this labor as one’s foremost, elevated and elevating interest; without a heartfelt attraction to it, or, even less, without serious attention to it, student honor is vanity.

Let your honor be genuine honor; but then it must find its foundation in your serious and laborious life and, beyond that, in something else as well.

Here it is necessary to broaden the definition of your duty, to include in it not scholarly diligence alone, but also your conduct. Let us keep firmly in mind that, however broad and deep scholarly knowledge may be, a person who possesses it is incomplete in his human dignity if he has not trained his will to be disposed toward everything that is pure, noble, praiseworthy, and virtuous. But the training of the will in this direction, like the training of every other capacity, like the establishment and strengthening in the soul of any inclination, is achieved through exercise in activity. Your pure, honest, noble conduct, with aversion to every baseness, with guarding yourselves against every vulgarity so often and so abundantly encountered amid the prose of life; your keen attentiveness, in the realm of moral stirrings, to the commands of conscience, speaking under the illumination of the Gospel light—this is what fully justifies your dignity, your student honor. If you understand your honor in this way, and if you strive to attain it in this form, then your moral sensitivity and your nobility of soul, which you will carry into life together with the knowledge you have acquired, will be the best honor and glory for the institute as well, and a joy to it.

All this I considered especially necessary and obligatory to say precisely to you, as the first listeners of a newly opened source and seedbed of knowledge. The harmony of music depends above all on the tone that is taken. To a significant degree on you, on your devotion to the cause, on your conduct, will depend the orderly, prosperous, and beneficent course of the nascent life of the newly arisen ...

educational institution, for it is your lot to establish in it a tradition—that businesslike and moral tradition in the Institute which will be passed down in it from year to year, and against which it will be so difficult to struggle if in any respect it proves inadequate or even bad.

Conscious of the importance of the task before us, we shall strive with all our strength to be worthy of it. Not for a single minute shall we forget, nor shall we ever allow ourselves to lose sight of, the honor and glory of the Institute and of that high mission for which it was created, for the sake of which we see upon its banner the August Name of its Crown-bearing Patron.

“Every blessing is from the Lord; from Him comes every perfect gift. With all humility and zeal let us prayerfully bow down before the Lord, that He may overshadow the new educational institution, for its development and prosperity, with His almighty blessing, and that He may grant us also the grace of aid from on high in the fulfillment, each in his own rank and within the circle of his own duties, of His good and holy will.”

At the conclusion of the prayer service, those present were invited into the large lecture hall (now No. 1), where the trustee of the educational district declared the Tomsk Technological Institute of Emperor Nicholas II open, after which the director of the Institute, E. L. Zubashev, addressed the students with the following speech:

M. M. G.g.

“From this hour today we begin our studies and, although the ceremonial opening of the Tomsk Technological Institute of Emperor Nicholas II will take place somewhat later, in fact it enters into life from this day. Congratulating all who have gathered here on this celebration, I consider it my duty, before the beginning of classes, to address you, young people, with a parting word, if one may so express it.

Each of you has entered this educational institution in full awareness, wishing here to draw a certain store of knowledge, to discipline his mind, consciously to strengthen himself in those moral foundations which were instilled in you from childhood—in a word, to stock himself with everything necessary that gives a person—

...the whole right to regard himself as the highest creation of God, gives him the opportunity to be a useful worker in a certain field and a useful member of society in general. But each of you, naturally, has a question: what will this Institute give me? And later, when you begin to study the various subjects, the question will always be possible: what is this for? These natural questions are resolved in old educational institutions rather quickly, owing to association with older comrades, owing to submission to the already existing traditions of the educational institution. You are not in such a position: you have no older comrades here, and traditions will arise only in the future, and we, together with you, will only sow the seed for them. That is why I wished to illuminate the path for you somewhat, to express wishes as to what sort of seeds we must sow, so that the traditions that grow up may serve as a guiding star for your subsequent comrades.

The Tomsk Technological Institute is a higher educational institution whose aim is to prepare young people for independent activity in various fields of technology; for this it is necessary to impart to them a certain stock of knowledge, and to develop in them the capacity for independent thought and for independent action.

Technical schools exist in three grades: lower, secondary, and higher. All of them train technicians, but those graduating from each are intended for a different role. The lower schools train the worker; the secondary schools—the foreman; and the higher school—the engineer. What the difference is between a worker and an engineer is clear, but what is the difference between a foreman and an engineer? The foreman is the executor, the engineer is the leader. The foreman performs the work and may develop skill in carrying out the work, as a result of constant practice in uniform work, to the point of virtuosity (it is not for nothing that the foreman’s skill has entered the saying: “he is a master of his craft”). But the foreman’s work is usually not independent; it is performed by him either at the direction of another, or else consists of copying the old. The foreman usually cannot rise to the creation of a new original. I do not dare assert that there are no exceptions to this rule; there are exceptions, but they are very rare and already reveal an exceptional...

talent, and sometimes even genius, in the given master. I cannot refrain here from recalling the famous Siberian mining master, who worked in the Barnaul mining district—Polzunov, who improved the steam engine before Watt.

But this is an exceptional phenomenon, recorded even on the pages of history; ordinarily, however, a master is only an executor, working under another’s direction and unable to rise to independence because of the absence of the necessary training. An engineer, as the very name indicates—the word engineer comes from the French word s’ingenier, which means to ponder, to devise—is the leader of the work. It is his duty to think through and draw up the design for a structure or work and to direct its execution. His design must be, first, theoretically substantiated, i.e., it must contain a guarantee of its expediency and its strength; secondly, it must be practically feasible; and, thirdly, its economic advantage must be provided for. From this it is clear what the training of an engineer must be. The foundation of engineering education must above all be theoretical training: a thorough study of physics, chemistry, mechanics, and mathematics constitutes the basis of every engineering and technical education. Three of these sciences are concerned with the study of the laws of nature or of the laws of phenomena occurring in nature; and what is technology? Technology, in the broad sense, is the totality of the methods and instruments of man’s struggle with nature, a struggle directed toward securing human existence.

The connection between the indicated sciences and technology is now clear; it is clear that, knowing the laws of nature, knowing the essence of the phenomena occurring in it, it is easier to orient oneself in the struggle itself. The fourth science—mathematics—must likewise be included in the cycle of sciences necessary for engineering education, for it represents one of the methods of investigation, providing the most convenient path to generalizations and applicable both in the three above-mentioned sciences and in the applied sciences: without knowing mathematics, it is difficult to understand and clarify for oneself the essence of physical and mechanical laws.

The second requirement of an engineer’s design is practical feasibility, i.e., that the design be carried out with the existing tools and methods of work; this imposes upon the engineer the obligation to be well acquainted with the practice of the corresponding specialty. The same requirement also arises from the duty incumbent upon the engineer to direct the execution of his design. Familiarity with practice is very important and, as is known, there has long been a dispute about the relative importance of theoretical and practical training for an engineer. The dispute between the adherents of the one view and of the other was fairly lively and at first, in most cases, was decided in favor of practice. There is an explanation for this, but I shall not dwell on it now, allowing myself to postpone it until another time; for now I shall note that only with complete harmony between theory and practice are brilliant results obtained, and in any case theoretical training gives that which practice cannot give: it develops and disciplines the mind, cultivates the capacity for independent thinking, and therefore forms the pledge of progress in every technical field. The study of the economic foundations of every undertaking is also extremely important, for excessive expenditure entails exhaustion, and therefore only that is expedient which is commensurate with the existing reserve of energy; this reserve is not everywhere the same and changes with place and time.

Teaching at the institute has been arranged in accordance with the requirements set forth above. During the first two years the theoretical sciences are taught; then come the applied sciences, in which various tools and methods of work are described, while attention is paid to the theoretical basis of these tools and methods of work; at the same time it is proposed to become acquainted in practice with the application of these tools and methods of work. Alongside this, drawing and its scientific foundations, set forth in descriptive geometry, and sketching are taught. These graphic arts are extremely important for the engineer: drawing is the engineer’s language, by means of which he sets forth his proposals and his designs with such fullness and clarity as it is impossible to achieve in any other language; every engineer must learn this language to perfection, and therefore teaching—

drawing runs through the entire course: at the beginning they learn to understand a drawing and develop technique, and then, in the senior years, drawing turns into design, when the student learns to set out his projects in a drawing. Drawing is also an exceedingly important subject for an engineer. And finally, in conclusion, the economic foundations of applying one or another method of work are taught. The person completing the course has sufficient foundations for independent further improvement and independent activity, for with the completion of an educational institution the end of preparation has not yet arrived. An educational institution gives only the basis, the canvas, on which anything at all may be painted. It is enough to point out that the application in practice of the methods of work that have been studied requires skill and dexterity, and this is achieved with time; moreover, the theoretical foundations become clearer and clearer through constant, unremitting work, not to mention that life moves forward, and along with life the study of it as well. Only he will be equal to his calling who never ceases to study and to work. For through inactivity the corresponding organs, which require constant exercise for proper development, also atrophy.

I now turn to an account of the methods of teaching. You are, of course, aware that the lesson system is not applicable in higher educational institutions: here are persons who have completed secondary educational institutions, adults, who have entered quite consciously, who have a definite goal, and therefore to follow classes step by step is not only superfluous, but even harmful; here young people must develop independence in themselves, the ability to think things through independently, and therefore in higher educational institutions considerable freedom is granted in the distribution of study time; here the lecture system is accepted. In lectures the general principles of the sciences will be expounded to you; here you must draw that store of knowledge which you need; but merely listening to lectures is insufficient, it is insufficient only to listen; it is necessary to think through for oneself and digest the meaning of what has been heard, so that it may be absorbed into one’s flesh and blood, and therefore, in addition to attending lectures, it is important to work at home independently, to examine and clarify for oneself everything heard in the lectures. These home studies must be conducted by you consistently, systematically.

Only through systematic study at home will you be able to derive from the lectures the benefit that they can bring, for it is possible to understand the following lectures only after clarifying the preceding ones for yourself. There is no supervision over these home studies of yours, but in view of the fact that the essence of what is being studied is often difficult to grasp, practical exercises are offered to help you. These practical exercises in the various subjects will be conducted in groups of 30–35 persons; for each such group its own instructor will be appointed. The instructor will explain to you obscure, incomprehensible points, and will assign you problems, the solution of which will further clarify general principles on the one hand, and, on the other, will train your hand and gradually accustom you to deal independently with various kinds of questions. Attend these sessions conscientiously and do not be embarrassed to ask the instructor at them to explain what is unclear, once and twice, until you understand; there will be no evaluation of your knowledge in these classes. But again, in order for the classes to bring substantial benefit, it is necessary first to work at home, to sort out what you have heard, to look around, so as to know what needs to be clarified in the classes: without this home work the classes will not bring even half of the benefit that can be derived from them. I repeat: regular attendance at lectures and practical exercises, and systematic home studies, especially mathematical ones, guarantee your success. Once you let this matter slide, once you do not study systematically, you will lose the thread that could lead you out of the labyrinth in which you will soon find yourselves; you will gain nothing from the lectures and classes and will cease to understand their meaning; you will begin to study periodically, to swallow sciences in large doses, to swallow them without digesting them, and the result will be not absorption into flesh and blood, not the clarification for oneself of scientific principles, but an accumulation of all sorts of random knowledge, which produces only confusion in the head. I must warn you that if you lose time during the year, you will not make up during the examinations what you have missed; examination time, properly speaking, is lost time, and it should be shortened as far as possible. For persons who work systematically, a long examination period is superfluous, and for persons who do not work it is useless, for hasty knowledge,

which are acquired during examinations, are not lasting. The examination period makes the academic year extremely short. You know that our normal academic year is 23–24 weeks, while in foreign higher educational institutions it is 34; this reduction occurs as a consequence of the duration of examinations and the long winter vacations. Both the one and the other must and will be shortened; both the students, who have consciously come here to acquire knowledge, and who, of course, must strive to spend their time within the walls of the educational institution with the greatest possible benefit, should seek to lengthen the academic year.

Thus, if I may express a wish, I would wish that the first seed from which the traditions of the educational institution are to grow should be the consciousness of the necessity of constant, systematic labor.

Of course, after any labor rest is necessary, and after mental labor especially. It is necessary to rest, to spend some hours of leisure among friends and comrades, to have some entertainment; and although Tomsk offers considerable conveniences in this respect: two theaters, evenings at the public assembly, nevertheless, in addition, we shall try in this respect as well to place the students in favorable conditions by organizing a choir and an orchestra, so that students may have the opportunity to amuse themselves here too and to satisfy their aesthetic needs. But one must not become carried away by amusement; one must always remember that “for work there is time, for amusement an hour.”

Passing to the other side—the educational one—I must say that in higher educational institutions, besides knowledge, one also acquires general development, thanks to which a correct view of life is formed, a correct attitude toward the existing order, and sound moral principles. This is achieved as a consequence of intercourse among comrades, as a consequence of intercourse with professors and supervisors, and also as a consequence of being imbued with the traditions of educational institutions. And in this case it is desirable that the seed from which traditions will grow should be sown in healthy soil. I would wish that the second seed should be a clear consciousness of the necessity of submitting to the law and to the requirements founded upon it. The law, however strict it may be, must be carried out so long as it exists: “dura lex sed lex.” Failure to obey the law entails

for anarchy, and anarchy is intolerable in any cultured society.

The third seed for future traditions must be the students’ love for that higher educational institution which is for them, according to the old expression, “alma mater,” in other words, a “spiritual mother.” This love must be expressed in guarding one’s “alma mater” from all disturbances, from everything that might disrupt the proper course of its orderly life. No extraneous interests, not pertaining to the educational institution, no outside currents must touch the alma mater. The safeguarding of the Institute from all this rests not only upon the duty of the authorities and the individual professors, but also upon the duty of the students. I have finished, and it remains for me only once again to congratulate you on the beginning of classes and to wish you success in them.”

Upon the conclusion of this speech, the lecturer (now acting extraordinary professor) V. L. Nekrasov ascended the rostrum and opened the reading of lectures with a lecture on analytic geometry.

The following telegram was sent to the Minister of Public Education concerning the opening of the Institute:

Petersburg. To the Minister of Public Education. Today, after the prayer service, the Tomsk Technological Institute has been opened. Classes have begun. Trustee Lavrentiev. Director Zubashev.

Gradually the initial teaching staff was augmented by newly arriving persons, and by the time of the ceremonial opening of the Institute it had been organized in the following composition:

Instructor in Theology, Master of Theology, Archpriest D. N. Belikov (began lecturing on October 10); extraordinary professor of chemistry, Master of Chemistry D. P. Turbaba (began lecturing on October 10); acting extraordinary professor of physics A. I. Efimov (began lecturing on November 4); instructor in mathematics V. L. Nekrasov (began lecturing on October 9); instructor in geodesy, engineer of ways of communication L. N. Lyubimov (began lecturing on October 10); instructor in descriptive geometry and drafting, engineer-technologist V. N. Jones (began lecturing on October 16); instructors in drafting and

supervisors of practical classes in mathematics and mechanics: engineer of communications S. A. Zhbikovsky, engineers-technologists: A. V. Ugarov, T. I. Tikhonov, and M. I. Yuzhakov; teacher of drawing and assistant librarian, engineer-chemist O. I. Ronchevsky; teachers of drafting: civil engineer F. F. Gut, architects K. K. Lygin and P. F. Fedorovsky, and class artist Z. A. Rochachevsky; the following were appointed as laboratory assistants: in chemistry—engineer-technologist B. N. Bibikov; in physics—F. M. Ossendovsky, who had completed the course of St. Petersburg University with a diploma of the 1st degree; as librarian—full student of Moscow University, State Councillor M. A. Vodyannikov.

It was proposed that the forthcoming solemn opening of the Tomsk Technological Institute of Emperor Nicholas II, as an event exceptional in its significance, be celebrated with special ceremony, in the presence of the Minister of Public Education and his deputy and of representatives of governmental and public institutions of Siberia, and measures were taken for this in good time. The trustee of the educational district sent notifications of this to the President of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, His Imperial Highness Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich, to the Minister of Public Education and to other ministers and chief administrators, to the trustees of educational districts, and to certain highly placed persons whose preceding activities had been closely connected with Siberia. The Minister of Public Education, T. S. Bogolepov, in response to the invitation, informed the trustee of the West Siberian educational district by telegram of November 13, 1900, that he was unable to come in person to the celebration and commissioned Deputy Minister N. A. Zverev to attend it. Then notifications signed by the trustee of the district and by the director of the Institute were sent out to representatives of the Siberian administration and educational institutions. The Tomsk City Duma also, for its part, assisted in the broad dissemination of information about the forthcoming event, sending out letters of invitation to the municipal administrations of Siberia and to a whole series of persons known for their interest and participation in the cause of education.

On December 1, at 5 o’clock, His Excellency Assistant Minister of Public Education N. A. Zverev arrived in Tomsk; he was met at Mezheninovka station by the trustee of the educational district, the rector of the university, the director of the Institute, members of the city duma headed by the mayor A. P. Karnakov, who brought bread and salt with greetings from the city, and by numerous representatives of the educational department and local society.

On December 4, at 2 o’clock in the afternoon, His Excellency the Assistant Minister, accompanied by His Excellency the trustee of the Educational District, visited the Tomsk Technological Institute, where in the assembly hall he was introduced by the Director of the Institute to the members of the teaching staff, the members of the Imperially approved Building Committee, and the officials of the chancellery. Having questioned everyone in detail about the preceding activity and their first impressions of the academic classes, His Excellency the Assistant Minister went through all three floors of the lecture building, beginning with the drafting hall, where at that time students were at work. He then inspected the large auditorium, testing it also with regard to acoustics, the temporary premises of the library, the chemical and physical laboratories, and the student buffet, as well as all the halls and rooms of the lecture building that were still unfinished. His Excellency the Assistant Minister remained highly satisfied with the spaciousness and arrangement of the building, as he stated upon his departure from the Institute.

On December 6, 1900, the day of the solemn opening of the Institute, after the liturgy and a prayer service in the cathedral, a numerous gathering filled the halls of the Institute’s lecture building, which was decorated outside with flags, and in the corridors and along the main staircase draped with multicolored fabrics and garlands of fir branches. Present here were: the head of the province, Prince S. A. Vyazemsky with his wife; His Excellency the trustee of the educational district L. I. Lavrentiev; the rector and professors of the University; the mayor A. P. Karnakov and members of the duma; representatives of the provincial administration; the teaching staff of the secondary and lower educational institutions of the city of Tomsk; visiting representatives from other cities; and students of the Institute and the University.

Upon the arrival of the Comrade Minister at one o’clock in the afternoon, a prayer service with the blessing of water was performed in the Institute’s large drafting hall by His Grace Makarii, Bishop of Tomsk and Barnaul, with the concelebration of: the rector of the Tomsk Theological Seminary, Father Archimandrite Grigorii; the cathedral archpriest, Father N. P. Malin; the sacristan of the cathedral, priest Father A. G. Sidonskii; a professor of Tomsk University, Archpriest Father D. N. Belikov; teachers of the Law of God: of the Tomsk Boys’ Gymnasium, Archpriest Father A. A. Misюrev; of the Tomsk Girls’ Gymnasium, Archpriest Father A. A. Lashkov; and of the Tomsk Alekseevskii Realschule, priest Father V. P. Iur’ev.

Before proclaiming the many years, His Grace Makarii delivered the following address:

“Today, the name day of our most pious Sovereign, is especially significant for our city as the day of the solemn opening of the newly built Technological Institute. For the sake of so great a celebration, we have the honor and pleasure of seeing among us many guests from other cities, and at their head a rare guest—the representative of state authority in the department of the Ministry of Public Education.

It seems to us that we would not fulfill our pastoral duty if we said nothing on the occasion of this event, so significant for the city—the opening of the Technological Institute. However, we have little to say on this occasion, so as not to weary your attention with prolixity. We should like to illuminate only somewhat that aspect of the tasks of the institution now being opened by which this institution borders upon the sphere of religion and morality.

Technology and religion, an institute of the arts and the church with moral and religious truths—what, apparently, can there be in common between these spheres, so far removed from one another? What has a technician to do with religion? And can there be a place for the church in an institution where sciences are taught concerning various combinations of numbers, weights, measures, forms of construction, and methods of extracting from the bowels of the earth the metals and stones hidden there?

So it may seem upon a superficial view of the matter. Yet between these branches of human knowledge and institutions, different as they are in their aims, there exists a close,

D. S. S. N. A. Zverev,
Comrade of the Minister of Public Education.

Right Reverend Makarii,
Bishop of Tomsk and Barnaul.

T. S. L. I. Lavrentiev,
Trustee of the West Siberian Educational District.

Prince S. A. Vyazemskii,
Tomsk Governor.

Professor E. L. Zubashev,
Director of the Tomsk Technological Institute of Emperor Nicholas II.

A. P. Karnakov,
Tomsk City Mayor.

a kinship. Technology is the sister of theology. In what way? The Father of technology and religion is one and the same—the Divine Architect, who arranged all things with supreme wisdom; He is the cause of every weight, measure, and number; from the combinations of all this, by His command, this beautiful world came into being. This Divine Architect also placed into the human body, so beautifully and expediently arranged, a rational soul with its manifold faculties, by means of which man comprehends the laws of the combination of number, weight, and measure, so that from this arises commensurateness (symmetry), the mother of beauty. Thus, the Divine Cause of the laws of grace is also the Cause of wisdom for the sons of men: from Him proceeds every art. He placed wisdom in the heart of Solomon, giving him the rational laws of organic life from the hyssop to the cedar of Lebanon. He placed the spirit of wisdom in the heart of Bezalel, the former builder of that wondrous Temple of Solomon.

This Divine Cause of the laws of architecture is likewise the Cause of the laws of moral grace; the Creator and Architect of the physical world, with its manifold forms that constitute the subject of physico-technical science, is the builder also of the spiritual and moral world, with its most beautiful laws of love and truth, from the combinations of which moral beauty appears. Just as the contemplation of the beauties of nature and of the productions of the fine arts affords true delight to the human spirit, so the contemplation of moral beauty constitutes the highest bliss for spiritual and moral beings.

After this, who would dare assert that religion has nothing to do with technology, or vice versa? Who would dare deny that technology has a divine origin; that the science of the fine arts has the right to stand alongside the science of God; that technology and theology stand in close kinship?

Therefore the Technological Institute cannot be alien to the Church, just as it cannot assert that it has no need of the Church.

Therefore may technology and theology, as the sciences of physical and moral grace, live in peace and unanimity, like sisters, like daughters of one Father.

Those who study the laws of the combination of measure, weight, number, and form as the laws of technology, as the property of elegant architecture, do not neglect the study of the laws of the combination of truth and goodness as the laws of moral elegance or spiritual beauty. And not only do they not neglect the study of these laws of moral elegance, but they strive to put them into practice in life as well. If young people devote themselves to the study of technology for the sake of gaining honor and satisfaction here on earth, then it is not unknown to them that the fulfillment of the laws of faith and morality, as the laws of moral beauty, gives the one who fulfills them the best honor that is proper to a benefactor, that blessed contentment which a tranquil conscience gives: this is here on earth, while there—the beautiful paradise, the Kingdom of God, where peace and joy and love dwell eternally, where eternal harmony exists.

Today, on the day of the people’s prayer for their Tsar through the Church, may the prayer of the inhabitants of this city and of all those present here ascend for the newly opened Institute of Technical Sciences; may the blessing of God abide upon it and upon those who will teach and study here, to the glory of God the Mind, for the benefit of the Church, which not infrequently has need of technicians in the construction of her temples, and for the good of our city and of this country. Lord, save the Tsar; Lord, make haste to help us, and prosper the work of our hands!”

After the conclusion of the prayer service, while the clergy sprinkled the premises of the Institute with holy water, those present passed into the assembly hall, where Mr. Assistant Minister opened the meeting with the following words:

“Having come here by order of His Excellency, the Minister of Public Education, and opening the present solemn assembly, I am happy to welcome the emergence of a new nursery of higher technical education, created by the will of the Sovereign Master of the Russian Land. Expressing to the Tomsk Technological Institute named after Emperor Nicholas II the ardent wishes of the Minister that it grow, strengthen, and develop for the benefit of the vast and virginal Siberian region, and adding to these wishes also ...”

my own, personal congratulations to the city of Tomsk on its new precious acquisition—the second higher educational institution, which, I hope, will play a great and beneficent role in the industrial life of Siberia.”

In conclusion of the speech, the Comrade Minister read out the following telegrams, received with shouts and applause:

From the President of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, His Imperial Highness Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich:

“Sincerely grateful for the announcement of the forthcoming opening of the Tomsk Technological Institute, I wish it always to be a beacon of true enlightenment for the benefit of distant Siberia and of our entire fatherland.” “Konstantin.”

From the Minister of Public Education, N. P. Bogolepov:

“I most humbly request Your Excellency to convey to the Tomsk Technological Institute my heartfelt greeting and ardent wish that it may educate skilled and industrious engineers and devoted servants of the Tsar and the fatherland.

“Minister Bogolepov.”

Then the trustee of the West Siberian Educational District, Active State Councillor L. I. Lavrentiev, delivered the following speech:

“On the most solemn day of the Name Day of His Imperial Majesty the Sovereign Emperor, we have the happiness solemnly to open the Tomsk Technological Institute of the Most August Name of Emperor Nicholas II. This day will forever remain memorable in the history of education in Russia. Thanks to the ineffable favors and bounties of the August Patron of public education, a second higher educational institution is being opened in Western Siberia. For this new sign of Monarchic love and attention to our region, remote from the center, which more than any other needs true enlightenment, the West Siberian Educational District dares to lay at the feet of His Majesty, together with the feeling of loyal devotion, the feelings of deepest gratitude and sincere appreciation.

Fifteen years ago Tomsk Imperial University was founded, which, notwithstanding its brief existence, has already managed to acquire wide renown throughout Siberia and to earn universal sympathy. Our university owes such rapid success above all to the tireless, eminently fruitful, and energetic activity of Messrs. the professors and instructors, who, while selflessly devoted to the interests of pure science, never lost sight of the vital interests of the local region. Let us hope that its younger brother as well, the Tomsk Technological Institute of Emperor Nicholas II, upon attaining the aims laid down at its foundation, will unswervingly and invariably follow the same well-tested path; for this, thanks to the favors of our beloved Monarch and the unceasing solicitude for it of the persons standing at the head of the central administration of the Ministry of Public Education, all the proper means have been given to it. It remains only to wish that the young people who have gathered here from all parts of Russia should, with complete conscientiousness, attend to the fulfillment of their student duties, removing from themselves everything that in one way or another might disturb the proper course of their studies. They must hold high the banner of science, upon which, in indelible characters, there shall be inscribed: striving toward truth, justice, goodness, toward all that is lofty, noble, and beautiful, toward that which raises man above the world surrounding him and brings him nearer to the image and likeness of God. Only under such conditions will the Tomsk Technological Institute, now being opened, achieve its aim: it will live, grow, and develop to the glory and benefit of our dear fatherland.”

There followed the speech of Mr. Director of the Institute E. L. Zubashev.

M. M. Gg.

“Today we celebrate the solemn opening of the Tomsk Technological Institute of Emperor Nicholas II. This event is of great importance, and it will be noted as a major phenomenon in the history of education in Russia in general, and in the history of Siberia and the city of Tomsk in particular. The opening of any educational ...

an institution is in itself a major phenomenon, but its significance is determined by the influence, or better to say, by the extent of the sphere to which its influence extends. Whereas the sphere of influence of a lower or secondary educational institution is limited to the locality where the educational institution has been opened, the sphere of influence of a higher educational institution is considerably broader: on the one hand, it embraces an entire region, and on the other, its laboratories and its cabinets collect and process material necessary for science in general; and therefore, from this point of view, the significance of a higher educational institution extends far beyond the limits of the region in which it has been opened. The significance of an educational institution is determined by the tasks entrusted to it: whereas the task of lower and secondary educational institutions is to give their pupils a general development, to acquaint them with the factual side of the surrounding reality, with general propositions and scientific conclusions, and to instill in them the principles of ethics and aesthetics, the task of a higher educational institution is to prepare persons not only capable of independent life, but at the same time able to be leaders and guides on an unfamiliar field, able not only to follow correctly and lead others along a beaten road, but also to lay new paths, able not only to apply propositions worked out by science, but also to develop and discover new laws of natural and social phenomena. It is clear from this characterization alone that the subject of study in a higher educational institution can only be that which constitutes the subject of science or to which scientific methods of study and scientific conclusions are applicable. The training of a craftsman, for example, cannot constitute the task of a higher educational institution, for the training of a craftsman consists in showing and drilling—or, as they say, “coaching”—the pupil in certain techniques developed by practice, without any general guiding idea; this may constitute the task of a lower and, to a great extent, a secondary school. It is also clear that higher educational institutions, by their very nature, must be specialized, and not general-educational, for they must prepare workers in a particular field and therefore acquaint them with the methods of scientific inquiry in a definite field only of human knowledge; it is clear that

and the methods of teaching in the secondary and in the higher school are different: whereas in the secondary school the method employed is dogmatic, consisting in communicating and instilling in pupils certain scientific conclusions and certain moral principles, in higher educational institutions the method of teaching is pragmatic, when the student is taught to analyze for himself a given proposition or phenomenon; here the chief aim is to acquaint him with the methods of scientific investigation, in order to prepare persons capable of working independently in the scientific field.

A natural question arises: can technology constitute a subject of study in higher educational institutions, that is, in other words, does technology possess scientific methods, is it founded upon science, or does it itself constitute a science?

By technology one must understand the totality of means and implements for man’s struggle with nature for existence. Technology is “the child of necessity,” for it arose from man’s need to devise various methods and implements in order to obtain means of subsistence and to protect himself from the influences of external nature. The history of technology is as old as the history of the human race. Man’s first steps in the field of technology were extremely uncertain, for they were based not on knowledge of nature and the laws of its phenomena, but were prompted by the feeling of self-preservation in man and were founded upon the instinct inherent in man, indicating to him the possible path, the possible implements for the struggle for existence. With such exercise, sensitivity becomes very greatly sharpened in man, instinct develops and little by little passes into a conscious relation to the goal. Man, living in connection with nature, adapts himself to it and in nature itself finds means and implements for the struggle. This, properly speaking, is one of the methods of the scientific investigation of nature, the observational method, which yields very much in the knowledge of nature; man has always made use of it; and this also explains the circumstance that from the primitive implements for the struggle for existence, made of stones and animal bones, from primitive dwellings—huts—and clothing of animal skins, man, even in antiquity, gradually advanced to the creation of grandiose structures, to the ability to make himself clothing from animal and plant fibers,

before the working of metal tools, before the invention of means of travel by land and by sea. These terrible conquests are the fruit of mankind’s many-thousand-year struggle—a stubborn struggle, into which man put as much labor as he had strength. It is understandable that only necessity could compel man to work so persistently; and as soon as man could find a means of easing his lot, he made use of it. He found such a means in slavery, under which the stronger compels his weaker adversary to work for him. Upon the slave the strong, fortunate man shifted this work, this labor directed toward securing human existence by providing him with convenient food, clothing, and dwellings. Having gained leisure, the master occupied himself with matters of the spirit: science arose, the arts arose—music, painting, sculpture—the liberal arts, the object of occupation for the free citizen, who compelled the slave to engage in technique; for this reason technical production received the name “servile arts.” The technical arts consisted of dirty, heavy work, which only slaves under the pressure of severity could perform.

“It is impossible to lead the life of an artisan and at the same time to perfect oneself in virtue,” says Aristotle. Such was the position of the technician in the ancient world; and at the same time consider how great his task was: he built, prepared tools and clothing at a time when science gave him no data either about the properties of materials or about the laws of the phenomena of nature, from which it was his task to protect himself. The role of technique was very honorable, and its significance as a source of natural science extraordinarily great: everything the ancients knew about nature was obtained and preserved by technique. Thus, for example, as early as deep antiquity the art of extracting metals from ores was discovered (copper, iron, silver, gold), while chemistry arose only in the 18th century. In antiquity mining also developed, whereas geology began to develop only in the 17th century. Agriculture was known before agronomic science; the application of heat before its essence had been clarified, and so on.

It may boldly be said that technique was a pioneer in the study of nature; one may even assert that chiefly the data obtained by technique served as the initial

a point for natural science: thus the study of the properties of matter began with facts obtained by metallurgy. People sought a means of transforming metals from one into another, and all into gold. But technology was short-sighted: it sought methods for obtaining one substance or another, or for applying one building material or another, making use of some accidentally observed property of the material; but it did not try to penetrate into the depth of phenomena, it did not try to study phenomena in all their fullness, it did not try to derive general laws by which it might be guided. Hence its path was difficult; every step forward was the fruit of accidental observation and intense effort; improvements appeared extremely rarely, for there was no general guiding idea.

Pure natural science filled this gap, this oversight of technology. Called into life as early as Archimedes and Aristotle, it began to develop in earnest only in the Middle Ages, when the tasks posed by technology were added to the purely speculative striving to clarify the essence of phenomena occurring in nature. Its first steps were difficult: it was necessary first of all to work out a method of investigation. The original method—the method of observing phenomena and comparing them with the aim of finding general laws—although it did yield results, gave results more than modest, for the phenomena of nature are exceedingly complex, and it is very difficult to encompass them at once in their entirety. It was necessary to divide phenomena into their constituent parts and, by means of laboratory experiment, to study the influence of various factors and, by combining the various constituent parts, to reproduce the phenomena as a whole. It is obvious that science, having taken up the development of methods, had to move far away from life, to shut itself up in the study and the laboratory. But then, at the end of the 17th century, the mathematical method of calculating infinitesimals was developed by the brilliant Newton and the famous Leibniz—a method that gave a great impetus to the development of mechanics; at the end of the 18th century the brilliant Lavoisier gave us the method of quantitative investigation of the essence of phenomena occurring in the interaction of substances, and established for us the law of the conservation of matter; at the end of that same 18th century the essence of geological processes was clarified, and so on.

When the significance of experiments reproducing phenomena in the laboratory had been clarified, when the fundamental laws of the conservation of matter and the conservation of energy had been established, natural science moved rapidly forward and, in the nineteenth century, accumulated such a body of material that it had to be divided into a whole series of separate sciences: chemistry, physics, mechanics, geology, mineralogy, botany, etc.; each of them undertook the study of phenomena in particular. This bore great fruit. In a single century natural science took such rapid strides as it had not taken over millennia; it achieved results that make it possible not only to explain phenomena occurring in nature, but also to reproduce most of them in the laboratory. When natural science reached such a height, science emerged from the study and the laboratory and offered its services to technology; it proposed using the results it had obtained not only to explain what was taking place in technology, but also as guidance; it proposed correcting those methods which had become established in technology through centuries of practice. Technology met science with distrust and stubbornly resisted its invasion of its domain. The famous dispute arose between theory and practice, between science and technology. This dispute became especially stubborn when theoretical science, in its first attempts to enter the sphere of technology, suffered defeat, when its conclusions were not fully, or even not at all, justified when applied in practice. Such a situation sometimes arose because of an inability to apply in practice what had been obtained in the study or laboratory; sometimes because scientific conclusions were one-sided and did not embrace a phenomenon in its entirety, and therefore the application of scientific methods did not yield the results that were obtained by applying methods developed by practice. These failures did not dismay science; it continued persistently to study and elucidate phenomena and, as a result, reached such a position that it not only began fully to explain the essence of the processes occurring in technology, but also began to indicate the path along which technology should proceed in order to obtain better results. When practice became convinced of the correctness of scientific conclusions and of the usefulness of applying them in technology, it bowed its head and submitted to science, began to listen to its voice, and to strive...

to make rapid use of her discoveries. The astonishing consequences of such a situation quickly made themselves felt. Improvements in technology began to follow one another so rapidly that one may boldly say: in a single century technology has made such progress, and has acquired so many new means and instruments, as it had not acquired in whole millennia before then.

I shall allow myself to cite several examples from the history of technology. The technology of preparing alcoholic beverages traces its history back to the mythical period. It is known, probably, to everyone that, according to the Bible, Noah began to prepare grape wine, and according to Egyptian mythology Osiris taught people how to prepare it. The essence of the phenomenon is simple at first glance, and, of course, this phenomenon could not remain unnoticed. If grape juice is left standing in the air, then very soon it begins to foam, gas is given off, and after the lapse of two or three days the foam settles, the evolution of gas ceases, the juice becomes clear, but at the same time it has already changed its properties: it has lost its sweetness, acquired a special taste and the ability to cheer and even to bring about intoxication. This phenomenon was noticed in antiquity, and it was used for preparing the beverage—wine. Persons engaged in the preparation of wine studied in detail the outward aspect of the phenomenon and the influence upon it of various circumstances—the variety of grape, the temperature—so that they even learned to control it somewhat in order to obtain wine of one or another taste. The study of the essence of this phenomenon began only in the fourteenth century, when, first, the alchemists Basilius Valentinus, Van Helmont, and others, and then the chemists Becher, Cavendish, and, finally, Lavoisier, elucidated the nature of the changes taking place, consisting in the fact that the sugar contained in the juice decomposes, forming alcohol and carbonic acid, which is released in the form of a gas. Then, through the work of a whole series of scholars—Thénard, Liebig, Cagniard de Latour, and, finally, Pasteur—the cause producing such decomposition of sugar was clarified; it was established that yeast—a plant organism—causes the fermentation of sugar, whereby the sugar decomposes into alcohol and carbon dioxide. Pasteur was the first to clarify the role of various kinds of microorganisms, the first to point out the existence of beneficial microorganisms, i.e., those giving a wholesome product, and of harmful microorganisms, indi-

pointed to the need to observe certain known conditions, to monitor the condition of the yeasts by examining them through a microscope. The application of Pasteur’s conclusions to practice met with great resistance, which became all the more stubborn because Pasteur’s indications were not always confirmed in practice. The microscope did not always indicate the correctness of the process, and in such circumstances the many years of practical training of the winemaker or brewer, which had accustomed his eye, nose, and tongue to distinguish with subtlety the proper course of fermentation, meant more than acquaintance with scientific conclusions. But further investigations, chiefly by Hansen and Kjeldahl, clarified the essence of all the phenomena occurring during fermentation to such an extent that at the present time it has become possible not only to explain the phenomena that occur during fermentation, but also consciously to direct them at will in any direction, i.e., toward obtaining either a stronger beverage or a more aromatic one, and so forth. And at the present time the state of affairs is such that a man unfamiliar with the conclusions of science, unable to examine yeasts microscopically, not understanding the essence of the phenomena and not knowing the influence of the various factors that occur upon the phenomenon, cannot compete with a theoretically trained person, even if he is a long-standing practitioner. Formerly winemakers, brewers, and wine-distillers with long experience were valued very highly, for there were no scientific methods for determining maladies, and therefore there were no scientific means for curing them. Only the experienced eye, tongue, or nose noticed a malady, and the means of cure were acquired by touch over the course of many years of practice and were therefore kept secret; but at the present time, for the proper understanding and conduct of the work, what is needed first of all is scientific training, and only thereafter practical training, which need not be as prolonged as before, for under the present state of affairs the theoretical study of the question gives a clear understanding of the matter, whereby alone it is possible to conduct it with confidence, knowing its outcome in advance. In this field the significance of scientific data has already been recognized even by practitioners, who willingly go to special schools in order there to acquaint themselves with the scientific side of production, the practice of which is known to them in its smallest details. Here is a striking example of a technical production that arose, devel—

grown and attained a high degree of perfection on purely practical soil, production which, more than any other, persisted in the field of struggle between science and practice, which ended, however, with practice bowing before the results of scientific investigations.

Industries based on fermentation, as I have already mentioned, have behind them a history of many millennia and, it is true, have reached a fairly high degree of perfection; but all improvements, both in the product itself and in the methods of work, came about with great difficulty. When science illuminated with its light the essence of all the processes taking place, improvements and refinements began rapidly to be introduced one after another. How little difference is observed in the methods of preparing alcoholic beverages and in the arrangement of factories over the course of many centuries, and what an enormous difference we see between the methods of work and the arrangement of factories at the beginning of this century and at its end!

Another example of the same kind is presented by the history of the steam engine. The idea of making use of the elasticity of water vapor as a motive force arose very long ago: it led Hero, 120 years before Christ, to the creation of the aeolipile, a hollow metal sphere with two tubes bent in opposite directions at their ends, rotated by the jet of steam issuing from the tubes. But before the application of the motive power of steam to the needs of industrial life, a long series of centuries passed. Only at the end of the 17th century did the engineer Captain Savery invent a steam water-lifting machine, and his contemporary Papin likewise proposed an apparatus by means of which water could be pumped out. Although these devices made it possible to replace human power with mechanical power, they were extremely imperfect, for they required an enormous quantity of fuel and therefore were little widespread; later Newcomen’s machine appeared, representing an improvement of Papin’s machine. In 1766, at the Barnaul works, the shiftmaster Iv. Iv. Polzunov built a steam engine which represented an improved Newcomen machine. Somewhat later Watt, while repairing Newcomen’s machine, carried out a whole series of observations and experiments, which led him to the creation of his machine.

Watt’s machine differed so greatly from its predecessors that, undoubtedly, this leap was accomplished by engineering genius. Watt’s machines appear only at the end of the eighteenth century, approximately between 1780 and 1790, and since then only one century has passed. Look at the degree of perfection to which this steam engine has now been brought! Watt’s machine represented an enormous step forward, revealing genius in the inventor; but steam engines have made an even more enormous step during this century, without revealing another genius equal to Watt’s, for all this was accomplished naturally, normally, thanks to the development of mechanics and the doctrine of heat.

But not only chemical technology and mechanical engineering have now received a scientific foundation; as a result of the splendid flowering of mathematics, mechanics, physics, chemistry, geology, botany, and indeed all natural science in general, all other branches of technology have also received a scientific foundation—speaking figuratively, they have been set on the rails of the scientific road, as a result of which they have received a perfectly definite direction for their further development; thanks to the clearing and preparation of the path by scientific investigations, the movement of technology along this path takes on ever greater and greater speed. The speed of technological development during the last half of the nineteenth century is so astonishingly great that in this time incomparably more changes have been made in the outward appearance and course of production than in several hundred years before that time. And this was done, I repeat, by science, for it indicated the path along which the further development of technology must proceed. Moreover, as a result of the development of scientific data, entirely new branches of industry arose, which human instinct could neither foresee nor anticipate. Beet-sugar production, the production of aniline, alizarin, and other dyes, electrical engineering, the production of artificial ice and refrigeration, and so forth—all this arose only thanks to the conquests of science.

If technology was the pioneer in the work of studying nature, if it gave an impetus also to the development of natural science, then science has now repaid technology a hundredfold, has subordinated it to itself, and has become its guide. It seems to me sufficiently clear that at the present time technology is closely bound up with science; that at the present time one cannot be an engineer, cannot build, cannot conduct any technical enterprise, without being acquainted with

with those treasures of knowledge that physics, chemistry, mechanics, geology, biology, and the other natural sciences have given us. Moreover, as a result of its close contact with science, technology has assimilated scientific methods: learned investigations form the foundations of scientific technology; without investigation, the problems of technology cannot be solved. But since the problems of technology always differ somewhat from the problems of pure science, investigations in the field of technology can be carried out only by a learned engineer. To understand a law of nature is one thing; to make use of it for practical purposes is another. Yet nature and life are difficult to divide; where the sphere of pure scientific investigation ends and where the sphere of technology begins, it is hard to draw a boundary.—Yes! technology at the present time has risen to such a height that, if it has not yet reached the degree of a science but has remained in part an art, then in any case it has become a free art.

I should be misunderstood if anyone were to think that I assert that natural science has reached its culminating point, that it has already discovered and clarified the essence of all phenomena occurring in nature. If that were so, there would be no forward movement either in science or in technology, and then there would be no need to train engineers, for the methods and instruments already developed by science and technology would have been adopted. No, I venture to assert only that in the nineteenth century science made great gains, and after it technology also advanced strongly; but ahead there is still a broad field for investigation, and much strength and labor must be expended in order to simplify and lighten the struggle for existence. This is a great cultural task, for a man, exhausted in the struggle for existence, forgets or stifles within himself other needs—the needs of the spiritual side of his being. Spiritual culture is conceivable only when man has secured his earthly existence.

If formerly the task of technology was to lighten human labor and, by using the forces of nature, to make slavery superfluous, then at the present time this task is expanding: its task is to make the benefits of material and spiritual culture accessible to all.

At the present time it is no longer only important to use the forces of nature in order to replace human strength with them; it is important to use them with the greatest advantage, and thereby to reduce the cost of

and make the result of labor generally accessible; in other words, the engineer must reckon with economic facts, must understand the laws of economic relations; and therefore, if natural science forms the foundation of engineering education on the one hand—because only by studying the phenomena of nature, by knowing the laws according to which they occur, can the engineer create remedies and instruments for the struggle with nature for existence—then, on the other hand, economic sciences must also be laid at the foundation of engineering education, for only by knowing the laws of economic relations can the engineer use the phenomena of nature to the greatest advantage, so that the results of labor may be made accessible to every person.

It is now clear that the preparation of such leaders-engineers must constitute the task of a higher specialized educational institution; and at the present time technical educational institutions with a scientific foundation are, with full justification, ranked among the higher ones, on a par with the specialized university faculties, such as medicine or law.

Honorable and difficult is the task of the engineer; it requires extensive preparation, and it requires not a few workers. This is why, in recent times, a strong spread of higher technical education has been observed. Higher technical educational institutions are creations of the nineteenth century, for only in the nineteenth century did natural science receive such brilliant development that it acquired the ability to indicate the path and direct the course of technology. Especially in the second half of this century there has been a strong influx of those wishing to receive such scientific-engineering training. In Russia only 40 years have passed since the first institute in Petersburg was transformed into a higher educational institution, and now they number 15; in the very short recent period 4 higher technical educational institutions have been opened, among which stands the Tomsk Technological Institute of Emperor Nicholas II, whose solemn opening we now celebrate.

The Tomsk Technological Institute must graduate entire cadres of specialist engineers in various branches of technical knowledge. These specialists, having received a thorough scientific preparation and having strengthened themselves in moral principles, will willingly remain to work in Siberia, having become familiar with it in the course of

...of a five-year stay at the Institute. Siberia, with the Institute, receives a whole series of laboratories; in the persons of the professors, a whole series of specialists in various branches of industry, who at any time are ready to come to its aid with their advice and guidance.

These same specialists, studying Siberia and its riches, will, to a greater or lesser degree, contribute to the development of industry and to its direction. The study of the region, the illumination of its life and wealth, the indication of the paths along which industry should develop, the preparation of persons capable of being leaders and guides—such is the task of a higher technical educational institution, and consequently also the task of the Tomsk Technological Institute. It is clear that, if this task is successfully fulfilled, the educational institution must have enormous significance for the region.

This is the second higher educational institution being opened in Siberia; it supplements the first. If the task of the first is the study of the life and sanitary condition of the population in Siberia and the preparation of workers whose duty is to safeguard the lives and property of citizens, then the task of the second is the study of natural riches and the preparation of workers whose duty it will be to point out these riches and to guide their development for the raising of the general material well-being of the population. The city of Tomsk has had the happy lot of receiving both of these higher educational institutions. I congratulate Tomsk! It has become a cultural center from which there must proceed, and from which there do proceed, rays illuminating and warming cold Siberia!”

Following this, the secretary of the Council of the Institute, extraordinary professor D. P. Turbaba, read a brief historical sketch of the Tomsk Technological Institute, the facts from which have been included in various places in the present historical note.

After that the reading of addresses began:

From the city of Tomsk (read by the mayor A. P. Karnakov). Today, on the 6th day of December, 1900 of the Christian era, when the great Russian state most solemnly celebrates the thirty-third name day of its adored Monarch, in Siberia, before the eyes of the whole world, a new act of love and

Explanatory notes to the general plan.

I. Lecture Building: 1st floor: library, model museum, office; 2nd floor: lecture rooms; 3rd floor: drawing halls.

II. Chemical Institute: laboratories: inorganic and organic chemistry; metallurgy; technology of food, mineral, organic, and dye substances; lecture rooms; apartments for professors and laboratory assistants.

III. Physical Institute: laboratories: physical, electro-technical, and mechanical; lecture rooms; apartments for professors and laboratory assistants.

IV. Mining Institute: laboratories and museums: mineralogy, geology, and mining art; lecture rooms; apartments for professors and laboratory assistants.

V. Mechanical Institute: workshop; rooms and laboratories for applied mechanics and mechanical technology; apartments for professors and laboratory assistants.

In connection with this building, a machine laboratory will be built, connected with the central electric station.

by the grace of the Tsar to this region so undeservedly honored by His Tsar’s mercies; today, by the sovereign will of the Supreme Leader of the Russian State, His Imperial Majesty the Sovereign Emperor Nicholas II, to the glory of His Most August name, there has been opened in the city of Tomsk the Technological Institute—an academy, in whose four departments it is intended to enlighten Russian youth with higher practical sciences for the benefit of this region.

Receiving with reverence this new Supreme mercy of the Monarch, and together with the entire population of the city raising prayers to the Almighty for the sending down of blessing upon the enlightened representatives of science in the Institute and upon the students who have entered into it as a hearth for the perception of enlightenment, filled with feelings of gratitude and in firm hope of soon attaining the fruits of it, the Tomsk City Duma greets with inexpressible joy and ardor the newly born nursery of sciences in Siberia—the Tomsk Technological Institute of Emperor Nicholas II.

In this ardent greeting, not only from the population of the city of Tomsk, but also from the whole great Siberian region, sincere wishes are offered to the newborn of age-long prosperity in the sciences and flourishing in peace, happiness, boundless love, and loyal devotion to the Throne and the fatherland. And may the representatives of science and the students entering within the walls of the Tomsk Technological Institute be imbued for all time with the primordial, greatest, and most cherished idea of the Russian people: that the necessary strength of Russia lies in its loving unity with the Tsar.

Mayor Andrei Karnakov.

Council members: E. Golovanov. A. Usachev. Iv. Lapin. A. Rodionov. Mikh. Kononov. V. Patrushev. M. Valusov. Iv. Sychev. V. Ivanov. P. Plotnikov. K. Evtronov. M. Dmitriev. I. Tolkachev. N. Molchanov. L. Elantsev. Iv. Khmylev. Iv. Plotnikov. A. Mezenev. Ivan Fedorov. Ivan Nekrasov. Aleksei Kukhterin. Nikolai Tolkachev. Evlampii Obraztsov. Petr Makushin. Makarii Manselmov. V. Noskov. Pavel Bronnikov. Diomid Shadrin. Ivan Syromyatnikov. Iv. Bogomolov. Al. Mokushin.

City Secretary S. Popov.

From the Imperial Tomsk University (read by the rector of the university, Prof. A. I. Sudakov).

At the establishment and opening of the Imperial Tomsk University, among the various tasks specially entrusted to it, hopes were also repeatedly expressed that the new higher educational institution, studying the natural riches of the vast Siberian region, would produce a series of investigations useful also for local industry; such, indeed, was the mission assigned to the chairs of natural history established within the medical faculty. Subsequently, with the change in the economic conditions of Siberia, the Government’s concern for the industrial development of this region began to be expressed in a clearer and more definite form. It was precisely in the interests of the forthcoming success of all branches of Siberian industry that, eight years after the opening of the University, the question was raised of establishing at the University a faculty of physics and mathematics with a whole series of chairs for the teaching of sciences of a technical character. This question, after comprehensive discussion, was resolved, however, by the opening not of a faculty of physics and mathematics, but of a separate Technological Institute with four departments.

By establishing the Technological Institute in Tomsk, our Government undoubtedly recognized the advent of a new era in the economic development of Siberia, when a real need began to be felt for a new active element—broadly educated engineers, organizers, and leaders in that vast sphere of human labor which bears the name of industry.

Greeting, on this solemn day, the opening of a new nursery of educated Russian technologists, the Imperial Tomsk University sees in the young Tomsk Technological Institute above all a new comrade in the work of developing scientific knowledge, and warmly wishes the first higher Siberian technical educational institution fruitful activity, worthy service to the fatherland, broad participation in the progress of Russian industry, and broad participation in national enlightenment in general. May, under the canopy of the new higher educational institution, young ...

…mental powers and increases the knowledge of the present and future pupils of the Tomsk Technological Institute of Emperor Nicholas II.

Rector of the Imperial Tomsk University, Actual State Councillor A. Sudakov.

Dean of the Medical Faculty, Actual State Councillor M. Popov.

Dean of the Faculty of Law, State Councillor I. Tabashnikov.

Secretary of the Council, Titular Councillor Kuznetsov.

From the Krasnoyarsk City Duma the Institute was greeted by the city mayor, N. A. Shepetkovsky, and in conclusion to his greeting he read an extract from the journal resolution of the City Duma of November 28 and 29, 1900, on the establishment by it of a scholarship of 300 rubles per year for students of the Institute from among residents of the city of Krasnoyarsk.

From the Mariinsk City Duma (read by the city mayor).

The Mariinsk City Duma, warmly greeting the solemn opening in the city of Tomsk of the Technological Institute, has instructed us to express, in its name, to the new temple of higher industrial education its very best wishes. Long live the Tomsk Technological Institute, to the glory of the vast Russian land! May it bind still more firmly the age-old spiritual bond of Siberia with the great Russian Tsardom! May its labors for the development of industrial education be fruitful and great, and thereby serve the fulfillment of the holy task laid upon the Institute by the sovereign will of the Sovereign Emperor.

December 6, 1900.

Mariinsk City Mayor Gavrilov.

Councilors: Yakov Mikhailov Sychev. Ivan Ivanov Zolotarev.

From the Tomsk Theological Seminary (read by the rector, Archimandrite Grigory).

On this present solemn day, when the family of Tomsk educational institutions is so brilliantly augmented by its new member, the Technological Institute, the Tomsk Theological Semi-

...seminary is glad cordially to greet its fellow laborer in the work of service to the great Russian Orthodox people. In the work of this service these units—apparently so different in their programs, tasks, and the structure of their educational institutions—are united. Here they will learn to explore the bowels of the earth and to extract the riches hidden in it for the benefit and prosperity of the people; in spiritual-educational institutions they learn to penetrate into the depths of the national spirit and to awaken the good and saving principles of life that lie hidden within it; here they will learn to process the materials obtained from the earth and to turn them into houses, bridges, machines, and other structures that ease the people’s labor and improve the life and outward well-being of the people; there are studied the best conditions and forms of human existence and common life, contributing to spiritual well-being, to man’s blessedness. However, it is not the material alone that can and must nourish the souls of the pupils of this institution, just as it is not the spiritual alone that interests the students of spiritual-educational institutions. We believe and hope that the darkness of underground mines will not hide eternal beauty from the pupils of the Institute, and that the gleam of metal will not dim for them the unfading light poured into the world from the Divine Source, and that the mechanical linkage, connection, and circulation of matter will not obscure for them the living, active Providential Power that governs world being. We express the wish that from the Tomsk Technological Institute there may come forth mining engineers who are poets and mechanics who are philosophers.

Vivat, crescat, floreat the Tomsk Technological Institute of Emperor Nicholas II!

From the Tomsk Alexeyev Real School (read by the acting inspector, teacher of history P. N. Berezhkov).

Today, on the bright festival of science, the Tomsk Alexeyev Real School has entrusted to me the honorable commission to greet, on behalf of the pupils and the corporation of the school, the Tomsk Technological Institute now being opened. In the life of our school in recent years, for the pupils and the corporation there has been no more gratifying fact than the founding in Tomsk of the Technological Institute. How many hopes it has awakened...

it among the student youth! How much joy there is among our wards at the thought that they will not have to tear themselves away from their families, to set out on a distant, unknown path in search of higher education—a path accompanied by inevitably great expenses, often beyond the means of poor people who earn their livelihood by persistent daily labor.

Now these expectations and hopes have been fulfilled; our pupils have the opportunity to receive higher specialized education at home. The coming new century thus brings an end to the arduous wanderings of our student youth, who not infrequently, owing to competition and the limited admission to higher specialized educational institutions in European Russia, had to wait for their turn and good fortune for several years, or return to Siberia with a heavy heart, their hopes shattered. It became clear why the opening of the Tomsk Technological Institute is a bright holiday for our student youth. Upon hearing of this holiday in Tomsk, our pupils at once began to flock from everywhere to the Technology Institute being founded, to this bright point—and from the very first days of the Institute’s existence, one tenth of its auditors were former pupils of the local Realschule. Thus closely bound by family ties with the Institute now being opened, the Tomsk Alexeyev Realschule greets the Institute with the feeling of the most lively joy and expresses boundless gratitude to our Sovereign Leader, the Emperor, who recently saw Siberia, graciously responded to her needs, and, with the intention of revealing her natural riches and facilitating for Siberians higher specialized education, deigned to grant us the Tomsk Technological Institute. In this way the Sovereign Emperor has fulfilled the thought of the Great Transformer of Russia, who 200 years ago took care for schools of a practical character and for the disclosure of the mineral treasures of Siberia, “so that God’s blessing under the earth should not remain in vain.”

These mercies and bounties of Our Sovereign impose duties upon you, our pupils and all auditors of the Institute, and demand repayment. While celebrating and rejoicing in the days of the opening of the Institute, one must not forget the covenants of the Great Transformer

Russia, “which demands labor”¹ and requires work from all for the common good. Our great scholar Lomonosov, who strove in fact to carry out through his labors the program of the Reformer, gives the future student youth the behest, in the spirit of Peter the Great; with ardent love for Russia, like the Reformer, Lomonosov speaks through the lips of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna: “Strive to attain perfection in the sciences! In my vast realm lie unknown treasures, which nature produces abundantly; they lie buried and await skillful hands.” May these behests of the great men of the Russian land be honored by you, our former pupils and all the present and future servants of the Institute! In these words we also hear the voice of Our Sovereign, who gave Tomsk a second higher educational institution. Flourish, then, you new nursery of higher specialized knowledge, in the coming new century, under the guidance and care of leaders who have come to love this distant region and who have devoted their experience, labor, and knowledge to the benefit of this region; and may your sons work tirelessly and honestly for the common good, with consciousness of their duty to the Tsar and the fatherland!

Thereafter, acting extraordinary professor A. I. Efimov read out the following addresses, greetings, and telegrams, received partly by Mr. Trustee of the educational district and partly by Mr. Director of the Institute:

From the Minister of Agriculture and State Domains.

Greeting the solemn opening of the Tomsk Technological Institute named for His Imperial Majesty, I offer my sincere wishes for brilliant successes and prosperity to the new higher nursery of knowledge, of which our whole country and especially Siberia are so much in need—Siberia, called by the will of Emperor Alexander III and His August Successor, the happily reigning Emperor Nicholas II, founder of the Tomsk Technological Institute, to a new life and to the proper use of its diverse natural riches for the benefit of its fatherland. Minister of Agriculture and State Domains, Ermolov.

From the Comrade Minister of Finance.

I ask Your Excellency, on behalf of the Minister of Finance, to receive personally and not refuse to convey to the Tomsk Technological Institute congratulations on the solemn day of its opening. The Minister sends the new institute his cordial greetings and sincere wishes for fruitful activity for the benefit of higher technical education. Comrade Minister of Finance, Romanov.

From the Administrator of the Naval Ministry.

Accept my sincere congratulations on the opening of the Tomsk Technological Institute of Emperor Nicholas II; from the bottom of my heart I wish it success for the benefit of our dear homeland. Administrator of the Naval Ministry, Vice-Admiral Tyrtov.

From the Minister of Ways of Communication.

I congratulate Your Excellency on the solemn opening of the Tomsk Technological Institute named for His Majesty, and from the bottom of my heart wish complete success and prosperity to this new nursery of enlightenment. Minister of Ways of Communication, Prince Khilkov.

From the State Comptroller.

I greet Your Excellency on the solemnity of the opening of the Technological Institute of Emperor Nicholas II. I most humbly ask you to convey to the new nursery of enlightenment my heartfelt wishes for success and prosperity for the benefit of revived Siberia. State Comptroller, General Lobko.

From the Chief Administrator of His Imperial Majesty’s Own Chancellery for the Institutions of Empress Maria.

Accept the expression of my sincere wish for the flourishing of the new nursery of technical knowledge in Siberia. Adjutant General, Count Protasov-Bakhmetev.

From the Trustee of the St. Petersburg Educational District.

I greet the opening of the Technological Institute and wish it to serve as a powerful lever for raising the welfare of boundless Siberia. Sonin.

From the Curator of the Moscow Educational District.

The Moscow Educational District greets the Tomsk Technological Institute on the day of its solemn opening. Curator Nekrasov.

From the Curator of the Kazan Educational District.

Greeting the opening of a new nursery of enlightenment in Tomsk—the Technological Institute named for His Majesty—I ask Your Excellency to convey to the institute my sincere wish for prosperity for the benefit of the vast region. Curator Alekseenko.

From the Curator of the Kharkov Educational District.

On the joyful day of the opening of the Tomsk Technological Institute, I ask you to accept my ardent wishes for its speediest and fullest development, in the firm conviction that this new beacon of science will always be a source of truth, duty, and love for the fatherland. Anrep.

From the Curator of the Odessa Educational District.

Having received on the 9th of this December the notification of the opening of the Tomsk Technological Institute named for His Majesty, I consider it a pleasant duty to greet such an opening and to express to Your Excellency my sincere gratitude for the attention shown to me, adding that, in view of the accidental delay in receiving the aforementioned notification, I could not do this in a timely manner. Solsky.

From the Curator of the Warsaw Educational District.

The Warsaw Educational District sends to the newly opened Tomsk Technological Institute its sincere good wishes for complete success in its scholarly and educational activity. Acting Curator of the District Dobrovolsky.

From the Curator of the Vilna Educational District.

I greet the opening of the institute named for the beloved Monarch; may the productive forces of the rich region develop and grow stronger under the guidance of science. Curator Popov.

From the Trustee of the Orenburg Educational District.

Greeting you on the memorable day of the opening of the technological institute, I sincerely wish success to the new educational institution, which gives many pupils of the Orenburg district the opportunity to complete their education. Trustee Rostovtsev.

From the Governor-General of Irkutsk.

I deeply sympathize with the celebration of the opening of the Tomsk Technological Institute of Emperor Nicholas II, with ardent wishes for its proper, energetic, and fruitful development for the benefit of the homeland and to the glory of the Russian Tsar. Governor-General Panteleev.

From the Head of the Educational Department of the Ministry of Finance.

Having received Your Excellency’s kind notification of the opening of the Tomsk Technological Institute of Emperor Nicholas II, I consider it a pleasant duty to offer my sincere congratulations on the occasion of this celebration and my heartfelt wish for complete success to the newly established institute. Head of the Educational Department of the Ministry of Finance Anopov.

From the Department of Industrial Schools of the Ministry of Public Education.

The Department of Industrial Schools most humbly requests Your Excellency to accept congratulations and the very best wishes to the institute on the day of its opening. Tavildarov, Talamonov, Korvatovsky, Moskalev, Rudolf, Maksin, Georgievsky, Udovichenko, Gokzhane.

From the Imperial Moscow University.

Moscow University greets the technological institute named after Emperor Nicholas II on the day of its opening, with wishes for success in the activity that lies before it. Rector Tikhomirov.

From the Imperial Kazan University.

The Council of the Imperial Kazan University, warmly greeting the opening of the institute, heartily wishes it

complete success in its forthcoming activity for the benefit of higher technical education in Siberia. Rector Dubyago.

From the Imperial University of Kharkov.

With a feeling of the liveliest sympathy and joy, Kharkov University offers the Tomsk Technological Institute its heartfelt congratulations on the occasion of the solemn opening of this new institution of higher learning, highly beneficial to the region and destined to play an outstanding role in the history of Siberia’s development in cultural and industrial respects. Rector Lagermark.

From the Imperial University of St. Vladimir.

The Imperial University of St. Vladimir greets the Tomsk Technological Institute of Emperor Nicholas II on the day of its solemn opening and sends it the warmest and most sincere wishes that it may serve vigorously, to the glory of the Tsar and the Fatherland, for the advancement of Russian enlightenment and for the benefit of vast Siberia. Rector Fortinsky.

From the Imperial Novorossiysk University.

The Imperial Novorossiysk University offers sincere congratulations to the Tomsk Technological Institute, opened in the name of His Majesty, and wishes successful activity to the new disseminator of technical knowledge in the east of Russia. Rector Shvedov.

From the Imperial University of Warsaw.

On the memorable name day of the Sovereign Emperor, to whom Siberia is already indebted for the establishment of the routes of communication that have brought it to life, the Council of the Imperial University of Warsaw greets the opening of the Tomsk Technological Institute and sends it wishes of prosperity for the benefit of the dissemination of industry and technical knowledge in a region long famed for its natural riches. Rector of the University Ulyanov.

From the Imperial Yuriev University.

On behalf of the Imperial Yuriev University I greet the newly established Tomsk Technological Institute with wishes of prosperity. Rector Budilovich.

From the Yaroslavl Demidov Juridical Lyceum.

The Demidov Juridical Lyceum, greeting the Technological Institute of Emperor Nicholas II, sends it sincere wishes for a happy future. Director of the Lyceum Shtilevsky.

From the Lazarev Institute of Oriental Languages.

The Council of the Lazarev Institute of Oriental Languages warmly greets the Tomsk Technological Institute named for His Majesty on the notable day of its opening; may the newly born institution work side by side with its elder brother, the university, vigorously and fruitfully for the benefit of its native city, Siberia, and all Russia. Director Miller.

From the St. Petersburg Technological Institute of Emperor Nicholas I.

The Technological Institute of Emperor Nicholas I warmly greets its new brother, the Tomsk Technological Institute. A difficult and important task has fallen to its lot—the planting of technical knowledge in distant and vast Siberia. The Technological Institute of Emperor Nicholas I, confident that this work will be honorably accomplished by the Tomsk Institute, sends sincere wishes for rapid development and prosperity to its younger brother. Director Golovin.

From the Kharkov Technological Institute of Emperor Alexander III.

On this present most solemn day, the Kharkov Technological Institute of Emperor Alexander III greets the Tomsk Institute of Emperor Nicholas II at the beginning of its life and activity; may there open before it a bright future of age-long, uninterrupted, and glorious service for the benefit of enlightenment, technical knowledge, the development of local productive forces, and,

the youngest of the technical institutes, may it be granted to occupy an outstanding place in the common share of fruitful labor for the benefit and glory of the motherland. The Kharkov Institute feels itself especially close to Tomsk and therefore, with particular enthusiasm and joy, congratulates, on today’s first celebration, all those working in the institute, in the persons of its director, teachers, and students. Director Zernov and the academic committee of the institute.

From the Kiev Polytechnic Institute of Emperor Alexander II.

The Kiev Polytechnic Institute of Emperor Alexander II greets the newly opened nursery of higher technical education and wishes it long and fruitful activity on the path of developing the industry of the rich Siberian region. Director Kirpichev.

From the Warsaw Polytechnic Institute of Emperor Nicholas II.

Heartily greeting the opening of the first higher technical educational institution in Siberia, the Council of the Warsaw Polytechnic Institute of Emperor Nicholas II, from the western borderland, extends to its namesake brother in the east its hand, with the best wishes for joint and friendly work in the same field of educating youth for the benefit of Russia and faithful service to the Tsar. Director Lagorio.

From the Institute of Engineers of Ways of Communication of Emperor Alexander I.

The Council of the Institute of Engineers of Ways of Communication of Emperor Alexander I, sincerely congratulating you on the opening of the new technological institute, expresses to the dear and kindred institution its best good wishes. Gersevanov.

From the Mining Institute of Empress Catherine II.

The Council of the Mining Institute of Empress Catherine II greets the opening of the Tomsk Technological Institute named for His Majesty and sends it a fraternal greeting and best wishes in its future activity for the benefit and glory of the dear fatherland. Chairman of the council Lauzen.

From the Institute of Civil Engineers of Emperor Nicholas I.

The Council of the Institute of Civil Engineers of Emperor Nicholas I greets the Tomsk Technological Institute of Emperor Nicholas II on the solemn day of its opening and warmly wishes it success and prosperity to the glory of Russian science and technology. Chairman of the Council, Director Sultanov.

From the Electrotechnical Institute of Emperor Alexander III.

The Electrotechnical Institute of Emperor Alexander III greets the Tomsk Technological Institute of Emperor Nicholas II on the day of its opening and sends warm wishes for the prosperity of its fruitful activity, so necessary for the distant East of the vast Russian land. Director N. Kachalov.

From the Imperial Moscow Technical School.

The Academic Committee of the Imperial Moscow Technical School offers the Tomsk Technological Institute sincere congratulations on the day of its solemn opening and heartily wishes it complete success for the benefit of the nation’s industry. Director Aristov.

From the Imperial Moscow Engineering School.

The Imperial Moscow Engineering School offers the Institute congratulations on the solemn day of its opening and wishes it development and prosperity for the benefit of science and art. Director Maksimenko.

From the St. Petersburg Forestry Institute.

The St. Petersburg Forestry Institute sends the Tomsk Technological Institute cordial greetings on the occasion of its opening and wishes it prosperity for the good of Siberia and all Russia. Director Kern.

From the Moscow Agricultural Institute.

The Moscow Agricultural Institute greets the opening of the first higher technical educational institution in distant Siberia and wishes prosperity to the new fellow institution. Director K. Rachinsky.

From the Novo-Alexandria Institute of Agriculture and Forestry.

The Council of the Novo-Alexandria Institute of Agriculture and Forestry, greeting the opening of the Tomsk Technological Institute, whose activity will enliven the vastest region of Russia and will, without doubt, also beneficially influence the development of its agricultural industry, sends to it on this significant day its ardent wishes for prosperity and fruitful work for the benefit of the dear fatherland. The Director of the Institute, Budrin.

From the Imperial Free Economic Society.

The Imperial Free Economic Society greets the opening of a new nursery of technical knowledge and wishes it the fullest prosperity. Vice-President of the Society Arseniev.

From the Imperial Russian Technical Society.

The Imperial Russian Technical Society sends its greeting to the newly opened Tomsk Technological Institute and wishes it a brilliant future in the cause of developing technology for the benefit of the vast Russian land. Chairman Petrov.

From the Kiev Branch of the Imperial Russian Technical Society.

The Kiev Branch of the Imperial Russian Technical Society sends its ardent greeting to the Tomsk Technological Institute on the day of its opening; may the Institute prosper for many, many years, may its pupils be imbued with love for knowledge and conscientious labor, may it uphold highly the banner of science and technology for the benefit and glory of our dear fatherland. Chairman Bunge. Secretary Donat.

From the Odessa Branch of the Imperial Russian Technical Society.

The Council of the Odessa Branch of the Imperial Russian Technical Society, greeting the opening of the Tomsk Technological Institute named for His Majesty, sends to it sincere wishes to serve for all time as a nursery of technical

knowledge on the distant outskirts, and thereby to contribute to the general advancement of Russian technology for the benefit and glory of the dear fatherland. Chairman of the Branch, Engineer Lieutenant-General Depp. Secretary Wolfensohn.

From the Nizhny Novgorod Branch of the Imperial Russian Technical Society.

The Nizhny Novgorod Branch of the Imperial Russian Technical Society, on the highly solemn day of the opening of a new nursery of technical knowledge in Russia’s golden depth, warmly greets the Tomsk Technological Institute and offers it its most sincere wish for prosperity, to the glory of the Most August Patron and of native Russia. Chairman Selivanovsky.

From the Libau Branch of the Imperial Russian Technical Society.

The Libau Branch of the Imperial Russian Technical Society, on the day sacred to all of the name day of the adored Monarch, cordially greets the emergence of a nursery of technology in the rich Siberian region and wishes it brilliant prosperity to the glory of the dear homeland. Acting Chairman of the Branch Korsakevich.

From the Russian Physico-Chemical Society.

The Russian Physico-Chemical Society greets the opening of the first Technological Institute in Siberia and expresses the wish that, with its participation, technology may develop in the remote region of Russia—Siberia—rich in natural resources. Chairman Petrushevsky.

From the Russian Astronomical Society.

The Russian Astronomical Society, greeting the opening of the Tomsk Technological Institute bearing the name of its August Patron, sends sincere wishes for prosperity to the new nursery of exact knowledge on the outskirts of the dear fatherland. Chairman Glazenap. Secretary Males.

From the Imperial St. Petersburg Society of Architects

The Imperial St. Petersburg Society of Architects welcomes a new category of technical knowledge, which has now acquired such outstanding importance in the development of the natural resources and the economic forces of Russia; it wishes the Tomsk Technological Institute, from the first day of its existence, to enter upon the path leading to success, and to attract into its auditoriums and laboratories as many as possible of that splendid youth which so eagerly and persistently seeks the light of knowledge. The Board.

From the Society of Physico-Chemical Sciences at the Imperial Kharkov University

Greeting the newly arising higher educational institution and sending it ardent wishes for the brightest future, the Society of Physico-Chemical Sciences at the Imperial Kharkov University is pleased to see, both at the head of the institution and among its first leaders, some of its energetic and highly esteemed members, which especially strengthens the Society’s confidence in the future fruitful activity of the Institute for the benefit of the native land and to the glory of science; long live and prosper the Tomsk Technological Institute. Chairman Osipov.

From the West Siberian Department of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society

The West Siberian Department of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society, warmly greeting the opening of the first technical educational institution in Siberia, wishes it prosperity for the benefit of the region and of science. For the chairman, Lyakhovetsky.

From the East Siberian Department of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society

The East Siberian Department of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society joyfully greets the opening of the long-desired Tomsk Technological Institute; a new beacon of the light of scientific knowledge will provide a valuable instrument for the development of the enormous

LECTURE BUILDING.

S.T.I. Emp., 2nd st.

Phototype by A. I. Vilborg.

natural resources of Siberia and the development of its industry; may the Institute flourish to the glory of our native land, and may the health and strength of those persons who have devoted themselves to the lofty and noble cause of enlightenment be strengthened by the awareness of the full importance of the task facing the Institute. Chairman Makovetsky.

From the Society of Technologists at the St. Petersburg Technological Institute of Emperor Nicholas I.

The Society of Technologists, on behalf of all technologists of the Technological Institute of Emperor Nicholas I, greets the Tomsk Technological Institute on the solemn day of its opening, wishes it prosperity and success in preparing capable, energetic technologists for the development chiefly of Siberian factory and manufacturing industry; rejoicing that at the head of the young technological institute stands our comrade, the society wishes you, most esteemed Efim Lukyanovich, health, strength, and energy in directing the Tomsk Technological Institute; to the students of the institute the society sends its greetings with wishes for success in the study of the technical sciences. The Society of Technologists.

From the Tobolsk Museum.

Under the august patronage of His Imperial Majesty, the Tobolsk Museum cordially greets the Institute on the memorable day of its opening and sincerely wishes the new nursery of useful knowledge to justify the hopes placed upon it by the government and Siberian society, and to become worthy of the Name of the Sovereign Heir. Chairman Knyazev.

From His Grace Evfimii, Bishop of Yeniseisk and Krasnoyarsk.

I have the honor to greet Your Excellency and all your colleagues on the solemn opening of the Tomsk Technological Institute, heartily wishing that this newly opened garden may flourish, like the temple of the Lord, with sciences, enlightenment, and Christian piety, for the good of the church, society, the fatherland, and the state. Bishop of Yeniseisk and Krasnoyarsk Evfimii.

From His Grace Nikanor, Bishop of Yakutsk.

I warmly greet the newly opened Institute and prayerfully foresee its flourishing, to the joy of the Tsar and for the benefit of the Fatherland. Bishop Nikanor.

From His Grace Sergius, Bishop of Biysk.

I heartily congratulate you on the great celebration of the opening of the Technological Institute, and prayerfully wish the new seedbed of knowledge complete success for the good of our native land. Bishop of Biysk Sergius.

From the Governor of Tobolsk.

With the best wishes for its flourishing, I greet the Technological Institute, which is celebrating its opening on the day, joyful for Russian people, of the name day of the Institute’s August Patron. Governor of Tobolsk Knyazev.

From the Military Governor of Transbaikalia.

All Transbaikalia, with me at its head, greeting, on the remarkable day of the name day of the Sovereign Leader of the Russian people, the opening of the Tomsk Technological Institute, the first seedbed of higher technical knowledge in Siberia, sends it wishes for success and flourishing for the benefit of the homeland so dear to us all. Military Governor, Lieutenant General of the General Staff Matsievsky.

From the Military Governor of Semirechensk Oblast.

I sincerely greet the opening of the Technological Institute and, heartily congratulating Your Excellency, the director of the Institute, the professors, and the students, personally on my own behalf, and on behalf of the subordinate officials and the population of the region entrusted to me, I ask you to accept my wishes that the newly opened higher educational institution, fulfilling its task with complete success under your care, may bring the greatest possible benefit to the dear Fatherland and to its native region. Major General Ionov.

From the Military Governor of Turgai Oblast.

I wholeheartedly join in the celebration on this day, memorable for Russian science in Siberia. Lomachevsky.

From the Governor of Semipalatinsk Oblast.

I ask Your Excellency and the personnel of the Technological Institute to accept from me and from my colleagues in the administration of Semipalatinsk Oblast congratulations on the occasion of the granting to the Institute of the name of the Most August Sovereign Emperor; may it serve to the greater glory of our dear fatherland. Acting Governor Nitskevich.

From the Chief Inspector of Schools of Eastern Siberia.

On the solemn day of the opening of the Tomsk Technological Institute, I send my heartfelt greetings to the first higher seedbed of technical knowledge in Siberia, which has so long and so urgently needed it, and my ardent wishes for complete prosperity. Chief Inspector of Schools Dubov.

From the City of Irkutsk.

The Irkutsk City Duma, on this memorable day for all Siberia—the day of the opening in Tomsk of the Technological Institute named after Emperor Nicholas II—congratulating you on the solemn opening of a new seedbed of enlightenment and wishing broad prosperity to the institute being opened, sends its best wishes. To its great regret, the Irkutsk mayor, because of illness, cannot attend the celebration. Mayor Zharnikov.

From the City of Omsk.

Congratulating Your Excellency on the opening of the Institute, the Duma has resolved to allocate annually 300 rubles for the granting of an allowance to one poor student, a resident of the city of Omsk. Mayor Ostapenko.

From the City of Tobolsk.

On behalf of Tobolsk I greet, with best wishes, the opening of the Technological Institute named after Emperor Nicholas II. Mayor Zharnikov.

From the City of Chita.

Sincerely rejoicing at the opening in Tomsk of the Technological Institute, an event so important for Siberia, the Chita urban community sends greetings to the Institute with wishes for success and prosperity for the benefit of our dear Siberia. Acting in place of the mayor, Mikhunov.

From the City of Semipalatinsk.

The Semipalatinsk urban community, with a feeling of deep gratitude for your concern for the advancement of public education, congratulates Your Excellency on the opening of the Technological Institute. Mayor Moskvin.

From the City of Blagoveshchensk.

I greet Your Excellency, the professorial body, and the students on the solemn occasion of the opening of the Institute. Wishing it peaceful existence and prosperity, may it hold high the sacred banner of science and widely disseminate its educational influence upon society. May it bring a fresh current into the industrial life of Siberia and may it serve men of action as a guide for all improvements and innovations in industrial activity. Blagoveshchensk Mayor Kirillov.

From the City of Yeniseisk.

The Yeniseisk City Duma, greeting the day—significant for all Siberia—of the opening of the first Technological Institute among us, bearing the august name of His Majesty, in commemoration of which it has resolved to allocate, for the maintenance of one student during the first four years, 300 rubles annually, has authorized me to ask you, as the representative of the institution now being born, to accept its sincere, albeit distant, participation in this all-Siberian celebration. May this temple of knowledge, with God’s help, serve as a living companion to the revival of agricultural and industrial enterprise in our country. Mayor Kharchenko.

From the city of Biysk.

We congratulate you and, in the person of the director of the Technological Institute, the entire corporation on the opening of the Institute bearing the name of our beloved Monarch. We rejoice sincerely at the opening of a new higher nursery of technical sciences, so necessary for Siberia, and wish it to grow strong and bring worthy fruits. The Biysk City Head, Sychev. Members of the Duma.

From the city of Petropavlovsk.

The Petropavlovsk city community, with a feeling of the liveliest joy, congratulates Your Excellency on the day of the opening of the Tomsk Technological Institute, and most sincerely wishes it full prosperity for the benefit of the region. In commemoration of this joyful event, the Duma on November 23 resolved to establish at the Institute, from the beginning of the 1901–1902 academic year, a scholarship from the city of Petropavlovsk, annually allocating for it 360 rubles from municipal funds. City Head Shprinbach.

From the city of Verkhneudinsk.

Greeting today’s solemn opening of the Tomsk Technological Institute bearing the august name of His Majesty, the Verkhneudinsk city community heartily wishes every success to this new luminary of science in the development of the industry of our vast region, and sincerely rejoices that the day of the opening of the Institute is connected with the name day of our beloved Monarch. City Head Trunev.

From the city of Achinsk.

On the day, significant for all Siberia, of the opening of the Technological Institute, the Achinsk city community, having offered a thanksgiving prayer service to the Lord God for the health and long life of the beloved Monarch, with a feeling of boundless loyal gratitude for His favors, greets the city of Tomsk on the opening of the Institute, to the joy and true enlightenment of the present and future generations of Siberia. City Head Andronov.

From the City of Minusinsk.

The Minusinsk City Duma, with a feeling of boundless devotion and love for the Most August Monarch, who by His sovereign will unceasingly bestows new favors upon Siberia, greets the solemn opening of the Tomsk Technological Institute. May it shed its beneficent light of reason and knowledge throughout our native land! May it flourish for the benefit and good of our dear Fatherland! City Mayor Lytkin.

From the City of Kolyvan.

I heartily congratulate Your Excellency on the opening of the Technological Institute. Mayor Lukanin.

From the City of Pavlodar.

On behalf of the urban community and personally from myself, I have the honor to convey congratulations to Your Excellency on the opening of the Tomsk Technological Institute in the Name of His Majesty the Emperor, with wishes for success in its future, for the benefit of Siberian industry in general and of the student youth in particular. Pavlodar City Elder Varlamov.

From the Tomsk Men’s Gymnasium.

On the day of the solemn opening of the Tomsk Technological Institute of Emperor Nicholas II, the pedagogical council of the Tomsk Men’s Gymnasium heartily greets the first specialized higher educational institution in Siberia, called to serve her further cultural and industrial progress. May the Lord help it successfully fulfill this task! Director Iv. Muretov. Secretary of the Council Kirnos.

From the Tomsk Women’s Gymnasium.

The Pedagogical Council of the Tomsk Mariinsky Women’s Gymnasium welcomes the opening of the Technological Institute of Emperor Nicholas II and considers it a pleasant duty to express the wish of complete success to it in a cause so important for all Siberia. Chairman of the pedagogical council M. Germanov. Headmistress

gymnasiums, N. Rzhanitsyna. Teacher of the Law, Archpriest Apollon Lashkov. Members of the Council: M. Polyakov, L. Golubeva, V. Belousova, A. Tyusheva, O. Stukalskaya, A. Sharron, O. Gamburtseva, A. Prokhorova, E. Sbruyeva, P. Smirnova, A. Yuryeva, L. Kozlovskaya, V. Smitrovich, M. Diomidovskaya, A. Pazhinskaya. Secretary of the pedagogical council A. Kvyatkovsky.

From the Tobolsk Gymnasium.

The pedagogical council of the Tobolsk Gymnasium, on the day of the solemn opening of the Institute, sends to the nursery of knowledge in Siberia its warm greeting and sincere wish that it may prosper for the benefit of the Fatherland and that the Siberian region, remote from the intellectual center, may prove worthy of the Name of its august Patron. Director Panov.

From the Omsk Men’s Gymnasium.

Sharing the joy of all Siberia and of all studying youth, the Omsk Men’s Gymnasium greets the Tomsk Technological Institute on the most solemn day of its opening, with the heartfelt wish that God may help it, having gathered around itself worthy workers, to become a nursery of youth seeking the light of knowledge and labor for the benefit of the native land, the Fatherland, and to the glory of the Sovereign, Who most graciously bestowed upon the Institute His august name. Director of the Omsk Gymnasium Voznesensky.

From the Omsk Women’s Gymnasium.

The Omsk Women’s Gymnasium welcomes the emergence of a new nursery of higher knowledge and heartily wishes it in the future healthy growth and prosperity for the good of the dear Fatherland and native Siberia. Chairman of the pedagogical council Shumilovsky. Headmistress of the Gymnasium Divnogorskaya.

From the Verny Men’s Gymnasium.

Greeting the opening of a higher nursery of technical knowledge, I wish the Institute prosperity for the good of Siberia. Director of the Verny Gymnasium Vakhrushev.

From the Irkutsk Boys’ Gymnasium.

The Pedagogical Council of the Irkutsk Gymnasium joyfully welcomes the opening in Siberia of a new higher educational institution and sincerely wishes it prosperity and flourishing for the benefit of the region and all Russia. Director Rumov.

From the Krasnoyarsk Gymnasium.

The Pedagogical Council of the Krasnoyarsk Provincial Gymnasium, cordially welcoming the opening of the Tomsk Technological Institute Named for Emperor Nicholas II, sends its sincere wish for the flourishing of the new nursery of higher education. Vivat, crescat, floreat! Director Logar.

From the Chita Boys’ and Girls’ Gymnasiums.

The Chita boys’ and girls’ gymnasiums enthusiastically welcome the opening of the Tomsk Technological Institute and wish the first higher special educational institution in Siberia full prosperity for the benefit of the region, where all fields of practical activity still await enlightened workers. Director Elenev.

From the Tyumen Alexander Realschule.

On the most solemn day of the name day of His Imperial Majesty the Sovereign Emperor, the students and pupils of the Tyumen Alexander Realschule, with a feeling of the liveliest enthusiasm, welcome the opening of the Tomsk Technological Institute of Emperor Nicholas II and send it their sincere wishes that it may grow and flourish under the canopy of the Most August patronage and provide the fatherland with a valiant army of technicians, armed with knowledge and experience, as a firm foundation for the development of industry in our great and rich borderland. Director of the Tyumen Realschule Slovtsov.

From the Barnaul Realschule.

The Barnaul Realschule of Emperor Nicholas II, on this memorable day, joins its modest voice to the universal greetings of institutions and persons who—

...to open the paths of all knowledge, and esteeming the Tomsk Technological Institute of Emperor Nicholas II as a new gift of the Monarch’s favor to Siberia and as the future alma mater of its pupils, we ardently wish it mighty development and fruitful activity for the glory of applied science and for the benefit of our native land. Director of the school, Rabchinsky.

From the Troitskosavsk Alexeevsky Realschule.

The Troitskosavsk Alexeevsky Realschule, cordially greeting the solemn day of the opening of the Tomsk Technological Institute Named for His Majesty, sends it fervent wishes to prosper for many years and to be a beacon and a mighty nursery of higher technical knowledge throughout Siberia through its pupils, inspired by love for scientific labor, for the consolation of the beloved Sovereign Patron of the institution, for the good of the fatherland and the benefit of the entire spiritually reviving population of the Siberian region. Director, Malinovsky.

From the Irkutsk Industrial School.

Joyfully greeting the opening of the Tomsk Technological Institute, the Irkutsk Industrial School sends it its sincere wish for full development, to the glory of our dear fatherland. Director, Tyshko.

From the Omsk Technical School.

The pedagogical council of the Omsk Technical School greets the memorable day of the opening of the institute and wishes the new higher school complete prosperity for the benefit of Siberian industry. Director, Ivanov.

From the Directorates of the Public Schools of Tomsk Province.

On the solemn day of the opening of the institute, the directorate of the public schools of Tomsk Province and the teaching staff of the Tomsk city parish schools have the pleasure of expressing to the institute their greetings and their fervent wish for a long, prosperous, fruitful existence and for harmonious work for the benefit of our remote borderland—Siberia, for the benefit of

dear fatherland and to the glory of the beloved Monarch, whose name it will have the happiness to bear. Director of Public Schools of Tomsk Province, V. Shchepetev. Inspector of the 1st district, V. Dobrovolsky. Teachers: Ev. Voznesenskaya, D. N. Bezonov, V. Volozhanina, V. V. Kirillov, V. Dikhoff, N. Smirnov, A. Kostygina, O. Menshenina, K. Butkeeva, S. Khrynkova, F. Kovrigina, A. Zakusilo, G. Vyacheslavova, M. Lavrova, M. Podgorbunskaya, A. Infelitsina, O. Andreevskaya.

From the Tomsk District School.

The Tomsk District School, the oldest educational institution of the city of Tomsk, welcomes the opening of the Technological Institute of Emperor Nicholas II and considers it a pleasant duty to express its wish for the fullest success in a cause so important for all Siberia. Staff supervisor P. Butkeev. Teacher of the Law, priest Alexander Sidonsky. Teachers: Iv. Chukreev, O. Zyryanov, A. Misnorev, D. Mityushev, V. Smotrovich.

From the Kuznetsk District School.

The Kuznetsk District School heartily welcomes the institute on the day of the celebration of its opening and prays to God to bless it for the happiness and economic prosperity of dear Siberia. Supervisor of the school, Shunkov.

From the Semipalatinsk City School.

Welcoming the opening of the institute, we wish it complete prosperity for the good of the homeland. Semipalatinsk Three-Class City School.

From the Irkutsk Teachers’ Seminary.

The Irkutsk Teachers’ Seminary, deeply sympathizing with the enlightenment of its native region and heartily rejoicing at the opening of this nursery of higher education, sends its greetings to its representatives. Director Terekhovsky.

From the Krasnoyarsk Teachers’ Seminary.

The Pedagogical Council of the Krasnoyarsk Teachers’ Seminary considers it pleasant for itself to join in the celebration of the open-

of the Tomsk Technological Institute in the Name of His Majesty the Sovereign Emperor, and to convey heartfelt congratulations to you, the director of the institute, and to all the members of the council. Director Govorov.

From the Chita Trade School.

The Chita Trade School of Emperor Nicholas II, with the director of public schools at its head, greets Your Excellency on the day of the opening of the institute and sends its best wishes. Director Mikhailovsky. Inspector of schools Vasilyev.

From the Society for Aid to Siberian Students in St. Petersburg.

The Society for Aid to Siberian Students in St. Petersburg greets the new nursery of enlightenment in the dear, most extensive Russian borderland and expresses to it, on the day of its birth, an ardent wish for unceasing, broad, and rapid prosperity, to the glory of our homeland in the coming twentieth and future centuries. Chairman of the committee Cheremyansky. Members: Pavlinov, Shelkovnikov, Fedchenko, Sukachev, Kalachov, Yefimov, Tyshnov.

From the Society for Aid to Siberian Students in Moscow.

The Society for Aid to Siberian Students in Moscow, warmly greeting Siberia with a new nursery of enlightenment, wishes it brilliant and fruitful activity. Chairman Basnin.

From the Society for Assistance to Poor Students of Tobolsk Province.

The committee of the Society for Assistance to Poor Students of Tobolsk Province, which pursues the goal of spreading higher education, warmly greets the institute at the great moment of its opening, sincerely wishing it to be a true nursery of knowledge for the benefit of Siberia and the entire fatherland. Chairman Panov. Treasurer Smolev. Clerk Ternovsky.

From the Society for the Promotion of Primary Education in Barnaul.

The council of the Society for the Promotion of Primary Education in Barnaul, joining in the celebration of the opening of the institute, sends its sincere wishes to the professors and students. Council of the Society.

From the Barnaul School Commission

The Barnaul School Commission joyfully greets the opening of the Institute, with an ardent wish that it may worthily bear the banner of science, earn the gratitude of the country, and gain the respect and love of the student generation. Chairman Shtilke.

From the editors and contributors of the newspaper Sibirskaya Zhizn

On the day of the solemn opening of the Tomsk Technological Institute of Emperor Nicholas II, we offer our congratulations to the Directorate, the professors, and all the students of the Institute, with a sincere wish for complete success in accomplishing the important tasks of this first higher technical educational institution in Siberia. We wish the young Institute a broad development of its educational resources, and its students an active faith in science and in the bright future of their native Siberia. We believe that the Tomsk Technological Institute will give Siberia enlightened, humane, and energetic workers, who are so necessary for the cultural and economic growth of our region. May the Institute grow and strengthen for the benefit of Siberia! May it be dear to every Siberian who loves his homeland. The editors and contributors of “Sibirskaya Zhizn.”

From the editors of the newspaper Sibirskii Vestnik

We greet the remarkable day of the solemn opening of the first center of higher technical education in Siberia. The natural riches of our region have long awaited rational use, founded on the principles of science and technology. We sincerely believe and hope that the new Institute will be equal to this task. May it develop for the glory of Russia and of the region dear to us! May its cultural strength grow from day to day; may the science planted within it flourish; may the poet’s words be close to its heart: “the share of the people, their happiness—above all!” The editors of “Sibirskii Vestnik.”

From the editors of the newspaper Yenisei

I greet you, professors and students, on behalf of the editors of Yenisei, on the celebration of the opening of the Institute, heartily wishing that future technologists, by their knowledge and persistent labor—

through labor and research justify the expectations of the Siberians, so that their homeland may truly be made a golden day. Glory to the Sovereign Emperor, whose name the institute will bear today, for in His unceasing care for the welfare of Russia He is concerned with the broad dissemination of education in all parts of the vast fatherland. Many years to the Tsar-Enlightener! Editor-publisher of the “Yenisei”, Kudryavtsev.

From the Editors of the “Amur Gazette.”

The editors of the “Amur Gazette” welcome the opening of the first higher technical educational institution in Siberia and wish success to its enlightening activity for the benefit of this vast and neglected region. The editors of the “Amur Gazette.”

From Professor of St. Petersburg University I. I. Borgman.

I rejoice at the opening of the institute and wish prosperity to this institution for the benefit of Siberia, richly endowed by nature. Professor Borgman.

From Professor S. I. Zalessky.

I heartily rejoice at the honoring of your labors; the warmest good wishes for the full development of brilliance to the new seedbed of learning that promises so much for long-forgotten Siberia, the motive force of her industry; with all my heart I congratulate the teachers and the students. Former Tomsk professor Zalessky.

From the St. Petersburg Engineers-Technologists.

The Petersburg engineers-technologists, gathered at their annual friendly dinner, with great pleasure drank a toast to the prosperity and development of the Tomsk Technological Institute, as a seedbed of our future dear confrères. Chairman of the meeting, engineer-technologist Altukhov.

From the Petersburg Engineers-Technologists in Krasnoyarsk.

The Petersburg technologists, greeting from Krasnoyarsk the opening of the Tomsk Technological Institute, send a sincere wish for complete success to the first center of higher technical education in Siberia. Schneider, Alexandrov, Relich, Klochkovsky, Dzhurich, Kan, Ivanov.

From the Engineer-Technologists of the Omsk Excise Administration.

We welcome the opening of the Technological Institute and wish it prosperity under the guidance of our dear teacher. Kharkov technologists: Golynsky, Kurochinsky, Molotsky, Lengauer, Oltarzhevsky, Shtam, Ordynsev.

From the Engineers of the Siberian Railway from Kainsk.

We warmly welcome the opening of the Technological Institute and sincerely wish it prosperity for the benefit of the vast and rich region. Engineers: Pervoov, Salatko, Soroko, Zenets, Dobkevich.

From Engineer-Technologist A. S. Lomshakov.

Congratulating the institute on the celebration of its opening, I send it wishes for a brilliant future for the benefit and glory of Siberia. Lomshakov.

From Siberian Students of Moscow University.

The Siberian students of Moscow University warmly greet the appearance of a new beacon of science and enlightenment. Sychin, Golovin, Voznesensky, Maslyukov, Chistyakov, Kasatkin, Gorokhov, Usov, Ocheredin, Fridman, Neznaev, Moiseenko, Kolmogorov.

From the Trading House of the Erofeev Brothers in Kainsk.

Today, on the memorable day of the opening of the second higher educational institution in Siberia, a nursery of technical knowledge so greatly needed by our distant borderland, we enthusiastically send our sincere greetings to the Tomsk Technological Institute, to you, gentlemen professors and students. The Trading House of the Erofeev Brothers in Kainsk. Business managers Sergei Erofeev, Vasily Erofeev, Lebedev, Volkov.

From the Firm of Belke & Co.

We ask you to accept our sincere congratulations on the opening of the Tomsk Technological Institute, and we wish this institution full prosperity under your enlightened guidance; may it serve the development of the technical sciences and of the industry of the region for the benefit of working people. Remizova-Krugiel.

On the following day the following addresses were presented to the Technological Institute by the mayors:

From the city of Nizhneudinsk.

By a journal resolution of November 30, 1900, the Nizhneudinsk City Duma charged me, on the notable celebration of the opening of the Tomsk Technological Institute of Emperor Nicholas II, to be the spokesman of its feelings of joy on the occasion of the present great event for Siberia, and to convey to the Institute its ardent wishes for success in the field of developing technical knowledge in Siberia and for the beneficial influence upon all branches of our industry which all Siberia expects from it. Mayor A. Luchkin.

From the city of Kansk.

The Kansk urban community, on this solemn day for all Siberia—the day of the opening of the Tomsk Technological Institute of Emperor Nicholas II—has laid upon me the honorable duty of adding our voice as well to the chorus of greetings and good wishes with which all Siberia welcomes its birth. May the new nursery of sciences flourish for the benefit and prosperity of our native land, and may God bless its labors for the advancement of industry and the national economy of Siberia. Mayor A. Shishkin.

In addition to the above-mentioned greetings addressed to the Tomsk mayor, the following telegrams, not read at the solemn assembly, were also received:

From the Kharkov (former Tomsk) Governor, Hofmeister G. A. Tobizen.

“Deeply moved by your kind remembrance, I sincerely regret that I am placed in the impossibility of leaving here now; I heartily rejoice in the new educational institution, which will further enhance the significance of Tomsk, dear to me. In thought I shall be with you. Tobizen.”

From the Head of Control of the Ministry of the Imperial Court, former Tomsk Governor, Privy Councillor V. I. Mertsalov.

“The last twenty years for Siberia have been marked by two great events in the field of enlightenment: first by the establishment of the university, and now of the technological institute. If university science has as its chief subject the knowledge of man, the elevation and ennobling of his spirit, then the exact and applied sciences strive to master the riches of nature for the benefit of that same man; such mighty forces, complementing one another, pour into the life of Siberia a broad stream of spiritual perfection and material prosperity, and truly incalculable are the consequences of these happy events; sharing your joy on the occasion of this new Tsar’s favor, I ask you to accept my sincere greeting to the institute and my wish that it may flourish and grow strong, and that with God’s help it may render good service to the dear region. Your former governor, Mertsalov.”

From the builder of the Middle Siberian Railway, Active State Councillor N. P. Mezheninov.

“ I congratulate you and the city society on the opening of the higher technical school; I sincerely wish prosperity to Siberia and to the city of Tomsk. Mezheninov.”

From the city of Wernau.

The Wernau city society congratulates the Tomsk city society on the solemn opening of the Technological Institute Named for Emperor Nicholas II, as a pledge of the future prosperity, in industrial respects, of vast Siberia. I ask you to convey sincere gratitude for the invitation to take part in the ceremonial dinner. Mayor Putolov.”

From the city of Barnaul.

“Being unable personally to attend the celebration of the opening of the technological institute, I hasten on behalf of the Barnaul City Duma to congratulate Tomsk on the establishment of a higher nursery of technical knowledge and to wish the institute mighty growth in honorable service to the development of industry in our native Siberia. Acting in place of the mayor, Kazantsev.”

Main façade of the Chemical Institute.

Scale: 25 sazhens.

Prepared by A. I. Vishnevsky. [[unclear: small printer/publisher notation]]

From the city of Kurgan.

“With enthusiasm, on behalf of the Kurgan City Duma, I welcome the opening of the Technological Institute named for His Imperial Majesty; I send sincere wishes for the flourishing in it of science and art for the benefit of the population of our vast Siberia and, together with it, the entire state. City Mayor Shevtsov.”

From the city of Troitskosavsk.

“On behalf of the City Duma and personally from myself, I welcome the opening of an educational institution so necessary and desirable for Siberia, given the insufficiency there of technical knowledge, with wishes for fruitful activity for the benefit and development of our native region. I regret that, because of the great distance, I cannot personally take part in this greatest all-Siberian celebration. City Mayor Sobennikov.”

From the city of Akmolinsk.

“The Akmolinsk urban community congratulates likewise Tomsk on the name-day of our adored Monarch Nikolai Alexandrovich and on the solemn opening of the Technological Institute. Being unable to avail ourselves of your kind invitation, we nevertheless heartily celebrate with you this great holiday for the whole Russian Empire and especially for Siberia, which is being spiritually reborn. Akmolinsk City Mayor Alekseev.”

From the city of Przhevalsk.

“Przhevalsk wholeheartedly joins in the mighty, grateful Russian greeting to the Sovereign Giver of Light; it rejoices in Siberia’s joy and congratulates Tomsk on the great Monarchic favor that makes it a beacon of Asia—Hurrah! To the Sovereign-Sun—Hurrah! To His glorious child—the Institute—Hurrah! Barsov, Mikhailov.”

From the city of Nerchinsk.

“The Nerchinsk urban community enthusiastically welcomes the Tomsk urban community on the opening of the Tomsk Technologi-”

Technological Institute of Emperor Nicholas II. May God grant that the Institute flourish, to the joy and glory of our dear homeland. City Elder Shulgin.”

From the City of Kirensk

Russian thanks to you for your invitation. I heartily share in the general pleasure at the opening of so dear an institution for Siberia; I wish the staff and those present many years. City Elder Pezhemsky.

From the City of Zaisan

The townspeople and I congratulate the citizens of Tomsk on the great all-Siberian celebration. We heartily rejoice in Tomsk’s joy, and sincerely wish prosperity on the path of progress and improvement. City Elder Plotnikov.

From the City of Kopal

I thank you for the invitation. The Kopal municipal society wishes still greater prosperity to our Siberia. City Elder Fedulov.

From the Former Councillor of the Tomsk City Duma G. M. Yatsevich, from Kiev

On the highly solemn, significant day of the sixth of December, I greet the movement of Tomsk and Siberia along the path of enlightenment and all-round development. A smooth road and a happy journey! As a native of Siberia, I rejoice that the dawn of the present age illuminates in my homeland the grand field opening up for living human activity. Yatsevich.

From G. L. Brodsky, from Kiev

I thank you for the invitation. The great distance prevents me from personally congratulating you and the local community on the occasion of the celebration, significant for Siberia, of the opening of the Tomsk Technological Institute of Emperor Nicholas II. From the bottom of my heart I wish the new institution to be a nursery of true enlightenment and to promote the spread of knowledge for the benefit of national industry. Lazar Brodsky.

From the former member of the Tomsk City Duma, I. V. Efimov, from St. Petersburg.

Regretting that I am deprived of the possibility of coming, I congratulate, in you, Tomsk on the opening of the institute, to which I wish prosperity for the benefit of our native Siberia. Efimov.

From Messrs. Vtorov, from Moscow.

We are very grateful to you and to the Society for the invitation to be present at the opening of the technological institute. Unfortunately, we could not be there. We congratulate you and the Society on the all-Siberian celebration of the opening of a nursery for assistants in the development and colonization of Siberia. Vtorovs.

From Mr. A. I. Erlanger, from Moscow.

On this significant day for Siberia, please accept my ardent, sincere wishes for the rapid and successful growth and complete prosperity of the technological institute. I deeply regret that I cannot attend the celebration. Erlanger.

From Mr. N. Molchanov, from Kyakhta.

Please accept my earnest congratulations on the celebration of the opening of the new educational institution. I wish it prosperity for the benefit of the region here. Thank you for the kind invitation. Nikolai Molchanov.

From Mr. Lushnikov, from Kyakhta.

I offer congratulations on the ceremonial opening of the Tomsk Technological Institute; from the bottom of my heart I wish full success to this new nursery of higher enlightenment in Siberia. Lushnikov.

From Mr. Shishmakov, from Kyakhta.

I offer thanks for the invitation; I congratulate you on the opening of the institute, with the sincerest wish for prosperity for the benefit of great Siberia. Shishmakov.

From the city heads of Tomsk and Khabarovsk, and the city elders of Ust-Kamenogorsk and Surgut, the Tomsk city head received letters with greetings and statements of their inability to attend the celebration.

A few days after the solemn ceremony, the office of the trustee of the West Siberian Educational District forwarded to the Technological Institute further congratulations from the military governor of the Samarkand Oblast, Major General Medinsky; from the chief inspector of schools of the Turkestan Territory, Actual State Councillor F. Kerensky; from the Tashkent Classical Gymnasium; and from representatives of the educational department of the city of Kainsk.

The solemn assembly concluded with the national anthem, performed by the archiepiscopal choir under the direction of the regent, priest Father A. Penzensky, together with the orchestra under the direction of Mr. Malometa, and with cries of “hurrah”; and the students of the Institute were released from classes for two days by the Assistant Minister.

Upon the conclusion of the assembly, the following telegram was sent to the Minister of Public Education:

“Representatives of the educational department and of the administrative authorities in Siberia, having gathered today, on the most solemn name-day of the Sovereign Emperor, for the opening of the first higher technological educational institution in this vast region, bearing the August name of His Majesty, and having offered heartfelt prayers to the Tsar of Tsars for the precious health and long life of the beloved Monarch, for the welfare and prosperity of the Russian land dear to us all, most respectfully ask Your Excellency to lay at the sacred feet of His Imperial Majesty their feelings of most ardent loyal love and boundless gratitude.

Makarii, Bishop of Tomsk and Barnaul.
Assistant Minister of Public Education N. Zverev.
Tomsk Governor, Prince Vyazemsky.
Trustee of the Educational District L. Lavrentiev.
Director of the Institute E. Zubashev.
City Head A. Karnakov.”

In response to this telegram, on December 12 the trustee of the educational district received the following reply from the Minister of Public Education:

“The Sovereign Emperor, expressing His satisfaction on the occasion of the opening of the Tomsk Technological Institute, has instructed me to thank all those who were present at that celebration for the sentiments expressed. Bogolepov.”

At 6 o’clock in the evening on December 6, the majority of those who had attended the opening celebration gathered again at a solemn dinner given by Tomsk society on the occasion of the opening of the Institute, in the hall of the Tomsk Public Assembly. More than 300 persons assembled there, among them representatives of the clergy, of the military and civil departments, members of the Tomsk City Duma headed by the mayor, representatives of the merchant class and of other cities of Siberia, the rector, professors, and officials of the chancery of the Imperial Tomsk University, the director, professors, and officials of the chancery of the Technological Institute, and the teaching staff of all the secondary educational institutions of the city of Tomsk.

During the dinner, a concert was performed by a choir of episcopal singers under the direction of the priest Father A. Penzensky and by an orchestra under the direction of Mr. Malomet; it concluded with the national anthem.

The first toast, proclaimed by the Assistant Minister N. A. Zverev, was an enthusiastically received toast to the health of the Sovereign Emperor and the Sovereign Empresses; after this there followed a series of toasts to the Minister of Public Education, to the distinguished guest N. A. Zverev, to the head of the province Prince S. A. Vyazemsky, to His Eminence Makarii, to the trustee of the district L. I. Lavrentiev, to the director of the institute E. L. Zubashev, to the rector of the university A. I. Sudakov, to the mayor A. P. Karnakov, and to the mayors of other cities of Siberia, both present and absent.

The further toasts and speeches delivered during the dinner, as well as the conversations in separate circles after it, naturally revolved around the event of the day and the various aspects of its significance for Siberia.

Assistant Minister N. A. Zverev, likening the vast and varied Siberian region to a fairy-tale enchantress concealing her treasures behind seven locks, said that the key to them lies in science; expressed confidence that the professors and students would honorably fulfill the tasks entrusted to them, and that Siberian society would take a warm attitude toward the Institute; and, in conclusion, in the name of the Minister of Public Education, raised a glass to the bright future and prosperity of the Institute.

In his other toast, the Assistant Minister thanked the city of Tomsk for its sympathetic attitude toward the needs of education and proclaimed a toast to the prosperity of the city and to the health of its representatives.

The Director of the Institute, E. L. Zubashev, proposed a toast to the pioneer of higher education in Siberia—the Imperial Tomsk University; to this the Rector of the University, A. I. Sudakov, responded with a toast to the prosperity of the Institute and to its union with the University.

In another speech of his, E. L. Zubashev, pointing to the government’s large expenditures, noted the material assistance to the Institute from Siberian society as still insignificant in comparison with that in the Southwestern and Vistula regions, both in the organization of the Institute itself and in the matter of providing for needy students; and expressed the hope that, with the growth of awareness of the necessity of science for industry, a warm attitude toward the Institute would not be slow to manifest itself.

The Krasnoyarsk city mayor, N. A. Shepetkovsky, congratulating Tomsk society on the opening of the Institute, said that the conferral upon the Institute of the Name of the Sovereign Emperor serves as a guarantee that the Institute will stand high, and that the bond between society and the Institute will always be the closest, since the children of Siberian society will study at the Institute; expressed the hope that the scholarship established by the Krasnoyarsk Duma would be the beginning of a whole series of others; and N. A. Shepetkovsky wished that the very first graduating class of the Institute would give life not only good specialists, but also people of lofty ideals.

Justice of the peace S. A. Zhurov, on behalf of the former students of N. A. Zverev, when he had been a professor at Moscow University, proposed a toast to him as a man who had left in their memory the most sympathetic recollections.

Acting extraordinary professor A. I. Efimov said that, with the opening of the Technological Institute, the system of higher education in Siberia was acquiring a certain completeness, since, alongside the medical and juridical faculties, which apply the principles of science to the service of the physical and moral health of the population, there was arising a school whose task and ultimate aim is the application of science to the development and improvement of the external conditions of its life and surroundings; pointing out that the physician and the jurist find the application of their knowledge in life independently of the will of the population, whereas the activity of the engineer depends to a considerable degree on the level of the demands and enterprise of the population, A. I. Efimov raised his glass to the development of the spirit of enterprise among the Siberian population.

In another toast A. I. Efimov pointed out that the teachers of the higher school continue to build upon the foundation laid by the labors of their comrades, the teachers of the secondary school, and proposed a toast to the health of the teachers of the gymnasia, the real school, and the theological seminary.

After the dinner ended, conversation among those present continued for a long time in separate circles; the Comrade Minister remained until 10 o’clock in the evening and conversed several times both with representatives of the city and with professors of the Institute, while the Duma councillors P. I. Makushin and G. S. Petrov went around among those present with a subscription sheet for the benefit of needy students of the Institute, whereby 717 rubles were collected.

The celebration of the opening of the Institute concluded on the following day in the halls of the public assembly with a ball, which was preceded by a concert section performed by the choir and orchestra of the stu—

Main façade of the Physics Institute.

Scale: [[unclear: scale markings in sazhen]]

Phototype by A. I. Wilborg, St. Petersburg, [[unclear: address]].

...students, and who were so kind as to honor the event with their presence: the Assistant Minister, the Governor, the Trustee of the Educational District, and numerous members of the public.

Having accepted with deep emotion all the greetings and good wishes addressed to the Institute, the Council of the Tomsk Technological Institute of Emperor Nicholas II hereby fulfills the duty of heartfelt gratitude toward the institutions and persons who have honored the newly born Institute with them, and permits itself to express confidence that the Tomsk Technological Institute will succeed in justifying the hopes placed upon it.

1. “labor that demands.” ↩