FROM THE HISTORY OF PHYSICS

F. F. PETRUSHEVSKY’S REFORM

M. S. Sominsky

On February 22, 1865, Emilii Khristianovich Lenz died—one of the outstanding members of the Russian Academy of Sciences, a remarkable physicist whose works are known throughout the world, the first dean of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics, and subsequently rector of St. Petersburg University.

Academician Lenz was an extraordinary, vivid personality, in whom there were successfully combined the inexhaustible talent of a researcher, the gift of a first-rate, temperamental lecturer, and the untiring energy of a public figure. The whole university came to hear Lenz. In the words of one contemporary, he delivered his lectures “as one having authority.”

The contribution to world science made by the Petersburg professor may be characterized in the following words of Academician S. I. Vavilov: “Lenz forever inscribed his name in the history of electromagnetism alongside Oersted, Ampère, and Faraday. His famous ‘rule,’ according to which magnetoelectric phenomena are reduced to electromagnetic ones, still today amazes by its profundity and by its instinctive anticipation of the law of conservation of energy. In all his numerous experimental works Lenz is striking for his powers of observation, accuracy, and depth of deduction. These works form an unbroken chain, in many respects retaining their significance for modern electrical engineering.”

Lenz’s name, of course, was widely known not only in Russia but far beyond its borders as well—the fundamental investigations he carried out in the field of electrical phenomena entered all the textbooks of the world.

It is therefore not surprising that on the day of Lenz’s death St. Petersburg University found itself in a difficult position, for at that time it was not so easy and simple to count on an equivalent replacement.

The choice fell on Fedor Fomich Petrushevsky, Lenz’s assistant, who had been delivering lectures on physics at the university since 1862. And, as will be shown below,

will become clear, the choice proved entirely successful: the university acquired an excellent professor, a progressive pedagogue, who in a fairly short time succeeded in sharply improving the system of teaching physics at such a leading higher educational institution as Petersburg University then was.

In 1865, having successfully defended his dissertation on the topic “On Normal Magnetization,” Petrushevsky received the degree of doctor. It should be noted that in the same year, 1865, at Petersburg University D. I. Mendeleev received the degree of doctor of chemistry, and M. P. Avenarius, the founder of the well-known Kiev school of physicists, that of master of physics.

Having served from 1862 as assistant to E. Kh. Lenz in the department of physics, Fedor Fomich, already in his first years at Petersburg University, showed that the student auditorium was dealing with an extraordinary lecturer—thoughtful, serious, and highly erudite.

These qualities made it possible to believe that the department, previously headed by the celebrated academician, was passing into reliable hands; and in 1865, after the death of E. Kh. Lenz, Petrushevsky headed physics at Petersburg University. This year was a turning point for the entire system of physical education. The fact is that the first-rate scholar and undoubtedly remarkable lecturer E. Kh. Lenz built his pedagogical work exclusively on lecture material alone. There were no practical classes for students in physics at that time. Lenz hardly let anyone near his instruments; moreover, he carried out his scientific activity not at the university, but at the Academy of Sciences. Thus, in such a leading higher educational institution as the university was throughout its existence, there was essentially no physics laboratory.

One of Petrushevsky’s students—V. V. Lermontov—in his recollections devoted to his teacher writes: “…Emil Khristianovich did his work in physics in the academic laboratory; he did not admit students there, and whenever anyone wished to ‘touch’ the instruments after a lecture, he forbade it, saying ‘you will spoil them.’ Under him the university physics cabinet contained only instruments for lectures, and even for these Emil Khristianovich preferred to use his familiar instruments from the Academy, which were brought by his mechanic Noak, who served as his assistant at lectures. Emil Khristianovich admitted to his academic laboratory only a few chosen persons, from among his pupils who had already completed the course; among them was Fedor Fomich, whose first scientific work was done there in 1853.”1

Apparently, even the demonstrations that accompanied the lectures Lenz was not very fond of performing, and if he did show them to students, very sparingly and rarely, he did so out of inevitable necessity.

Fyodor Fomich understood well that physics—a science whose every conclusion is built upon exact experimental data—could not continue to be taught in that way. No lecturer, however gifted, could replace by his speech, however brilliant in form and profound in content, the display of physical phenomena demonstrated in the laboratory. Petrushevsky understood perfectly that, in order for the university to produce physicists who had a good command not only of the theory of the subject but also of the technique of experiment, it was essential, in parallel with theoretical training, to develop students’ experimental skills; and for this purpose solid laboratory practice was needed. These considerations, dictated by life itself, compelled Fyodor Fomich to rebuild radically the system of university instruction and to introduce practical work in physics for students.

Fyodor Fomich’s closest assistant, V. V. Lermontov, paying tribute to the reforms of his teacher, writes: “The great merit of the late F. F. Petrushevsky was that he ‘breathed a living soul’ into the teaching of physics at our university. Before him, physics was only ‘read,’ like any other subject needed by students for examinations; Fyodor Fomich was the first to understand in good time that the time was coming when skills based on knowledge of the facts of this science would become necessary in everyday life as well. He also understood that by listening to lectures alone no real skill can be acquired, except the ability to pass examinations with one’s professors. Real skills are acquired only by dealing with the real objects of the science being studied, i.e. with the phenomena of nature and with instruments used for reproducing and measuring them, in the case of physics.”^2 In the autumn of 1864 Petrushevsky was appointed manager of the physical cabinet. This position enabled him to come into especially close contact with instruments, and without much delay he set about organizing a physics practicum.

At the beginning of 1865, practical classes began for fourth-year students—the lower courses did not have enough instruments. In the following year, the third year, too, began to take the practicum.

At first all the classes took place in the university’s physical cabinet, which was little adapted for laboratory work, since the entire room of the cabinet was chiefly filled with bulky cupboards in which demonstration instruments were kept. The instruments themselves, of course, were not intended for serious scientific work. Recalling this period, V. V. Lermontov, who personally took a large part in the work of the cabinet, relates:

“At first it was possible to put into operation only a very small number of experiments: it was possible to take readings from a barometer and to set up another barometer with a cathetometer, to determine specific gravity with the aid of a level …”

THE REFORM OF F. F. PETRUSHEVSKY

scales, fixed points of the thermometer, focal lengths of glass lenses, intensity of light, and current strength with a tangent galvanometer. Those engaged in the work expressed a desire to carry out more complex experiments as well, but the means proved insufficient. There was, for example, a spectrometer, remade from a theodolite but left unfinished: the tubes were like cannons on gun carriages and were not fastened down, so that one pointed at the sky and the other at the ground, and it was a great effort even to see light through them. There were also Coulomb torsion balances, with which, already in the first year, one student “observed both electricities and verified Coulomb’s laws,” as his entry in the journal states. But this was only an outward appearance, and it was impossible to make any real measurement with them. Almost all the work was done with the small number of instruments acquired by Fedor Fomich in the first years of his stewardship of the cabinet.

The rooms of the physics cabinet were almost entirely occupied by cupboards and instruments, so that very little space remained for classes!²

Nevertheless, Fedor Fomich persistently sought to improve the conditions of the physics practicum. By the autumn of 1867 he had managed to obtain five more rooms; mirror galvanometers and other precise measuring instruments were procured. In essence, the first physics laboratory had been created, in which not only laboratory classes with students were conducted, but serious scientific investigations could also be undertaken.

The physics laboratory grew and developed rapidly. New people appeared, enthusiasts of the remarkable undertaking. In the spring of 1869, V. V. Lermontov, who had only just graduated from the university, came to the post of supernumerary laboratory assistant; then, in the following year, I. I. Borgman, later a professor of the university, a pupil of Petrushevsky and continuer of his work, began to take an ardent part in the affairs of the laboratory. N. A. Gezekhus and N. G. Egorov appeared—both well-known physicists in the future.

The physics laboratory flourished steadily. It is characteristic that within its walls it attracted a large number of “volunteers”—students and master’s candidates. Among the latter were: N. P. Sluginov, G. A. Lyuboslavsky, S. G. Egorov, A. I. Efimov, E. A. Rogovsky, A. I. Sadovsky, F. Ya. Kapustin, E. E. Forsh, I. V. Lebedev, V. K. Lebedinsky, M. V. Ivanov, M. A. Shatelen, and others.

As the physics laboratory of Petersburg University grew and developed, and as the influx of students and master’s candidates increased more and more, there began to be a shortage of space. Fedor Fomich undertook persistent efforts, as a result of which he obtained the old and unfinished building of Je-de-Pom, badly neglected and requiring major alterations. However, already by the autumn of 1874 the lower floor had been put in order, and the physics laboratory transferred its activity to a more spacious and adapted place.

building. It began its new life with 60 students, which by the standards of that time was quite a significant number.

The staff serving the laboratory also increased. After, at the insistence of F. F. Petrushevsky, a new position was secured for P. P. Fan-der-Flit, the latter was transferred to the post of laboratory assistant, making it possible to hire a highly qualified mechanic. The well-known G. Kh. Brauer was invited to the position of mechanic, and serving as his assistant foreman was the exceptionally capable and rapidly developing V. L. Frantsev, who soon became known in the university circles of old Russia.

Although the physics laboratory was continuously being improved—equipped with new instruments, enlarging its working area, attracting advanced and talented young people, and increasing its permanent staff—Fyodor Fomich nevertheless did not rest on what had been achieved, but continued steadfastly to seek still greater improvements. In 1877 he succeeded in obtaining funds for the purchase of a dynamo and a gas engine: electric light illuminated all the rooms of the Je-de-Paume. In that same year the number of students reached 150.

Petrushevsky himself and his physics laboratory enjoyed great affection and popularity; this is evident if only from the fact that until 1884 practical classes for students in physics were not compulsory, and nevertheless the number of students doing practical work in the laboratory increased continuously from year to year.

Finally, there came a time when the laboratory became cramped in the old premises, and the clear necessity arose to expand the working area substantially, since the number of students, master’s degree candidates, and professors had sharply increased. Fyodor Fomich conceived the idea of radically solving the problem that had arisen repeatedly throughout all the years of the university physics laboratory’s existence. It was becoming obvious that, for its successful development, the laboratory required spacious and adapted premises, taking into account its further growth and development. In 1884 F. F. Petrushevsky petitioned for the construction, in the university courtyard, of a new building specially intended for the physics laboratory. At first the petition, thoroughly motivated and substantiated, remained without any consequence. However, Fyodor Fomich did not lose hope. In the autumn of 1891 the petition was renewed again, and again without result. Only in 1897 was it finally possible to obtain a positive decision on this matter, so essentially important for the development of Russian physics: on April 28 the Minister of Finance agreed to release the necessary funds for the construction of the new building.

According to the design of the prominent architect I. I. Kokovtsev, the building was constructed, and the first teaching, then scientific, laboratory of Russia—

left the walls of the Jeu de Paume. Later the physics laboratory was renamed the Physics Institute, whose scientific activity reached its apogee already in the years of Soviet power.

Thus, thanks to the implementation of advanced ideas, thanks to the exceptional energy and indefatigable capacity for work and devotion to the cause of Fyodor Fomich Petrushevsky, from a modest physics cabinet intended for the demonstration of lecture experiments and for the storage of physical instruments there grew an entire scientific institute, within whose walls, in our Soviet years, first-class scientific work is being carried on, some of which has been awarded the Stalin Prize.

Such is an extremely compressed and meager survey of the activity of Fyodor Fomich in only one, but undoubtedly important, area.

It remains to say a few words about the outstanding role played in the scientific life of our country by the physics laboratory created through the efforts of Prof. Petrushevsky.

Before Petrushevsky’s reform, physics was only “read,” without even illustrating the basic physical phenomena by demonstration experiments. In essence, for the greater part of the audience physics was a “verbal” science. With such an arrangement of teaching, those completing the university course had extremely weak notions of the technique of physical experiment; the majority of them, naturally, devoted themselves to a pedagogical career. Only isolated talented individuals found in themselves the strength and ability to rise above the environment surrounding them; in other words, such physicists, overcoming difficulties, nevertheless found opportunities to engage not only in teaching but also in scientific activity.

Of course, to engage in science at that time was difficult, for, in essence, everywhere, with the exception of the Academy of Sciences and the Medico-Surgical Academy, conditions were very unfavorable.

In Russia, before and during the time of E. Kh. Lenz, only physicists working in the Academy of Sciences could devote themselves to creative scientific activity while being in relatively good conditions. Strictly speaking, thanks to the extraordinary foresight of Peter I, and subsequently to the energetic activity of the academician-physicists Bülfinger, Leitmann, Kraft, Richmann, Lomonosov, Petrov, Parrot, and others, it became possible to organize a physics cabinet and to develop it further; from it there later grew the Physical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, known in our country and directed by Acad. S. I. Vavilov.

Shortly before Petrushevsky’s reform, master’s and doctoral dissertations, of course, were defended, but there were still very few candidates; moreover, the character of the dissertations was basically not experimental, but theoretical.

What, then, was the situation abroad? In essence, exactly the same. There were no practical classes for students in physics at any ...

there were no such foreign higher educational institutions. They first began in Heidelberg after Kirchhoff had established the widely known “physical seminar.” For students who had listened to a course in physics, a special section was read, devoted to the explanation of certain fairly simple experimental problems, which were then worked through by all the participants. The well-known Berlin physicist Magnus, who had numerous pupils, had a private laboratory. The same may be said of Jolly, W. Thomson, and others. The first scientific-research physical institutes appeared abroad only in the last quarter of the nineteenth century (Graz, Berlin, Strasbourg, Paris, Charlottenburg, etc.).

Taking all these circumstances into account, the enormous significance of the reform consistently carried out by F. F. Petrushevsky becomes especially clear. One may say with confidence, without exaggerating the significance of this fact, that practical work for students in physics, under the conditions of a genuine scientific-research laboratory, first began in Russia and only later—abroad. Petrushevsky’s great merit consists, of course, not in the fact that he managed to get ahead of foreigners—naturally, that is not the point. Petrushevsky’s merit consists in the fact that he understood in good time the necessity of such a reform and consistently carried it out, thereby creating a powerful impulse that called to life the hidden possibilities lying dormant among the people.

Over 35 years, from 1865 to 1900, three and a half thousand people passed through Petrushevsky’s laboratory. This figure eloquently testifies to the popularity of the physical laboratory of Petersburg University.

Petrushevsky’s progressive reform, carried out by him with all the determination of a convinced man, exerted a great influence on the organization of education in the higher schools of Russia. Following Petersburg University, physical practica appeared in the universities of other cities. This could not but contribute to the creation of cadres of physicists of a new type, skilled in the technique of physical experiment, who had acquired not only definite laboratory skills but also, chiefly, had come to feel a taste for experiment.

Petrushevsky’s introduction of the physical practicum into the university curriculum radically changed the professional profile of the university graduate—now he was already a physicist of an entirely different order, a physicist who not only listened to the lectures of his professors but also, with his own hands, assembled circuits and experimental apparatus and carried out experiments.

However, Petrushevsky’s reform went much further and culminated, as is known, in the creation of a scientific-research physical institute, in which many physicists had the opportunity to work creatively. All this, naturally, led to a sharp increase in

the number of experimenters, which could not but affect the further rise of physics in old Russia.

A remarkable organizer and, undoubtedly, an outstanding teacher, F. F. Petrushevsky was at the same time also a good scholar. Some of his works have already been briefly discussed in one of the issues of the journal*). The present article, devoted to the scientific-organizational activity of Fyodor Fomich, does not aim to illuminate, even in the most compressed form, his scientific merits. However, in speaking of this aspect of F. F. Petrushevsky’s activity, one cannot pass over in silence one more major event—the creation by Petrushevsky in 1872 of the Physical Society at St. Petersburg University. As is known, as the actual founder of the Society, he was quite deservedly elected its first chairman and held this post, i.e. was the scientific leader of the Society, for almost thirty years.

It is highly characteristic that one of the major figures of the Russian Physico-Chemical Society, the remarkable Russian physicist N. A. Gezekhus, recalling the history of the creation of the Physical Society, wrote:

“The ground for the new institution was gradually prepared both by the aforementioned private meetings and by the practical classes for students in the physical laboratory of St. Petersburg University introduced in the sixties by F. F. Petrushevsky, which drew many young people toward physical investigations and prompted some of them to devote themselves entirely to science.”⁴

The Physical Society, and later the Physical Section of the Russian Physico-Chemical Society, throughout its entire existence played a serious role in the scientific life of the country. Uniting all the physicists of Russia, it connected the physicists of the capital with workers in the provinces.

F. F. Petrushevsky did extraordinarily much for the flourishing of this highly useful and necessary organization.

The Society carried out extensive and necessary work and undoubtedly made a valuable contribution to the development of physics in Russia.

In his reminiscences of Petrushevsky, Professor of St. Petersburg University I. I. Borgman wrote: “But Fyodor Fomich earned very honorable renown not by his articles and books alone!

“The creation by him of our Physical Society, which united all Russian physicists, will immortalize his memory. I remember with what enthusiasm Fyodor Fomich treated the organization of the Physical Society he had conceived. And with what calm and dignity he performed the duties of chairman during the rather frequently occurring—

) V. L. Chenakal, “Fyodor Fomich Petrushevsky and His Works on Optics and Color Science,” Uspekhi fizicheskikh nauk*, XXXVI, issue 2-a, pp. 210–218 (1948).

that took place in the first years of the Society’s existence. With complete correctness, with the absence of any insulting harshness, the remark made by Fedor Fomich, sometimes quite stern and authoritative, cooled the ardor of those in dispute and did not allow any further unpleasant complications to arise. For almost 30 years F. F. remained the unchanging chairman of our Society, and throughout all this time he treated the affairs of the Society with the same fervor, only rarely, and then only because of illness, missing meetings. Having laid down the duties of chairman when the statute of our Society was changed, he nevertheless remained at the head of this Society as its honorary chairman. Already hopelessly ill, lying in bed, F. F. continued to follow the activity of the Society; he asked others to communicate to the council of the Society his opinions on the most important questions. It may safely be said that for the Physical Society F. F. was “the most just, the most loving father.”

Like E. H. Lenz, F. F. Petrushevsky did not create a school of physicists; however, he had numerous pupils, among whom were: I. I. Borgman, O. D. Khvolson, V. V. Lermontov, A. Yakimov, A. Gershun, A. Petrovsky, N. Gezekhus, N. Georgievsky, E. Tsytevich, V. Neliubov, F. Indrikson, and a number of others.

Unlike others, Fedor Fomich did not go abroad to study, as was customary at that time. As an experimentalist he was, strictly speaking, self-taught. Without denying the serious importance of foreign experience, acquired by Russian physicists who went abroad for several years, Fedor Fomich nevertheless believed that young, beginning scholars should carry out their first scientific investigations at home, in Russia. An extraordinary love for his people and country, a high sense of duty and responsibility were those motivating principles which, throughout Fedor Fomich’s entire conscious life, made him always and invariably devote himself wholly to the service of science and the people, and demand the same of others.

On February 17, 1904, after a long and grave illness, Fedor Fomich died. Petersburg University, and together with it Russian science, suffered a grievous loss. And undoubtedly just are the words of Borgman, who said:

“Great is the loss of Fedor Fomich for our Society, but still greater, perhaps, is this loss for our university. For 42 years F. F., as a professor, belonged to the university; he began lecturing in 1862, and although in 1901 he left teaching, right up to his illness, which confined him to bed for 10 months and then carried him to the grave, he continued to be the most conscientious member of the faculty and of the council, continued to take an interest in the affairs of the university, expressing during debates his opinions with complete frankness, with complete independence from any—

any preconceived ideas or external pressures. And all F. F.’s university colleagues, however much they might differ with him in their views on some question, deeply respected the crystalline purity of his soul and listened attentively to his word...

Always modest and strict in all his actions, not excluding even the form of his speech, he demanded the same of others. To the depths of his soul he was indignant at self-advertisement or at any action calculated to produce an outward effect. Fifty-three years, first of teaching and then of professorial and literary activity, passed in uninterrupted labor, which provided Fedor Fomich and his family with only “the bare necessities of life.”⁶

Cited Literature

1. Collection of articles on physics dedicated to the memory of F. F. Petrushevsky. 1904, p. VIII.
2. Ibid., p. VII.
3. Ibid., p. VIII.
4. N. A. Gezehus, Historical sketch of the decade of activity of the Physical Society at St. Petersburg University, ZhRFKhO, XIV, issue 9, 519, 1882.
5. I. I. Borgman, In memory of F. F. Petrushevsky, ZhRFKhO, XXXVI, issue 3, 51, 1904.
6. Ibid., p. 54.