People who contributed to science. The most famous physicists and their contributions to science

Over the past few centuries, we have made countless discoveries that have helped greatly improve the quality of our daily lives and understand how the world around us works. Assessing the full importance of these discoveries is very difficult, if not almost impossible. But one thing is for sure - some of them literally changed our lives once and for all. From penicillin and the screw pump to x-rays and electricity, here is a list of 25 of mankind's greatest discoveries and inventions.

25. Penicillin

If Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming had not discovered penicillin, the first antibiotic, in 1928, we would still be dying from diseases such as stomach ulcers, abscesses, streptococcal infections, scarlet fever, leptospirosis, Lyme disease and many others.

24. Mechanical watch


Photo: pixabay

There are conflicting theories about what the first ones actually looked like. mechanical watch, but most often researchers adhere to the version that they were created in 723 AD by the Chinese monk and mathematician Ai Xing (I-Hsing). It was this seminal invention that allowed us to measure time.

23. Copernican heliocentrism


Photo: WP/wikimedia

In 1543, almost on his deathbed, Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus unveiled his landmark theory. According to the works of Copernicus, it became known that the Sun is our planetary system, and all its planets revolve around our star, each in its own orbit. Until 1543, astronomers believed that the Earth was the center of the Universe.

22. Blood circulation


Photo: Bryan Brandenburg

One of the most important discoveries in medicine was the discovery of the circulatory system, which was announced in 1628 by the English physician William Harvey. He became the first person to describe the entire circulatory system and properties of the blood that the heart pumps throughout our body from the brain to the tips of the fingers.

21. Screw pump


Photo: David Hawgood / geographic.org.uk

One of the most famous ancient Greek scientists, Archimedes, is considered the author of one of the world's first water pumps. His device was a rotating corkscrew that pushed water up a pipe. This invention took irrigation systems to the next level and is still used in many wastewater treatment plants today.

20. Gravity


Photo: wikimedia

Everyone knows this story - Isaac Newton, the famous English mathematician and physicist, discovered gravity after an apple fell on his head in 1664. Thanks to this event, we learned for the first time why objects fall down and why planets revolve around the Sun.

19. Pasteurization


Photo: wikimedia

Pasteurization was discovered in the 1860s by French scientist Louis Pasteur. It is a heat treatment process during which pathogenic microorganisms are destroyed in certain foods and drinks (wine, milk, beer). This discovery has had a significant impact on public health and development. food industry all over the world.

18. Steam engine


Photo: pixabay

Everyone knows that modern civilization was forged in factories built during the Industrial Revolution, and that it all happened using steam engines. The steam engine was created a long time ago, but over the last century it has been significantly improved by three British inventors: Thomas Savery, Thomas Newcomen, and the most famous of them, James Watt.

17. Air conditioning


Photo: Ildar Sagdejev / wikimedia

Primitive climate control systems have existed since ancient times, but they changed significantly when the first modern electric air conditioner was introduced in 1902. It was invented by a young engineer named Willis Carrier, a native of Buffalo, New York.

16. Electricity


Photo: pixabay

The fateful discovery of electricity is attributed to the English scientist Michael Faraday. Among his key discoveries, it is worth noting the principles of action electromagnetic induction, diamagnetism and electrolysis. Faraday's experiments also led to the creation of the first generator, which became the forerunner of the huge generators that today produce the electricity we know in everyday life.

15. DNA


Photo: pixabay

Many believe that it was the American biologist James Watson and the English physicist Francis Crick who discovered it in the 1950s, but in fact this macromolecule was first identified in the late 1860s by the Swiss chemist Friedrich Maischer Miescher). Then, several decades after Maischer's discovery, other scientists conducted a series of studies that finally helped us clarify how an organism passes its genes to the next generation and how the work of its cells is coordinated.

14. Anesthesia


Photo: Wikimedia

Simple forms of anesthesia, such as opium, mandrake and alcohol, have been used by people for a long time, and the first mention of them dates back to 70 AD. But pain management moved to a new level in 1847, when American surgeon Henry Bigelow pioneered the introduction of ether and chloroform into his practice, making extremely painful invasive procedures much more tolerable.

13. Theory of relativity

Photo: Wikimedia

Including two related theories of Albert Einstein, special and general theory relativity, the theory of relativity, published in 1905, transformed the entire theoretical physics and astronomy of the 20th century and eclipsed the 200-year-old theory of mechanics proposed by Newton. Einstein's theory of relativity became the basis for much of scientific works modernity.

12. X-rays


Photo: Nevit Dilmen / wikimedia

German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen accidentally discovered x-rays in 1895, when he observed the fluorescence produced by a cathode ray tube. For this pivotal discovery, the scientist was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1901, the first of its kind in the physical sciences.

11. Telegraph


Photo: wikipedia

Since 1753, many researchers have experimented with establishing long-distance communication using electricity, but a significant breakthrough did not come until several decades later, when Joseph Henry and Edward Davy invented the electrical relay in 1835. Using this device they created the first telegraph 2 years later.

10. Periodic table chemical elements


Photo: sandbh/wikimedia

In 1869, Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev noticed that if chemical elements are ordered by their atomic mass, they tend to form groups with similar properties. Based on this information, he created the first periodic table, one of the greatest discoveries in chemistry, which was later called the periodic table in his honor.

9. Infrared rays


Photo: AIRS/flickr

Infrared radiation was discovered by British astronomer William Herschel in 1800 when he was studying the heating effect of light different colors, using a prism to split light into a spectrum, and measuring the changes with thermometers. Today, infrared radiation is used in many areas of our lives, including meteorology, heating systems, astronomy, tracking heat-intensive objects and many other areas.

8. Nuclear magnetic resonance


Photo: Mj-bird / wikimedia

Today, nuclear magnetic resonance is continually used as an extremely accurate and effective diagnostic tool in the medical field. This phenomenon was first described and calculated by American physicist Isidor Rabi in 1938 while observing molecular beams. In 1944, the American scientist was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for this discovery.

7. Moldboard plow


Photo: wikimedia

Invented in the 18th century, the moldboard plow was the first plow that not only dug up the soil, but also stirred it, making it possible to cultivate even very stubborn and rocky soil for agricultural purposes. Without this weapon agriculture, as we know it today, would not have existed in northern Europe or central America.

6. Camera obscura


Photo: wikimedia

The forerunner of modern cameras and video cameras was the camera obscura (translated as dark room), which was an optical device used by artists to create quick sketches while traveling outside their studios. A hole in one of the walls of the device served to create an inverted image of what was happening outside the chamber. The picture was displayed on the screen (on the wall of the dark box opposite the hole). These principles have been known for centuries, but in 1568 the Venetian Daniel Barbaro modified the camera obscura by adding converging lenses.

5. Paper


Photo: pixabay

The first examples of modern paper are often considered to be papyrus and amate, which were used by ancient Mediterranean peoples and pre-Columbian Americans. But it would not be entirely correct to consider them real paper. References to the first production of writing paper date back to China during the reign of the Eastern Han Empire (25-220 AD). The first paper is mentioned in chronicles dedicated to the activities of the judicial dignitary Cai Lun.

4. Teflon


Photo: pixabay

The material that keeps your pan from burning was actually invented completely by accident by American chemist Roy Plunkett when he was looking for a replacement refrigerant to make household life safer. During one of his experiments, the scientist discovered a strange, slippery resin, which later became better known as Teflon.

3. Theory of evolution and natural selection

Photo: wikimedia

Inspired by his observations during his second voyage of exploration in 1831-1836, Charles Darwin began writing his famous theory of evolution and natural selection, which, according to scientists around the world, has become a key description of the mechanism of development of all life on Earth

2. Liquid crystals


Photo: William Hook / flickr

If the Austrian botanist and physiologist Friedrich Reinitzer had not discovered liquid crystals while testing the physicochemical properties of various cholesterol derivatives in 1888, today you would not know what LCD televisions or flat-panel LCD monitors are.

1. Polio vaccine


Photo: GDC Global / flickr

On March 26, 1953, American medical researcher Jonas Salk announced that he had successfully tested a vaccine against polio, a virus that causes a severe chronic disease. In 1952, an epidemic of the disease diagnosed 58,000 people in the United States and claimed 3,000 innocent lives. This spurred Salk on a quest for salvation, and now the civilized world is safe at least from this disaster.

Russian scientists have pushed back the veil of the unknown, making their contribution to the evolution of scientific thought throughout the world. Many worked abroad in world-famous research institutions. Our fellow countrymen collaborated with many outstanding scientific minds. The discoveries became a catalyst for the development of technology and knowledge throughout the world, and many revolutionary ideas and discoveries in the world were created on the foundation of the scientific achievements of famous Russian scientists.

World leaders in the field of chemistry have glorified our compatriots for centuries. made the most important discovery for the world of chemistry - he described the periodic law of chemical elements. Over time, the periodic table has gained recognition throughout the world and is now used in all corners of our planet.

Sikorsky can be called a great one in aviation. Aircraft designer Sikorsky is known for his developments in the creation of multi-engine aircraft. It was he who created the world's first aircraft with technical characteristics for vertical takeoff and landing - a helicopter.

Not only Russian scientists contributed to aviation. For example, the pilot Nesterov is considered the founder of aerobatics, and he was the first to propose the use of runway lighting during night flights.

There were famous Russian scientists in medicine: Pirogov, Mechnikov and others. Mechnikov developed the doctrine of phagocytosis (protective factors of the body). Surgeon Pirogov was the first to use anesthesia in the field to treat a patient and developed classical means of surgical treatment, which are still used today. And the contribution of the Russian scientist Botkin was that he was the first in Russia to conduct research on experimental therapy and pharmacology.

Using the example of these three areas of science, we see that the discoveries of Russian scientists are used in all spheres of life. But this is only a small fraction of everything that was discovered by Russian scientists. Our fellow countrymen have glorified their outstanding homeland in absolutely all scientific disciplines, from medicine and biology to developments in the field of space technology. Russian scientists left for us, their descendants, a huge treasure of scientific knowledge in order to provide us with colossal material for creating new great discoveries.

Alexander Ivanovich Oparin is a famous Russian biochemist, author of the materialistic theory of the emergence of life on Earth.

Academician, Hero of Socialist Labor, Lenin Prize laureate.

Childhood and youth

Curiosity, inquisitiveness and the desire to understand how, for example, a huge tree can grow from a tiny seed, manifested itself in the boy very early. Already as a child he was very interested in biology. He studied plant life not only from books, but also in practice.

The Oparin family moved from Uglich to a country house in the village of Kokaevo. The very first years of childhood were spent there.

Yuri Kondratyuk (Alexander Ignatievich Shargei), one of the outstanding theorists of space flights.

In the 60s, he became world famous for his scientific substantiation of the method of flying spacecraft to the Moon.

The trajectory he calculated was called the “Kondratyuk route.” It was used by the American Apollo spacecraft to land humans on the lunar surface.

Childhood and youth

This one of the outstanding founders of astronautics was born in Poltava on June 9 (21), 1897. He spent his childhood in his grandmother's house. She was a midwife, and her husband was a zemstvo doctor and government official.

For some time he lived with his father in St. Petersburg, where from 1903 he studied at the gymnasium on Vasilyevsky Island. When his father died in 1910, the boy returned to his grandmother.


Inventor of the telegraph. The name of the inventor of the telegraph is forever inscribed in history, since Schilling's invention made it possible to transmit information over long distances.

The device allowed the use of radio and electrical signals traveling through wires. The need to transmit information has always existed, but in the 18th and 19th centuries. In the context of growing urbanization and technological development, data exchange has become relevant.

This problem was solved by the telegraph; the term was translated from ancient Greek as “to write far away.”


Emilius Christianovich Lenz is a famous Russian scientist.

From school, we are all familiar with the Joule-Lenz law, which establishes that the amount of heat released by current in a conductor is proportional to the current strength and the resistance of the conductor.

Another well-known law is the “Lenz rule”, according to which an induced current always moves in the direction opposite to the action that generated it.

Early years

The original name of the scientist was Heinrich Friedrich Emil Lenz. He was born in Dorpat (Tartu) and was a Baltic German by origin.

His brother Robert Khristianovich became a famous orientalist, and his son, also Robert, followed in his father’s footsteps and became a physicist.

Vasily Trediakovsky is a man with a tragic fate. As fate would have it, two nuggets lived in Russia at the same time - and Trediakovsky, but one will be treated kindly and remain in the memory of posterity, and the second will die in poverty, forgotten by everyone.

From student to philologist

In 1703, on March 5, Vasily Trediakovsky was born. He grew up in Astrakhan in a poor family of a clergyman. A 19-year-old young man went to Moscow on foot to continue his studies at the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy.

But he stayed there for a short time (2 years) and, without regret, left to replenish his knowledge in Holland, and then to France - to the Sorbonne, where, enduring poverty and hunger, he studied for 3 years.

Here he participated in public debates, comprehended mathematical and philosophical sciences, was a student of theology, studied French and Italian abroad.


“Father of Satan”, academician Yangel Mikhail Kuzmich, was born on October 25, 1911 in the village. Zyryanov, Irkutsk region, came from a family of descendants of convict settlers. At the end of the 6th grade (1926), Mikhail leaves for Moscow to join his older brother Konstantin, who studied there. When I was in the 7th grade, I worked part-time, delivering stacks of newspapers - orders from the printing house. After graduating from college, he worked in a factory and at the same time studied at the workers' faculty.

MAI student. Beginning of a professional career

In 1931, he went to study at the Moscow Aviation Institute, majoring in “aircraft engineering,” and graduated in 1937. While still a student, Mikhail Yangel got a job at the Polikarpov Design Bureau, later on as his scientific supervisor for his thesis project: “High-altitude fighter with a pressurized cabin.” " Having started his work at the Polikarpov Design Bureau as a 2nd category designer, ten years later M.K. Yangel was already a leading engineer, developing projects for new modifications of fighters.

02/13/1938, M.K. Yangel as part of the group Soviet specialists in the field of aircraft construction, the USSR visits the United States for a business trip. It is worth noting that the 30s of the twentieth century was a fairly active period in cooperation between the USSR and the USA and not only in the field of mechanical engineering and aircraft manufacturing, in particular, small arms were purchased (in fairly limited quantities) - Thompson submachine guns and Colt pistols.


Scientist, founder of the theory of helicopter engineering, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor Mikhail Leontievich Mil, winner of the Lenin and State Prizes, Hero of Socialist Labor.

Childhood, study, youth

Mikhail Leontyev was born on November 22, 1909 - in the family of a railway employee and a dentist. Before settling in the city of Irkutsk, his father, Leonty Samuilovich, searched for gold for 20 years, working in the mines. Grandfather, Samuil Mil, settled in Siberia after completing 25 years of naval service. From childhood, Mikhail showed versatile talents: he loved to draw, was fond of music and easily mastered foreign languages, and was involved in an aircraft modeling club. At the age of ten, he participated in the Siberian aircraft modeling competition, where, having passed the stage, Misha’s model was sent to the city of Novosibirsk, where she received one of the prizes.

Mikhail graduated from primary school in Irkutsk, after which in 1925 he entered the Siberian Technological Institute.

A.A. Ukhtomsky is an outstanding physiologist, scientist, researcher of the muscular and nervous systems, as well as sensory organs, laureate of the Lenin Prize and member of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

Childhood. Education

The birth of Alexey Alekseevich Ukhtomsky took place on June 13 (25), 1875 in the small town of Rybinsk. He spent his childhood and youth there. This Volga city forever left the warmest and most tender memories in the soul of Alexei Alekseevich. He proudly called himself a Volgar throughout his life. When the boy graduated from primary school, his father sent him to Nizhny Novgorod and assigned him to the local cadet corps. The son obediently graduated from it, but military service was never the ultimate dream of the young man, who was more attracted to such sciences as history and philosophy.

Passion for philosophy

Ignoring military service, he went to Moscow and entered the theological seminary in two faculties at once - philosophical and historical. Deeply studying philosophy, Ukhtomsky began to think a lot about eternal questions about the world, about man, about the essence of being. Ultimately, philosophical mysteries led him to the study of natural sciences. As a result, he settled on physiology.

A.P. Borodin is known as an outstanding composer, the author of the opera “Prince Igor”, the symphony “Bogatyrskaya” and other musical works.

He is much less known as a scientist who made an invaluable contribution to science in the field of organic chemistry.

Origin. Early years

A.P. Borodin was the illegitimate son of the 62-year-old Georgian prince L.S. Genevanishvili and A.K. Antonova. He was born on October 31 (11/12), 1833.

He was recorded as the son of the prince's serf servants - the spouses Porfiry Ionovich and Tatyana Grigorievna Borodin. Thus, for eight years the boy was listed in his father’s house as a serf. But before his death (1840), the prince gave his son his freedom, bought him and his mother Avdotya Konstantinovna Antonova a four-story house, having previously married her to the military doctor Kleineke.

The boy, in order to avoid unnecessary rumors, was presented as Avdotya Konstantinovna’s nephew. Since Alexander’s background did not allow him to study at the gymnasium, he studied at home all the subjects of the gymnasium course, in addition to German and French having received an excellent home education.

01/17/2012 02/12/2018 by ☭ USSR ☭

There were many outstanding figures in our country, which we, unfortunately, forget, not to mention the discoveries that were made by Russian scientists and inventors. The events that turned the history of Russia upside down are also not known to everyone. I want to correct this situation and recall the most famous Russian inventions.

1. Airplane - Mozhaisky A.F.

The talented Russian inventor Alexander Fedorovich Mozhaisky (1825-1890) was the first in the world to create a life-size airplane capable of lifting a person into the air. As is known, people of many generations, both in Russia and in other countries, worked on solving this complex technical problem before A.F. Mozhaisky; they followed different paths, but none of them managed to bring the matter to practical experience with a full-scale aircraft. A.F. Mozhaisky found the right way to solve this problem. He studied the works of his predecessors, developed and supplemented them, using his theoretical knowledge and practical experience. Of course, he did not manage to resolve all the issues, but he did, perhaps, everything that was possible at that time, despite the extremely unfavorable situation for him: limited material and technical capabilities, as well as distrust of his work on the part of the military-bureaucratic apparatus Tsarist Russia. Under these conditions, A.F. Mozhaisky managed to find the spiritual and physical strength to complete the construction of the world's first aircraft. It was a creative feat that forever glorified our Motherland. Unfortunately, the surviving documentary materials do not allow us to describe in the necessary detail the aircraft of A.F. Mozhaisky and its tests.

2. Helicopter– B.N. Yuryev.


Boris Nikolaevich Yuryev is an outstanding aviator scientist, full member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, lieutenant general of the engineering and technical service. In 1911, he invented a swashplate (the main component of a modern helicopter) - a device that made it possible to build helicopters with stability and controllability characteristics acceptable for safe piloting by ordinary pilots. It was Yuryev who paved the way for the development of helicopters.

3. Radio receiver— A.S.Popov.

A.S. Popov first demonstrated the operation of his device on May 7, 1895. at a meeting of the Russian Physical-Chemical Society in St. Petersburg. This device became the world's first radio receiver, and May 7th became the birthday of radio. And now it is celebrated annually in Russia.

4. TV - Rosing B.L.

On July 25, 1907, he filed an application for the invention “Method of electrically transmitting images over distances.” The beam was scanned in the tube magnetic fields, and modulation of the signal (change in brightness) using a capacitor, which could deflect the beam vertically, thereby changing the number of electrons passing to the screen through the diaphragm. On May 9, 1911, at a meeting of the Russian Technical Society, Rosing demonstrated the transmission of television images of simple geometric figures and their reception with reproduction on a CRT screen.

5. Backpack parachute - Kotelnikov G.E.

In 1911, the Russian military man Kotelnikov, impressed by the death of the Russian pilot Captain L. Matsievich at the All-Russian Aeronautics Festival in 1910, invented a fundamentally new parachute RK-1. Kotelnikov's parachute was compact. Its dome is made of silk, the slings were divided into 2 groups and attached to the shoulder girths of the suspension system. The canopy and lines were placed in a wooden, and later aluminum, backpack. Later, in 1923, Kotelnikov proposed a backpack for stowing a parachute, made in the form of an envelope with honeycombs for lines. During 1917, 65 parachute descents were registered in the Russian army, 36 for rescue and 29 voluntary.

6. Nuclear power plant.

Launched on June 27, 1954 in Obninsk (then the village of Obninskoye, Kaluga Region). It was equipped with one AM-1 reactor (“peaceful atom”) with a capacity of 5 MW.
The reactor of the Obninsk NPP, in addition to generating energy, served as a base for experimental research. Currently, the Obninsk NPP is decommissioned. Its reactor was shut down on April 29, 2002 for economic reasons.

7. Periodic table of chemical elements– Mendeleev D.I.


The periodic system of chemical elements (Mendeleev's table) is a classification of chemical elements that establishes the dependence of various properties of elements on the charge of the atomic nucleus. The system is a graphic expression of the periodic law established by the Russian chemist D.I. Mendeleev in 1869. Its original version was developed by D.I. Mendeleev in 1869-1871 and established the dependence of the properties of elements on their atomic weight (in modern terms, on atomic mass).

8. Laser

Prototype laser masers were made in 1953-1954. N. G. Basov and A. M. Prokhorov, as well as, independently of them, the American C. Townes and his employees. Unlike the Basov and Prokhorov quantum generators, which found a way out by using more than two energy levels, the Townes maser could not operate in a constant mode. In 1964, Basov, Prokhorov and Townes received the Nobel Prize in Physics “for their seminal work in the field of quantum electronics, which made it possible to create oscillators and amplifiers based on the principle of the maser and laser.”

9. Bodybuilding


Russian athlete Evgeniy Sandov, the title of his book “bodybuilding” was literally translated into English. language.

10. Hydrogen bomb– Sakharov A.D.

Andrey Dmitrievich Sakharov(May 21, 1921, Moscow - December 14, 1989, Moscow) - Soviet physicist, academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences and politician, dissident and human rights activist, one of the creators of the first Soviet hydrogen bomb. Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for 1975.

11. The first artificial satellite of the earth, the first astronaut, etc.

12. Plaster - N. I. Pirogov

For the first time in the history of world medicine, Pirogov used a plaster cast, which accelerated the healing process of fractures and saved many soldiers and officers from ugly curvature of their limbs. During the siege of Sevastopol, to care for the wounded, Pirogov used the help of sisters of mercy, some of whom came to the front from St. Petersburg. This was also an innovation at that time.

13. Military medicine

Pirogov invented the stages of providing military medical service, as well as methods for studying human anatomy. In particular, he is the founder of topographic anatomy.


Antarctica was discovered on January 16 (January 28), 1820 by a Russian expedition led by Thaddeus Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev, who approached it on the sloops Vostok and Mirny at point 69°21? Yu. w. 2°14? h. d. (G) (region of the modern Bellingshausen ice shelf).

15. Immunity

Having discovered the phenomena of phagocytosis in 1882 (which he reported in 1883 at the 7th Congress of Russian Naturalists and Doctors in Odessa), he developed on their basis a comparative pathology of inflammation (1892), and later - a phagocytic theory of immunity (“Immunity in infectious diseases", 1901 - Nobel Prize, 1908, jointly with P. Ehrlich).


The basic cosmological model in which consideration of the evolution of the Universe begins with a state of dense hot plasma consisting of protons, electrons and photons. The hot universe model was first considered in 1947 by Georgiy Gamow. The origin of elementary particles in the hot universe model has been described since the late 1970s using spontaneous symmetry breaking. Many of the shortcomings of the hot universe model were resolved in the 1980s as a result of the construction of inflation theory.


The most famous computer game, invented by Alexey Pajitnov in 1985.

18. The first machine gun - V.G. Fedorov

An automatic carbine designed for hand-held burst fire. V.G. Fedorov. Abroad, this type of weapon is called an “assault rifle.”

1913 - prototype chambered for a special cartridge intermediate in power (between pistol and rifle).
1916 - adoption (under the Japanese rifle cartridge) and first combat use (Romanian Front).

19. Incandescent lamp– lamp by A.N. Lodygin

The light bulb does not have one single inventor. The history of the light bulb is a whole chain of discoveries made different people at different times. However, Lodygin's merits in the creation of incandescent lamps are especially great. Lodygin was the first to propose using tungsten filaments in lamps (in modern light bulbs the filaments are made of tungsten) and twisting the filament in the shape of a spiral. Lodygin was also the first to pump air out of lamps, which increased their service life many times over. Another invention of Lodygin, aimed at increasing the service life of lamps, was filling them with inert gas.

20. Diving apparatus

In 1871, Lodygin created a project for an autonomous diving suit using a gas mixture consisting of oxygen and hydrogen. Oxygen had to be produced from water by electrolysis.

21. Induction oven


The first caterpillar propulsion device (without a mechanical drive) was proposed in 1837 by staff captain D. Zagryazhsky. Its caterpillar propulsion system was built on two wheels surrounded by an iron chain. And in 1879, the Russian inventor F. Blinov received a patent for the “caterpillar track” he created for a tractor. He called it “a locomotive for dirt roads”

23. Cable telegraph line

The St. Petersburg-Tsarskoe Selo line was built in the 40s. XIX century and had a length of 25 km. (B. Jacobi)

24. Synthetic rubber from petroleum– B. Byzov

25. Optical sight


“A mathematical instrument with a perspective telescope, with other accessories and a spirit level for quick guidance from a battery or from the ground at the shown location to the target horizontally and along the levation.” Andrey Konstantinovich NARTOV (1693-1756).


In 1801, the Ural master Artamonov solved the problem of lightening the weight of the cart by reducing the number of wheels from four to two. Thus, Artamonov created the world's first pedal scooter, a prototype of the future bicycle.

27. Electric welding

The method of electric welding of metals was invented and first used in 1882 by the Russian inventor Nikolai Nikolaevich Benardos (1842 - 1905). He called the “stitching” of metal with an electric seam “electrohephaestus.”

First in the world personal computer was invented not by the American company Apple Computers and not in 1975, but in the USSR in 1968
year by a Soviet designer from Omsk Arseny Anatolyevich Gorokhov (born 1935). Author's certificate No. 383005 describes in detail the “programming device,” as the inventor then called it. They didn’t give money for an industrial design. The inventor was asked to wait a little. He waited until the domestic “bicycle” was invented abroad once again.

29. Digital technologies.

- the father of all digital technologies in data transmission.

30. Electric motor– B.Jacobi.

31. Electric car


The two-seater electric car of I. Romanov, model 1899, changed the speed in nine gradations - from 1.6 km per hour to a maximum of 37.4 km per hour

32. Bomber

Four-engine aircraft “Russian Knight” by I. Sikorsky.

33. Kalashnikov assault rifle


A symbol of freedom and the fight against oppressors.

Pythagoras (c. 580-500 BC)

Every schoolchild knows: “In right triangle The square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the legs.” But few people know that Pythagoras was also a philosopher, religious thinker and political figure; it was he who introduced the term “philosophy” into our language, which means “philosophy.” He founded a school whose students were called Pythagoreans, and he was the first to use the word “cosmos.”

Democritus (460-c. 370 BC)

Democritus, as well as other philosophers Ancient world, I have always been interested in the question of what is the fundamental principle of the Universe. Some sages believed that it was water, others – fire, others – air, and still others – everything combined. Democritus was not convinced by their arguments. Reflecting on the fundamental principle of the world, he came to the conclusion that it was the smallest indivisible particles, which he called atoms. There are a great many of them. The whole world consists of them. They connect and separate. He made this discovery through logical reasoning. And more than two thousand years later, scientists of our time, using physical instruments, proved that he was right.

Euclid (c. 365-300 BC)

Plato's student Euclid wrote the treatise "Elements" in 13 books. In them, the scientist outlined the foundations of geometry, which means in Greek “the science of measuring the Earth,” which for many centuries was called Euclidean geometry. The ancient Greek king Ptolemy I Soter, who ruled in Egyptian Alexandria, demanded that Euclid, who explained the laws of geometry to him, do this shorter and faster. He replied: “Oh, great king, in geometry there are no royal roads...”

Archimedes (287-212 BC)

Archimedes remained in history as one of the most famous Greek mechanics, inventors and mathematicians, who amazed his contemporaries with his amazing machines. Watching the work of builders who used thick sticks to move stone blocks, Archimedes realized that the longer the lever, the greater the force of its impact. He told the Syracusan king Hieron: “Give me a fulcrum, and I will move the Earth.” Hieron didn't believe it. And then Archimedes, with the help of a complex system of mechanisms, with the effort of one hand, pulled the ship ashore, which was usually pulled out of the water by hundreds of people.

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)

The great Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci proved himself to be a universal creator. He was a sculptor, architect, inventor. A brilliant master, he made a huge contribution to art, culture and science. In Italy they called him a sorcerer, a wizard, a man who can do anything. Infinitely talented, he created various mechanisms, designed unprecedented aircraft such as a modern helicopter, and invented a tank.

Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543)

Nicolaus Copernicus became famous in the scientific world for his astronomical discoveries. His heliocentric system replaced the previous, Greek, geocentric one. He is the first to scientifically prove that the Sun does not revolve around the Earth, but vice versa. The Earth and other planets revolve around the Sun. Nicolaus Copernicus was a versatile scientist. Widely educated, he treated people, was knowledgeable in economics, and made various instruments and machines himself. Nicolaus Copernicus wrote in Latin and German throughout his life. Not a single document written by him in Polish has been found.

Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)

The young Florentine Galileo Galilei, who studied at the University of Pisa, attracted the attention of professors not only with clever reasoning, but also with original inventions. But the gifted student was expelled from the 3rd year because his father did not have money for his studies. But Galileo was lucky - the young man found a patron, the rich Marquis Guidobaldo del Moite, who was fond of science. He supported 22-year-old Galileo. Thanks to the Marquis, the world received a man who showed his genius in mathematics, physics, and astronomy. Even during his lifetime, Galileo was compared to Archimedes. He was the first to declare that the Universe is infinite.

René Descartes (1596-1650)

Like many great thinkers of antiquity, Descartes was universal. He laid the foundations of analytical geometry, created many algebraic notations, discovered the law of conservation of motion, and explained the root causes of the motion of celestial bodies. Descartes studied at the best French Jesuit college in La Flèche. And there, at the beginning of the 17th century, strict orders reigned. The disciples got up early and ran to prayer. Only one, the best pupil was allowed to stay in bed due to poor health - this was Rene Descartes. This is how he developed the habit of reasoning and finding solutions to mathematical problems. Later, according to legend, it was in these morning hours that he had a thought that spread throughout the whole world: “I think, therefore I exist.”

Isaac Newton (1643-1727)

Isaac Newton - a brilliant English scientist, experimenter, researcher, also a mathematician, astronomer, inventor, made a lot of discoveries that determined the physical picture of the world around him. According to legend, Isaac Newton discovered the law of universal gravitation in his garden. He watched a falling apple and realized that the Earth attracts all objects to itself, and the heavier the object, the more strongly it is attracted to the Earth. Reflecting on this, he deduced the law of universal gravitation: All bodies attract each other with a force proportional to both masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.

James Watt (1736-1819)

James Watt is considered one of the creators of the technological revolution that transformed the world. They tried to tame the energy of steam back in ancient times. The Greek scientist Heroes, who lived in Alexandria in the 1st century, built the first steam turbine, which rotated by burning wood in a heater. In Russia in the 18th century, mechanic Ivan Polzunov also tried to tame the energy of steam, but his machine was not widely used. And only the English, or rather the Scottish self-taught mechanic James Watt, was able to construct such a machine, which was used first in mines, then in factories, and then on locomotives and ships.

Antoine Laurent Lavoisier (1743-1794)

Antoine Laurent Lavoisier was a multi-talented man who was successful in financial transactions, but was especially interested in chemistry. He made many discoveries, became the founder of modern chemistry, and would have accomplished a lot if not for the radicalism of the Great French Revolution. In his youth, Antoine Lavoisier participated in the competition of the Academy of Sciences for best way street lighting. To increase the sensitivity of his eyes, he upholstered his room with black material. Antoine described his acquired new perception of light in the work he submitted to the Academy, and received a gold medal for it. For scientific research in the field of mineralogy, at the age of 25 he was elected a member of the Academy.

Justus Liebig (1803-1873)

Justus Liebig is credited with creating food concentrates. He developed a technology for the production of meat extract, which today is called a “broth cube”. The German Chemical Society erected a monument to him in Munich. The outstanding German professor of organic chemistry, Justus Liebig, spent his entire life researching methods of plant nutrition and solving issues of rational use of fertilizers. He did a lot to increase agricultural productivity. Russia, for the assistance it provided in the rise of agriculture, awarded the scientist two Orders of St. Anne, England made him an honorary citizen, and in Germany he received the title of baron.

Louis Pasteur (1822-1895)

Louis Pasteur is a rare example of a scientist who had neither medical nor chemical education. He made his way into science on his own, without any protégés, based on personal interest. But scientists showed interest in him, noticing considerable abilities in the young man. And Louis Pasteur became an outstanding French microbiologist and chemist, a member of the French Academy, and created the pasteurization process. An institute was created especially for him in Paris, which was later named after him. Russian microbiologist, Nobel Prize laureate in the field of physiology and medicine, Ilya Mechnikov, worked at this institute for 18 years.

Alfred Bernhard Nobel (1833-1896)

Alfred Bernhard Nobel, a Swedish chemical engineer, invented dynamite, who patented it in 1867 and proposed it for use in tunneling. This invention made Nobel famous throughout the world and brought him enormous income. The word dynamite in Greek means "strength". This explosive, which consists of nitroglycerin, potassium or sodium nitrate and wood flour, depending on the volume, can destroy a car, a house, or destroy a rock. In 1895, Nobel made a will, according to which most of his capital was allocated to prizes for outstanding achievements in chemistry, physics, medicine, literature and peace.

Robert Heinrich Hermann Koch (1843-1910)

Close communication with nature determined his future choice of profession - Robert Koch became a microbiologist. And it started in childhood. Robert Koch's maternal grandfather was a great lover of nature, often taking his beloved 7-year-old grandson with him into the forest, telling him about the life of trees and herbs, and talking about the benefits and harms of insects. Microbiologist Koch fought against the most terrible diseases of mankind - anthrax, cholera and tuberculosis. And he came out victorious. For his achievements in the fight against tuberculosis, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1905.

Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen (1845-1923)

In 1895, a German scientific journal published a photograph of the hand of Wilhelm Roentgen's wife, taken using X-rays (x-rays, later called X-rays after their discoverer), which aroused great interest in the scientific world. Before Roentgen, no physicist had done anything like this. This photograph indicated that penetration into the depths of the human body had taken place without physically opening it. It was a breakthrough in medicine, in the recognition of diseases. For the discovery of these rays, William Roentgen was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901.

Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931)

During his life, Edison improved the telegraph, telephone, created a microphone, invented the phonograph and, most importantly, illuminated America with his incandescent light bulb, and behind it the whole world. There has never been a more inventive man in American history than Thomas Edison. In total, he is the author of over 1,000 patented inventions in the United States and about 3,000 in other countries. But before achieving such an outstanding result, he, according to his own frank statements, made many tens of thousands of unsuccessful experiments and experiences.

Marie Skłodowska Curie (1867-1934)

Marie Skłodowska Curie graduated from the Sorbonne, the largest educational institution France, and became the first female teacher in its history. Together with her husband Pierre Curie, she first discovered radium, a decay product of uranium-238, and then polonium. The study and use of the radioactive properties of radium played a huge role in the study of the structure of the atomic nucleus and the phenomenon of radioactivity. Among world-class scientists, Maria Sklodowska-Curie occupies a special place; she twice won the Nobel Prize: in 1903 in physics, in 1911 in chemistry. Such an outstanding result is a rare occurrence even among men.

Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

Albert Einstein - one of the founders of theoretical physics, Nobel Prize laureate, public figure. But he made a strange impression on his contemporaries: he dressed casually, loved sweaters, did not comb his hair, could stick his tongue out at a photographer, and generally did God knows what. But behind this frivolous appearance hid a paradoxical scientist - a thinker, the author of over 600 works on various topics. His theory of relativity revolutionized science. It turned out that the world around us is not so simple. Space-time is curved, and as a result, gravity and the passage of time change, and the sun's rays deviate from the straight direction.

Alexander Fleming (1881-1955)

Alexander Fleming, a native of Scotland, an English bacteriologist, spent his whole life searching for medications that could help a person cope with infectious diseases. He was able to discover a substance in penicillium mold that kills bacteria. And the first antibiotic appeared - penicillin, which revolutionized medicine. Fleming was the first to discover that human mucous membranes contain a special liquid that not only prevents the penetration of microbes, but also kills them. He isolated this substance and called it lysozyme.

Robert Oppenheimer (1904-1967)

Robert Oppenheimer - American physicist, creator atomic bomb, was very worried when he learned about the terrible casualties and destruction caused by the American atomic bomb dropped over Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. He was a conscientious person and subsequently called on scientists all over the world not to create weapons of enormous destructive power. He entered the history of science as the “father of the atomic bomb” and as the discoverer of black holes in the Universe.

photo from the Internet

Russian science is not only one of the greatest in the world, it is also a source of personnel for other countries. There is even such a term “Russian science” in the world, although many of the scientists who are called that have not lived in Russia for a long time, but studied here.

1. P.N. Yablochkov and A.N. Lodygin - the world's first electric light bulb

2. A.S. Popov - radio

3. V.K. Zvorykin (the world's first electron microscope, television and television broadcasting)

4. A.F. Mozhaisky - inventor of the world's first airplane

5. I.I. Sikorsky - a great aircraft designer, created the world's first helicopter, the world's first bomber

6. A.M. Ponyatov - the world's first video recorder

7. S.P. Korolev - the world's first ballistic missile, spacecraft, first Earth satellite

8. A.M.Prokhorov and N.G. Basov - the world's first quantum generator - maser

9. S. V. Kovalevskaya (the world's first woman professor)

10. S.M. Prokudin-Gorsky - the world's first color photograph

11. A.A. Alekseev - creator of the needle screen

12. F.A. Pirotsky - the world's first electric tram

13. F.A. Blinov - the world's first crawler tractor

14. V.A. Starevich - three-dimensional animated film

15. E.M. Artamonov - invented the world's first bicycle with pedals, a steering wheel, and a turning wheel.

16. O.V. Losev - the world's first amplifying and generating semiconductor device

17. V.P. Mutilin - the world's first mounted construction combine

18. A. R. Vlasenko - the world's first grain harvesting machine

19. V.P. Demikhov was the first in the world to perform a lung transplant and the first to create a model of an artificial heart

20. A.P. Vinogradov - created a new direction in science - geochemistry of isotopes

21. I.I. Polzunov - the world's first heat engine

22. G. E. Kotelnikov - the first backpack rescue parachute

23. I.V. Kurchatov - the world's first nuclear power plant (Obninsk); also, under his leadership, the world's first hydrogen bomb with a power of 400 kt was developed, detonated on August 12, 1953. It was the Kurchatov team that developed the RDS-202 (Tsar Bomba) thermonuclear bomb with a record power of 52,000 kilotons.

24. M. O. Dolivo-Dobrovolsky - invented a three-phase current system, built a three-phase transformer, which put an end to the dispute between supporters of direct (Edison) and alternating current

25. V.P. Vologdin - the world's first high-voltage mercury rectifier with a liquid cathode, developed induction furnaces for the use of high-frequency currents in industry

26. S.O. Kostovich - created the world's first gasoline engine in 1879

27. V.P.Glushko - the world's first electric/thermal rocket engine

28. V. V. Petrov - discovered the phenomenon of arc discharge

29. N. G. Slavyanov - electric arc welding

30. I. F. Aleksandrovsky - invented the stereo camera

31. D.P. Grigorovich - creator of the seaplane

32. V.G. Fedorov - the world's first machine gun

33. A.K. Nartov - built the world's first lathe with a movable support

34. M.V. Lomonosov - for the first time in science formulated the principle of conservation of matter and motion, for the first time in the world began to teach a course in physical chemistry, for the first time discovered the existence of an atmosphere on Venus

35. I.P. Kulibin - mechanic, developed the design of the world's first wooden arched single-span bridge, inventor of the searchlight

36. V.V. Petrov - physicist, developed the world's largest galvanic battery; opened an electric arc

37. P.I. Prokopovich - for the first time in the world, he invented a frame hive, in which he used a magazine with frames

38. N.I. Lobachevsky - Mathematician, creator of “non-Euclidean geometry”

39. D.A. Zagryazhsky - invented the caterpillar track

40. B.O. Jacobi - invented electroplating and the world's first electric motor with direct rotation of the working shaft

41. P.P. Anosov - metallurgist, revealed the secret of making ancient damask steel

42. D.I. Zhuravsky - first developed the theory of calculations of bridge trusses, which is currently used throughout the world

43. N.I. Pirogov - for the first time in the world, compiled the atlas “Topographic Anatomy”, which has no analogues, invented anesthesia, plaster and much more

44. I.R. Hermann - for the first time in the world compiled a summary of uranium minerals

45. A.M. Butlerov - first formulated the basic principles of the theory of the structure of organic compounds

46. ​​I.M. Sechenov - the creator of evolutionary and other schools of physiology, published his main work “Reflexes of the Brain”

47. D.I. Mendeleev - discovered the periodic law of chemical elements, creator of the table of the same name

48. M.A. Novinsky - veterinarian, laid the foundations of experimental oncology

49. G.G. Ignatiev - for the first time in the world, developed a system of simultaneous telephone and telegraphy over one cable

50. K.S. Dzhevetsky - built the world's first submarine with an electric motor

51. N.I. Kibalchich - for the first time in the world, he developed a design for a rocket aircraft

52. N.N.Benardos - invented electric welding

53. V.V. Dokuchaev - laid the foundations of genetic soil science

54. V.I. Sreznevsky - Engineer, invented the world's first aerial camera

55. A.G. Stoletov - physicist, for the first time in the world he created a photocell based on the external photoelectric effect

56. P.D. Kuzminsky - built the world's first radial gas turbine

57. I.V. Boldyrev - the first flexible photosensitive non-flammable film, formed the basis for the creation of cinematography

58. I.A. Timchenko - developed the world's first movie camera

59. S.M. Apostolov-Berdichevsky and M.F. Freidenberg - created the world's first automatic telephone exchange

60. N.D. Pilchikov - physicist, for the first time in the world he created and successfully demonstrated a wireless control system

61. V.A. Gassiev - engineer, built the world's first phototypesetting machine

62. K.E. Tsiolkovsky - founder of astronautics

63. P.N. Lebedev - physicist, for the first time in science experimentally proved the existence of light pressure on solids

64. I.P. Pavlov - creator of the science of higher nervous activity

65. V.I. Vernadsky - naturalist, creator of many scientific schools

66. A.N. Scriabin - composer, was the first in the world to use lighting effects in the symphonic poem “Prometheus”

67. N.E. Zhukovsky - creator of aerodynamics

68. S.V. Lebedev - first obtained artificial rubber

69. G.A. Tikhov - astronomer, for the first time in the world, established that the Earth, when observed from space, should have a blue color. Later, as we know, this was confirmed when filming our planet from space.

70. N.D. Zelinsky - developed the world's first highly effective coal gas mask

71. N.P. Dubinin - geneticist, discovered the divisibility of the gene

72. M.A. Kapelyushnikov - invented the turbodrill in 1922

73. E.K. Zawoisky discovered electrical paramagnetic resonance

74. N.I. Lunin - proved that there are vitamins in the body of living beings

75. N.P. Wagner - discovered the pedogenesis of insects

76. Svyatoslav Fedorov - the first in the world to perform surgery to treat glaucoma

77. S.S. Yudin - first used blood transfusions of suddenly deceased people in the clinic

78. A.V. Shubnikov - predicted the existence and first created piezoelectric textures

79. L.V. Shubnikov - Shubnikov-de Haas effect (magnetic properties of superconductors)

80. N.A. Izgaryshev - discovered the phenomenon of passivity of metals in non-aqueous electrolytes

81. P.P. Lazarev - creator of the ion excitation theory

82. P.A. Molchanov - meteorologist, created the world's first radiosonde

83. N.A. Umov - physicist, equation of energy motion, concept of energy flow; By the way, he was the first to explain, practically and without ether, the misconceptions of the theory of relativity

84. E.S. Fedorov - founder of crystallography

85. G.S. Petrov - chemist, world's first synthetic detergent

86. V.F. Petrushevsky - scientist and general, invented a range finder for artillerymen

87. I.I. Orlov - invented a method for making woven credit cards and a method of single-pass multiple printing (Orlov printing)

88. Mikhail Ostrogradsky - mathematician, O. formula (multiple integral)

89. P.L. Chebyshev - mathematician, Ch. polynomials (orthogonal system of functions), parallelogram

90. P.A. Cherenkov - physicist, Ch. radiation (new optical effect), Ch. counter (nuclear radiation detector in nuclear physics)

91. D.K. Chernov - Ch. points (critical points of phase transformations of steel)

92. V.I. Kalashnikov is not the same Kalashnikov, but another one, who was the first in the world to equip river ships with a steam engine with multiple steam expansion

93. A.V. Kirsanov - organic chemist, reaction K. (phosphoreaction)

94. A.M. Lyapunov - mathematician, created the theory of stability, equilibrium and motion of mechanical systems with a finite number of parameters, as well as L.'s theorem (one of the limit theorems of probability theory)

95. Dmitry Konovalov - chemist, Konovalov’s laws (elasticity of parasolutions)

96. S.N. Reformatsky - organic chemist, Reformatsky reaction

97. V.A. Semennikov - metallurgist, the first in the world to carry out bessemerization of copper matte and obtain blister copper

98. I.R. Prigogine - physicist, P.'s theorem (thermodynamics of nonequilibrium processes)

99. M.M. Protodyakonov - scientist, developed a globally accepted scale of rock strength

100. M.F. Shostakovsky - organic chemist, balsam Sh. (vinyline)

101. M.S. Color - Color method (chromatography of plant pigments)

102. A.N. Tupolev - designed the world's first jet passenger aircraft and the first supersonic passenger aircraft

103. A.S. Famintsyn - plant physiologist, first developed a method for carrying out photosynthetic processes under artificial light

104. B.S. Stechkin - created two great theories - thermal calculation of aircraft engines and air-breathing engines

105. A.I. Leypunsky - physicist, discovered the phenomenon of energy transfer by excited atoms and

molecules to free electrons during collisions

106. D.D. Maksutov - optician, telescope M. (meniscus system of optical instruments)

107. N.A. Menshutkin - chemist, discovered the effect of a solvent on the rate of a chemical reaction

108. I.I. Mechnikov - the founders of evolutionary embryology

109. S.N. Winogradsky - discovered chemosynthesis

110. V.S. Pyatov - metallurgist, invented a method for producing armor plates using the rolling method

111. A.I. Bakhmutsky - invented the world's first coal miner (for coal mining)

112. A.N. Belozersky - discovered DNA in higher plants

113. S.S. Bryukhonenko - physiologist, created the first artificial blood circulation apparatus in the world (autojector)

114. G.P. Georgiev - biochemist, discovered RNA in the nuclei of animal cells

115. E. A. Murzin - invented the world's first optical-electronic synthesizer "ANS"

116. P.M. Golubitsky - Russian inventor in the field of telephony

117. V. F. Mitkevich - for the first time in the world, he proposed the use of a three-phase arc for welding metals

118. L.N. Gobyato - Colonel, the world's first mortar was invented in Russia in 1904

119. V.G. Shukhov is an inventor, the first in the world to use steel mesh shells for the construction of buildings and towers

120. I.F. Kruzenshtern and Yu.F. Lisyansky - made the first Russian trip around the world, studied the islands Pacific Ocean, described the life of Kamchatka and Fr. Sakhalin

121. F.F. Bellingshausen and M.P. Lazarev - discovered Antarctica

122. The world's first icebreaker of a modern type is the steamship of the Russian fleet "Pilot" (1864), the first Arctic icebreaker is "Ermak", built in 1899 under the leadership of S.O. Makarova.

123. V.N. Chev - the founder of biogeocenology, one of the founders of the doctrine of phytocenosis, its structure, classification, dynamics, relationships with the environment and its animal population

124. Alexander Nesmeyanov, Alexander Arbuzov, Grigory Razuvaev - creation of the chemistry of organoelement compounds.

125. V.I. Levkov - under his leadership, hovercraft were created for the first time in the world

126. G.N. Babakin - Russian designer, creator of Soviet lunar rovers

127. P.N. Nesterov was the first in the world to perform a closed curve in a vertical plane on an airplane, a “dead loop”, later called the “Nesterov loop”

128. B. B. Golitsyn - became the founder of the new science of seismology



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