Russia has never lacked truly talented personalities who, even without being on the throne, had a huge impact on the development of the state. Among them are scientists and writers, talented designers and great travelers, brave pioneers and conquerors of Siberia, military geniuses ... And, of course, the highest sovereigns. But all of them were united by one thing - love for the country where they lived, made their great discoveries and outstanding feats.
Who do you remember when you see the phrase "great people of Russia"? The list is often the same for everyone:
- Among the commanders recall Zhukov, Kutuzov and Suvorov.
- If we talk about scientists, they call Lomonosov, Mendeleev, Pavlov.
- Among writers, Pushkin, Lermontov and Chekhov are out of competition.
Of course, all the outstanding people of Russia, even if you simply list them by name, simply will not fit in the framework of this article, and therefore we will focus only on some of them. In addition, “between the lines” in this material many other personalities are mentioned, which every educated person should know about.
Mikhail Vasilievich Lomonosov
Who does not know this outstanding person, thanks to whom domestic science at one time made a real breakthrough to new horizons ?! Unfortunately, not everyone remembers the conditions in which the future luminary had to work and study. However, many great people in the history of Russia were not adepts of luxury: the genius commander Suvorov generally preferred to sleep on the boards and eat exclusively simple soldiers' food.
Mishenka was born in the family of Vasily Dorofeevich and Elena Ivanovna, on November 8 (19), 1711. Contrary to many historical textbooks, the family was not at all poor. As Mikhail himself later recalled, he practically did not remember his mother, since she died early, and spoke of his father as "a good and beautiful man in all respects, but brought up in complete ignorance." However, this characteristic was suitable for many people of that era.
Little Mikhailo lived quite happily and safely, but his father married for the third time. The chosen one was Irina Semenovna Korelskaya. The woman immediately seemed to the boy "angry, envious and greedy stepmother." Oddly enough, it was she who played a decisive role in his life. "Angry and furious" from his passion for books, the stepmother decided to try the proven method by marrying the restless youth. Lomonosov, having barely heard of this intention, immediately fled to Moscow.
St. Petersburg
In 1731, the future scientist arrives in the former capital of the Empire, where a new life begins with a criminal episode: in order to be enrolled in the coveted university, the guy has to forge documents with his own hands, posing as the son of a nobleman. Even today, such an act threatens with major troubles, and even at that time it was fraught with a death sentence, so that young Mikhail was remarkable for his remarkable courage and desire for knowledge!
However, almost all the outstanding people of Russia have never suffered from excessive shyness. So, the aircraft designer Mikoyan was almost the only one who could compete on equal terms with Stalin.
Study abroad
Four years of ordeal of Mikhail Vasilievich lasted at local schools, but in 1735 he was sent to Petersburg, to one of the institutes under the wing of the All-Russian Academy of Sciences. There, he immediately showed himself to be an outstanding physicist-practitioner, distinguishing himself with an "unbridled passion for risky experiments." Seeing his talents, the leadership just a year later sends a young and promising scientist to study abroad, in Freiburg. Unfortunately, almost all the well-known personalities of Russia at that time were forced to study abroad, since before Peter there were too few really good teachers in our country.
As in Russia, students had a very difficult time: they constantly did not have money even for normal food, not to mention textbooks, paper and clothes. I had to get out doing the black work. Lack of sleep and malnutrition, coupled with exorbitant mental stress, greatly weakened the health of all students.
Return to Russia
In 1740, the scientist returned to Russia. There were two reasons: the Institute’s reluctance to somehow support its students and constant disagreements with German teachers. At first, he was well received at home, and already in 1745, Mikhail Lomonosov became a professor of chemistry. Only 34 years old, which for those times was simply unbelievable! Like all the great people of Russia, he was not proud at all, continuing to work without respite, not forgetting to allocate time for each of his students.
He became famous for constantly engaging in fierce polemic fights and disputes with G. F. Miller and other "Germans", reproaching them with "deliberate humiliation of the Russian people, unwillingness to acknowledge their historical achievements." No wonder that many of his opponents became the youngest professor's worst enemies. However, this did not bother the latter: Mikhail was constantly engaged in science, paying special tribute to chemistry. Although it is easier to name that field of knowledge in which he would not have been noted by several works at once! Lomonosov desperately defended not only his charges, but also other scientists, among whom there were future prominent people of Russia.
Despite the German origin of G.V. Richmann, who tragically died during the experiments with electricity, he only cares about a worthy bonus to his family and cruelly, hoarsely, argues with bureaucrats who do not want to recognize the contribution of the deceased to the development of science.
Friends and foes
Over the years of his stay in St. Petersburg, Lomonosov made a huge number of friends, and even more enemies who were desperately envious of the imperial court’s good attitude towards him. When in 1765 he died of severe pneumonia, the then-popular poet Sumarokov spoke of this sad event: “The fool has calmed down and will not make any more noise!” Fortunately, the merits of Lomonosov were so great, and he had so many sincerely devoted friends and students that the blaspheming envious people did not have to bathe in the rays of glory.
Unfortunately, many historical figures of Russia did not escape the same fate. The great Pushkin, “our everything,” was subjected to severe persecution in aristocratic circles. The poet was not loved for his directness and unwillingness to become like courtiers. And what were the outstanding people of Russia of the 19th century? The period when the fate of the world was decided for many years to come?
Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky
Even in the West, where they don’t really like to acknowledge the merits of our compatriots, Tsiolkovsky is really honored. It is all the more strange that many famous personalities of Russia, both at that time and nowadays, do not know him at all. For a long time it was believed that Konstantin Eduardovich was just an extremely extravagant scientist with "very strange and unscientific ideas."
He was born in 1857. As a child, he was an extremely active and restless child, which subsequently played a bad joke with him: having rolled almost all day on a sled, tired and heated, he became very cold. An illness nearly killed him. After recovery, it turned out that Kostya somehow hears only a loud voice.
Consequences, the beginning of training
Hearing loss, however, led to the fact that the boy, deprived of the amusements familiar to his peers, begins to show a remarkable interest in craftsmanship, in the manufacture of all kinds of strange and funny crafts. His insatiable thirst for knowledge wakes up.
Almost all the great people of Russia had exactly the same character trait: at one time, the genius gunsmith Fedorov read hundreds of books on mechanics and artillery, conducted thousands of experiments and built an incredible number of mechanisms to confirm his theories.
In 1869, Kostya entered the gymnasium. He himself recalled that "study was carried out with great difficulty, since I practically did not hear the teachers, but felt only an unclear talk." In 1870, his elder brother dies, and almost immediately his mother descends into the grave, who could not stand this terrible news. It becomes very difficult for Konstantin.
Moscow
The father, seeing the remarkable abilities of his son, decides to send him to Moscow (1873), for admission to the Higher Technical School. Of course, nothing happened due to hearing loss. But the future star of the cosmonautics decides to stay in Moscow, engaged in self-education. The father sent his son 10-15 rubles a month. It was very decent money at that time, but Kostya ate only black bread and liquid tea.
The answer is simple: in a month only 90 kopecks went to food, and everything else went to the purchase of books, tools and other things necessary for the experiments. In just three years, from 1973 to 1876, the tireless Tsiolkovsky manages to master almost two gymnasium programs absolutely independently, spending days in libraries at Moscow institutes. In 1876, the father reports that his health has deteriorated and calls his son back to Kaluga.
Educational activities
Constantine returns home not only half-deaf, but also with a seriously impaired vision. Fortunately, his father had extensive and good connections, thanks to which the young man was easily taken to a teaching position in a local gymnasium. There he showed himself so well that the disciples drove him in droves.
In 1878, the family moved to Ryazan. There, in order to continue teaching, Tsiolkovsky had to take a full exam. Despite the fact that he was never interested in theology and other sciences necessary for this, he was able to quickly learn all the necessary things and pass the test with brilliance. Actually, all historical figures in our country were distinguished by an incredible thirst for knowledge. So, the great emperor Peter the Great, who received an extremely poor education, could literally learn dozens of the most complicated mathematical formulas in just a few hours, so that he could immediately use them in complex calculations for building ships.
Scientific activity
In just three years, he will write his scientific work “The Theory of Gases” (the manuscript has not reached our time). The isolation of the scientist from the scientific community played a bad joke with him: when he sent the text of his work to Mendeleev, he replied that all the conclusions presented in the text were absolutely correct ... only his research had no value, since all this had already been discovered 25 years ago.
However, the failure of the “father of Russian cosmonautics” did not bother at all, although he was annoyed. Like many historical figures of Russia, he had a very strong character. In this, he was very similar to the man who used his work later: Yuri Gagarin was one of many applicants for the first flight into space, but because of the stubbornness and perseverance of Yura, the whole world knows his name.
Transition to aeronautics
In 1885, when he was only 28 years old, Tsiolkovsky already had several excellent works in the field of aeronautics. The subject was incredibly interesting to him, and therefore since then he decides to engage exclusively in research in this area.
Until 1917, the scientist almost every year sent drafts of his manuscripts to various scientific institutions of the country, tried to interest industrialists with their developments. Everything was useless, no one was listening to him. Among the townspeople, Tsiolkovsky is considered a dangerous eccentric, and only the repeated intercession of a senior father-in-law saves him from dismissal and persecution.
In general, many prominent people of Russia, and of other states, during their lifetime did not hear anything good from their contemporaries, and many of them generally died in poverty and obscurity.
Recognition of merit
After the Revolution, the life of a scientist became much simpler. Already in 1918, he was finally deservedly elected Honorary Member of the Academy of Sciences, they began to pay a good cash allowance. However, not everything is so cloudless: in 1919 five people in civilian clothes were immediately declared at the scientist’s house, after which Tsiolkovsky was interrogated for five days in the cellars of Lubyanka.
Eyewitness accounts have been preserved that all this was again the result of a denunciation, but a miracle happened: the scientist’s work seemed important to some of the higher circles of the new Soviet government, and therefore he was immediately released without any charges. In 1935, Tsiolkovsky, already at an advanced age, wrote a letter to Stalin himself, in which he expressed the timid hope that at least the Soviet government would appreciate his research, since over the past years “he was tired of banging his head into the ignorance of his colleagues.” Oddly enough, but Joseph Vissarionovich nevertheless distinguishes this letter from the multitude of correspondence, sending the answer to the scientist.
In it, he thanked Konstantin Eduardovich for his significant contribution to the development of scientific knowledge, instructing him to continue his research. Unfortunately, soon after this, the scientist dies of stomach cancer. After his death, many of the outstanding man’s works were completely revised: aviation and, later, rocket science specialists found that decades before intensive scientific research in these areas, the old eccentric from Kaluga had already advanced far in this matter.
Tsiolkovsky’s theory of the exploration of Deep Space, the construction of ships in Earth’s orbit, the need to establish long-term settlements on the Moon and Mars ... All this is confirmed today by modern scientists. Remembering the names of the great people of Russia, never forget Konstantin Eduardovich!
Konstantin Konstantinovich Rokossovsky
Keeping a list of prominent figures of Russia, one should not forget about the military leaders, whose activities have repeatedly saved the country from conquest. So was Konstantin Konstantinovich Rokossovsky. The future strategist was born in 1896, back in the days of the Russian Empire. His biographers say that in fact he was born back in 1894. But for some reason he slightly reduced his age when he entered the service in the Soviet Army. From an early age he showed abilities and desire for military service.
During the First World War he joined the army on a voluntary basis. Already in 1915 he was presented to the St. George Cross of the third degree, but did not receive a well-deserved award due to bureaucratic confusion. In principle, given the attitude of the Soviets to such orders, this turned out to be not so bad.
In 1917 he managed to rise to the rank of non-commissioned officer, but only a year later his regiment was completely disbanded, and Rokossovsky had to continue his service as an ordinary Red Army soldier. However, for his merits, Konstantin Konstantinovich was quickly transferred to the squadron commanders. During the Civil War, in 1919, he killed one of Kolchak's deputies in a desperate saber fight.
A year later he became commander of the cavalry regiment. Participated in almost all major battles of that period, was read out by the works of Tukhachevsky, of which I learned a lot of useful things. All this, as well as his friendship with some subsequently repressed commanders, as well as his service as a non-commissioned officer in the Tsarist army, led to his arrest in 1937. Actually, many historical figures of that period passed through this “nuisance”: the same Korolev, the father of Soviet cosmonautics, spent a large part of his life behind bars.
Imprisonment
Until 1940 he was in prison. The absurdity of his conclusion consisted in the fact that he was "arrested on a denunciation of Adolf Yushkevich," who was Rokossovsky’s ally in Civil. But Konstantin Konstantinovich himself knew perfectly well that his friend had died a long time ago, and therefore physically could not give any evidence against him. In fairness, it is worth saying that the repressions were not always justified.
So, in the biography of Rokossovsky there was an episode when he raised his division in extremely bad weather (it was in Transbaikalia). People did not have normal warm clothes, horses were exhausted by a long passage. As a result, a large part of the personnel received frostbite, many died from pneumonia subsequently. Many horses broke their legs. The future marshal was just lucky that his actions were qualified as “negligence”, although in those years such things took place under “sabotage” and were punishable by death under the laws of wartime.
World War II and the post-war period
He showed himself perfectly in the Battle of Kursk, during the liberation of Belarus. Companions and even enemies noted his undoubted military talent. After the war, he did much to restore Russian (Soviet) influence in his native Poland. Like all great historical figures, he worked hard, not sparing himself. Like the brilliant commander Zhukov, who led the Soviet troops, Rokossovsky could not sleep for days when circumstances so required. It should be noted that Marshall always professed one conviction: "The army should always be higher than politics, the military should not interfere in it." Largely because of this, even the courtiers of the Soviet period respected him.
Many denunciations written in Rokossovsky did not pass precisely because of ridicule. Everyone knew that Konstantin Konstantinovich was not only not interested in perturbations in the higher echelons of power, but also categorically against interference in political affairs.
This man died in 1968. Many books and novels were written in memory of Rokossovsky, his bust and monuments can be found on the territory of the entire former USSR. The textbooks on military affairs and tactics written by Konstantin Konstantinovich are still being studied at the military academies of the Russian Federation.
The great historical figures described in this article are, as you understand, far from the only ones we can be proud of. The complete list of all the outstanding people to whom our country owes the very fact of its existence is very long. And to name everyone and at least briefly mention his merits to the Fatherland, the thickest book is not enough.
Who were the greatest people of Russia? It would be wrong to single out only some of them. Just say that they were all real People with a capital letter. They did not crave fame, but simply sought to do as best as possible the work that the country had determined for them. Surely someday textbooks will be published that list outstanding people of Russia of the 21st century. It is hoped that the memories of their contemporaries will allow us to say the same about them.