The Research and Pedagogical Activities of Prince O.S. Kudashev (1872—1917), an Inventor, Scientist, Engineer and Agrarian

Abstract

Life paths of the outstanding and versatile personality of Prince O.S. Kudashev (1872—1917), a nobleman, a representative of an ancient but impoverished family, a railway engineer, the creator and the first pilot of an airplane designed in Ukraine and tested in 1910 in Kyiv, were explored by methods of science history and biography analysis. Distinctive features of research and pedagogical activities of O.S. Kudashev in Kyiv Polytechnic Institute of Emperor Olexander II, the predecessor of the modern National Technical University of Ukraine “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute”, are outlined, with emphasis on his lecturing activities on the position of acting extraordinary professor in late 19th and early 20th centuries. The study is based on archival documents, publications of research works devoted to Kudashev and Kudashev’s lectures. A review of selected Kudashev’s works was made: “An introduction to the theory of iron-cement material” (1900), “An analysis of cement: an extract from the lecture of Prince A.S. Kudashev” (1900), “The elementary theory of the natural arch. The Castiliane method: lectures to engineering students of the 3rd academic year” (1901), “The issue of the definition of absorbable phosphoric acid” (1905), “About phosphoric acid in Podolsk soils” (1907), “The absorbable phosphoric acid in the soils of the black soil zone” (1907), “A laboratory study of soil for agricultural purposes” (1908), “Some principles of bed culture applied to dry areas” (1908), “The depth of steam blasting in steppe farms” (1908). The analysis shows that the research and development effort of Kudashev in the field of civil engineering, in particular one focused on reinforced concrete materials and the theory of elastic vaults, aroused particular interest in research circles and among students. Another field of Kudashev’s success was research into agrarian problems, which convincingly proved that the black soils in the south of Russia were the most fertile of all the Russian provinces in terms of the phosphorus content. Doing this research, Kudashev used his own method of determining the phosphoric acid and demonstrated that the phosphorus ranks second after the soil moisture in the crop formation.