Translation. Region: Russian Federation –
Source: Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University –
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
December 22 (old style) marked the 170th anniversary of the birth of the first director of the St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute, Prince Andrei Grigorievich Gagarin.
Andrei Grigorievich not only directed the Polytechnic Institute; he was also an outstanding scientist and inventor. One of his inventions, the Gagarin press, is the centerpiece of the new exhibition at the SPbPU History Museum, dedicated to the memory of one of the Polytechnic's founders and opened on his birthday.
"The anniversary of Andrei Grigorievich Gagarin, the first director of the Polytechnic University, is a very important event for us," said SPbPU Rector Andrei Rudskoy during the opening ceremony. "We honor history and today are taking another step toward perpetuating the memory of one of our great founders. We spent ten years restoring his family estate in Kholomki, and now it's a beautiful building with white columns, a ballroom, and a museum dedicated to the Gagarin family, with whom we maintain close ties."
After welcoming remarks, Andrei Rudskoy, together with Valery Klimov, director of the SPbPU History Museum, cut the green ribbon, and the first visitors entered the museum's new premises.
"Andrei Grigorievich Gagarin was not only the first director but also the chairman of the institute's construction committee. And, in fact, everything we see around us is also his achievement," said Valery Klimov. "170 years have passed, and everyone at the Polytechnic University knows who Prince Gagarin was, but there was no exhibition dedicated specifically to him. And now there is one. Andrei Grigorievich has made history for everyone, not just the Polytechnicians, as a mechanic thanks to this device, which everyone can now see. It's Gagarin's fully restored press, and everyone can now see it."
A. G. Gagarin's crushing press is a device for mechanically testing materials. Its purpose was to test samples for compression and tensile stress and record stress-strain curves. Andrei Grigorievich developed the press while working at the St. Petersburg Arsenal, and in 1896, he received a gold medal for it at the All-Russian Industrial Exhibition in Nizhny Novgorod.
Today, the Polytechnic University houses three Gagarin presses, two of which are housed in the Materials Strength Laboratory of the Mechanical Engineering Building and used in teaching. The third press is now housed in a museum, making it available for public viewing. Digital technology also allows visitors to see how it operates.
In addition to the press, the new museum exhibition includes unique materials chronicling the life and work of the Polytechnic's first director. These include pre-revolutionary furniture from the Gagarin family apartment, personal belongings, portraits and photographs from the prince's family archive, laboratory equipment, and books from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
"I am grateful to Andrei Grigorievich's descendants for selflessly sharing with us the things he used," Andrei Rudskoy said, sharing his impressions of the exhibition. "When you understand the kind of person who sat in that chair, at that table, and wrote with that pen, you feel a sense of awe."
The exhibition features numerous interesting exhibits, including samples for testing metals for tension and bending, gas burners, glass from the analytical chemistry laboratory, samples of refractory products for foundry production from the metallurgical laboratory, and a collection of minerals donated to the SPbPU History Museum by the Educational and Historical Reserve "A. G. Gagarin's Estate "Kholomki".
The exhibition "Gagarin's Press" is located in the basement of the Main Building of SPbPU.
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