Pavel Petrovich Melnikov

Pawel Petrovich Melnikow (Portrait of Sergei Konstantinowitsch Sarjanko , 1869)

Pavel Petrovich Melnikov ( Russian Павел Петрович Мельников * July 22 ^jul. / 3. August  1804 ^greg. In Moscow , † July 22 ^jul. / 3. August  1880 ^greg. In Ljuban ) was a Russian engineer , university teachers , railroad - Pioneer and first transport minister of Russia.

Life

Melnikov was the son of a noble college assistant professor. According to Baron Andrei von Delwig , who later worked with Melnikov, he and his younger brother Alexei were the illegitimate sons of the head stable master Pyotr Nikiforowitsch Beklemischew (1770-1852), who then married their mother to the civil servant Pyotr Melnikow.

Melnikow attended the Krjaschew noble pension school in Moscow from 1818 to 1820, which attested him outstanding zeal. He then studied at the Verkehrswege military college, which he graduated in 1822 as the best. He was then an ensign in the construction command and studied at the St. Petersburg University of Transportation Engineering . In 1823 he was inducted into the traffic engineer corps , and in 1824 he was a second lieutenant . In 1825, after completing his studies as a lieutenant and top-performing student , he became a tutor for applied mechanics at the Transport Engineering University

In 1826 Melnikow was assigned to the project to improve the Volkhov rapids. In 1829 he became captain and in 1832 major . In 1833 the St. Petersburg University of Transport Engineering appointed him professor and head of the chair for applied mechanics. From 1833–1841 he planned a 6 km long dike in Dünaburg on the right bank of the Daugava to protect the city against flooding caused by the spring floods.

In 1835 Melnikov published the first textbook on rail transport in Russia: About the railroad . In 1837 he became a lieutenant colonel and in 1841 a colonel . 1839-1840 he was sent to the USA together with NO Kraft to study the local railroad system. In 1841 Melnikow submitted his 664-page report Technical Description of the Railways of the North American States , which was then published in sections by the traffic magazine. As one of the creators of the St. Petersburg-Moscow railway project (1842–1851) (with a 5-foot gauge , which then became the standard), he convinced Tsar Nicholas I to start building this railway line, the Nikolaibahn . It was - apart from the short Tsarskoye Selo Railway - the first long-distance railway in Russia. In 1847 Melnikov became major general .

1857-1858 led Melnikow together with the architect KA Thon and the engineer DI Schurawski the redesign of the spire of the Peter and Paul Cathedral of the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg , whose wooden structure was replaced by a metal structure. In 1859 Melnikov was appointed lieutenant general.

1862-1869 Melnikow headed the traffic route office, which was renamed in 1865 in the main traffic administration and was the first Russian transport ministry . During this time, the Russian railway network grew to over 7000 km. He planned and built the first railway highways , and he worked scientifically with the railway wagon. He developed a formula for calculating the driving resistance of rail vehicles . He constructed wagon frames and superstructures. He made suggestions for dimensions and materials for wheels, wheel sets and their bearings for wagons for normal and high speeds. He introduced a manually operated brake and limited the mass of the wagon .

In 1869 Melnilow resigned as an engineer general , but remained a member of the State Council and the Railway Committee.

Melnikow found his grave on his St. Petersburg – Moscow railway in Ljuban in the local Peter and Paul Church, which was built in 1867 on his initiative by KA Thon. 1954 his remains were transferred to the station square, where in 1955 a monument with its bronze - bust was erected. In 2000 his bones were returned to his original grave in the Peter and Paul Church, where services have been taking place again since 1989.

In 2003 a monument with the bronze statue of Melnikov (by the sculptor S. A. Shcherbakov ) was erected in Moscow on Komsomolskaya Square , which was also renamed the Three Stations Square . At the same time, a monument to the creators of the Russian railways with the figures of Melnikov and others was erected at the Kazan railway station . In 2014, a Melnikov bust was erected in Shumilino in Vitebskaya Woblasz . In Daugavpils a Melnikov monument is on the Daugava planned -Uferpromenade.

literature

• MI Voronin, MM Voronina: Pawel Petrowitsch Melnikow 1804-1880 . Nauka, Leningrad 1977 (Russian), English edition 1995.
• Richard Haywood: Russia Enters the Railway Age, 1842–1855 . Eastern European Monographs 1998.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Brockhaus-Efron : Melnikow, Pawel Petrowitsch . St. Petersburg 1890–1907 (Russian, accessed April 5, 2016).
2. ↑ Great Soviet Encyclopedia : Melnikow, Pawel Petrovich. Moscow 1969–1978 (Russian, accessed April 5, 2016).
3. ^ AI Delwig: My memories . Moscow 1912, volume 1, p. 40.
4. ↑ Alexei Margowenko: Ways of the Tsars . Ural Journal 2004 No. 10 (Russian, accessed April 3, 2016).
5. ↑ ^{a b} In Vitebskaya Oblast, a monument was inaugurated for the first Minister of Transport of the Russian Empire . The Monarchist November 20, 2014 (Russian, accessed April 5, 2016).
6. ^ Galina Wolkowa: The Belarusian Railway Center and the Minister of the Russian Empire . Vitebsky Kurjer November 24, 2014 (Russian).
7. ↑ Inquiry to the editor: Will there be a memorial for the engineer Melnikov? (Russian, accessed April 5, 2016).
8. ↑ There must be a memorial for PP Melnikov (in Russian, accessed on April 5, 2016).

Web links

Commons : Pawel Petrovich Melnikov  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files