Vasily Yevgrafowitsch Samarsky-Bychowets

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Vasily Evgrafovich Samarski-Bychowez ( Russian Василий Евграфович Самарский-Быховец ., Scientific transliteration Vasilij Evgrafovič Samarskij-Bychovec ; born November 7 . Jul / 19th November  1807 greg. In Tomsk Governorate , Russian Empire , † May 31 jul. / 12 June  1870 greg. In Saint Petersburg ) was a Russian mining engineer . The mineral samarskite (today three different minerals, namely - depending on the dominance of the corresponding element - samarskite (Y), samarskite (Yb) and calciosamarskite) and the element samarium (atomic number 62) were named after him. This makes him the first person a chemical element was named after.

Life

Samarski-Bykhovets came from a small noble family in the West Siberian governor of Tomsk. He received training as a military engineer with the local mining cadet corps, which he completed in 1823. He began his military career in the Kolywan Voskrosensk factories and as an overseer a. a. in the Salair mine in the Urals . In 1828 he was transferred to Saint Petersburg, where he held successive positions as an employee in the tsar's cabinet, as a secretary of the mining authority, as an adjutant and as a staff officer in the corps of military engineers (OIG). In 1834 he was promoted to captain and in 1843 to colonel . The following year he became Chief of Staff of the Military Engineer Corps, which he remained until 1861. Meanwhile, he began teaching at the Saint Petersburg State Mining University .

In 1847 he was involved in the drafting of several projects in the committee of the Duke of Leuchtenberg , in 1852 in the work of the committee for the development of iron production in Russia and in 1853 in the work of the committee for the production increase and administrative reform of the Olonets factories. In 1855 he was appointed chairman of the mining auditorium and a member of the board of directors and the scientific committee of the OIG. In 1860 Samarski-Bychowez became lieutenant general and in 1861 council chairman in the mining technician corps (later mining council) and chairman of the commission for the revision of the mining regulations. In 1862 he took a three-month vacation to visit an international scientific exhibition in London . He died in 1870 as a respected officer with a remarkable career and was buried in an Orthodox cemetery in Saint Petersburg. He left his wife Ekaterina Vladimirovna Samarskaya-Bykhovets († 1899) and his son Vladimir (1837-1902), the lawyer and a friend of the well-known writer Ivan Turgenev .

In 1835 Samarski-Bychowez received the Imperial-Royal Order of the White Eagle , the Order of St. Vladimir (third class in 1840 and fourth class in 1849) and the Third Class of St. Stanislaus .

Samarium

Samarsky-Bykhovets was not involved in the investigation of samarskit and samarium. As a mining officer, he only granted the German mineralogist Gustav Rose access to black rock / ore samples from the Ilmen Mountains near Miass in the southern Urals. In 1839 he found a new mineral in it, which he named uranotantalum after its presumed tantalum- dominated composition (another name was yttroilmenite ). However, in 1846–1847, his brother and colleague Heinrich Rose found out that it was mainly made of niobium and suggested that it be renamed. The new name, Samarskit , was only meant to honor Samarski-Bykhovets' role in obtaining the sample. Several lanthanide elements were later extracted and one discovered by Paul Émile Lecoq de Boisbaudran in 1879 was christened " Samarium " after the mineral of origin , once again honoring Vasily Samarski-Bychowez, who had played no role in the entire process. This is the first time a chemical element has been named after a real person.

In the book “From Hydrogen to…?” By PR Taube and EI Rudenko it says: “In the middle of the last century, engineer VE from Samara was the inspector of the mining region in the Altai and Urals. He was not distinguished by special skills. Once workers brought him an unknown mineral that was found in the Ilmen Mountains and had a very beautiful, velvety black color. A submissive official who was present suggested naming the mineral in honor of the inspector of the mining district Samarskit. His “ingenuity” was officially approved, the mineral was “baptized” and entered the collection of ... [sic]. Lecoq de Boisbaudran named this samarium after the name of the mineral in which a new element was found. This is how the name of the Samara engineer who did not deserve this honor was immortalized. "

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Samarskit in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia
  2. ^ Samarium , Royal Society of Chemistry
  3. ^ Heinrich Rosé : The composition of uranium tantalum and columbite from the Ilmen Mountains . Mining Journal, 1847, Part II, book. 4, pp. 108-126. "Я предлагаю изменить название уранотантал в самарскит, в честь полковника Самарского, по благосклонности которого я был в состоянии производить над этим минералом все изложенные наблюдения ".
  4. ↑ Samarium: History & Etymology , elements.vanderkrogt.net
  5. ↑ Популярная библиотека химических элементов (Russian)
personal data
SURNAME Samarsky-Bychowez, Wassili Evgrafowitsch
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Васи́лий Евгра́фович Сама́рский-Быховец; Vasilij Evgrafovič Samarskij – Bychovec
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Russian mining engineer, namesake of Samarium
DATE OF BIRTH November 19, 1807
PLACE OF BIRTH Tomsk Governorate , Russian Empire
DATE OF DEATH June 12, 1870
Place of death St. Petersburg