Three University early-career researchers are winners of the contest to mark 300th anniversary of St Petersburg University and the Russian Academy of Sciences
The St Petersburg Congress "Professional education, science and innovations in the 21st century" has summed up the results of the research paper "300th years of the Russian Academy of Sciences and St Petersburg University. History in people." The winners are five early-career researchers, three of whom represent St Petersburg University. The contest was organised by the Committee for Science and Higher Education of St Petersburg.
The contest included undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral students at educational and scientific organisations of St Petersburg. Their papers present the results of research or analytical reviews on the history of Russian science and higher education.
Nikita Goltsov, a doctoral student at St Petersburg University, is one of three winners of the contest representing St Petersburg University. His paper focuses on research by Yuri Novitsky (1882-1922), who was a lawyer, a legal historian, University Professor, and a saint of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Much is known about him as a church figure, a public figure, and a teacher. Yet, little was known about what he had been as a scientist, since he had published only one work during his lifetime. We have studied archives and compiled a list of the scientific works, created by Professor Novitsky during his short life.
Nikita Goltsov, a doctoral student at St Petersburg University
"It turned out that about 90% of them disappeared after the author was shot in 1922. It is possible that these manuscripts were lost forever. In any case, now we have gained a deeper understanding of the scope of his scientific activity," said Nikita Goltsov, a doctoral student at St Petersburg University.
In 2022, the book New Martyr Yuri Novitsky: In Service to the Law and to the Truth was presented at St Petersburg Historical Forum at St Petersburg University. Nikita Goltsov is one of the authors of this book. The illustrated album published by St Petersburg University Publishing House is the first scientific biography of the new martyr, revealing the most striking and important periods of his life. The initiator of the work on the book was Nikolay Kropachev, Rector of St Petersburg University. The book starts with the preface written by Nikolay Kropachev and the address of the Honorary Doctor of St Petersburg University, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia. You can read it on the website of St Petersburg University Publishing House.
The work by Ekaterina Ivleva, a student at St Petersburg University, is dedicated to the theorist and practitioner of translation Iurii Levin. She chose the topic of her work as the outstanding literary scholar and historian of artistic translation Iurii Levin was the brother of Ekaterina’s great-grandfather.
In the Year of the Family, it is more essential than ever to highlight stories of family continuity.
Ekaterina Ivleva, a student at St Petersburg University
Iurii Levin (1920-2006) was a representative of the St Petersburg school of comparative literary studies. He studied and completed his postgraduate studies at the Faculty of Philology at Leningrad State University. In 1951, he defended his candidate dissertation on 19th-century English literature. In her research, Ekaterina Ivleva spoke about the important contribution of Iurii Levin to the development of translation studies.
"His works cover a wide range of topics: from the analysis of classical literature to the translation of works by foreign authors, which allowed him to bridge different linguistic and cultural worlds. Iurii Levin successfully conveyed the artistic intentions of authors and delved into their philosophical and cultural contexts, which made his translations especially valuable for the reader. His works on translation studies are still relevant, and the scholar’s contribution to the development of translation theory cannot be underestimated," said Ekaterina Ivleva, a student at St Petersburg University.
On 8 February 2024, the day of 300th anniversary of St Petersburg University, St Petersburg University celebrated the 190th anniversary of one of the University’s outstanding graduates, the great scientist Dmitri Mendeleev. His entire life was closely connected with St Petersburg University. He studied, worked, and lived at the University from 1850 to 1890. At the University, he made first steps to discover the periodic law to develop the Periodic Table.
Another winner of the contest is Igor Savelyev, a doctoral student in the Department of Quantum Mechanics at St Petersburg University. He devoted his research to superheavy elements, one of the most important achievements of world science at the beginning of the 21st century. He particularly focuses on the development of the famous University researcher Dmitri Mendeleyev, the creator of the Periodic Table. This invention conveniently groups elements with similar chemical properties, but in the area of superheavy elements, deviations from general patterns may occur, said Igor Savelyev.
"In the recent theoretical article, my colleagues and I calculated the electron configurations of yet-to-be-synthesised superheavy elements with numbers 120-170. Our calculations are used to look beyond the existing periodic table to the cutting edge of science and understand the challenges facing scientists in this field today. The properties of yet-to-be-discovered elements may be so unique that the existing periodic law may not hold for them," shared Igor Savelyev, a doctoral student at St Petersburg University.