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who lived in it. Wouldn't they be baffled by how it defies their experience? The fact that all they could see were banned books, censorship and the bureaucratic acrobatics required to travel not only to the other side, but even within to one another? Would this history have seemed real, or is it something we simply write for ourselves, seeking comfort that totalitarianism was never actual?
Международная конференция: «Ломая Стену: национальный и межнациональный взгляд на восточноевропейскую науку (1945-1990)» (11-12 октября 2017 г., Бухарест, Румыния)
Вильям ДЕ Йонг-ЛАМБЕРТ
Департамент истории, Бронксский коммьюнити колледж Городского университета Нью-Йорк, США; wrl4@caa.columbia.edu
Международная конференция «Ломая Стену: национальный и межнациональный взгляд на восточноевропейскую науку (1945—1990)» состоялась 11—12 октября 2017 года в гостинице «Амбас-садор», и в отделениях организовавшего конференцию Института по расследованию коммунистических преступлений в Румынии и памяти румынской эмиграции (ПССМЕЯ).
"On the Border of the Russian Empire: German University of Tartu and its First Rector Georg Friedrich Parrot": The 28th Baltic Conference on the History of Science
K.-L. KooviT, L. Leppik
The University of Tartu Museum, University of Tartu, Estonia; kaija-liisa.koovit@ut.ee, lea.leppik@ut.ee
The 28th Baltic Conference on the History of Science on the topic "On the border of the Russian Empire: German University of Tartu and its first rector Georg Friedrich Parrot" was held at the University of Tartu from the 18th till the 20th of May 2017.
The conference was in celebration of the 250th birthday of the University of Tartu (then Kaiserliche Universität zu Dorpat) first rector Georg Friedrich Parrot. In 1802 Parrot was invited to the newly reopened university as the physics professor and as the first rector he was fundamental in ascertaining that Tartu would incorporate a modern version of academic study and that the natural sciences and science based studies would be the foundation for the university. Science based studies was the reason behind Parrots physics cabinet, which for a while was held as the best equipped cabinet in the Russian empire. The universities autonomy, good equipment and professor privileges provided an excellent foundation for the brightest minds to congregate towards Tartu which in return lead to the decade's worth of scientific excellence for
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which the Kaiserliche Universität zu Dorpat was later famous for. Parrot's social engagement lead him to request multiple amendments from the Russian emperor and he got personally involved in the development of better furnace designs for farm houses as well as engineering a new rotating cupola for the Tartu Observatory.
The conference can be considered a success — ten countries were represented, most of the science historians and science philosophers came from the neighbouring countries of Russia, Latvia, Lithuania and Finland, with whom the university has historical ties. The three days of the conference were held in four sections: enlightenment ideas in education in Europe, philosophy ideas concerning the Enlightenment, science and practice — utilitarianism and the Enlightenment and science communication and science policy. The last section included presentations on theatre ban in Tartu as well as the rhubarb trade by Russian pharmacists in the 18th century. In addition to Parrot many other figures in science history and their ideas were presented. Even though science history is not taught at the University of Tartu there were plenty of young researches giving presentations on such topics as portrait interpretation and the first astrophysics observations in Tartu (sunspots photographs 1897-1908).
Parrot was the focus of intensive research 50 years ago, during the celebration of his 200th birthday, now a new generation is looking into the period and the focus questions have shifted. New materials have been found and old ones revaluated. For example, Friedrich Bienemann used Parrots correspondence with Alexander I in his 1902 monograph, but the correspondence was much more substantial than believed — a larger collection was rediscovered in Riga and Professor Andrei Andreev from the University of Moscow gave a keynote presentation about their relationship dynamics. Even though not all of Parrots educational ideas presented to the tsar took hold in the Russian empire, there were some which were included in governmental memos and influenced the empires education system.
Quite a few presentations focused on the Professor Institute (1928-38) at the University of Tartu, which in reality was a small part of a grand project to replace the teaching staff in all Russian universities. T. Kostina in her presentation on minister Uvarov's university reform and the 1835 new wave of Russian empire universities constitutions talked about the increased professorship numbers in the universities that were filled by University of Tartu Professor Institute graduates and Russian solicitors trained in Berlin. The high intake of new professors in the 1830's also meant that they retired around the same time in the 1850's causing a shortage in academic staff which was solved by the 1865 university reform. Alexei Kouprianov's presentation focused on the comparison between Helsinki and Tartu university students and staff dynamics in the 19th century. Ksenia Kazakova and Tatyana Zhukovskaya in their presentation focused on archive papers which shed light on the academic migration that showed that the movement of individuals also meant a spread of ideas and institutions. For example, Saint Petersburg University — unlike other Russian universities — established student corporations which was an inspiration from Tartu.
There was a selection of history of medicine presentations which focused on the global, international and academic character of medicine. There were talks on enlightenment's influence on medical development in Latvia and Finland; University of Tartu graduates laying the foundations on the Kaunas University medical department in the 1920s; national health organisation in Lithuania; medical staff training in the 1940s, etc. Mary Schaeffer Conroy from the University of Colorado in the USA presented a paper on the discussion carried out by University of Tartu professors C. Schmidt and G. Dragendorff in regards to the direction the Russian pharmacy industry, which provided its own raw material, should move to — a topic which is on the agenda again (Pharmapolitics in Russian: Making drugs and (re)building the nation, 2016).
The conference also included presentations on the ideas of nature's supernatural and magical forces in the 17th century dissertations, 19th century Cuvier catastrophism reflections and catastrophe theory of René Thom, Euler's 60 systems to modern science denial. There were talks about individuals who spread ideas and teachings like vitalism and phrenology and science historians like Boris Raikov who studied Russian-German biological science relations in the 1950's and who due to that was accused of cosmopolitanism.
There were further talks on Baltic natural scientists making contributions to mollusc research in Russia, Karl Ernst von Baer physiological clock and subjectiveness in time; museum and a bison- a natural history story on how a medieval royal present became the tsars present to the academic community and German natural history museum collections influence in spreading knowledge on natural sciences.
The conference in Tartu provided the opportunity for the Baltic region science philosophers and science historians to come together and exchange ideas. Past historical connections provide a good foundation for future cooperation between individuals and institutions. The Baltic conferences on the history of science has its roots in the 1950's and have been held every two to three years in rotation between Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and in recent years also in Finland. Tartu was previously the host in 2001 and this year's conference was done in cooperation between the University of Tartu Museum and the Estonian Association of the History and Philosophy of Science with the support of the University of Tartu Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences and Faculty of Arts and Humanities, the Estonian Academy of Sciences, Tallinn University of Technology and the Estonian Counsil of the Gambling Tax. The next host will be held in Lithuania.
Keynote speakers were invited to talk on the opening day and their presentations can be viewed on the University of Tartu Television webpage: http://www.uttv.ee/naita?id=25705 Conference thesis collection can be found here: http://dspace.ut.ee/handle/10062/56393 Colleagues from the Petersburg Academy of Science have created web exhibition in honour of Parrot: http://www.ranar.spb.ru/rus/vystavki/id/758/
«На границе Российской империи: немецкий Тартуский университет и его первый ректор Георг Фридрих Паррот»: 28-я Балтийская конференция по истории науки
Кайя-лииса Коовит, леа леппик
Музей Тартуского Университета, Тарту, Эстония; kaija-liisa.koovit@ut.ee, lea.leppik@ut.ee
С 18 по 20 мая 2017 года в Тартуском университете состоялась 28-я Балтийская конференция по истории науки на тему «На границе Российской империи: немецкий Тартуский университет и ее первый ректор Георг Фридрих Паррот». Конференция была посвящена 250-летию со дня рождения первого ректора Тартуского университета (тогда Императорский Дерптский университет) Георгия Фридриха Паррота. Конференция в Тарту предоставила возможность научным философам и историкам науки Балтийского региона собраться вместе и обменяться идеями. Презентации ключевых докладчиков выложены на сайте по адресу http://www.uttv.ee/naita?id=25705. Сборник тезисов конференции можно найти здесь: http://dspace.ut.ee/handle/10062/56393. Веб-выставка Петербургской академии наук в честь Паррота находится на сайте СПФ АРАН: http:// www.ranar.spb.ru/rus/vystavki/id/758/.
