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Augustine Betankour – the Russian Spaniard
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When we enter the beautiful hall of the Rostov State Transport University we see two marble monuments. One of them is a statue to Augustine Betankour. It is a pity that students and teachers simply pass this monument by, knowing very little or nothing about him. As a matter of fact Augustine Betankour was a remarkable man.
Augustine A. Betankour (Augustine Hose Pedro del Carmen Domingo de Candeliaria y Molina) was born on the 1-st of February 1758 in the family of the provincial officer. But his father was a nobleman, that is why his children could have 6 names.
The Betankours’ family was big: there were 5 sons and 5 daughters in it. They lived in the town of Puerto-de-la-Cruz on the Tenerife Island. All the children, including girls, got a profound education: they were taught mathematics, drawing, rigid subjects, French and English. Augustine studied at the Royal School of St. Isidor, learning algebra, geometry, higher mathematics, mechanics and physics. At the same time he took lessons of drawing in the Art Academy. As the result he made his first invention – the spinning frame – when he was 19, and at the age of 26 he became an academician in drawing.
In 1784 Betankour went to Paris to learn mechanics and hydraulics in the Paris College of Bridges and Roads and then to London – to examine the latest steam machines. After making a model of his steam machine that was then used at all French factories, Betankour became a well-known European engineer.
In 1788 Betankour was appointed the director of the Royal Cabinet of Machines by the decree of the Spanish king Charles III. His duty was to collect the models and drawing of the newest machines and devices in order to enhance the mechanic equipment in Spain.
In 1790 Augustine Betankour married an Englishwoman Ann Jurden. Due to some problems with their religion the family lived in England for ten years.
In 1801 Betankour was appointed the General inspector of roads and channels in Spain and soon he became the Head of the Transport and Communication system of that country. But the intrigues in the government and around the Spanish king forced Betankour to look for some other country where his knowledge and experience could be appreciated. To our luck Russia had become his second homeland.
The tsar Alexander I in 1807 invited Betankour to Russia. At this time he was 50, and for many other people that was the age to start calm and stable living. But for Augustine Betankour the traveling to Russia meant a beginning of a new, glorious period in his life.
At the beginning of the 19-th century Russia with its great territory desperately needed the specialists in water, railway and road transportation. Betankour was given a very complicated task – to create a system of transportation in Russia and to train specialist who would be able to work in it.
During his «Russian period» Betankour made a lot of important inventions: he worked out a project to prevent floods in the town of Tver; he made the design of water-supply to the fountain system in Tsarskoye Selo. One of his greatest contributions into the life of Russia was a Factory of securities in St. Petersburg. Betankour made a whole infrastructure for the people, working at this factory: starting from a kindergarten and school – to working process and samples of the first Russian securities, training courses for the specialists and even an amateur theatre for the workers. Remembering his significance in the development of Russian securities the latest photo paper for electronic devices is called «Betankur». Augustine Betankour worked out a process of mounting the columns of the Isaak’s Cathedral in St. Peterburg, but he did not managed to realize it. Monferan, his scholar, successfully completed the process. That is why we can see the statue to Betankour inside of the Cathedral.
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Augustine Betankour made a number of other great inventions which were carried out in the towns of Russia, but the most significant contribution of this great person into Russian history was creation of the Institute of Transport Engineers in 1809. Then during 15 years Betankour was the Head of the Institute. He invited the best European scientists and teachers to train future Russian transport engineers. For example, Dmitry Mendeleev was the Head of the Chemistry Chair. Betenkour personally supervised the process of admission, studying, physical training, the work of the students in the laboratories. He paid special attention to collecting of a specialized literature for the library of the Institute. During first 20 years all lessons were conducted only in French. The students who graduated from the Institute became the well-known Russian engineers, scientists and inventors.
There are many memorial places connected with the life of Augustine Betankour in Russia. Our people remember and honour this great person, who being a Spaniard made so much for his second motherland – Russia.
Vocabulary:
nobility – знать, дворянство;
nobleman – дворянин;
spinning frame – прядильная машина;
hydraulics – гидравлика;
steam machine -паровая машина;
flood – наводнение;
Factory of securities – фабрика ценных бумаг.
VLADIMIR I. KOLESNIKOV – THE RECTOR
OF THE ROSTOV STATE TRANSPORT UNIVERSITY
Vladimir Ivanovitch Kolesnikov, the Rector of the Rostov State Transport University is well-known as a prominent scientist, an academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Russia and abroad. His scientific interests lie in the field of mechanics and tribology.
V.I. Kolesnikov graduated from the Department of Physics of the Rostov State University in 1966. He got a second higher education in the Academy of National Economy at the Government of the Russian Federation. He defended a candidate thesis in 1975 and a thesis for a Doctor's degree – in 1987, so he became a doctor of technical sciences. In 1991 Vladimir I. Kolesnikov was elected a member correspondent of the Russian Academy of Sciences and in 2003 – a full member of RAS at the Department of Power Engineering, Machine Building, Mechanics and Control processes.
Vladimir I. Kolesnikov started his working activity at the civil construction company, then he worked as an engineer in the Scientific-Research Institute of Automation. In 1970 he started to work as an assistant in the Rostov Institute of the Engineers of Railway Transport, then he became an Assistant Professor, the head of the Chair «Theoretical Mechanics», a professor. In 1996 Vladimir I. Kolesnikov became the Rector of the Rostov State Transport University. Under his guidance the University has become a vast educational and research complex in the South of Russia, known for its high standards of training, educational equipment, unique laboratories and beautiful campus. More than 22000 of students study now in Rostov Main Building, four branches and many transport colleges. In 2009 the RSTU was included into the list of 500 best universities of the world by the independed agency «Reuter».
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Vladimir I. Kolesnikov is an Honoured Man of Science of the Russian Federation, the Chairman of a number of Dissertation Boards. He consulted more than a dozen of doctors of sciences and 30 candidates of sciences. He is the author of 510 scientific works, including 10 monographs, 30 inventor’s certificates and 13 patents.
Along with profound scientific activity V.I. Kolesnikov is engaged with active social work. During several years he was a deputy of the Supreme Soviet, a deputy of the Legislative Assembly of the Rostov Region, the Member of the Commission of Expertsin Transport at the Highest Certifying Commission of the Russian Federation, the Chairman of the Russian National Tribology Committee, the Editor or a member of the editorial boards of a number of scientific journals.
For his great services and contribution into transport education V.I. Kolesnikov was awarded the Presidential Prize in Education (2003), the Order of Honour (2006), a number of medals and the honorary titles «The Honoured Railwayman» (1989), the «The Honoured Machine Builder» and many other.
Being such a busy person, Vladimir Ivanovich pays much attention to all the aspects of students’ life. He regularly visits students hostels, attends the concerts and sport competitions. More than once he was an initiator of the charity actions in the orphanages, military hospitals or, for example, when Stavropol Region teachers and children suffered from natural calamity. Vladimir I. Kolesnikov does his best to make our University one of the most prestigious and famous educational establishments of the world. He considers that every modern specialist must possess not only his professional knowledge and competencies but know one or two foreign languages, to be computer literate and have a wide cultural outlook. Only in this case the specialists could compete in the world economic market.
Vocabulary:
an academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences – академик Российской Академии Наук (РАН);
tribology – трибология, трение и износ;
the Academy of National Economy at the Government of the Russian Federation – Академия народного хозяйства при Правительству РФ;
to defend a candidate thesis – защитить кандидатскую диссертацию;
a thesis for a Doctor's degree – докторская диссертация;
an Assistant Professor – доцент;
the head of the Chair – заведующий кафедрой;
an Honoured Man of Science – заслуженный деятель науки;
Dissertation Board – диссертационный совет;
inventor’s certificate – авторское свидетельство на изобретение;
the Legislative Assembly – Законодательное собрание;
the Member of the Commission of Experts in Transport at the Highest Certifying Commission of the Russian Federation – член Экспертного Совета по транспорту Высшей аттестационной комиссии РФ;
the Presidential Prize – премия Президента Российской Федерации;
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