Achievements of the Russian engineering school.

The success of the Russian engineering school has always been based on the unity of the triad - education-science-industry.

In the nineteenth century, the criterion for the success of the activity of any professor of the Institute of the Corps of Railway Engineers was the roads he built, the bridges, locks, canals, and piers he built.

From the moment of its formation, the Russian engineering school was fundamentally based on the unity of the triad education - science - industry with the leading role of its industrial component. It was on these principles that more than a hundred years later the concept of the general designer of a complex technical system was formed in the USSR. Thanks to the Russian engineering school and the system of engineering education in Russia, it became possible to create the railway industry in the 40s–80s of the 19th century and the nuclear and rocket and space industries in the 40s–80s of the 20th century. These two technological breakthroughs ensured Russia's entry into the ranks of the leading industrial countries for a long time, and also made a huge contribution to building the technical environment in which humanity lives today.

The foundations of the Russian engineering school were laid within the walls of the Institute of the Corps of Railway Engineers, established by decree of Emperor Alexander I in 1809. In the 30s and 40s of the 19th century, this institute was already the strongest scientific and technical university in Russia, and the level of education of its graduates corresponded to the highest European class of that time. The first evidence of this is the completion by Russian railway engineers (only seven years after the first Stephenson railway in England) in 1837 of the St. Petersburg-Tsarskoe Selo railway. Four years later, in 1841, Professor P. P. Melnikov completed the development of an even more ambitious project for the construction of the Moscow-St. Of the 184 bridges built on the Nikolaev road, eight are large with two to nine spans. During the construction of the largest Verebinsky bridge, the "great lieutenant" for the first time applied the theory of diagonal trusses he developed and actually became the founder of the theory of bridge building and the science of the strength of materials. In this regard, it should be noted that in the United States, according to statistics, from 1878 to 1887, that is, more than thirty years after the work of Zhuravsky, more than 250 bridge accidents occurred - American engineers built bridges, still relying on intuition and not for calculations.

The construction of the Nikolaev railway was completed in 1851, that is, eight years after the start of work. In total, for forty years (1837-1877) since the completion of the construction of the first Tsarskoye Selo railway in Russia, Russian railway engineers laid about 20 thousand miles of railways in extremely difficult natural conditions. It was the presence in Russia of an engineering education system, its own engineering corps with experience in scientific, educational activities and the implementation of world-class projects, that made it possible to build the Trans-Siberian Railway in record time - in just 15 years (1891–1905). At the same time, in the words of journalists of that time, the Trans-Siberian Railway was built "with Russian materials, for Russian money and Russian hands." The construction of the great highway made a huge contribution to the industrial rise of Russia and initiated the creation by 1917 of dozens of large industrial enterprises that produced rails, steam locomotives and wagons.

In the 1940s-1980s, the USSR made a technological breakthrough, as a result of which the nuclear and rocket-space industries were created, and then, on this basis, to implement a variant of the planned “knowledge economy”, the purpose of which was primarily to achieve world military leadership.

The most impressive evidence of the successful functioning of the planned “knowledge economy” triad and its scientific and educational section is the development and mass production of such high-tech, science-intensive objects as nuclear submarines, supersonic bombers, rocket and space systems, etc.

successful implementation in the USSR of a number of strategically important state projects. Among them is the creation of an isotope separation industry - one of the most complex and important areas of the atomic project. In the mid-1950s, Kikoin, leading the problem of isotope separation, headed a grandiose innovative project that had no analogues in world practice - the creation of a plant for the separation of uranium isotopes by the centrifuge method. In 1957, a small pilot plant for gas centrifuges began to operate, then a decision was made to build the first industrial centrifuge plant. It was these plants, created in the USSR half a century ago with the decisive contribution of fundamental science, that laid the foundations for the modern Russian isotope separation industry, which demonstrates high efficiency even in a market economy.

Designs by V. Shukhov

Vladimir Grigoryevich Shukhov (August 16 (28), 1853 - February 2, 1939) - Russian and Soviet engineer, architect, inventor, scientist; corresponding member and honorary member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Hero of Labor. He is the author of projects and technical manager for the construction of the first Russian oil pipelines and an oil refinery with the first Russian oil cracking units. He made an outstanding contribution to the technology of the oil industry and pipeline transport.

Shukhov was the first in the world to use steel mesh shells for the construction of buildings and towers.

Shukhov introduced the form of a one-sheeted hyperboloid of revolution into architecture, creating the world's first hyperboloid structures.

Vladimir Grigoryevich Shukhov is the author of the project and chief engineer for the construction of the first Russian oil pipeline Balakhani - Black City (Baku oil fields, 1878), built for the oil company "Br. Nobel". He designed and then supervised the construction of oil pipelines of the firms "Br. Nobel, Lianozov & Co., and the world's first heated fuel oil pipeline. Shukhov developed the basics of lifting and pumping oil products, proposed a method for lifting oil using compressed air - an airlift, developed a method for calculating and building technology for cylindrical steel tanks for oil storage facilities, and invented a nozzle for burning fuel oil.

In 1896, Shukhov invented a new water-tube steam boiler in horizontal and vertical design. According to Shukhov's patents, thousands of steam boilers were produced before and after the revolution.

Shukhov, around 1885, began building the first Russian river barge tankers on the Volga. Installation was carried out in precisely planned stages using standardized sections at the shipyards in Tsaritsyn (Volgograd) and Saratov.

V. G. Shukhov and his assistant S. P. Gavrilov invented an industrial process for producing motor gasoline - a continuously operating tubular installation for thermal cracking of oil. The installation consisted of a furnace with tubular coil heaters, an evaporator and distillation columns.

In 1931, according to the project and with the technical guidance of V. G. Shukhov, the Soviet Cracking oil refinery was built in Baku, where for the first time in Russia Shukhov's patent for the cracking process was used to create installations for producing gasoline.

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Against the background of the artistic decline of architecture in the second half of the XIX century. the heyday of the Russian engineering school was especially noticeable. The best representatives of this school gained European and even world fame. Under the influence of lattice engineering structures such as metal trusses, the style was formed Russian avant-garde - constructivism. Hanging roofs, arched structures, mesh shells and Shukhov hyperboloid towers became a sensation.

These structures were the final and highest point in the development of metal structures in the 19th century. The mechanization of industry in Russia, as well as throughout the world, was accompanied by the decline of artistic production in the middle and in the second half of the 19th century. Possessing huge natural resources and territory, Russia was one of the potential leaders of industrial progress.

In 1866 the Russian Technical Society was founded. , which set itself the broad task of influencing the industrial and general cultural development of Russia. It took part in the preparation of Russian sections at foreign exhibitions, specialized exhibitions within the country, held conferences, published books. On his initiative at the beginning In the 1970s, the Museum of Applied Knowledge was opened in St. Petersburg, and the Polytechnic Museum in Moscow.

Here, the successes of domestic and world science and technology were popularized, public lectures were given, separate exhibitions of machines and devices were organized.. At the end of the 19th century, new polytechnic and commercial institutes were opened in Russia. All this stimulated the raising of the public prestige of the engineering profession.

According to the statistics of 1901-1917, during this period one and a half times more engineers were trained than during the previous 35 years. Mass professional engineering personnel were created in the second half of the 19th century, Russia experiencing a bridge building boom. Russia during this period overtook many industrialized countries. This was due to the peculiarities of the industrial flourishing of our country and the need to build new roads, the construction of a large number of multi-span lattice bridges.

Such a social order of the era caused the emergence of a strong engineering school in Russia. Bridge engineers, due to the importance attached to railway construction, were considered among the builders as a kind of engineering elite. Russian industrial exhibitions of the 19th century. Hyperbolas of engineer Shukhov. The first All-Russian Exhibition of Manufactory Products took place in St. Petersburg on May 9, 1829. It opened on Vasilyevsky Island.

At the end of the 19th century, a total of about two hundred structures were built in Russia according to this principle: water towers, power line supports, fire and signal towers.

Among those directly handled technical issues, two personalities stand out at the beginning of the 20th century - Petr Strakhov and Yakov Stolyarov. In 1905, a teacher at the Moscow Technical School, Strakhov, made a presentation at the Polytechnic Society at the school on the topic " Technology and beauty of life", which also published in the Bulletins of the Polytechnic Society for 1905-06."

views Stolyarov reflected the concept of the Kharkov engineering school at the beginning of the 20th century, according to which engineers should receive sufficient artistic training that would allow them to work professionally in the field of engineering design and have a positive impact on the quality of industrial products in the region. The Russian engineering school was technologically advanced, and at the beginning of the 20th century gave the world many inventions in the field of mechanical engineering, energy, aeronautics, radio, and construction. And although there was no such active intervention in the problems of shaping the environment as in Germany, where the Werkbund arose, which raised many purely professional design questions, or in the USA, where intense practical, in fact, design work was going on to create new factories, ports , bridges, means of transport, high-rise buildings and their technical equipment, but on the other hand, the most important questions of the connection between technology and artistic culture were raised.

The essence of the Russian Engineering School project is to build a multi-level continuous process of training engineering personnel through polytechnic multidisciplinary education while preserving and increasing the best traditions of the Russian engineering school. The first stage - the creation of the Children's Technical School "Samodelkin" - the initial level of training of engineers with subsequent support and support for talented children. Children's Technical School works on the principle of additional developmental education. This is a polytechnic training for schoolchildren, which includes not only fundamental, technical knowledge, an educational course in 3D engineering modeling based on the Creo program, but also technologies for developing a holistic personality (communication skills, presentation and self-presentation skills, team building and leadership characteristics of a person). The target group at the first stage of the project implementation will be children - schoolchildren aged 10-15 years in the amount of 120 people - the first year of study (8 groups). The Russian Engineering School project is not limited to the opening of the Children's Technical School. In the future (in 1 year) the life of the project will unfold on the territory of the Volga Federal District, and in the future (in 3 years) on the territory of the entire Russian Federation and will include the Youth Engineering Center - a higher educational institution and the Russian Engineering School - an institute for retraining and promotion engineering qualifications.

Goals

1. Create a system for the development and support of scientific and technical creativity of children and youth, reviving the historical and fundamental values ​​of the Russian engineering school of education, highly professional and modern training and retraining and advanced training of engineering personnel

Tasks

1. Form groups for training at the Children's Technical School
2. Organize the educational process using innovative integrated methods of teaching technical disciplines and a single successive system for teaching children, youth and engineers on the principle of project-team training
3. Coordinate the learning process

Substantiation of social significance

Over the next 5 years, 70% of highly qualified engineers from the leading enterprises that determine the economic policy of Russia will retire. In order to remain competitive, many of the process steps that were previously carried out manually are transferred to a computer. Paper sketches and drawings are a thing of the past. Mathematical calculations of the movement of mechanisms and the strength of parts are computerized. To work on modern technologies, qualified specialists of the new generation are needed. Both at the state level, by developing special programs that improve the quality of education and involving schoolchildren in the fascinating world of information technology, they are striving to solve the problem of a shortage of personnel, as well as from the side of business, which already feels a shortage of personnel. The transition from the technology economy to the knowledge economy requires the training of appropriate innovation-oriented specialists, primarily for the real sector of the economy. This applies not only to university graduates, but also to working professionals to ensure the principle of continuity of education during the period of employment. Obviously, it is universities that should make the main contribution to the issue of personnel. It is possible to ensure the training of professional personnel that meet the requirements of modern industrial production only through the creation of specially organized conditions, which will be the most important missing link in the Russian innovation chain, designed to raise domestic industrial production to the proper technical and organizational level. Our project involves the development of the organization "Russian Engineering School", whose task is to create a system for the development and support of scientific and technical creativity of children and youth, the revival of the historical and fundamental values ​​of the Russian technical school of education, highly professional and modern training, retraining and advanced training of engineering personnel.

History of origin and development.

In the Russian army of the 16th century, engineers were called "reasons". The history of the Russian Engineering Corps in pre-Petrine times is hidden by a deep secret, although even in the time of Ivan the Terrible, Russian artillery and fortification were at a high level, and the glory of Russian weapons does not fade for centuries! The concept of "engineer" came to Russia in the form of the term "ingeniur". Vasily Nikitich Tatishchev, a Russian philosopher and educator, one of the advisers of the "scientific squad" of Peter I, was the first to use it. Enlightening the "Russian people" on this issue, he "explained:" ingeniurs are such people "... who ... have a sharp sense ... especially for mechanics and all sorts of cunning inventions ...".

Unfortunately, Peter I introduced in Russia a pernicious tradition of "technological" admiration for the "West" (Western Europeans and the USA), futile import of technology and the invitation of foreign specialists to key positions in science and industrial production, which greatly complicated the life of Russian nugget inventors . Lomonosov, Kulibin, Cherepanov, Popov, Mozhaisky, Zhukovsky - the names of Russian engineers, whose developments have absolute priority in the world, but did not receive recognition in the Russian Empire, where foreigners dominated!

The bloody massacre of the First World (Imperialist) War significantly reduced the Russian engineering corps - after the death of the "cadre" army, the tsarist government was forced to call civilian specialists to command positions. Fortunately, the Russian Engineering School was saved, and after the end of the Civil War, the Revival of the Russian Engineering Corps began. The industrialization of the national economy in the USSR in the 1930s and 1940s opened up a wide field of activity for Russian engineers. In just 10 years, relying on the latest technologies purchased abroad, young Soviet engineers were able to create a powerful heavy industry, develop and put into large-scale production unique military equipment of the highest level - the weapon of our victory over world fascism, and finally, bring the USSR to world leaders!

In the 1940s - 1980s, during the period of the Cold War and the complete isolation from Western technologies by the Iron Curtain, Russian engineers achieved the greatest success. And it was the highest level of the Russian - (Soviet) engineering school that made it possible to create unique military equipment, which even now, 20 - 30 years after development, is quite competitive! We went our own way, ceasing to look to the West, and only thanks to this, we still have modern high-tech production facilities.

Russian approach.

Features of the Russian Engineering School.

Russian - (Soviet) engineering school was formed under the influence of the specific factors of Russia. There are several.

1. Simplicity of design. This parameter is caused by a sharp gap in the level of development of the technical intelligentsia of Russia and the bulk of the country's population - users of world scientific and technological achievements.
2. Maintainability. Problems with the maintenance and repair of equipment, traditional for the Russian outback, require this factor to be included in the design from the very beginning.
3. operational reliability.- Not a resource, but the ability of equipment to work in the most extreme conditions: in mud, in heat, in sand, without routine maintenance, without appropriate fuels and lubricants and spare parts - makes the products of the Russian Engineering School almost "indestructible" in the most unprepared hands and emergency situations.
4. manufacturability, almost to the point of primitivism. The eternal for Russia limited resources, including available materials and production capacities, forces Russian developers to take surprising in their simplicity, and at the same time, efficiency, technical solutions that are simply unattainable for other engineering schools.

That is why our technology does not take root well in the so-called civilized countries, but has no equal in the sands of Africa or the jungles of South America. And it is not for nothing that in the engineering circles of Russia there is still a saying on this topic: "it is difficult and a fool will do it, you do it simply" ...

In the West, Russian engineers have proven themselves from the very best side. And mainly due to the special mentality. Where the European strives for accuracy and the Chinese for detail, the Russian makes sure that the system works in any way. Where the European tends to compromise and the golden mean, the man of Russian culture strives for breadth and a way out of the problem to solve this problem. If it is necessary to solve a problem, Russian scientists do not avoid rough solutions, being sure that the details will be comprehended and completed later, if necessary. As a result, Russian breadth allows you to connect anything and everything, that is, to find new non-trivial solutions and principles at any level and in any place. All this is completely different from the approach of a German, an American or a Japanese.

My own experience in the West gives me reason to make the following observations. If you look at the features of the process of cognition in Russia and in the West, then, despite the formal similarity of engineering processes, you can identify significant differences. Engineers in the West are quite idiosyncratic. They are all very good narrow specialists, but they do not have a holistic worldview. Therefore, their development method is costly. They are incapable of great foresight. They must work out all the bricks of reality and only then move on. Moreover, they tend not to allow breakthroughs to be so abrupt, unless there is an immediate return in the form of profit from them.

Fall into the abyss.

"Perestroika" and "democratization" of society, a wave of discrediting the USSR, covered and destroyed not only the USSR, but also the Soviet Engineering Corps, which was inextricably linked with it, which led to an unprecedented exodus of Russian specialists abroad! Unclaimed at home, "Russian" ENGINEERS operate in the world very successfully. Moreover, almost every tenth ENGINEER in the Design Offices of world famous Companies - "BOSCH", "SIMENS", "MERCEDES", "AUDI", "JOHN DEER", etc. is a native of the former S.S.S.R.! And this certainly confirms the HIGHEST LEVEL OF THE SOVIET ENGINEERING SCHOOL!

And the prospects for improving the situation are more than vague. As the World Bank report states: "...anecdotal evidence suggests that students enroll in elite technical schools, believing that this is the best way to get an entry visa to the United States and get a job in leading American companies in the field of high technology.. ."

Attracting skilled labor is very beneficial for the West. The United States saves on average $235,000 by recruiting one social scientist from abroad, $253,000 for an engineer, $646,000 for a doctor, and $800,000 for a scientific and technical specialist. Some researchers attribute the unprecedented rise in the American economy of the Clinton era to mass arrival of scientists and intellectuals in general from the former USSR. These figures show that it is profitable to poach "minds", but not to give them away. Many people who go abroad think at first that they left for 2-3 years, then they find themselves in such an environment and with such opportunities for work that they understand that when they return to Russia, they will have to fight for survival every day, and there they have everything you need for a normal life.

Unfortunately, the mindless denial of everything connected with the USSR, and primarily Soviet economic methods and engineering achievements, has led to a significant lag in the industrial development of Russia from the West, these methods and developments shamelessly stolen and widely used. Moreover, as a rule, "cooperation" with foreign companies is associated with the transfer of technology in only one direction. For example, in the office of Westinghouse in Pittsburgh, a complete set of copies of the technical documentation of Ukrainian NPPs has been assembled. And the next step of such "cooperation" is expansion into the traditional Russian markets... Our inventions are being sold to us at three-price under foreign signs!

Engineering today.

The economic situation in modern Russia is catastrophic. The country has successfully squandered not only raw materials, but also its scientific and engineering potential. While working abroad, I met dozens of compatriots working in different companies. On one of them, I happened to see a department entirely staffed by specialists from the Ministry of Aviation Industry! Remember, the country's scientific potential for 2/3 was recently represented by specialists from design bureaus and industry research institutes. Where are they now? Yes, anywhere - in trade, in offices, in security ... This is also a leak, and the most massive and catastrophic. A whole layer of society has gone into oblivion - the engineering intelligentsia, with the complete indifference of society to the fate of these people. Not a single politician, not a single representative of the scientific Areopagus has ever hinted at this. But without these people, none of the fundamental discoveries will become a factory technology and will not find its addressee.

"Russia is rapidly falling into the abyss of a complete scientific and technological collapse, and the state of the entire innovation sphere cannot be regarded other than catastrophic. Unless urgent and drastic measures are taken to correct this situation, the country, in the foreseeable future, may cease to exist as an independent state."

The supreme rulers of Russia, with the active support of the governors, from high tribunes invite leading specialists to Russia - "compatriots" who have achieved success abroad, but do not even think about where and how to use them correctly when they really come! The topic of "applying" the knowledge and experience of these specialists is of no interest to anyone in Russia .... Here you are not needed by anyone except your relatives. Your knowledge and experience are only your problems. The state power once again renounces its obligations and the people who believed it. The main problem is that all the "warm" and highly paid places have long been occupied by the "necessary" people, and although they are ineffective due to their inertia, "their own" people do not try to break the current system and deprive the leaders of a comfortable "rest on their laurels" .

And before the revolution, and in the first time after it, a huge contribution to domestic science, to determining the priorities for its development, etc. were made by scientists returning to Russia (USSR) after working abroad. The current "leaked" in the majority do not break personal, scientific and cultural ties, and it is not their fault if the homeland does not create conditions for closer interaction. If a young man, no matter how much they promise him, sees the state in which Russian engineers live, he will never follow this path. This is the first moment. We will have to improve the lives of those who are in Russia now. It's just an inevitability. Family is a very powerful factor that will keep a person abroad. Children who do not know Russian and are relatively poorly educated compared to their Russian peers are a very serious barrier to return.

The most paradoxical thing in this situation is that "Russian" business and the state apparatus are absolutely incapable of understanding "what is the essence of engineering" and understanding why they need ENGINEERS at all!

With the active help of the "democratic" media, a firm opinion is being formed in Russia that it is enough to purchase expensive equipment abroad and everything will work by itself .... The leaders of modern enterprises completely ignore the systematic approach to the organization of production and endow ENGINEERS with unusual duties. For example, in agricultural production, ENGINEERS often have to independently perform locksmith work and operate agricultural machines, and the average salary of a CHIEF ENGINEER reaches 10 thousand rubles a month! But even in the cities the situation is no better - the average salary of an ENGINEER - DESIGNER in the regions is 16 thousand rubles a month ... (the situation in Moscow is not specifically discussed - since this is not Russia, but another state!).

Salary of an engineer in the Kaluga region.

according to the "MINISTRY OF LABOR, EMPLOYMENT AND PERSONNEL POLICY" of the Kaluga region.

1. LLC "FILI N-AGRO" BARYATINO, ENGINEER FOR AUTOMATION AND MECHANIZATION OF PRODUCTION PROCESSES, SPECIALIZATION: AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY, SALARY: from 10000 RUB.
2. SPK "ZHERELEVO" KUIBYSHEV, ENGINEER, SPECIALIZATION: MECHANIC, SALARY: 5000 - 8000 RUB.
3. CJSC "VOLVO VOSTOK" KALUGA, ENGINEER, SPECIALIZATION: AFTER-SALES SERVICE. NOTE: EXPERIENCE IN VOLVO COMPONENTS, ENG, SWEDISH, AFTER-SALES SERVICE SALARY: from 15000 RUB.
4. LLC "TASHIR-PERITUS" KALUGA, CHIEF ENGINEER, NOTE: CONTROL FOR INSTALLATION. EQUIPMENT BY PR-VU BUILDING MATERIALS, EXPERIENCE, J. ENG. SALARY: 15000 RUB.
5. BRANCH OF FSUE "NPO NAMED AFTER S.A. LAVOCHKIN, KALUGA", DESIGN ENGINEER, SPECIALIZATION: TURBINE-E, ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY, SALARY: from 15000 RUB.
6. OAO "SKTB RADIOOBORUDOVANIA", KALUGA, DESIGN ENGINEER, SPECIALIZATION: LEADER, MECHANIC, RADIO ELECTRIC PRODUCTION. PRODUCTS. SALARY: from 16000 RUB.

Please note, gentlemen, that in Germany for the same work they pay at least 4 thousand euros per month, that is, the average salary of an ENGINEER - DESIGNER in Germany is 10 times more than in Russia! Recently, an expert on the economic returns to science asked how much do you have to pay to get people to come back? Most agree that if you pay half the Western salary, that is, at least 100 thousand rubles a month, then half will return.

What awaits us and what to do?

The political upheavals of the last twenty years in Russia have thrown back into the deep past and led to the decline of the national economy and transport, slowed down the development of new high-tech equipment. Under such conditions, the purchase of used imported "High Technologies" does not allow to achieve the desired result and leads to technological dependence, and on the contrary, new, highly effective "breakthrough" technologies allow you to become leaders in the world market, gain independence and dictate conditions and rules. market.

The program of innovative development of the country, promulgated in the Address of the President, is what we have been waiting for so long. For us, this primarily means only one thing - we will be needed again. The innovative way of development is a revolutionary turn in the development of the whole country. And such procedures are impossible without mobilization and concentration of resources. Just as it is impossible to realize the potential of resources without a clear plan, or rather, the state plan, the implementation of which is enshrined in law. But I can't free myself from a certain feeling of discomfort and anxiety, getting acquainted with the program provisions. There is something left unsaid - no mechanism for its implementation has been proposed!

But at one time, in the USSR, there was a powerful system for supporting innovation activities in general, and patenting the results of scientific and technical activities in particular. A third of all inventions in the world were registered in the USSR. In any research institute and design bureau, in any university, in any production, immediately after the creation of the "first" department, a patent department was created, through which all new developments passed without exception. Any technical dissertation was required to contain a patent research section on the subject of the work. Hundreds of reports, reviews, and studies of foreign developments were published, which anyone who was somehow involved in scientific and technical activities had to study. All this guaranteed the world novelty and relevance of the work. In parallel, there was a powerful system of innovation support in all spheres and at all levels of the state, starting with free assistance in preparing all the necessary documents on the application, through the VOIR system, and ending with a developed system of departmental bonuses and even rent benefits for inventors and innovators. All this, taken together, allowed the state to maintain world parity in the scientific and technical sphere, and as a result, to maintain de facto independence on the world stage.

Nothing of this - is no more - everything is destroyed to the ground. As the World Bank's report directly states, "... Russia's innovation system lies in ruins...". 5,000 "scientific" organizations, with a total staff of 900,000 people, "issue" no more than 40 patents per year to the world innovation market (let's modestly keep silent about their "quality"). The number of domestic patent applications from the authors of the Russian Federation - is annually reduced by at least 8% -10%, but from foreign ones - is growing by 26%. In such a situation, the "blind" import of "Western" technologies and "foreign assistance" means the complete eradication of the Russian Engineering Corps and the final loss of knowledge and experience accumulated by many generations of Russian Engineers, which will lead to Technological dependence on the "West" and Russia's loss of sovereignty.

Creation of a "school" of Russian engineering. Engineering

Russia at the beginning of the 20th century

The industrial enterprises of Russia in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were almost entirely in the hands of foreigners. Emphasizing the dominance of foreign specialists, the economist of the last century, Professor P.K. Khudyakov wrote: “As long as industry is in the hands of non-technicians, and especially foreigners, it cannot have independent, correct and lasting development.”

M. Gorky also writes about the same feature of Russian industry in his essay on the world exhibition of 1896: “First of all, the engine department is striking in the absence of Russian surnames in it, a fact that has been noted more than once by the press. The French, the British, the Germans and then the Poles are the producers of Russian machines and workers in this branch of Russian labor. Russian surnames are completely invisible in the mass of such as Lilpop, Bromley, Field, Gamper, Liszt, Borman, Shwede, Pfor, Reppgan and so on.

In order to overcome the strong dependence of Russian industry on foreign specialists, the Russian government at the end of the 19th century. paid close attention to the development of the system of higher technical education. The developed “Draft of a General Normal Plan for Industrial Education in Russia” reflects the situation that is associated with the dominance of foreign specialists: “One cannot help but take into account that we still have technical managers in large industrial partly they are foreigners who, only in the most rare, exceptional situations, favorably treat native Russians who want to acquire practical knowledge in the workshop that can make them capable of replacing foreigners.

The industry of Russia was divided at that time into two sectors: domestic and concession. Foreign entrepreneurs did not take Russian specialists to their factories, not trusting their qualifications and striving to keep the secrets of technology. As a rule, engineers for such enterprises were assigned from abroad.

The position of Russian engineers, who did not enjoy either government support or the monopoly of the profession (i.e., for positions that, by their nature, required scientific and technical training), or the special sympathy of society, remained at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. difficult. Many industrialists did not realize the need for widespread use of skilled labor, did not see its advantages over practical experience. Therefore, practitioners, especially from among foreigners, often prevailed in production. They were the main competitors of Russian engineers. Engineer I.P. frankly expressed his opinion. Bardeen: “The common master of the old time was the most obnoxious creature. He was a man who knew the matter in detail, but was not capable of deep analysis. At best, he told someone the secrets of his skill, but usually he did not tell anyone anything, considering them his capital. The entire Don and Urals were filled with such masters.” The engineer, with all the weakness of practical skills, usually mastered production in two months, and then began to move it forward, actively using his scientific knowledge. It is no coincidence that the competition of domestic engineers with practitioners and foreigners in the sugar industry, in cotton production, steam locomotive building, bridge building and other industries developed so successfully. An example of this may be at least such a fact. When Count A. Bobrinsky set up exemplary sugar beet factories in the Kiev province, he invited truly Russian engineers to manage them, since they were tested more successfully than foreign specialists. And a few years later, the Russian sugar beet industry took second place in Europe, after Austria. And in terms of the level of use of skilled labor, it took first place: engineers and technicians accounted for 15% of the number of employees, while in other industries their number did not exceed 2-3%.

Conscientious foreigners highly appreciated the high level of training of Russian technical specialists. Engineer M.A. Pavlov wrote, for example, in his memoirs that the German technician Zimmersbach, with whom they worked together at one of the domestic factories, returned to Germany and began to actively promote Pavlov's technical innovations, but with their help he himself soon received a degree. The training of engineering personnel at the end of the XIX century. in Russia, six universities were engaged: the Nikolaev Main Engineering School, the Mikhailovsky Artillery School, the Naval Cadet Corps, the Institute of the Corps of Railway Engineers, the Institute of the Corps of Mining Engineers, the Construction School of the Main Directorate of Railways and Public Buildings.

By the end of XIX century, a system for training engineering personnel has been formed in Russia, which can be conditionally divided:

- traditional technical universities;

- polytechnic institutes;

- technical schools (secondary technical educational institutions);

- unions, societies and communities of engineers.

One of the oldest and most prestigious technical educational institutions in Russia was the Mining Institute, founded back in 1773 by Catherine II and transformed in 1804 into the Mining Cadet Corps. Children of mountain officers and officials who knew arithmetic, reading and writing in Russian, French and German were accepted there. In addition, the children of nobles and manufacturers were accepted at their own expense. Graduates of the institute worked in their specialty for 10 years and only then received a certificate.

The use of mining engineers was allowed only in those positions that belonged to the administrative part. They could also be appointed to the positions of heads of mining plants. The position of mining engineers in society was also stipulated in the table of ranks: “...civilian ranks generally give way to military ones,” the exception is mining engineers, “who, by right of military ranks, have seniority over civil or class officials of the same rank ... Mining officials ... are equalized with military ranks and enjoy all their advantages ”(Code of Laws of the Russian Empire, 1857., vol. 3, p. 201).

Discipline and court here were also carried out according to military laws. Having the right to a military rank, however, they were not promoted to the next rank without providing a description of the work they performed within two years. The legislation also determined a strict procedure regarding the receipt of salaries, dining and apartment money, pensions, benefits, awards, dismissal on leave and resignation, marriage, wearing uniforms, etc. The law of 1833 also regulated the service career: when vacancies were vacated, it was prescribed to replace them with employees of the same enterprise, which prevented staff turnover and stimulated the good work of an engineer.

In addition to the Mining Institute, the Institute of Railway Engineers also had a privileged position, opened in St. Petersburg in 1810 and transformed in 1823 into a militarized closed educational institution, in 1847 - into a cadet corps, where only children of hereditary nobles had access. Only in 1856, for the first time, access to special classes was opened for children of non-noble origin. Graduates of the institute were also required to work in their specialty for 10 years.

Civil engineers for factory management were trained by the St. Petersburg Practical Technological Institute. The selection of candidates for study was carried out locally by city dumas from among the merchants of the third guild, burghers, workshops, and raznochintsy. The charter said that this education was appropriate for people of an average condition. The institute had two departments: mechanical and chemical. Graduates who completed the full course with satisfactory grades received the title of technologists of the second category and left the taxable state; graduates with “success” - technologist of the first category and the title of an honorary personal citizen. Graduates of the institute did not have the right to enter the civil service and receive ranks. Only towards the end of the 19th century. graduates of the Technological Institute have achieved the right to enter the civil service, i.е. receive ranks of no more than 10th grade, depending on academic performance.

The title of “engineer-technologist” could be awarded to the head of the factory, if he asked for it, but not earlier than 6 years after graduation from the institute, in case of presentation of a certificate of work, certified by the District Marshal of the nobility.

The industrial charter did not provide for an educational qualification for the owners of factories and plants, although it granted the right to manufacturers, if the enterprise flourished, to receive the title of engineer. The charter did not establish legal norms regulating relations between technical specialists and owners of enterprises, and made engineers completely dependent on the owners.

At the end of XIX - beginning of XX centuries. Russian industry showed a demand for new equipment, emerging industries required other technical equipment. New major scientific ideas entered practical life. For the training of technical specialists, along with traditional institutes, polytechnic institutes began to be created, specially designed to train engineers for various industrial enterprises. The development of science and technology, the differentiation of engineering activities seriously raised the question of the need to separate the fields of activity of an engineer. A graduate of a traditional university was no longer able to master the mass of information on the creation of technical structures and the development of new technologies. The question of reorganization of technical education is ripe. A new type of institution appears - the polytechnic institute. The oldest polytechnic institute in Russia was Lvov, founded in 1844 as a technical academy. Then polytechnic institutes were opened in Kyiv - 1898, St. Petersburg - 1899, Donskoy in Novocherkassk - 1909.

An important role in the polytechnic education of Russia was played by the outstanding engineers I.A. Vyshegradsky, N.P. Petrov, D.I. Mendeleev, V.L. Kirpichev and others. The largest technical schools in the country - the Kharkov Technological Institute, the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute and the mechanical department of the St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute owe their appearance to Viktor Lvovich Kirpichev. Already at that time, he proved that the training of real engineering personnel does not go “from book to person”, but from “person to person”. He called drawing the language of an engineer.

A certified engineer in Russia is a high and binding title. So, an outstanding Russian engineer, “the father of Russian aviation” N.E. Zhukovsky was awarded the title of engineer only at the age of 65. “... taking into account the outstanding scientific works in the field of private and applied mechanics of the honored professor, real state councilor N.E. Zhukovsky, at his meeting on November 1, 1910, decided to honor him, Zhukovsky, with the honorary title of mechanical engineer, ”is written in the minutes of the Academic Council of the Imperial Moscow Technical School (now Bauman Moscow State Technical University).

An important place in the development of the engineering profession is occupied by the opening in 1906 in St. Petersburg of the Women's Polytechnic Courses. It was a reaction to the growing shortage of specialists, on the one hand, and to the surge of the movement for the emancipation of women, on the other. Under the onslaught of women, opportunities opened up for their participation in ever new areas of activity. Technique was one of the last bastions where the path for a woman remained closed.

Further development of engineering reveals another problem. Given the nature of engineering activity - the constant search for solutions to technical and technological problems, taking into account new achievements in science and technology, as well as monitoring compliance with production requirements, necessitated having in the link - invention - design - creation of a technical structure - operation - production management of a new figure - assistant engineer (junior technical specialist). The main function of these specialists was the implementation of reliable qualified communication between the engineer (engaged in innovation) and the worker implementing his ideas. To train specialists of this rank, a new type of technical educational institutions was created - a technical school.

Higher technical education in Russia has established good traditions. Its leading universities provided broad and deep theoretical training, closely linked to the tasks of practice. However, insufficient attention was paid to the training of personnel on a national scale. Even for the backward industry of tsarist Russia, there were not enough engineering personnel and foreign specialists were widely used.

Due to the relative small number and spread among peripheral enterprises, Russian engineers suffered from disunity for a long time. Only at the beginning of the 20th century, with the industrial development of the country, did their social position change. The created system of higher education, and by 1914 in Russia there were 10 universities, about 100 higher educational institutions, in which about 127 thousand people studied, allowed domestic schools and especially schools of technical knowledge to quickly form. The school of mechanics (Chebyshev P.L., Petrov N.P., Vyshegradsky I.A., Zhukovsky N.E.), mathematics and physics, chemistry and metallurgy, bridge building and transport declared itself to the whole world. The revolution of 1905-1907 had a particularly strong impact on the process of uniting the engineering corps. and the first world war. Feeling the need for a professional and spiritual definition among the engineering corps, in social terms, professional groups arise.

At this time in Russia were created:

Polytechnic Society at MVTU;

Society of Mining Engineers;

Society of Civil Engineers;

Russian Metallurgical Society;

Society of Electrical Engineers;

Technological Society;

Russian Technical Society, etc.

The main purpose of these societies was:

Creation of a strong independent Russian industry, not inferior to foreign.

Thus, the Russian Technical Society, which arose back in 1866, was engaged in technical propaganda, the dissemination of technical knowledge and practical information, the development of technical education, assisted scientific research, awarded the best scientific and technical developments, arranged technical exhibitions, investigated factory materials, products and ways. It established a technical library, a chemical laboratory, a technical museum, helped inventors, promoted the sale of little-known products. The Russian technical society sought to link science with production, and equip the workers with technical literacy.

With the help of the Russian Technical Society D.I. Mendeleev conducted studies of the elasticity of gases, N.E. Zhukovsky - experiments on the resistance of a liquid medium, N.P. Petrov - study of lubricating oils. The society encouraged entrepreneurs for expanding production, which was useful for Russia, improving the quality of products, mechanizing work, and mastering new production.

In the face of the Russian technical society, Russian engineering saw the body that could protect their professional interest not only in everyday life, but also at the state level. And the unifying tendencies contributed to the formation of certain stereotypes of behavior, the development of norms and ethics of professional activity, and the improvement of the general culture.

The tasks that Russian engineers had to solve at the beginning of the 20th century required, according to contemporaries, not only technical knowledge and thinking, but also economic, sociological, legal, political, ethical, and, therefore, philosophical thinking. Its absence led to the fact that engineers could not explain to themselves or to others that in the modern world the functions of an engineer must be considered much broader than before, that with the development of machine production, the functions of an engineer lie at the very center of the state mechanism.

The system of training of engineering personnel formed in Russia, the beginning of which was laid by Peter I allowed Russia to take its rightful place in the world engineering school. Outstanding Russian engineers became known to the whole world: V. G. Shukhov and A.S. Popova, P.L. Schilling and B.S. Jacobi, N.I. Lobachevsky and P.L. Chebysheva, N.N. Benardos and N.G. Slavyanov and many others.

Describing the position of engineers in Russian society on the eve of October 1917, when the prestige of engineering activities was constantly growing, it is necessary to dwell on their financial situation.

The most highly paid among engineers were railway engineers. The average salary for the construction of railways was 2.4 - 3.6 thousand rubles a year. They used the crew and received a percentage of the profits. On private roads, as a rule, the payment was even higher.

The work of mining engineers was also highly paid. If the commanding staff received 4 - 8 thousand rubles a year, then the average ranks - 1.4 - 2.8 thousand rubles. Mining engineers also enjoyed a crew, a state-owned apartment, and a percentage increase for length of service.

Significantly lower were the wages of engineers employed in industry. The position of the specialists working there depended on the degree of competition with practitioners and foreign specialists. The average salary of an engineer in 1915 was 1.5 - 2 thousand rubles a year. Wages were somewhat higher in the Southwestern Territory.

If we compare the financial situation of an engineer and an average-skilled worker, it can be noted that an engineer earned about 5-6 times more than a worker. This can be confirmed by the hero of the novel by N.G. Garin-Mikhailovsky “Engineers”, who in the very first year of his work after graduation from the institute earns 200-300 rubles a month, i.e. about 10 times the worker. Lower engineering positions (for example, foreman) were paid 2-2.5 times more than a worker.

Thus, we see that the financial situation of the engineers of pre-revolutionary Russia was such that it brought them closer in terms of income to the most prosperous strata of society.

Late XIX - early XX centuries. in Russia were marked by the rapid growth of industrial production, the introduction of new technologies, machines and mechanisms into production, as well as the creation of a system of higher educational institutions that gave rise to domestic schools of Russian engineering. Professional groups of engineers enter the arena of social activity, united by the common idea of ​​further technical development of industrial production, cultural development of the fatherland, liberation of Russia from foreign specialists who are semi-literate and not always interested in technical progress.

By 1917, the professional organizations of engineers are becoming especially cohesive and gaining significant weight in the social structure.

Engineers were increasingly imbued with the awareness of their moral mission - the technical and social development of the country, they had a sense of self-respect - "professional honor". Engineers were ready to lead the production, management of economic processes. In 1915-1916. the authority of engineers increased in the eyes of the government, representatives of industry, among the people.

The prestige of engineers in society was constantly growing. This was due to a number of reasons:

The profession of a factory engineer was new and quite rare.

D. Granin in the novel "Zubr" cites the memories of an old railway engineer that his profession was perceived as a curiosity, something like the current cosmonaut;

The capitalist development of the economy imperiously demanded a constant influx of technical specialists. And the system of technical education was conservative and did not provide the number of engineers needed by the country. Thus, the profession of "engineer" was not only unique, but also scarce;

Among the many millions of the illiterate population, engineers were a group whose general cultural level far exceeded those with whom she had to communicate intensively, i.e. circle of your closest contacts. Graduate engineers belonged to the intellectual elite of society. These were the "cream" of the intelligentsia. This situation was facilitated by the nature of the technical education of those years, which was distinguished by universalism and excellent general education;

At the same time, the ever-increasing shortage of engineers democratized the composition of the student body and made the profession not only a brilliant, but also an accessible prospect for almost all segments of the urban population;

The incomes of engineers, which sometimes put them on the same level as those in power, also attracted the attention of ordinary people, workers, increasing the prestige of an engineer in the mass consciousness.

There were other factors in the high prestige of engineers associated with the development of trade unions, clubs, communities, paraphernalia and symbols. All this gave rise to the image of an engineer of the “golden age” as a rich, knowledgeable person, on whom the machine, plant, and entire industry depend or not work.

The process of consolidation, which the engineers had suffered, was unfortunately interrupted for a long time after October 1917.