Alexey Krylov: scientific and intellectual achievements

He was called the father of domestic shipbuilding, but he brilliantly applied his talents in other areas of knowledge. He knew how to think well, but no less well he left his thoughts on paper. The village where he was born was renamed in his honor, and two asteroids with his name are hastily moving in the depths of the Universe. Shipbuilder, mathematician, encyclopedist and fleet general - Alexei Nikolaevich Krylov.

How it all began

With his birth, Alexey Krylov pleased his relatives on August 3 (15 - n.a.s.) in the village of. Visyag Simbirsk province (now it is the Ulyanovsk region).

Alexei’s grandfather took part in all wars with Napoleon, curried himself up to the rank of colonel and was encouraged with golden weapons for his courage in hostilities. Father Nikolai Alekseevich was a wealthy landowner, an artillery officer, and after military service he began to engage in public affairs and farming. The mother of a future naval expert, Sofya Viktorovna Lyapunova, came from an old noble family.

In September 1878, young Alexei entered the Maritime College in St. Petersburg and graduated with great success in 1884. After that he was promoted to warrant officer and offered, as a reward for excellent studies, to sail around the world, but he refused such a generous a gift. And he decided to continue his education at the Maritime Academy, in which he completed his studies in 1890. Subsequently, all of Krylov's scientific and teaching activities were connected with her.

The marine career of a novice engineer developed simultaneously with the scientific. When the revolutionary events began, A. Krylov already had the rank of fleet general.

In 1921 he was sent to London to strengthen foreign scientific relations of the state, to acquire the necessary technical literature, some tools and instruments. But he returned to the USSR in 1927.

Shipbuilding, mathematics and other sciences

Alexey Krylov's pen belongs to over 300 works. Mathematics and mechanics, physics and astronomy, technology and the history of science. Here are the main areas in which the scientist has succeeded to one degree or another. But his main interests were in the field of ship theory.

Krylov's first scientific work related to the deviation of magnetic compasses (deviation of the arrow due to the influence of the magnetic field of the ship). He will develop the theory of compasses for the rest of his life and will receive the first Stalin Prize half a century after the first work. In professional circles of other countries, they started talking about Aleksey Nikolaevich in the 90s of the nineteenth century thanks to the special theory of the ship’s pitching developed by him.

The famous scientist participated in the design and construction of the first Russian dreadnought battleships, such as Sevastopol, and invented several ship and artillery devices. He also created the first machine in Russia that helped integrate differential equations. The unsinkability tables compiled by him have already become a legend, but still find their application. He also conducted scientific consultations at several factories.

Mathematics was the second most important science, developing which, Alexei Nikolaevich showed all the sharpness of his mind. Even while studying at the school, studying the most exact science, he allotted a lot of time. He was also assisted in mathematical research by his uncle Alexander Lyapunov, who would later become a famous mathematician. The main work of Krylov, who made a great contribution to the development of mathematics, concerned the description of differential equations of mathematical physics and methods of approximate calculations.

Literary Gift and Translations

All the works of the scientist were distinguished by the intelligibility of the presentation of any complex issues. A. Krylov had such good Russian that physicist Sergei Vavilov paid special attention to this in his grave speech. It is worth noting that in Kazan, while being evacuated, he wrote with a good literary style a book about his past years, “My Memories”.

We all met at school with Newton's laws and their simple wording. These laws were translated into Russian by A. Krylov. What is interesting: not from English, but from Latin. This fact is explained by the fact that the main work of I. Newton's "Mathematical Foundations of Natural Philosophy" was available at that time only in Latin. A. Krylov decided to start translating the book. And translated. As the scientist himself noted, "for two years of hard work, four to five hours every day." In addition to the work of Newton, he also translated the "New Theory of the Motion of the Moon" by the great mathematician L. Euler.

Learn to learn!

In addition to his abilities for scientific research, Alexei Nikolaevich possessed a considerable talent as a teacher. His pedagogical credo was a short phrase - "teach to learn." He absolutely rightly believed that no school could prepare a completed specialist. First you need to instill in students a culture, a love of work and science. The outstanding scientist continued his teaching activities until the last days of his life.

Two sons and a daughter

A. Krylov had several children. Two sons, Nikolai and Aleksey, fought for the White Army and died when a civil war broke out. Daughter Anna was often with her father on foreign trips. In 1926, in the capital of France, she first met with the physicist Peter Kapitsa. After some time, they got married.