St. Petersburg State Polytechnical University as a scientific center. My department.

Saint Petersburg Polytechnical Institute was founded in 1899 as the most advanced engineering school in Russia. The main person promoting the creation of this University was the Finance Minister Count Sergei Witte who saw establishing a first-class engineering school loosely modeled by the French École Polytechnique as an important step towards the industrialization of Russia. The idea was advanced by Agricultural scientist and Deputy Finance Minister Vladimir Kovalevsky and the great chemist Dmitri Mendeleev who are often considered to be the founders of the school. The first Director of the Institute became Prince Andrey Gagarin. Unlike École Polytechnique the Polytechnical institute was always considered to be a civilian establishment. In tsarist Russia it was subordinated to the Ministry of Finance and its students and faculty wore the uniform of the Ministry.

The Chair of Theoretical Mechanics (department of Physics and Mechanics) is one of the oldest chairs of the Saint Petersburg State Polytechnical University. It was founded by Professor Ivan Vsevolodovich Meshchersky, one of the greatest Russian scientists of the end of 19th century, who laid the corner stone in mechanics of the motion of bodies with variable mass.

Professor Anton Miroslavovich Krivtsov (b. 1967) is the head of this chair since 2007. Prof. Krivtsov is a member of the Russian National Committee for Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, and also the head of the Laboratory "Discrete models of mechanics" of the Institute for Problems of Mechanical Engineering RAS. His scientific work is devoted to mathematical modeling of phenomena and processes from various areas of mechanics and physics: rigid body dynamics, solid mechanics, theory of media with microstructure, nanomechanics, theory of vibrations, astrophysics. His main research interest is mathematical and computer modeling of media with microstructure based on methods of molecular and particle dynamics. Development and enhancement of methods for particle dynamics in the works of Prof. Krivtsov allowed investigating processes, which are difficult to describe by means of continuum mechanics.

The Chair of Theoretical Mechanics supports scientific cooperation with leading institutions and scientific organizations from all over the world, such as

• University of Aberdeen, Great Britain, Department of Engineering
• Brown University, USA, Department of Engineering
• Martin Luther University, Germany, Halle-Vittenberg, Department of Mechanical Engineering
• Sevilla University, Spain, Department of Electronics and Electromagnetism
• University of Florida, USA, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
• University of California, USA
• Sandia National Laboratory, Department of Mechanics of Materials, USA
• Hamburg University of Technology, Institute of Solids Process Engineering and Particle Technology, Germany etc.

This allows us to promote research in various branches of science and to work on cutting edge of scientific and technological progress. Research methods which are developed at our chair are applied both to problems of nanoscale level and to astrophysical problems. Nanomechanics, biotechnology, materials processing, deformation and fracture, the formation of planets – all these and many other areas are represented here.

Staff and students of our chair are actively involved in organizing of international summer school-conference "Advanced Problems in Mechanics". This conference is held annually by the Russian Academy of Sciences since 1971. It covers all fields of mechanics, as well as some interdisciplinary problems. The main objective of the conference is to provide an opportunity of effective interaction between renowned scientists and young professionals from various branches of mechanics.

University graduates with Master’s degrees in "Mechanics" (and mathematical modeling) are first of all focused on research work in scientific centers in Russia and abroad, and in the specialized private firms. Also, they can operate successfully in various industrial corporations, Russian and foreign Hi-Tech and IT business establishments, consulting firms etc.

5. Contemporary scientific events

The Nobel Prize in Physics in 2009 was awarded to a Chinese scientist Charles Kao and Americans Willard Boyle and George Smith for research in the field of information technology. Kao was behind the fiber-optic data transmission technology, and Boyle and Smith have invented a semiconductor device that allows you to receive digital photos directly, bypassing the film. Their work led to the first real revolution in applied science, then in knowledge-intensive technologies, and in the last decade they have become part of our everyday lives, making it much more comfortable.

Nobel Prize in Chemistry this year went to biologists: their accomplishment is primarily associated with the use of X-ray diffraction method, widely used in biochemistry and brought to the new level with the active participation of the winners. Award “for studying the structure and operation of the ribosomes” is shared by Ada Yonath,VenkatramanRamakrishnan and Thomas Steitz. Ribosomes are the “protein factory” of cells; it is them, whose work provides synthesis of the protein from amino-acids, which forms the basis of life of all living things. The award-winning achievement has played a significant role in the development of science; it has direct practical applications: in particular, antibiotics, which kill bacteria by “turning off” their ribosomes, are developed and improved.

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2009 was given to Elizabeth Blackburn, Carol Greider and Jack Szostak “for their discovery of how the enzyme telomerase and telomeres protect chromosomes”. The mechanism of protection of chromosomes from shortening when dividing was first predicted in 1971 by A. M. Olovnikov and subsequently his theory was confirmed in practice by experimenters, who were awarded this Nobel Prize. Telomeres play a significant role in age-related changes of cells and whole organism and in the development of malignant diseases. Further investigation of their dynamics and principles of the way the enzyme telomerase lengthens them may help to find new ways to fight aging and cancer.

1. Researches, discoveries and innovations in English-speaking countries

An international team of researchers has developed a new magnetic carbon material that not only acts as a semiconductor but is also magnetic and could help scientists develop the next generation of microelectronic devices.

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