SERGEI ALEKSEYEVICH KHRISTIANOVICH (the 100th Anniversary of his Birth) ΰ¬
The 9th of November 2008 is the 100th anniversary of the birth of an outstanding Russian scientist in the field of mechanics, Academician Sergei Alekseyevich Khristianovich, who made significant contributions to the development of science and technology both within his own country and abroad.
He was born in St Petersburg into a family of landowners from Orel Province. He spent his childhood in the country, on an estate not far from Orel, and was educated in the manner customary to the gentry: he studied with teachers, and had a French governess (he spoke French almost as his native tongue). The Revolution came, and then the Civil War. When, in 1920, Denikin's army withdrew from Orel, Khristianovich's parents, to avoid repression, were forced to leave with them. In Rostov-on-Don, the entire family went down with typhus. His parents and elder sister died, but the young Sergei survived, left orphaned and homeless, without means of support. He lived in poverty, neglected, until, in 1922, he happened to meet his aunt, M. N. Bek, in Rostov. Through her, Sergei became acquainted with Professor D. I. Ilovaiskii, who had known his parents, and who became his guardian and played a major part in the fate of the future scientist. In 1923, he moved to Petrograd, and there, in 1925, he finished middle school and entered Leningrad State University.