The dissertation work is a complex scientific and historical research of life and activity of the outstanding scientist, teacher, bridge builder L.D. Proskuryakov, in which, on the basis of use of versatile sources and the latest methodological approaches, features of scientific-organizational and methodological foundations of development of the national architecture of bridges, which were formed under the influence of socio-political and theoretical, methodological and scientific factors, are analyzed.
The relevance of the thesis is due to the civilizational, scientific and social significance of the personality of Lavr Proskuryakov (1858–1926) in the railway business of the late 19th – first quarter of the 20th century; the lack of a special comprehensive study of his scientific, educational, organizational and administrative activities in the history of science and technology; the need to reproduce objectively the biography of the scientist; the analysis of his creative heritage, as well as the importance of introducing a wide array of scientific sources.
The essence of the transport business, the achievements of its organizers and methodologists, which influenced the formation of the system of scientific support of the industry in terms of reorganization factors, is reproduced. The state and forms of scientific support of railway bridge construction and the search for new ways of its structural construction are highlighted. The specificity of modeling of its managerial and coordinating functions is revealed. The characteristic features of the evolutionary period of the main directions of architecture of bridges are generalized; the contribution of certain educational institutions, research institutions and outstanding national scientists in the field of development of bridge-building science in Ukraine is defined.
Lavr Dmytrovych Proskuryakov is a professor, engineer, innovator in the field of structural mechanics, bridge builder, follower D.I. Zhuravsky and contemporary V.G. Shukhov, his disciples were world-famous scholars: Ie.O. Paton, I.P. Prokofiev, M.M. Filonenko-Borodych, P.A. Velikhov, P.Ya. Kamentsev, etc. In his golden treasury of engineering thought L.D. Proskuryakov has innovative projects for the construction of railroad bridges that impress with their architectural aesthetics, the ease of structures on the visual and practical levels.
L.D. Proskuryakov was the first in Europe to refuse to design complicated structures and calculations on the basis of bridge girder. L.D. Proskuryakov designed and developed a parabolic and polygonal statically-defined bridge girder with a sprocket lattice, offered cantilever and arched girder for railroad bridges.
L.D. Proskuryakov designed a girder with one triangular power grid, which provided the exact distribution of force from a gear load in the construction. L.D. Proskuryakov used his innovation during the construction of a railroad bridge across the Sula River in Ukraine. It was the first on the territory of Ukraine railroad metal bridge of console system on Kharkiv-Mykolaiv railroads under the project of L.D. Proskuryakov. In fact, his first project in Ukraine launched a new direction in bridgework. This allowed L.D. Proskuryakov to build a number of railroad bridges on the territory of modern Ukraine.
Lavr Dmytrovych is the author of more than 100 perfect bridges projects, most of which have been implemented. These bridges were built on the basis of economic feasibility, aestheticism and architectural perfection. These were bridges with new type of girder – across the West Bug River, the Seym River near Konotop, across the Dnipro River near the city of Zaporizhzhia in Ukraine, and the bridges through the rivers Volkhov, Oka, Amur, Yenisei, Zeya, etc.
Lavr Dmytrovych designed bridges of various joists from 20 to 145 meters, which became known as "proskuryakovsky". They were light and rational in the perception of the load. They blocked hundreds of bridge joists both on national and foreign railroads. L.D. Proskuryakov devoted more than 30 years of his activity to his pedagogical process. In fact now teachers recollect the surname of Proskuryakov in their pedagogical dictionaries, monographs and, especially, in the preparation of scientific works of educational character.
Scientific school of L.D. Proskuryakov not only generated scientific products, ideas, inventions, but also provided extended reproduction by future generations of researchers, when some of its participants have themselves become scientific leaders, heads of new “daughter” schools or groups of scientists, new branches. School of L.D. Proskuryakov delivered several generations of scientists and new branches of science. This contributes to its longevity and life
