Exhibition Halls\Kazan University Museum of History - Kazan (Volga region) Federal University
Exhibition Halls

There is a manus­cript of I.M.Simonov's notes about his voyage on the sloops "Vostok" and "Mirny", which is kept in N.I.Lobachevsky Academic Library. He wrote them for more than thirty years, but didn't finish. A plaster cast of the first copybook cover with epigraph in French is exhibited in the museum: "The Earth is too old to be generous; if you want to learn how to ask, go to the sea". In 1903 I.M.Simonov's son gave 25 copybooks of the scientist to the university.

In 2003 the exhibition was decorated by a model of "Vostok" sloop, which circumnavigated the globe, as an evidence of his scientific exploit and courage of Russian sailors. This wonderful exhibit, a present of the Central Navy Museum in St. Petersburg, was made by ship-modeler F.Platonov.

In 1983 I.M.Simonov personality awoke public interest again. Two ocean research ships of the Black Sea Fleet "Admiral Vladimirsky" and "Faddey Bellinsgausen" which followed the route of the sloops "Vostok" and "Mirny" came back from the expedition.

There are presents by participants of exhibition given to the museum, such as the map of the route with the autograph of its scientific supervisor, rear-admiral L.I.Mitin: 
"To the Honorable participant of the expedition, Kazan University, having brought up a scientist and seafarer Simonov from the Black Sea hydrographs - world-round Antarctic navigators"; the Black Sea Geographical Service Flag, a medal of a honorable participant of expedition and samples of Antarctic rocks.

Further development of Astronomy is connected with the names of outstanding scientist M.A.Kovalsky, who was a prominent theorist and talented observer at the same time, and D.I.Dubyago, notable for constructing out-of-town Astronomy Observatory in 1899-1901.

It became possible owing to close friendship of D.I.Dubyago and V.P.Engelhard, who presented his instruments and devices of his private well-equipped Dresden observatory to Kazan University.

Astronomy in the XX century is represented by materials on V.A.Baranov, M.A.Grachyov and A.A.Yakovkin, who initiated the development of astro-physics at the university. I.V.Belkovich, A.A.Nefedyev and Sh.T.Khabibullin made a great contribution to investigations of the Moon. One should pay attention to D.Ya.Martynov, who researched eclipsing variable stars and founded Kazan Comet School named after A.D.Dubyago. After his discovery of two comets he became famous to astronomers all over the world before graduating from the university. There is a medal for comet discovery and his fundamental work "Orbits' Definition", translated into English and published in the USA.