The National Research Tomsk State University, TSU (Russian: Национа́льный иссле́довательский То́мский госуда́рственный университе́т) is a public research university located in Tomsk, Russia. The university, which opened in 1888,[2] was the first university in the Asian part of Russia and, in practice, the first Russian university East of the Volga.
On May 16 (28 N.S.), 1878, Emperor Alexander II signed a decree on the establishment of the first higher education institution between the Russian Urals and the Pacific Ocean. The move was supported by major industrialist and businessmen, who contributed with private funds, as well as by local city councils in Siberia, but was opposed by conservative voices within the State Council, notably Konstantin Pobedonostsev, who complained about the cost of the project and the fact that local Tomsk society consisted of "all sorts of rabble".[4] Nevertheless, the project progressed, albeit slowly, and on September 1, 1888 the first faculty (medicine) of the Siberian Imperial University named after His Imperial Majesty Alexander III (Russian: Первый Сибирский Томский Императорский (имени Его Императорского Величества Александра III)) finally opened.[5] Classes to the first 72 students were handled by eight professors, aided by seven assistants and laboratory technicians. Professor Nikolai Gezekhus was appointed the first rector of the University. It would take a decade for the second faculty of the university (Law) to become operational.[6]
Recent history
This article needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(March 2023)
In March 2022, Eduard Vladimirovich Galazhinsky, Rector of the university, was suspended by the European University Association (EUA) following support for the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Union of Rectors (RUR), for being "diametrically opposed to the European values that they committed to when joining EUA”.[7] Professor Terry Callaghan, who had helped establish 21 Russian environmental research stations in the Arctic, paused his professorship at Tomsk State University after the rectors’ statement.[8]
The Research Library and Tomsk State University were opened in the same year, 1888. The founder of the library was Vasily Florinskiy – physician and writer, organizer of Tomsk University.[citation needed]
Aleksey Aleksandrovich Kulyabko – Graduated as a doctor of medicine from Tomsk University in 1893, professor at Tomsk University from 1903-24, founder of the School of Physiology.
Ioaniky Malinovsky - Jurist and historian of law, opponent of the death penalty, taught at Tomsk University 1898-1911
Fritz Noether - German mathematician and former professor; executed by the Stalinist NKVD.
Antonina Polozhy – Graduated Tomsk in 1939, became a professor at the university in the botanical field.
Sergey Psakhie – Graduate and former professor of Tomsk University, Chairman of the Presidium of the Tomsk Scientific Centre of the Siberian Division of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
