Eloge: Vladimir Semyonovich Kirsanov, 26 December 1936–12 May 2007Author(s): By Annette B.   VogtSource: Isis, Vol. 99, No. 4 (December 2008), pp. 803-805Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of The History of Science SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/595774 .

Accessed: 18/06/2014 18:33

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

.

The University of Chicago Press and The History of Science Society are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize,preserve and extend access to Isis.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 62.122.76.45 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 18:33:30 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

NEWS OF THE PROFESSION

Eloge

VLADIMIR SEMYONOVICH KIRSANOV, 26 DECEMBER 1936–12 MAY 2007

With the death of Vladimir S. Kirsanov, ourprofession has lost one of its most distinguishedhistorians of science and a former First VicePresident of the Division of History of Scienceand Technology of the International Union ofHistory and Philosophy of Science. Kirsanovwas a well-known Russian historian of science,one of the chief researchers in the Department ofHistory of Physics at the Sergej I. Vavilov In-stitute for History of Science and Technology ofthe Russian (until 1990 Soviet) Academy ofScience in Moscow and a professor of physicsand mathematics. Of his numerous publications,the most widely consulted is his monograph The

Scientific Revolution of the Seventeenth Century(Moscow, 1987), where he published his inves-tigations of the scientific heritage of Isaac New-ton and his analysis of the seventeenth-centuryScientific Revolution. He contributed to the his-tory of science not only with his books but alsowith articles and reviews and through his teach-ing activities at the Lomonossov University inMoscow.

Vladimir Semyonovich Kirsanov was born on26 December 1936 into an intellectual family.His father, Semen Isaakovich Kirsanov (1906–1972), was a famous Russian poet, one of themost prominent Russian poets in the SovietUnion. During the Great Patriotic War (WorldWar II) he worked as a journalist for armynewsletters; later he also translated poetry byAragon, Brecht, and Neruda into Russian. Vlad-imir’s mother, who worked in cinematography,died prematurely in early 1937 after an illness.The young Vladimir received an excellent edu-cation, not only in science and technology butalso in history, literature, philosophy, and art.Thanks to his father, he was personally ac-quainted with well-known Soviet writers,among them Valentin Kataev, Boris Pasternak,and Anna Achmatova. But he did not follow thefamily path into literature; instead, he studiedphysics, mechanics, and mathematics in Mos-cow. He became a pioneering physicist andworked as a physicist before becoming a histo-rian of physics and science. He started his careerin experimental physics, specializing in nuclearphysics. Nevertheless, he continued to be inter-ested in literature and poetry, in history andphilosophy. He spoke English and German; laterhe studied French and Latin; and he became asavant in the best tradition of the Russian intel-ligentsia.

Becoming more and more interested in thehistory of science, Kirsanov moved in 1971 tothe Institute for History of Science and Tech-

Isis, 2008, 99:803–805©2008 by The History of Science Society. All rights reserved.0028-9904/2008/9904-0008$10.00

803

This content downloaded from 62.122.76.45 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 18:33:30 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

nology of the Russian (until 1990 Soviet) Acad-emy of Science in Moscow. He began his re-search in the institute’s Department for theHistory of Mechanics, under Boris GrigorevichKuznetsov. Kirsanov became a historian of sci-ence with a wide range of interests, from ancientnatural philosophy to the history of science inthe Soviet Union. In 1987 he published theaforementioned Nauchnaja revoljucija XVIIveka [The Scientific Revolution of the Seven-teenth Century] (Nauka, 1987), on the history ofphysics in the sixteenth and seventeenth centu-ries. This was the first Soviet monographic ac-count of the fundamental transformations in thephysical sciences during that period. In it, heportrayed the lives and work of Galileo, New-ton, and Leibniz, as well as the development ofphysics and mathematics.1 In 1999 he finishedhis second doctoral thesis, The Early History ofthe “Mathematical Principles of Natural Philos-ophy” by Isaac Newton (in Russian), thus re-turning to his interest in the work of Newton.Looking at the theological works of late medi-eval thinkers like Thomas Bradwardine, NicolasOresme, and Jean Buridan, he explored howtheir “calculus” was assimilated by pre-Newtonian mechanics and when the qualitativecharacteristics of motion (speed and accelera-tion) became calculable. In this monograph Kir-sanov analyzed early manuscripts of Newtonand his correspondence with Robert Hooke. Kir-sanov’s publications on the history of physicsinfluenced the history of science, especially inthe Soviet Union. He showed how important thereconstruction of ideas and theories could be fora better understanding of Newton’s work and ofthe seventeenth-century revolution. Similarily,like Anneliese Maier (1905–1971), he studiedthe work of late medieval thinkers, and he ana-lyzed the history of notations as well as of ideas.For Soviet historians of physics, he emphasizedthe importance of primary sources and strictanalysis of the development of scientific ideas,theories, and concepts.

Kirsanov traveled several times to Cambridgeto discuss scientific topics with colleagues andto visit his friends Joan and Steven Mason. Inthe 1980s and 1990s he often participated inconferences on the history of mathematics inOberwolfach (in the Black Forest, Germany)and in congresses devoted to Leibniz. From1998 until his death Kirsanov participated in the“Leibniz Edition” project, in cooperation withthe Russian Academy of Science. The “LeibnizEdition” publishes the scientific papers, manu-

scripts, and letters of G. W. Leibniz and is cur-rently supported by the Berlin-BrandenburgAcademy of Science. Kirsanov worked on deci-phering and interpreting Leibniz’s manuscriptson mechanics. This in itself required an enor-mous amount of work, but Kirsanov went fur-ther. He studied Leibniz’s discussions about theconstruction of two perpetual engines, and hereconstructed the evolution of Leibniz’s outlookon the principle of the conservation of energy.He published the first results in his article “Leib-niz in Paris: The First Studies on Mechanics” (inRussian; Istorii Estestvoznaniia i Techniki[2007]). Unfortunately, this article became hissole contribution on this topic. Kirsanov hadseveral other research projects on his mind. Hewanted to study the work of N. E. Zukovsky onhydrodynamics. He also planned to investigatethe history of the history of science in the SovietUnion, beginning with the first institute in Len-ingrad (which was opened with the support ofNicolaj I. Bucharin and was closed during thegreat terror in 1937) and one of the key figuresin its history, his teacher B. G. Kuznetsov.

After 1990 Kirsanov was also active in vari-ous matters pertaining to international relation-ships and collaboration in history of science. Hebecame a Member of the Academie Internatio-nale d’Histoire des Sciences (CorrespondingMember in 1999, Full Member in 2006), and hewas a member of the presidium of the Divisionof History of Science and Technology of theInternational Union of History and Philosophyof Science. From 1997 to 2005 he served as theFirst Vice President of the DHS/IUHPS.

Kirsanov was warm and sympathetic, alwaysgenerous in his appreciation of others’ achieve-ments and unfailingly helpful in supporting theiraspirations. His character, like his ability, wasan all too rare phenomenon. Those who knewhim will sorely miss him. They will never forgethis support and his advice, the stories he toldabout the history of science and the history ofphysics, past and present, and above all his en-ergetic encouragement of research and collabo-ration. Those who had the good fortune to meetKirsanov, not only at scientific congresses andconferences, but also in small discussiongroups—and particularly those who were luckyenough to meet and talk to Volodja privately—will never forget his great knowledge and intel-ligence, his cosmopolitan views and behavior,his sense of humor, and his kindness. He was avery good man and a very true friend.

804 NEWS OF THE PROFESSION—ISIS, 99 : 4 (2008)

This content downloaded from 62.122.76.45 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 18:33:30 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The bibliography of the work of Vladimir S.Kirsanov runs to fifty-four titles. This list in-cludes only publications in English, German,and French.2

“Clarity and Physical Analogies,” in Pro-ceedings of the Vth Congress of Logic, Philos-ophy, and Methodology of Science (London/On-tario, 1975).

“On the History of Aeromechanics in the Sev-enteenth Century,” in Proceedings of the XIVthInternational Congress of History of Science(Tokyo, 1975).

(and A. T. Grigorian) “The Spread of Leib-niz’ Conceptions and the ‘Vis Viva’ Contro-versy,” in Leibniz a Paris (Stuttgart: Steiner,1978), pp. 233–241.

“Mathematics and Evolution of Classical Me-chanics,” in Abstracts of the 6th InternationalConference of Logic, Methodology, and Philos-ophy of Science (Hannover, 1979).

“Creative Work as an Object of TheoreticalUnderstanding,” in Pisa Conference Proceed-ings, Vol. 1 (Reidel, 1980), pp. 287–310.

“Technique au point,” in Science in the Twen-tieth Century (Paris/Moscow: APN, 1980).

“The Spread of Leibniz’ Conceptions . . . ,” inScience and Technology: Humanism andProgress, Vol. 2 (Moscow, 1981), pp. 67–79.

“Meeting of Specialists on the History andPhilosophy of Science,” Social Science, 1981,2:261–265.

“Development of Certain Trends in Mechan-ics in the USSR,” Acta Historiae Rerum Natu-ralium necnon Technicarum, 1982, 18:303–342.

“Non-Mechanistic Ideas in Physics and Phi-losophy: From Newton to Kant,” in Nature

Mathematized, ed. W. Shea (Reidel, 1982), pp.267–274.

“Euler’s Physics in Russia,” in Leonhard Eu-ler—Festband 1983 (Stuttgart: Birkhauser,1983).

“The Earliest Copy in Russia of Newton’sPrincipia: Is It David Gregory’s AnnotatedCopy?” Notes and Records of the Royal Societyof London, 1992, 46:203–218.

“Russian Physics in the Eighteenth Century,”in Joao Jacinto de Magalhaes: Conference onPhysical Science in the Eighteenth Century (Co-imbra, 1994).

“Leibniz’ Ideas in Russia of the EighteenthCentury,” in Leibniz und Europa (Hannover,1995), pp. 183–190.

“The First Russian Translation of Huygens’Cosmotheoros and Dissemination of New Sci-ence in Russia of the Eighteenth Century,” inXXth International Congress of History of Sci-ence: Book of Abstracts—Symposia (Liege,1997), p. 566.

“Leibniz und die St. Petersburger Akademieder Wissenschaften,” in Wissenschaft und Welt-gestaltung, ed. K. Novak and H. Poser(Hildesheim: Olms, 1999), pp. 35–43.

“Experimental Physics in Russia,” in XVIIIthInternational Scientific Instrument Symposium:Abstracts and Materials (Moscow: PublishingHouse “Engineer,” 1999).

ANNETTE B. VOGT

Max Planck Institute for the History ofScience

Boltzmannstra�e 2214195 Berlin, Germany

NOTES

1. See Aleksey E. Levin’s review in Isis,1989, 80:697–698.

2. Thanks to Sergej S. Demidov, Institute forHistory of Science and Technology, RussianAcademy of Science, Moscow, for help.

NEWS OF THE PROFESSION—ISIS, 99 : 4 (2008) 805

This content downloaded from 62.122.76.45 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 18:33:30 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions