Rector Lenar Safin lays flowers on Nikolai Lobachevsky’s burial site on the great scientist’s 230th anniversary
Longtime rector and outstanding mathematician was born on 1 December 1792.
Before visiting the tomb, the Rector addressed the accompanying group of employees and students in front of Lobachevsky’s bust near KFU’s Main Building, “It’s an honor and a duty to commemorate our great scientist. It so happened that Lobachevsky’s name became inextricably linked with Kazan and Kazan University. One must always remember that it’s thanks to him that our university came to be one of the best in Russia.”
He then proceeded to the flower laying ceremony at the Arsk Cemetery in the city center together with President of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov. Along with scientists, statespersons, and guests, the solemn event was visited by Lobachevsky’s great-great-great-granddaughter Olga Subbotina.
Nikolai Lobachevsky is known as the founder of non-Euclidean geometry, a discovery not appreciated by his colleagues during his life. In 1827 – 1846, he served as Rector of Kazan University (the first among the University’s own alumni to assume the post) and contributed immensely to the growth and reputation of our institution.
Lobachevsky is memorialized in Kazan with a street under his name. At Kazan University, his eponym is used for the Lobachevsky Institute of Mathematics and Mechanics (a higher education structural unit), the Lobachevsky Lyceum (a secondary school within the University), and the Lobachevsky Library.