Alexei Ivanovich Kovanko ( 1808 - 1870 ) - Russian mineralogist , chemist and engineer , major general engineer. He is the author of numerous articles about China and the first translation into Russian of a part of the novel “ A Dream in a Red Tower ” (under the pseudonym Da-min).
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Biography
His father, Ivan Afanasevich Kovanko , who was educated in the Mountain Cadet Corps, is known mainly for poetry. Alex was the fourth child in the family; was born on October 14 ( 26 ), 1808 .
Along with the brothers Athanasius, Alexander and Matvey (the other sons of Ivan Afanasevich chose a military career), he entered the Mountain Cadet Corps , which he graduated first in 1828 , with large gold and silver medals. Upon completion of his studies, with the rank of gittenferwaller, he was identified as an official at the head office of the Goroblagodatsky factories .
He took part in the 11th Russian spiritual mission to Beijing ; from 1830 to 1837 he "successfully collected information about Natural History and the geology of the steppes of Mongolia and China itself", studied the Chinese language. He was awarded the Order of St. Stanislav of the 4th degree.
Upon his return to St. Petersburg, in the rank of major, he began to teach chemistry at the Practical Technological Institute (1838-1841); with him, "practical exercises in the laboratory of students of the institute received a more scientific direction."
Leaving teaching practice, he joined the St. Petersburg Mint : he managed a platinum institution (1841), a laboratory for the separation of gold from silver (1845); was the head of chemical industries (1847).
In the mid-1840s, he married Colonel Basov’s daughter, Pelageya Mikhailovna, who had a family estate in St. Petersburg County with 90 souls and 905 acres of land. They had a daughter, Nadezhda (1845–1846) and three sons: Alexei (1847–1912), Mikhail (1851–1860) and Alexander (1854–1868).
In 1858, A. I. Kovanko was promoted to major general and became the managing expedition for the procurement of government securities. In the same year, he became interested in sulfur pyrites on Msta and in 1860, in the company of Anichkov and Protopopov, built a plant for the preparation of sulfuric acid and alum on the shore of Msta in the estate of Ustye, on leased land. In 1888, his son, Alexei Alekseevich, bought the estate of Ustye.
Since 1861, a member of the Mining Council . He died on February 14 ( 26 ), 1870 . He was buried in the Smolensk Orthodox cemetery .
Sources
- Ignatiev A. “Kovanko is not a place, but a surname” // Business Borovichi
- Petersburg Necropolis: T. 2 (D — L). - SPb .: type. M.M. Stasyulevich: 1912 .-- S. 413.