Father of Soviet shipbuilding science who translated Newton's Principia into Russian
When his grandson Andrei Kapitsa asked him, "Why weren't you, a general, shot during the Revolution?", Krylov answered simply: "General to general is different."
Mathematician and naval engineer from late Imperial Russia through the Soviet era. With Admiral Makarov he founded the theory of ship unsinkability, and in 1915 produced the first Russian translation of Newton's Principia. After the Revolution he laid the foundations of Soviet shipbuilding science and was named Hero of Socialist Labor.
Career Timeline
- 1884–1887Michman, Compass Division — first research on magnetic compass deviation
- 1888–1890Graduate, Shipbuilding Department, Nikolaev Naval Academy
- 1890–1908Professor, Naval College & Academy — first systematic mathematical treatment of shipbuilding
- 1900–1908Head, Experimental Shipbuilding Basin — laid research foundations
- 1908–1911Chairman, Naval Technical Committee & Chief Inspector of Shipbuilding
- 1911–1917General for Special Assignments under Naval Minister — Sevastopol-class dreadnoughts
- 1915First complete Russian translation of Newton's Principia from Latin
- 1916Full Academician, Petersburg Academy of Sciences (mathematical physics)
- 1919–1920Head, Naval Academy
- 1928–1931Director, Physics-Mathematics Institute, USSR Academy of Sciences
- 1938–1941Published compass deviation & gyrocompass theory — Stalin Prize 1st class
- 1943Hero of Socialist Labor — lifetime service to shipbuilding science
Related historical events
Theory of Ship Unsinkability and Collaboration with Makarov
Among Krylov's most practical achievements was the theory of ship unsinkability, developed together with Admiral Stepan Makarov. When Makarov first proposed counter-flooding (deliberately flooding undamaged compartments opposite a breached section to prevent capsizing), naval bureaucrats dismissed it as arrant nonsense. Krylov developed the concept into a rigorous mathematical theory and produced the famous 'Tables of Unsinkability,' which allowed a ship's crew to determine instantly which compartments to flood in order to right the vessel after any given damage. In a 1903 lecture to fleet officers, he opened by observing that Noah's Ark, built to divine specifications, already possessed watertight bulkheads and three decks ('the first unsinkable vessel') and remarked dryly that in the 7,410 years since, countless ships built by human reason had violated these very principles. Krylov's Unsinkability Tables became standard equipment in navies worldwide and remain a cornerstone of naval engineering that has saved the lives of countless sailors.
First Complete Russian Translation of Newton's Principia (1915)
In 1915 Krylov produced the first complete Russian translation of Newton's Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica from the original Latin, a feat no one had accomplished in the 250 years since Newton's death. He went far beyond translation, adding over 400 pages of commentary that recast Newton's geometric proofs in the language of modern analysis, mathematically clarifying passages Newton had deliberately left obscure. The translation gave Russian mathematics and physics a systematic foundation in classical mechanics. The astronomer N.I. Idelson called it 'our national treasure and wealth, a monument to Krylov's diligence and skill, which alone in 250 years since the Principia's publication managed to raise its translation and commentary to a height that can scarcely be surpassed.' Krylov taught himself Latin for the task, and had officer cadets transcribe the manuscript by hand in 1913. He pushed the publication through the chaos of revolution and civil war, insisting it serve as a tool of scientific enlightenment.