Volodymyr Berezovsky (1841―1900), railway engineer and bridge builder: his life and work

Tetyana Demchenko

Abstract— This article analyzes the active life and outstanding Ukrainian railway engineer, bridge builders Vladimir Ilyich Berezovsky (1841—1900). Coming from an educated noble family of the former province of Poltava, V. I. Berezovsky left a number of major bridges across the Dnieper, Volga, Ob, Ufa, White, Tobol, Ishim, Irtysh and others. During working V. I. Berezovsky in Nikolaev Engineering Academy the «spirit» of the great mathematician M. V. Ostrogradski was dominating. The school, founded by S. V. Kerbedz, professor, road construction engineer, continued to grow. V. I. Berezovsky has made a significant contribution to the construction of a bridge across the Dnieper in Kremenchug. Archival sources claim that cooperation between V. I. Berezovsky and A.E. Struve was quite long and they shared with all joys and sorrows working in the field of construction of bridges. In 1872 he took an active part in developing the final design foundry bridge in St. Petersburg, which was built in St. Petersburg under management of A. E. Struve by order of Tsar Alexander II. As to the creative union of such luminaries in bridge engineering as M. A. Belelyubskyy, K. Y. Michael, V. I. Berezovskyy and E. Knorre, it was very productive for a long time. They worked together building bridges for nearly two decades. Berezovsky, talented expert, successful entrepreneur and skilled organizer of transport construction was suffering from throat cancer. He went to Paris for treatment, where after the surgery he died August 2, 1900. His body was delivered to Russia and buried in the mausoleum of his estate Suuk‐Su.

Key words: Vladimir Berezovsky, railway transport, bridges, engineer