26 September 2025 marks the 180th anniversary of the birth of Viktor Lvovich Kirpichov, one of the most outstanding scientists in the field of mechanics, a talented engineer and educator, organiser of higher technical education and a well-known public figure, founder and first director of the Kharkiv Technological Institute, now the National Technical University ‘Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute’, founder and first director of the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, now the National Technical University of Ukraine ‘Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute’.
V.L. Kirpichov created an exemplary higher technical school. The principles of higher technical education he laid down were fundamental and logical, as they were based on a perfect synthesis of various systems of training specialists in Europe and America. V.L. Kirpichov developed the ideology of integrated and multifaceted training of engineers. For the first time, he applied a new progressive approach to the organisation of the educational process, harmoniously combining theoretical training with practical, laboratory classes and industrial practice. The primary task for V.L. Kirpichov was to form a faculty, thoroughly develop curricula and plans, and organize and equip laboratories. This work was facilitated by the fact that V.L. Kirpichov had close ties with the scientific community. He could unerringly recognise the gift of a teacher and scientist in a student V.L. Kirpichov sought to apply new mathematical and physical methods to solving complex technical problems and using engineering techniques in setting up scientific experiments. He tried to achieve the highest possible level of teaching mathematics as the basis of all sciences.
A great organiser of higher technical education, one of the founders and leading representatives of the new scientific direction of theoretical mechanical engineering, V.L. Kirpichov was a true self-made man who climbed the hierarchical ladder solely thanks to his own talents and loyalty to universal human values.
