Somov's activity at the Institute of Railway Engineers

The study of archival documents has allowed re-establish Somov activities in Institute of Railway Engineers in Petersburg in 1848–1869. At the end of the 1840s in some educational institutions of St. Petersburg began working as mathematician and engineer, later Professor of St. Petersburg University, and Academician, Osip (Joseph) Ivanovich Somov. He taught at Page Corps (1842-1849), Institute of Mining Engineers (1849-1862), Naval Academy (1849-1862). The most time - more than 21 years - Somov worked in the Institute of Railway Engineers (1848-1869). Initially he had been accepted as a "teacher of mathematics" initially, then he had begun to work in analytical mechanics. Somov was working actively to improve the relevant courses, participated in the work of the Education Committee. He paid great attention to the creation of tutorials, trying to maintain students' interest in mathematics and mechanics, in particular, through a variety of historical references. He believed that the history of science always promote to "critical study of its present wheeling”. It is interesting to note, that for a hundred years from 1819 to 1919 in St. Petersburg University there were only three professors who led Department of Mechanics (Applied Mathematics): Prof. D.S. Chizhov, academician O.I. Somov and academician D.K. Bobylev, and they all also worked at the Institute of Railway Engineers.