On August 28, the gallery of sculptural portraits of prominent scientists who worked and studied at Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute was replenished with a bas-relief of a prominent Ukrainian scientist in the field of mechanics, the first dean of the Mechanical Department (now the Educational and Scientific Institute of Mechanical Engineering) of Kyiv Polytechnic and its third rector Kostiantyn Zvorykin (1861-1928).
This gallery adorns the walls of the first floor of the historic first building of the university. Opening the ceremony of unveiling another bas-relief, Mykola Bobyr, the scientific director of the Educational and Scientific Mechanical Engineering Institute of the university, corresponding member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, said: "Kostiantyn Oleksiiovych Zvorykin is the founder of the world-famous scientific school of metal cutting at Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, which has trained thousands of highly qualified specialists working in knowledge-intensive industries and organizations in many countries... Even today, numerous scientific monographs, textbooks, and articles by Kostiantyn Zvorykin are widely used in their work by scientists and practicing engineers..."
The canvas from the bas-relief was removed by the rector of the university, academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Mykhailo Zgurovsky, director of the Educational and Scientific Mechanical Engineering Institute of KPI Ihor Hryshko, Mykola Bobyr, grandsons of Konstantin Zvorykin - Konstantin Olegovich and Leonid Olegovich Zvorykin - and others.
In his speech to the participants of the opening ceremony, Mykhailo Zgurovsky quoted the words of the first rector of KPI, Viktor Kyrpychov, about the galaxy of outstanding scientists who became the founders of scientific schools of the National Technical University of Ukraine "Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute" and laid its powerful educational and scientific traditions: "A special happiness for the institute, a special success that determined its rapid development, was the opportunity to attract outstanding scientists, professors of various specialties to the teaching staff, who became a happy wave, gave the institution all their strength and put in it the seeds of science, which gave lush shoots and a rich harvest." He also noted that Kostiantyn Zvorykin was among these luminaries.
The portrait of the prominent scientist was created by a family duo of young artists - sculptors Mykola Tykhonov and Milana Yankovska. The bas-relief was made in the style of other works of the gallery, and the work on it lasted only three months to be in time for the 125th anniversary of the KPI. Kostiantyn Zvorykin is depicted with a cogwheel. "A gear wheel is the most knowledge-intensive and high-tech element of mechanical system components for various purposes. Its manufacture requires serious work in mathematics, theoretical mechanics, tribology, etc. This is a real symbol of mechanics and production," explained Mykola Bobyr, explaining the use of this particular element in the composition.
It is worth noting that Kostiantyn Zvorykin became the ancestor of a whole dynasty of Kyiv Polytechnic students. According to Leonid Zvorykin, his son Oleh Konstantinovich graduated from KPI and stayed on to work there, his grandsons (one of them, Konstantin Olegovich, also works at the university) and even his great-grandchildren graduated from KPI. Moreover, all of them have earned academic degrees!
The bas-relief can be seen on the first floor of the first building of the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute near the room 143.
To recap: Kostiantyn Oleksiiovych Zvorykin (1861-1928) was a professor, dean of the mechanical department (1898-1904), rector of the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute (1904-1905). In 1884 he graduated from the St. Petersburg Institute of Technology. He was a student of the first rector of the KPI, Professor Viktor Lvovich Kyrpychov. He worked on the creation of sea and river vessels, improvement of ship mechanisms (1884-1887), headed the mechanical and cooperage plant in Astrakhan (1887-1888), and at the same time did not interrupt his scientific research. In 1888, V.L. Kyrpychov invited him to work at the Kharkiv Institute of Technology, where K.O. Zvorykin lectured on flour milling and wood technology, and supervised the design of steam boilers at the mechanical and chemical departments. In 1898, at the invitation of V.L. Kyrpychov, who was then the head of the newly established Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, he moved to Kyiv. At KPI, he taught courses in general mechanical technology, machine parts, and flour milling, supervised graduate design, and continued his engineering practice. In 1905, he retired and moved to Kharkiv. In 1918, he returned to the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, and in 1922 he became the head of the research department of mechanical technology.
Konstantin Zvorykin is the founder of the science of metal cutting and the author of numerous works on mechanical engineering. Among the most famous are "Determination of the Diameter and Approximate Weight of a Tubular Cylindrical Boiler" (1888), "A Course in Mechanical Technology of Wood" (1893), "A Course in Flour Milling" (1894), "Work and Effort Required for Removing Metal Chips" (1898), "A Course in Machine Parts" (1900), and "Iron Cementation by Gas" (1911), "Agricultural Mills and Mill Engineering" (1913), "Scientific Organization of Labor and Production in the Flour Milling Industry" (1924), "New Improved Design of Triers" (1925), etc.
A bas-relief to the former Dean of the Faculty of Mechanics and Rector of KPI Kostiantyn Zvorykin was unveiled at Kyiv Polytechnic.
Kyiv sculptors together with the university administration worked on the portrait for about three months.