1. Petre Melikishvili was the co-founder of Tbilisi State University, the first rector of TSU, head of the Department of Organic Chemistry, corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences and professor at the University of Odessa.
32 Facts About Petre Melikishvili
1. 2.
Petre Melikishvili's ancestors moved from Adjara to Akhaltsikhe in the 16th century.
3.
Petre Melikishvili's parents moved from Akhaltsikhe to Tbilisi in the 1840s.
4.
Father Grigol Melikishvili was a public figure and actively participated in the establishment of the first private Georgian printing house in Tbilisi.
5.
Petre Melikishvili sent his eldest son to Vienna to bring printing equipments.
6.
Petre Melikishvili's younger brother Iosebi was a publisher, and his sister, Sergei Meskhi's wife, Ekaterine Melikishvili-Meskhi, was a writer, translator and feminist.
7.
Petre Melikishvili was born on July 11,1850, in Tbilisi.
8.
Petre Melikishvili graduated from the gymnasium with honors in 1868 and under the influence of Besarion Ghoghoberidze chose to study natural sciences.
9.
Petre Melikishvili decided to continue his studies in Moscow or St Petersburg, but due to poor health, doctors prevented him from continuing his studies in Russia.
10.
Vasil Petriashvili studied in the last year of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics, with whom Petre Melikishvili soon became friends.
11.
In 1872, Petre Melikishvili graduated from the university two years earlier with honors and remained at the University of Odessa to train as a professor.
12.
In 1873 Petre Melikishvili went abroad on a business trip.
13.
In 1877 Petre Melikishvili started scientific work in organic chemistry.
14.
In 1881, Petre Melikishvili defended his dissertation "Acrylic Acids" for a master's degree, after which he left for Paris, where he attended lectures by the French chemist Marceline Bertha.
15.
Petre Melikishvili left France for Munich, where he worked in the laboratory of the German chemist Adolf Bayer.
16.
In 1885, Petre Melikishvili defended his dissertation "Isomeric Crotonic Acid Products" and was awarded the degree of Doctor of Chemistry.
17.
Petre Melikishvili showed great interest in the emancipation of women.
18.
Petre Melikishvili mainly worked in two fields: organic chemistry and inorganic chemistry, and after returning to Georgia he worked intensively on agricultural issues.
19.
Petre Melikishvili published the first two works while he was still a student in 1872.
20.
Petre Melikishvili laid the foundation for the creation of chemical terminology in the Georgian language, which was later developed by his students Nino Tsitsishvili and Rusudan Nikoladze.
21.
Petre Melikishvili studied meteorites which fell in different places, including: Tsmeti, Zabrod, Migey, Vakulov and others.
22.
In 1896, Petre Melikishvili published a study on natural soda, in which the issue of its formation was discussed.
23.
In 1897 Petre Melikishvili started working in the field of inorganic chemistry and wrote more than 20 papers in this field.
24.
Petre Melikishvili was awarded the Lomonosov Gold Medal together with Lev Pisarzhevsky for these examinations.
25.
At the suggestion of Ivane Javakhishvili, on January 13,1918, Petre Melikishvili was elected the first rector of Tbilisi State University.
26.
Petre Melikishvili did not receive a salary during his tenure as rector.
27.
Petre Melikishvili gave lectures and set up laboratories at the Faculty of Natural Sciences.
28.
Petre Melikishvili applied for the resignation he continued to work in the Department of Organic Chemistry and headed the newly established Faculty of Agriculture of the university.
29.
Petre Melikishvili died on March 23,1927, at the age of 77.
30.
Petre Melikishvili is buried in the yard of Tbilisi State University.
31.
Petre Melikishvili was the first professor to be buried in the university yard.
32.
The Petre Melikishvili Prize exists at the Georgian National Academy of Sciences.