GraphiCon 2018

The National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU), which founded in 1896 by Emperor Nikolai II as the Tomsk Practical Technological Institute, is the fourth technical college in the country and the first in its Asian part historically.

The idea of establishing an independent institute in Tomsk belonged to the Minister of Finance of the Russian Empire, Count Sergei Yulyevich Witte. A great contribution to the development of the idea was also made by the brilliant chemist, the great scientist Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev, who was part of the committees that worked out the project for the construction of the higher education institution. In 1904 D.I. Mendeleev became the first honorary member of the institute.

The system of training engineering personnel at the Imperial Institute was built taking into account the specifics of Siberia and presupposed comprehensive training, the ability to solve not only various production tasks, but also construction, energy, and economic tasks. At all departments the construction business was studied, projects on the architecture of industrial and living buildings were carried out. Important place was occupied by general and humanitarian disciplines.

Gradually the institute became the center of development of technical science in Siberia. Along with theoretical developments, scientists of the institute took part in the exploration and development of hard coal, gold, precious metals and iron ores, provided technical assistance to industrial enterprises, participated in the design and construction of buildings and structures, industrial facilities in the cities of Siberia, Urals and Central Russia.

The change in the political system in the country, which happened in 1917, entailed the reform of the higher school. The changes touched only some aspects of the university life: the departments were renamed to the faculties, the post of the rector was established instead of the director post, new posts of vice-rectors, assistant professors and assistants were introduced. Already in the first year of Soviet Russia, the rules for admission of students also changed - for the first time higher educational institutions opened doors for women.

The university changed its name more than once during its existence in pre-war Soviet Russia. First, he lost the prefix "Imperial" and replaced the coat of arms, then was renamed to the Siberian Technological Institute, later to the Mechanical Engineering Institute. And in 1934 it acquired the name of the Tomsk Industrial Institute. The university survived the revolution, civil war, NEP, industrialization, repression together with the country. Institute stood and managed to celebrate two anniversaries, having received in 1940 his first state award - the Order of the Red Banner of Labor.

But soon the most terrible war in the history of mankind began. In 1941 more than 600 people left the institute for the front: 350 students, 68 teachers and researchers, 213 workers and employees. Employees and students of the Institute fought in the tragic 1940s on all fronts. More than two hundred of them have not returned. In the first month of the war all the scientific research work of the institute was rebuilt into defense subjects and assistance to the production, including the industrial enterprises evacuated to Tomsk. Six of the eight buildings of the institute were assigned to military hospitals, military schools and high schools evacuated from the central part of the country: from 1941 to 1945 the entire main building was occupied by the Leningrad Artillery and Technical School of Antiaircraft Artillery, four buildings were transferred to the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys, The Novocherkassk Industrial Institute, the All-Union Academic Research Institute of Medicinal Plants and the Military School.

Only a part of the following buildings remained at the disposal of the institute: chemical, physical and engineering (no more than 15% of the training areas of pre-war time). Most of the departments, workshops and laboratories were conserved. The supply of laboratory equipment, educational and scientific literature was stopped. Students were in urgent need even of writing paper. Lecture notes were written in the literal sense in old journals and books.

When the war years were over, the country began to get used to a peaceful life again. In 1944 the university changed its name again and became the Tomsk Polytechnic Institute. By this time new industries were in desperate need of personnel. TPI began training radio technicians, nuclear physicists and a number of other specialists.

The time of Khrushchev's Thaw and seven-year plans for TPI is a period of active development. The best young scientists and researchers from leading universities of the country were invited to work at the institute. In connection with the construction of the largest enterprises of the nuclear industry that began in Siberia, a need for specialists of the highest level was aroused.

In the 1990s, despite the difficult political and economic situation in the country, the university continues to build capacity, adopting a new concept of development. TPI receives the status of a university in the first year of the new Russia. Already in 1992 the Board of Trustees and the Graduate Association were created, and the university itself became one of the founders of the Association for Engineering Education of Russia. A unique educational site - a lyceum for gifted high school students – was opened at the TPU. In 1997 the Tomsk Polytechnic University was included in the list of especially valuable objects of cultural heritage of the peoples of the Russian Federation by the decree of the President of the Russian Federation.

At the turn of the century TPU marked two jubilees: the centenary of the foundation and the centenary of the opening. And in 2009 a new era began for Tomsk Polytechnic University - the university was assigned a category named "National Research University". After this the structure also changed: faculties and research institutes were merged into new divisions - scientific and educational institutions.

In 2013 TPU becomes the winner of the federal competition for the right to receive state support for promotion to the top hundred universities in the world. Today Tomsk Polytechnic University continues to hold leading positions, which is reflected in the dynamics of development and the world's largest ratings. Substantial assistance in achieving the goals set by the university is provided by the members of the International Scientific Council of TPU under the leadership of Nobel laureate Professor of the University of Israel Technion Dan Shechtman.

Today TPU is a core university for the largest state corporations, including Gazprom, Rosatom, JSC Information Satellite Systems Reshetnev, Microgen, System Operator UES, RAO Energy Systems of the East.

Tomsk Polytechnic University is one of the largest taxpayers in the region, which provides orders for the construction industry of the city, does its improvement and provides work to six thousand employees.

A large number of scientific projects are being realized at the university. Hundreds of scientists, graduate students and undergraduates are involved in the study. TPU scientists are engaged in the solution of the problems of the Large Hadron Collider, pass foreign internships at CERN and work all over the world.

Tomsk Polytechnic University has trained more than 167,000 specialists over its history. Many polytechnics became doctors of science, were awarded the honorary title of "Honored Worker of Science and Technology", became laureates of Lenin, State Prizes, President and Government of the Russian Federation Awards. It is proud to note that a large number of graduates are continuing the glorious traditions of TPU as employees and strategic partners of the university.

Useful links

• Opening of the Tomsk Technological Institute
• Directors and rectors of TPU
• Polytechnics during the Great Patriotic War
• Movies about the history of TPU