A biochemist as a philologist: M. Nierenstein and Russian studies at University of Bristol

Abstract

For the first time in world historiography a biography of a Russian scholar abroad, biochemist Maximilian Nierenstein (1877–1946) is considered: a process of gaining higher education, his participation in UK academic corporation, his career stages, the main directions (including change of directions) of scientific activity, his naturalization as a British citizen, the circumstances of his personal life. The activities of M. Nierenstein during World War I are traced in details, the period, when he, like many hundreds of scientists, was involved in the work for the defense on an unprecedented scale. An attempt to institute of Russian language courses at the University of Bristol during World War I is also considered, as well as M. Nierenstein’s participation in the development of Russian studies. Refs 62.