Full member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, cartographer, Russian historian Gerhard Miller is an outstanding scientist, traveler. Miller became one of the founders of the Norman theory of the origin of the Russian state. His works, translated into different languages, provide invaluable assistance to modern scientists.
Gerhard Miller Biography
Gerhard Friedrich Miller - Russian historian, born in 1783 in the Duchy of Westphalia. It has a German origin, but almost all his life he lived in the Russian Empire, being a geographer and cartographer of the Imperial Academy of Sciences. Gerhard was born into a pastor's family in the town of Herford. His father worked in a gymnasium, being the rector of this educational institution. Here Gerhard received his first education. Then the future historian continues his studies at the University of Leipzig. Gerhard's mentor is the famous scientist I. Menke. After graduation, Miller receives a bachelor's degree.
The requirement of Peter the Great, established in the Russian Empire, to invite scientists from abroad, becomes an impetus in the development of Miller's career. He was invited to the Academy of Sciences and Arts, which opened in 1725, first as a student and then as a teacher. Along with his studies at the Academy, Gerhard became a teacher of the Latin language and history at the gymnasium open at the Academy. As a member of the Academy, Miller needed to keep minutes of the meetings of the academic council.
Expeditions of Gerhard Miller
Carrying out the necessary work as part of the Academy, Gerhard did not forget his activities. He continues to give lectures and reports, prints his articles in the St. Petersburg Gazette. In 1733, already as a full member of the Academy of Sciences, Miller took part in the preparation and implementation of the Second Kamchatka Expedition. However, Miller failed to get on the peninsula. But he traveled around all the accessible cities and towns of Siberia and collected a lot of valuable information about the history and geography of the Russian state. Gerhard begins to publish a newspaper in which he publishes articles on the history of Russia for German students. In one of the Siberian towns, he found Remezov’s chronicle, which contains invaluable information on the history of Siberia.
In 1748, Gerhard accepted Russian citizenship. He began to be called in the Russian manner by Fedor Ivanovich Miller. Since that time, he becomes the chief historiographer of the Academy. In his welcoming speech, Miller raised the issue of the emergence of the Russian people. It was he who declared the Scandinavian roots of the Russes, than incurred the wrath of such famous scientists as Lomonosov, Krasheninnikov, Popov. They did not take his theory seriously, completely criticizing it.
