Heorhii Fedorovych Proskura. On the 150th Anniversary of His Birth

Heorhii Fedorovych Proskura (16 April 1876 – 30 October 1958) was an outstanding engineer, educator, and scientist in the fields of hydraulic machinery engineering and aerohydrodynamics. He was an Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR (1929), Doctor of Engineering Sciences (1937), Professor (1911), Honored Worker of Science and Technology of the Ukrainian SSR (1944), and a State Prize Laureate (1943). He was awarded numerous state honors.

The many years of scientific and organizational activity of Heorhii Fedorovych Proskura laid a solid foundation for the development of scientific schools of hydraulic machinery engineering and aircraft engineering. These schools continue to operate productively today at the National Technical University “Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute” (NTU “KhPI”), the National Aerospace University named after M. Ye. Zhukovsky “Kharkiv Aviation Institute,” and the Institute for Mechanical Engineering Problems of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.

G. F. Proskura was born in the city of Smila, Cherkasy County, Kyiv Governorate (now Cherkasy Region). In 1895, he graduated from the Real School in Yelysavethrad (now Kropyvnytskyi), and in 1901 from the Moscow Higher Technical School (MHTS). His outstanding abilities as a young mechanical engineer were recognized by D. S. Zernov, Director of the Kharkiv Technological Institute (now NTU “KhPI”), who attended the graduation examinations at MHTS and invited him to work at the institute.

At the KhTI, G. F. Proskura conducted laboratory classes in strength of materials and testing of gas engines. He became familiar with the level of foreign science and technology during a two-year research fellowship at the Zurich Polytechnic Institute (Switzerland). Upon returning to Kharkiv, he continued his work at KhTI at the Department of Theoretical Mechanics as an instructor in technical drawing and supervisor of course projects on the design of hydraulic machines, lifting cranes, steam engines, and water turbines. Proskura was the first in the country to organize the training of engineers specializing in hydraulic machinery engineering. In 1914, he founded and headed the Laboratory of Hydromechanics (now the Department of Power Engineering named after G. F. Proskura at NTU “KhPI”). He worked at the Polytechnic Institute from 1901 until the final days of his life in 1958.

In 1908, the first printed works of the Kharkiv scientist were published: “Course of Water Turbines” and “Regulation of Engine Operation,” followed in 1909 by the monograph “Hydrodynamics of Water Turbines in Relation to Their Design and Study.” The book “Course of Water Turbines” was reprinted three times with revisions and significant additions. The monograph “Hydrodynamics of Turbomachines” (1934) gained wide recognition in the USSR and abroad and became a reference book for researchers and turbine engineers. G. F. Proskura authored more than 150 scientific works.

G. F. Proskura holds priority in the development of the theory of propeller turbines and pumps. Based on his theory, a turbine and a propeller pump were designed, built, and tested in the hydraulic laboratory of KhTI in 1922–1923. Today, turbines and pumps of this type are widely used at many hydroelectric power plants and pumping stations. Proskura initiated the development of reversible hydraulic machines, was the first to propose a closed-cycle gas turbine installation using helium and ways to improve its operating cycle. He laid the scientific foundations for the use of wind energy and developed the vortex theory of wind turbines. Thanks to Proskura, the Ukrainian Research Institute of Industrial Power Engineering was established in Kharkiv, where he headed the Hydraulic Department in 1928.

Another field of his work was aeronautics and aircraft engineering. G. F. Proskura made a major contribution to the formation and development of aviation in Ukraine. In 1909, he initiated the creation of an aeronautical section within the student technical society. As a result of his efforts, an aviation specialization and an aerohydrodynamic laboratory were established at KhTI in 1923. In 1930, based on this laboratory, the Kharkiv Aviation Institute was founded (now the National Aerospace University named after M. Ye. Zhukovsky “Kharkiv Aviation Institute”). At this newly established university, Proskura headed the Departments of Aerodynamics and Jet Engines at different times and lectured on experimental aerodynamics. His name is associated with the creation of several aircraft that entered serial production.                         

During his many years of work at the Polytechnic Institute and the Kharkiv Aviation Institute, G. F. Proskura educated a generation of students and followers who worked in various sectors of the national economy. Under his supervision, more than 30 scientists completed and defended dissertations in hydraulic machinery engineering and aerohydromechanics. G. F. Proskura passed away on 30 October 1958.

A street in the Zhukovsky district of the city of Kharkiv is named after Academician G. F. Proskura. His name is commemorated in bas-reliefs and memorial plaques on the Engineering Building of NTU “KhPI,” on the façade of the main building of the National Aerospace University named after M. Ye. Zhukovsky “Kharkiv Aviation Institute,” and on the building of the Radio Astronomy Institute of the NAS of Ukraine at 4 Mystetstv Street (formerly the building of the Institute for Mechanical Engineering Problems of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR). The Department of Power Engineering named after G. F. Proskura at NTU “KhPI” also bears his name. A bas-relief of G. F. Proskura is installed in the department’s lobby. A bust of G. F. Proskura is displayed in the foyer of the State Polytechnic Museum at the National Technical University of Ukraine “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute.” The G. F. Proskura Prize is awarded to scientists for outstanding research in the field of energy by the Department of Physical and Technical Problems of Energy of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.  

Key dates of the life and scientific-pedagogical activity of G. F. Proskura are presented in the project of the Scientific and Technical Library of NTU “KhPI” «History of the Kharkiv Technological Institute Through Personalities».

We invite faculty members, students, and all interested visitors to view the book exhibition dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the birth of Academician Heorhii Fedorovych Proskura. (Scientific and Technical Library of NTU “KhPI,” Lending Department No. 1, Room 45).