The History of Moscow Pedagogical State University

1. Moscow Pedagogical State University dates back to Vladimir Guerrier's Moscow Higher Women's Courses (MHWC), launched on November 1, 1872 in the former building of the first College for Men in Prechistenka street. It was the first University for women in Russia. Its initiators were top-tier professors, headed by a famous Russian historian Vladimir Ivanovich Guerrier. From 1874, women studied for 3 years such disciplines as Russian and foreign literature and history, physics, mathematics, ancient and modern languages. Between 1886 and 1900, the courses were suspended due to political issues and continued as public “collective lessons” without any official status. However, in 1900, the University was resumed as a state educational establishment with two departments: Department* of History and Philosophy and Department of Physics and Mathematics. In 1906, a School of Medicine was launched.

2. In 1907, educational buildings by the architect S.U. Soloviev opened in Malaya Tsaritsyn Street, now Malaya Pirogovskaya Street. This is now the main building of MoscowPedagogicalStateUniversity. In 1908 came the Anatomical Theatre, now the Russian State Medical University, and the Physical Chemistry Building, to emerge later as Moscow Academy of Fine Chemical Technology.

3. Since 1905 and up to 1919 the Director of the Courses (and later 2^nd MSU) was Sergey Chaplygin, a physicist and one of the leading researchers in hydro- and aerodynamics. Under his guidance,MHWC grew into a big university with many departments in every branch of science. Apart from Chaplygin, the period was marked by the activity of many distinguished Russian scientists such as N.D. Zelinsky (the inventor of the gas mask), P.A. Minakov (one of the founders of forensic medicine expertise), M.N. Shaternikov (the founder of the physiology of nourishment), A.K. Kots (the founder of Darwin Museum of Natural History), N.K. Koltsov (a founder of Russian experimental biology and genetics) and many others.

4. In 1918, MHWC were converted into Second Moscow State University and began admitting men as well as women. Department of Pedagogy came into being in 1921. Among its professors were famous fathers of Russian pedagogy P.P. Bolonsky, L.S. Vigodsky, S.T. Shatsky, O.Yu. Shmidt.

5. Between 1926 and 1930, the Second MSU was headed by Albert Pinkevich, an outstanding Russian and Soviet theoretician of pedagogy and organizer of public education. In 1937, he was arrested to become another victim of Stalin’s Great Purge. 

6. In 1930, the Second MSU was split into three independent universities, one of them becoming Moscow State Pedagogical Institute (MSPI). By 1934 it comprised a number of departments: 1) Language and Literature; 2) History; 3) Physics and Mathematics; 4) Natural Studies; 5) Geography; 6) Pedagogy; 7) Defectology.

7. At that period, on the basis of MSPI (since 1941 named after Lenin) the union of Pedagogical Institutes of Moscow and Moscow region was established. Its aim was to introduce new pedagogical methods into the teaching process.

8. During the Second World War, MSPI continued working, stopping for only a month in 1941 during the Siege of Moscow. Many students, members of the staff, professors fought in the battlefields, worked in the factories and hospitals. The chemists of MSPI discovered some new inhibitors of metal corrosion and ways of removing rust from guns; the defectologists worked on the methods of restoration of hearing of the wounded soldiers; the geographers investigated Siberia and its natural resources.

9. In the late 1950s, when it became compulsory to complete a 7-year school course (later 8 years), MSPI became a leader in professional training of young teachers. In 1960, Moscow Potemkin Pedagogical University merged with MSPI.

10. The scientists of MSPI made a significant contribution into Russian science:

· In S.A. Balezin’s laboratory inhibitors of atmospheric corrosion were discovered and applied in industry;

· under the guidance of E.V. Shpolsky a new physical effect named after him was found;

· M.S. Ghilyarov, a professor of Zoology chair, founded a new area of science, soil zoology, creating in MPSU a long-lasting and internationally recognized school of soil zoologists;

· Professors of Botany A.A. Uranov and I.G. Serebryakov revolutionized the studies of ontogenetic structure of plant populations;

· Professor of Chemistry V.A. Izmailsky made a great contribution into the theory of colour of organic compounds; developed new medicines and dyes;

· Mathematician Professor P.S. Novikov carried out breakthrough investigations of group theory: the word problem for groups, and Burnside's problem. For his work, he was awarded the Lenin Prize.

11.  In 1990, Moscow State Pedagogical Institute was transformed into Moscow Pedagogical State University and recognized as a higher educational establishment of federal and international significance.

12.  The University became one of the winners in All-Russian Competition for Higher School institutions in 2007, implementing innovative educational programmes within the prestigious National Project “Education”. The University was included in the State List of Especially Valuable Objects of Cultural Heritage of the Russian Federation Nation by the Decree of President Dmitry Medvedev in 2009.

13.  In 2015, Sholokhov Moscow State University for the Humanities was joined to MPSU what led to appearance of a big number of new educational programmes, as well as emergence of a much bigger university.