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Nikolai Apollonovich Belelubsky (Russian: Николай Аполлонович Белелюбский; Ukrainian: Микола Аполлонович Бєлелюбський, romanized: Mykola Apollonovych Bieleliubskyi; 1 [O.S. 13] March 1845, Kharkiv – August 4, 1922, Petrograd) was a distinguished Russian academic specialising in railway and civil engineering. Throughout his life, he became a member of many learned societies and the author of many papers and lectures.
Nikolai Belelubsky was born on 1 (13) March 1845 in Kharkiv into a noble Russian family descended from the 16th century. His family was not well off. He spent his childhood and youth in Taganrog and graduated with a gold medal from the Taganrog Boys Gymnasium in 1862. In the same year he entered the Institute of Transport (today the St. Petersburg State Transport University), from which he graduated in 1867. Belelubsky was considered to be one of the Institute's greatest graduates. After his graduation he continued to work at the Institute as a private tutor.
He developed an interest in science, especially in bridge building. In 1873, he was appointed Extraordinary Professor in the Department for Building Materials, and three years later he already held the position of Full Professor. He gained international recognition for his research and practice in the fields of bridge engineering and building materials. In 1881, Belelubsky became a member of the Engineering Council of the Ministry of Transport Communications.[1]
Belelubsky personally designed and managed over 100 projects, including the steel railway bridges across the rivers Don, Danube, Volga, Ob, Kama, Oka, Neva, Irtysh, Belaya, Ufa, Neman, Berezina and many others. The total length of the bridges constructed upon his projects extended 17 kilometres (56,000 ft).
In 1875, Belelubsky designed the Alexander Railway Bridge in cooperation with Vladimir Ilyich Berezin and Konstantin Yakovlevich Mikhailovsky. The bridge was constructed on the Samara-Zlatoust Railway across the Volga near the city of Syzran. Working on the project, Belelubsky developed a method for analysis of clear headrooms for large bridges, which later came to be widely acknowledged. Completed in 1880, the bridge became the longest in Europe with a total length of 1,483 metres (4,865 ft): its superstructure system had 13 spans, each of 107 metres (351 ft) long. The bridge provided a critical link between Central Russia and Volga region, allowing to continue the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway further east, toward Siberia and Turkestan. The construction works involved approximately 2,500 thousand people, required more than 10 thousand cubic metres of masonries and approximately 6,5 tons of iron, and what is more, Belelubsky personally obtained iron from Belgium, demanding metal of the highest quality. (In 2004, the original spans were replaced with new modern ones).
In the period 1881-1884, a two-level rail bridge over the DnieperinEkaterinoslav was built under the project of Belelubsky. The lower level was designed for trains only, while the upper — for the passage of horse-drawn vehicles and pedestrians. The length of the bridge was 832 metres (2,730 ft). (The bridge has been significantly strengthen and overhauled in the period from 1930s to 1950s.).
Belelubsky was an excellent experimentalist. His contributions to the field of building materials research were marked by two significant discoveries that had a profound and lasting impact. Firstly, he found that domestically produced cement was just as good as English cement, allowing for a significant cost reduction in bridge construction. Secondly, Belelubsky made groundbreaking progress in understanding the mechanical properties of carbon steel. In 1882, he was the first in Russia to propose the idea of using steel in the construction of railroad bridges. This is because steel for metal bridges had not been yet systematically used in Austria, while in Germany it had been used with caution, in accordance with the technical requirements of the time. Having evaluated the physical and chemical properties of carbon steel, Belelubsky came to the conclusion that, contrary to the opinion of the time, it was a far more reliable material for bridges compared to wrought iron, which was the prevailing choice at the time. His breakthrough allowed him to successfully replace wrought iron with steel in constructing bridges along the four major sections of the Trans-Siberian Railway. The steel specifications developed by Belelubsky served as the foundation for similar specifications that were later adopted internationally.[2]
When designing the bridges over the Volga river near Tver in 1885 and the Belaya RiverinUfa in 1886, Belelubski introduced a ground-breaking method called the "free carriageway" that transformed traditional bridge design. This innovative technique involved integrating articulated support for the cross beams of the travel surface directly into the lower chords of trusses within the bridge spans. By doing so, the structural integrity and operational efficiency of the bridge were greatly improved, as it effectively lessened the pressure on the truss components. The success and recognition of this design were solidified when it was awarded the prestigious Gold medal at the Edinburg Exposition in 1890. The system's functional features captured immediate attention, eventually earning global recognition as the "Russian type of structural support".[3]
Between 1893 and 1897, Belelubsky was asked to design a railway bridge over the Ob River near Novo-Nikolaevsk (now Novosibirsk). This bridge was one of the main bridges over the intervening rivers on the Great Siberian Way, providing a vital link between the two largest segments of the Great Siberian Way― the West Siberian and Middle Siberian Railway. The bridge was for the first time in Russia equipped with a truss superstructure of the cantilever-beam type, while the bridge itself became the longest on the West Siberian Railway. The bridge commission, headed by Belelubsky, carried out tests on the bridge on 28 March (9 April) 1897, with four locomotives (each weighing 51.5 tons) in the spans simultaneously. The bridge was opened to traffic on 5 (17) April 1897[4][5]
The peak of his successful engineering career was marked by the construction of Romanovsky Bridge, which was built between 1909 and 1913 over the Volga river near Zelenodolsk. Following the October Revolution of 1917, the bridge underwent a name change and became known as the Red Bridge. This remarkable structure featured striking open truss bridge girders that stretched an impressive length of 160 metres (520 ft). A similar technical approach was utilized for a bridge in the city of Simbirsk. By employing this design, the engineer was able to reduce the number of spans required, resulting in six large spans and two smaller ones. On July 11, 1913, the bridge was officially opened to the public and proved to be a reliable transportation route for over 90 years, until its rehabilitation in 2006.
His last major project became the bridge at Rostov-on-Don, built in 1912-1917, which he designed in cooperation with G.P. Peredery and S. Belzetsky.[6]
Belelubsky devised a unique approach to constructing caissons, which eventually was called the "caisson-slipper" technique. Furthermore, he dedicated a substantial amount of time to examining the characteristics of construction materials, with a particular emphasis on reinforced concrete.[7]
Belelyubsky played a crucial role in advancing Russian science and served as a representative for his country at numerous international exhibitions and forums. His innovative projects were showcased at various prestigious expositions, such as the Paris expositions in 1878, 1889, and 1900, the Edinburgh exposition in 1890, and the Chicago in 1893. He achieved a high civil rank as an Active State Councillor, and his exceptional work was recognized internationally with an honorary doctorate from the Technical University of Berlin in 1907. Additionally, he was granted honorary memberships in the Architekten- und Ingenieur-Verein zu Berlin in 1909 and the French Society of Civil Engineers.[8] Notably, he was a member of the International Association of Railroad Congresses and was bestowed with the title of honorary member in the Institute of Concrete in England.
In St. Petersburg he lived several years at Serpukhovskaya Street 4, moving in 1910 to Bronnitskaya Street 14a.[9]
Nikolay Belelubsky died on August 4, 1922, in Saint Petersburg, and was buried in the Novodevichy Cemetery.
Belelubsky was highly regarded by those who lived during his time due to his refined cultural tastes and profound spiritual outlook. His modesty, selflessness, and willingness to give up material possessions were the central traits that defined Belelubsky. Despite this, he was perceived as a poor and oddish individual, according to the societal norms of his time. However, Belelubsky himself did not experience any emotional distress as a result of this perception. He prioritized spiritual values over material wealth and found the utmost joy in serving the people.
Belelyubsky was actively involved in significant educational initiatives aimed at providing training for railway engineers across the country. In addition to his role at the Institute of Transportation, he also dedicated his time to delivering lectures at prestigious institutions such as the Mining Institute, the Institute of Civil Engineers, the Imperial Academy of Arts, and the Women's Engineering College. Notably, his captivating lectures on Structural Mechanics, published in 1885, quickly gained widespread recognition and became the go-to textbook for students and a valuable resource for numerous engineers in the field.
He told his students:
"You all have the incredible opportunity to become engineers in the future. Is there anything else you could possibly desire or dream of? Your role will be to create and construct bridges that are intended to withstand the test of time, functioning effectively for a century or beyond. Your objective is to seek out impeccable designs, employ advanced techniques, and utilize efficient construction methods. However, it is crucial to bear in mind that you will be responsible for overseeing your own construction projects, as you will be working on behalf of the state and serving the needs of the public. In order to truly be considered an engineer and master of their craft, you must undertake the task of building with efficiency, care, frugality, solidity, and creativity. Each era presents new and valuable innovations, and it is the responsibility of the engineer to not only adopt them but also push the boundaries by taking them to the next level. Failure to do so would result in a loss of the engineer's identity and expertise".
Furthermore, it should be highlighted that he initiated two more educational programs, namely the Working Group on Providing Academic Assistance to Underprivileged Students and the Working Group on Facilitating Financial Resources for Girls to Pursue Technical Education.
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