Full member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, cartographer, Russian historian Gerhard Miller is an outstanding scientist and 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.
Biography of Gerhard Miller
Gerhard Friedrich Miller is a Russian historian born in 1783 in the Duchy of Westphalia. He is of German origin, but he lived almost his entire life 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. The famous scientist I. Menke becomes Gerhard's mentor. After graduation, Miller earns a bachelor's degree.
The requirement of Peter the Great to invite scientists from abroad, established in the Russian Empire, becomes the impetus for 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. Simultaneously with his studies at the Academy, Gerhard became a teacher of Latin and history at the gymnasium opened at the Academy. As a member of the Academy, Miller needed to keep minutes of academic council meetings.
Gerhard Miller Expeditions
Carrying out the necessary work as part of the Academy, Gerhard did not forget his activities. He continues to read lectures and reports, publishes his articles in the St. Petersburg Gazette. In 1733, as a full member of the Academy of Sciences, Miller took part in the preparation and implementation of the "Second Kamchatka Expedition". However, Miller did not manage to get to the Peninsula. But he traveled 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 took Russian citizenship. They began to call him in the Russian manner Fyodor Ivanovich Miller. From that time on, he became the main historiographer of the Academy. In his welcoming speech, Miller raised the question of the emergence of the Russian people. It was he who announced the Scandinavian roots of the Russians, which incurred the wrath of such famous scientists as Lomonosov, Krasheninnikov, Popov. They did not take his theory seriously, criticizing it completely.
Personal life of the Russian historiographer
Miller's personal life was rather complicated. Before the Kamchatka expedition, Gerhard planned to marry the daughter of the Schumacher Academy librarian. However, this did not happen. Schumacher disliked the academician, since he could not fulfill the duties assigned to him by the librarian. But a few years later, Schumacher's daughter remarried. Her second husband is Gerhard Miller. The Miller family had two children.
Fedor Ivanovich Miller made a huge contribution to the study of the history of the Russian state. After his death, there was a lot of information that scientists of the present time use to study Russian history.
