Hermann von Paucker


Hermann Julius Georg von Paucker, known in Russian as German Yegorovich Pauker, was a Russian general, statesman and military engineer. He was a professor of the in Saint Petersburg.

Biography

Origin and children

Von Paucker came from an educated Baltic-German family that entered the Russian nobility through various posts. His father was Courland's principal teacher, astronomer and mathematician Magnus Georg Paucker and his mother was Anna von Baggehufwudt. He had two brothers: the classical philologist and the first-rank captain Adolf von Paucker. He himself had no wife and no children.

Career

Von Paucker studied in Paris between 1847 and 1848. He later studied law at the Saint Petersburg Imperial University. In 1850, he participated in the fortification of Kiev and Bobruisk, and in 1856, he was seconded to General Eduard Totleben and carried out major work to strengthen Kronstadt. He was promoted lieutenant-colonel in 1856 and colonel in 1858. In 1859, Paucker became director general of the Committee for the Supervision of Baltic and Black Sea Fortress. As such, he built the then exemplary land battery on the Kerch Strait. He developed a metallic structure supporting the dome of Tsarkoye Selo. In 1866, he was promoted major general. In 1869, he became a real Councillor of State and in 1875 a private councillor. In 1876, just before the Russo-Turkish war, he was promoted lieutenant general. In 1882 he became a senator and in 1889 a member of the State Council. From 1889 until his death in 1892, he was Minister of Railways of the Empire. In 1889, he was made an honorary member of the French Academy of Sciences.

Death

On 29 March 1889, von Paucker died of pneumonia at his home less than five months after taking up his post in the ministry and being admitted to the State Council. He was buried in the Smolensky Lutheran Cemetery on April 3 of the same year. In 1891, Viktor Kirpichov published his book, "Mechanics of Structures." Course of the Nikolayev Academy of Engineering" posthumously.

Honours

Russian orders and decorations