Nikolai Vladimirovich Pleshkov — an undeservedly forgotten Crimean doctor (on the 200th anniversary of his birth)

Abstract

2023 will mark the 200th anniversary of birth of Nikolai Vladimirovich Pleshkov, who made a significant contribution to the development of the medical traditions of Taurida gubernia. There are no report devoted to his life in modern scientific literature. This article is based on the work with archival collections and pre-revolutionary literary sources. A former orphan, Pleshkov was able to receive a decent education due to his outstanding education, learned several foreign languages, and was well versed in local history, science, culture, literature, philosophy and religion; he was the author of many reports on religious and philosophical topics. In addition, he was actively involved in public life of Simferopol. He was one of the co-founders and for many years — chairman of Simferopol Doctors’ Society. During the Crimea war, the doctor worked under N.I. Pirogov. Among other things, Pleshkov is an author of the first Russian translation of Pascal’s work “Pensees”. Nowadays the former hospital building where N.V. Pleshkov worked houses the chair of Human Anatomy of the Institute “Medical Academy named after S.I. Georgievsky”. The facts of his biography, reconstructed in this article, allow not only to take a new look at the history of the development of health care in Taurida gubernia in the XIX century, but also to form the sense of continuity of passion among medical students.