Smirnov Georgy

Smirnov Georgy  (1876-1964), eologist, researcher of the Caucasus. Russian by descent. He was born in Tbilisi. His father, Mikhail Smirnov, offspring of the Smirnov family, which was well known in Petersburg, moved to Georgia and in the 2nd half of the 19th century, settled in Tbilisi. Georgy’s mother - Elisabed Tamamsheva – was born to a wealthy Tbilisi family. G. Smirnov studied at the 1st Tbilisi Classical School. In 1900, he graduated from the faculty of Physics and Mathematics of the Petersburg University. In 1901- 03, he underwent the period of internship in the field of petrography in Leipzig, Germany. G. Smirnov has worked at the Georgian Polytechnic Institute (1919 – 1956) and the Caucasian Institute of Minerals (1929-57). He was acknowledged as a founder of petrography school in Georgia.

For almost 100 years, the house on Hani Street (present-day G. Tabidze Street), which was the dowry of Georgy’s mother – Elisabed Tamamsheva - was known as the hub of cultural life of Tbili- si. It was referred to as ‘The Smirnov’s House’. The house was the trove of the library, brought from the salon of Alexandra Smirnova-Rosetti, Georgy Smirnov’s grandmother, who used to live in Petersburg. It also kept custody of archives and relics of the age of Alexander Pushkin. Georgian scientists and writers used to visit the Smirnov’s House’. Among them were Ivane Javakhishvili, Petre Melikishvili, Titsian Tabidze, Georgy Leonidze and others.

In 1985, together with its unique collection of antiquities, Evgenia von Schleir, Georgy Smirnov’s wife, and Mikhail Smirnov, his son, donated ‘The Smirnov’s House’ to Georgian state. In 2010, the Museum of the Smirnovs was opened in that house.

G. Smirnov died in Tbilisi.