Giorgi Nikoladze Medal
The highest award of the Georgian Technical University, the Giorgi Nikoladze Medal, has been established since 2022.
The award is given based on the decision of the Academic Council of the Georgian Technical University, for long-term and fruitful educational, scientific and public activities.
Giorgi Nikoladze - mathematician, inventor, metallurgist
Giorgi Nikoladze was the son of the famous public figure Niko Nikoladze. He was a man of many talents and boundless energy – a mathematician, inventor, metallurgist, terminologist, mountaineer and gymnast.
Giorgi Nikoladze was born in 1888 in Didi Jikhaishi.
Since childhood, he was distinguished by his special talent for technical subjects.
1927
In 1927, he created a theory – about algebraic systems of algebraic circles. This theory later formed the basis of his doctoral dissertation, which he defended at the Sorbonne University in Paris.
During his stay in Paris, he invented an electronic arithmometer, which was essentially different from the existing ones.
Giorgi Nikoladze lectured on “Analytical Geometry” and “Differential Geometry” at Tbilisi State University. He also created the first Georgian-language textbooks in the mentioned field.
Under the leadership and with the direct participation of Giorgi Nikoladze, a ferroalloy smelting test furnace was built in Tbilisi. The results of the tests conducted on this furnace later formed the basis for the operation of the Zestaponi ferroalloy factory.
Giorgi Nikoladze - gymnast, mountaineer, terminologist
Giorgi Nikoladze also made a great contribution to the popularization of sports in Georgia. In 1918, Nikoladze founded the first gymnastics society in Georgia – “Shevardeni”. He published the first Georgian gymnastics manual and he also established the term “gymnastics”.
Led the first Georgian mountaineering ascent of Mkinvartsveri (1923) – this expedition, in which 18 climbers, including 5 women, participated, gave rise to Georgian and Soviet mountaineering.
Founded the Mountaineering and Traveling Department of the Georgian Geographical Society (1924).
On his initiative, the first Georgian textbooks on gymnastics were published.
Giorgi Nikoladze on the expedition (top row, second from the left)
He actively participated in the creation of Georgian sports terminology, compiled and published “Gymnastics Glossary”. The following words were invented and established in the Georgian language by him: pressure, current, lamp, screw, gymnastics, mountaineering, referee, circle, engine, test tube, crossbow….
Giorgi Nikoladze
Unfortunately, this man, endowed with many talents and abilities, who could have done many more good things for the country, died very early, at the age of 42, of pneumonia. He is buried in the Didube Pantheon of Public Figures.
