Grigorii Nikolayevich Vyrubov

Who was Grigorii Nikolayevich Vyrubov?

Grigorii Nikolayevich Vyrubov, or Grégoire Wyrouboff was a Russian Positivist philosopher and historian of science.

Born in Moscow, Vyrubov was brought up in Italy and France before studying medicine and natural philosophy at the University of Moscow. Heavily influenced by Edmond Nikolayevich Pommier, Vyrubov founded the Positivist journal Philosophie positive with Emile Littré in 1867: he edited the journal until 1881. He befriended Aleksandr Ivanovich Herzen, and edited anonymously the first edition of Herzen's works. Although he had never trained as a historian of science, in 1903 he was elected as Pierre Laffitte's successor to the chair of history of science at the Collège de France, and held the chair until his death.