About Ukraine
Ukraine is an innovator in science and technology
- Interesting facts
Population: 46M people
Area: 604,000 sq km (233,100 sq mi), Ukraine is the world's 44th-largest country
Time zone: EET (UTC+2)
Literacy rate: 99.4%
Dominant Religion: Orthodox Christianity
Capital and largest city is Kiev (2.8M people)
Kharkov is the 2nd largest city (1.5M people)
Kharkiv is one of the most prolific centers of higher education and research of Eastern Europe, it has 13 universities and several private higher education institutions, offering its students a wide range of disciplines. A total of 150,000 students attend the universities.
- Ukrainian scientists were the first in continental Europe to create an electronic computer. In 1950, renowned scholars Sergey Lebedev and Victor Hlushkov designed a smart machine which served as a prototype for 15 types of complex and productive computers. In the 1950s Lebedev’s scientific school was a leader in the former USSR and a major competitor to American computer industry giant IBM.
- The first X-ray device was developed by Ivan Pulyui, Ukrainian physicist and inventor. As a result of experiments into what he called “cold light” Puliyu found that sealed photographic plates became dark when exposed to the emanations of certain rays. 14 years earlier than Wilhelm Röntgen, he constructed an X-ray unit and made a photograph of a 13-year-old boy's broken arm and his daughter's hand with a pin lying under it. The device was known as “Pilyui lamp” and was widely used for medical purposes. Pulyui reportedly presented his invention to Wilhelm Röntgen who went on to coin the name “X-rays” and develop the technology further.
- Ukraine is one of the world’s five leading countries in space exploration along with the USA, Russia, France and China. Space industry of Ukraine currently comprises about 30 design bureaus, enterprises and scientific institutes. To date, scientists from all over Ukraine are taking part in 25 international scientific and commercial space projects. The “Tsyklon” rocket launchers designed and manufactured in Ukraine have been rated as the world's safest by international space experts.
- Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, is the home to the first Eastern Europe institute of higher education, Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. The academy was founded in 1632 as a college and was the first one on the territory of Ukraine. In 1658 it was granted the title of “academy” for the recognition of its educational value for the first time in Eastern Europe. The admission to the academy was open to students of all social classes. Due to the exceptional quality of the education, the academy was well-known throughout Eastern Europe and popular among international students and scholars. Many of its alumni continued their education abroad. Notable graduates of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy include famous scientists, philosophers, writers as well as political elite of Ukraine, Poland, Serbia, Bulgaria and other European countries.
Remarkable facts about Ukraine
- For 8 centuries French monarchs took the oath of allegiance on the Old Slavic Reims Gospel, brought to France by Anne of Kyiv. Anne was the daughter of Yaroslav the Wise, the Grand Prince of Novgorod and Kyiv. In 1049, she married the French monarch Henry I and became Anna de Russi, Queen of France and grand-grandmother of 30 French kings. Sculptures and frescos of Anna adorn the portals of St. Vincent Church in France and St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv.
- Ukraine’s original Constitution is considered to be the first in the world. The constitutional document “Pacts and Constitutions of Rights and Freedoms of the Zaporizhian Host” was written in 1710 by Hetman Pylyp Orlik. It’s acknowledged as a unique legal document that proclaimed the democratic standard for the separation of powers in government for the first time. Similar democratic constitutions appeared in European countries only 70 years later. Despite the fact that the “Pylyp Orlyk” Constitution was written in exile and didn’t come into effect, it will always be regarded as a bright page in the history of the world constitutional endeavor.
- Almost a half of European transport corridors run through Ukrainian territory. Since modern Ukraine is on the verge of two continents of Europe and Asia, its territory has always been crossed by various overland and waterway trade routes. In antiquity the Dnieper River, Ukraine’s pride, was the part of the Amber Road linking the North Sea and the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. Ukraine also served as a station on the way of the Silk Road between Asia and European countries. Today Ukraine's transportation network comprises 170,000 km of highways, 22,000 km of railways, 4,400 km of waterways, 250,000 different flight paths and 42,500 km of pipelines. Ukraine is among the world’s largest transporters of natural gas, able to take in a maximum of 288 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year.
- Ukraine possesses 30% of the world’s richest black soil. The word Chornozem means “black earth” in Slavic languages and it is internationally recognized as one of most fertile soils producing high agricultural yield. Found all over the world in small quantities, chornozemic soils are a predominant soil type in Ukraine. It may have been one of the main reasons why the earliest European agricultural civilizations evolved in this region in the 5-4th centuries BC.
