Pyotr Lesgaft was an ardent supporter of women's education and a remarkable scientist: anatomist, anthropologist, psychologist, and educator.
As a student of the Medical-Surgical Academy, Pyotr Lesgaft developed a passion for anatomy, so great that he was later nicknamed the poet of anatomy in the medical circles.
Having defended his thesis, Lesgaft moved to Kazan to take up a professorship at the local university, where he made a small revolution by allowing a woman to perform an autopsy for the first time in Russia. Then he fell out with a university patron and aired the university’s dirty laundry in public, for which he was kicked out with a scandal and banned from teaching.
But Lesgaft returned to science and teaching. He used the downtime to work on theory and practice of physical education.
Lesgaft was taken with the idea of teaching gymnastics based on science, human anatomy and physiology. Developing his ideas, he first created a biolab and then was able to organize the Temporary Courses for Female Physical Education and Games Instructors.
It is known that all that is temporary becomes permanent.
In this case, fortunately, the courses first lost the temporary part and then evolved into what is now known as the Lesgaft National State University of Physical Education, Sport and Health, named after its founder – Pyotr Frantsevich Lesgaft.
