Vernadskii, Ivan Vasilevich

VERNADSKII, IVAN VASIL’EVICH. Born May 24, 1821; died Mar. 27, 1884. Russian economist, professor of political economy at the University of Kiev, at Moscow University (1846-56), and at the Central Pedagogical Institute and Alexander Lycée in St. Petersburg (1861-68).

Vernadskii was the founder and editor of the journals Ekonomicheskii ukazateV (Economic Indicator; 1857-61) and Ekonomist (1858-64). He also wrote books and articles on political economy, the history of economic thought, statistics, and customstariff policy. In the period of the preparation of the peasant reform of 1861, Vernadskii opposed the bondage conditions of the peasant emancipation. He greeted the development of large-scale capitalistic industry in Russia and regarded the laws of capitalism as natural and eternal. Vernadskii’s views came under criticism from N. G. Chernyshevskii.