Georges Frédéric Parrot and His Friendship with Two Great Men—The French Scientist Georges Cuvier and Emperor Alexander I of Russia
Georges Frédéric Parrot and His Friendship with Two Great Men—The French Scientist Georges Cuvier and Emperor Alexander I of Russia

Summary/Abstract: Georges Frédéric Parrot was one of the developers and spokesmen of the liberal educational concept of the Enlightenment era in the Russian Empire in the first part of the 19th century. He was born in Montbéliard, Duchy of Württemberg. Parrot studied at Hohe Karlsschule in Stuttgart, and spent his tutorial years in Normandy, France. His best friend Georges Cuvier followed the same path. The first part of the article deals with the educational ideas of Physiocrats, especially those of Pierre Samuel Dupont de Nemours, which influenced the state-run education systems in the Polish- Lithuanian Commonwealth, in Russia, and also in America. In 1802, Parrot became a personal friend of Emperor Alexander I of Russia. Parrot introduced to the Emperor the concept of university which dealt with serfdom and its relation to the university as well as human culture and social welfare. Parrot was the person to draft the University of Tartu’s foundation document, and he was responsible for making the institution accessible to representatives of all social groups. The university became the enlightened centre of the educational district. Parrot’s main interest was related with the state-run parochial school system. The education paradigm of Physiocrats laid the basis for the new university concept of the Enlightenment era, which consisted in five important points, and it was spread to the both sides of the Atlantic.

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