Mirza Kazim Bey (1802-1870)

A prominent founder of Oriental Studies in Russia.

Still  at 17, Mirza Kazim Bey wrote his first scientific work entitled Experiments in Arabic Grammar. He spoke fluently Turkish, Russian, Persian, Arabic, English, German and French. He was the founder and first dean of teh department of Oriental Studies at the University of St Petersburg. He was teh first researcher in Muslim law in Russia. He is also the first author of a grammar of the Azerbaijani language. His work Derbendname which was the peak of his scientific activity was published in 1851 in Petersburg.