}, tr. ; 11 May 1669 – 30 April 1735) was a Russian general, statesman, diplomat and scientist of

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

descent ( Clan Bruce), one of the chief associates of

Peter the Great Peter I ( – ), most commonly known as Peter the Great,) or Pyotr Alekséyevich ( rus, Пётр Алексе́евич, p=ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ, , group=pron was a Russian monarch who ruled the Tsardom of Russia from t ...

. According to his own record, his ancestors had lived in Russia since 1647. He was the younger brother of Robert Bruce, the first High Commandant of Saint Petersburg. He participated in the Crimean (1687, 1689) and Azov campaigns (1695–1696) of Peter the Great against the Ottoman Empire during the Russo-Turkish War. During the Great Northern War Bruce was appointed major-general of artillery. He was involved in the revival of Russian artillery, which had been lost to the Swedish forces along with its commander, Prince Alexander of Imereti at Narva in 1700. He was commander of artillery in the Battle of Poltava (1709), for which he was made a knight of the Order of St Andrew. In 1721, he became one of the first Russian counts. Bruce was one of the best educated people in Russia at the time, a naturalist and astronomer. In 1701 he founded the first Russian

observatory An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysical, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. His ...

; it was located in Moscow in the upper story of the Sukharev Tower. Bruce's scientific library of more than 1,500 volumes became a substantial part of the Russian Academy of Sciences library. Among Muscovites, Bruce gained fame as an

alchemist Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscience, protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in Chinese alchemy, C ...

and

magician Magician or The Magician may refer to: Performers * A practitioner of magic (supernatural) * A practitioner of magic (illusion) * Magician (fantasy), a character in a fictional fantasy context Entertainment Books * ''The Magician'', an 18th-ce ...

, due in part to the innovative design of the Sukharev Tower, which was very unusual in 18th century Moscow. It was rumored that the greatest Black Magic grimoires of his collection had been bricked up into the walls of the Sukharev Tower.

Honours

* : Order of the White Eagle

References

External links

Photograph of a page of the Calendar of Bruce, 1710 (etching) from the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bruce, Jacob 1669 births 1735 deaths Field marshals of Russia Astronomers from the Russian Empire Counts of the Russian Empire Russian people of Scottish descent 17th-century alchemists 18th-century alchemists Jacob Bruce Russian military personnel of the Great Northern War Battle of Poltava Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland)