Nikolai Pavlovich Petrov (13 May 1836 – 15 January 1920) was a Russian army professor of mechanics and engineering who is considered one of the founders of tribology or the study of friction and lubrication. He is best known for what is known as Petrov's Law of friction. Petrov was born in an aristocratic family in

Novgorod Veliky Novgorod ( rus, links=no, Великий Новгород, t=Great Newtown, p=vʲɪˈlʲikʲɪj ˈnovɡərət), also known as just Novgorod (), is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the ol ...

. He was educated at the Constantine Artillery Academy and the Nicholas Engineering Academy then became an instructor in mathematics. He studied mechanics under M. V. Ostrogradsky and then joined as a professor of applied mechanics at the

Nicholas Engineering Academy The Saint Petersburg Military Engineering-Technical University (Nikolaevsky) (russian: Санкт-Петербургский Военный инженерно-технический университет, VITU), previously known as the Saint Pet ...

in 1867. His main work was on the examination of railway vehicles, examining steam engines, and the his main work was on the lubrication of bearings for the wheels. He examined

journal bearings A plain bearing, or more commonly sliding contact bearing and slide bearing (in railroading sometimes called a solid bearing, journal bearing, or friction bearing), is the simplest type of bearing, comprising just a bearing surface and no roll ...

used in the axles of the wheels of railway coaches and identified a relationship on friction in rotating components, the viscosity of lubricants and frictional torque which goes by the name of Petrov's Law (or Petroff's Law).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Petrov, Nikolai Pavlovich 1836 births 1920 deaths Tribologists