Fedir Petrovych Shvets (; – 20 June 1940) was a Ukrainian geologist, public activist, and politician. He served as a member of the
Directorate of Ukraine
The Directorate, or Directory () was a provisional collegiate revolutionary state committee of the Ukrainian People's Republic, initially formed on 13–14 November 1918 during a session of the Ukrainian National Union in rebellion against th ...
from its establishment in November 1918 until his removal in May 1920, representing the peasantry.
Biography
Shvets was born on , 1882, in Zhabotyn, Cherkassky Uyezd. From 1909, after finishing the Natural Studies College of the
University of Tartu
The University of Tartu (UT; ; ) is a public research university located in the city of Tartu, Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is also the largest and oldest university in the country.
continued to work as an assistant at the Department of Geology. He actively participated in all the activities that took place in the university, and until 1916, was also teaching at the local gymnasium. In 1915, he was appointed as a
docent
The term "docent" is derived from the Latin word , which is the third-person plural present active indicative of ('to teach, to lecture'). Becoming a docent is often referred to as habilitation or doctor of science and is an academic qualifi ...
of the
academic department
An academic department is a division of a university or school Faculty (division), faculty devoted to a particular academic discipline. In the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, universities tend to use the t ...
of
paleontology
Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure ge ...
and while conducting research in the
Crimean peninsula
Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrai ...
and the
Caucasus Mountains
The Caucasus Mountains
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* Azerbaijani: ,
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* is a mountain range at the intersection of Asia and Europe. Stretching between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, they are surrounded by the Caucasus region ...
.
In March 1917, Shvets returned to Ukraine. At the Congress of a Ukrainian village representatives (6–7 April 1917) he was elected to the Central Committee (CC) of the Peasant Association from the Cherkassky Uyezd and also to the CC of the
Ukrainian Socialist-Revolutionary Party
Ukrainian Socialist-Revolutionary Party ( ) was a political party in Ukraine and the Russian Republic founded in April 1917,1st All-Ukrainian Peasant Congress Shvets was elected to the All-Ukrainian Council of Peasant's Deputies which later joined the Central Rada. During the same time he was working in the 2nd
Kiev
Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...
gymnasium and in the organizational committee for the creation of the Ukrainian People's University. In September 1918, he was appointed as a professor of geology in the Ukrainian State University in Kiev where he became its first pro-rector.
At times of the
Ukrainian State
The Ukrainian State (), sometimes also called the Second Cossack Hetmanate, Hetmanate (), was an Anti-communism, anti-Bolshevik government that existed on most of the modern territory of Ukraine (except for Western Ukraine) from 29 April to 14 ...
Shvets joined the Ukrainian National Union and on 13 November 1918 together with
Volodymyr Vynnychenko
Volodymyr Kyrylovych Vynnychenko (; – March 6, 1951) was a Ukrainian statesman, political activist, writer, playwright and artist who served as the first List of prime ministers of Ukraine, prime minister of the Ukrainian People's Republic.< ...
,
Symon Petliura
Symon Vasyliovych Petliura (; – 25 May 1926) was a Ukrainian politician and journalist. He was the Supreme Commander of the Ukrainian People's Army (UNA) and led the Ukrainian People's Republic during the Ukrainian War of Independence, a pa ...
Ukrainian People's Republic
The Ukrainian People's Republic (UPR) was a short-lived state in Eastern Europe. Prior to its proclamation, the Central Council of Ukraine was elected in March 1917 Ukraine after the Russian Revolution, as a result of the February Revolution, ...
(UNR) together with Makarenko departed abroad with a diplomatic assignment transferring all the power to Petliura. On 25 May 1920 the government of UNR dismissed him from the Directorate.
While in emigration he was teaching in the Ukrainian high-schools in
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...
where he lived in
Prague
Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...
. From 1923, Shvets was the professor of geology at the Ukrainian Liberal University and in 1924-1929 at the Ukrainian Higher Pedagogical Institute of Drahomanov. He was an author of numerous scientific works in
geology
Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...
. In 1928 and 1929, together with Andriy Makarenko and Opanas Andrievsky they created the Ukrainian National Rada. Shvets died in Prague.