Ukraine is a pioneer in technology and science

• The first computer in continental Europe was built in Ukraine under the supervision of the scholar Sergey Lebedev and well-known scientist V.Hlushkov. It happened in 1950 in Kyiv. Sergey Lebedev created a smart machine, the first electronic computer in continental Europe. Following this 15 types of highly productive and complex computer were designed and built under his supervision. Lebedev's scientific school was the market leader in the former USSR and successfully competed with American giants IBM.
• The first X-Ray device was originally developed by Ukrainian physicist Ivan Pulyui. As a result of experiments into what he called cold light Pulyui is reputed to have developed an X-ray emitting device as early as 1881 (14 years earlier than Conrad Rontgen). Pulyui reputedly first demonstrated an X-ray photograph of a 13-year-old boy's broken arm and an X-ray photograph of his daughter's hand with a pin lying under it. The device became known as the Pulyui lamp and was mass-produced for a period. Reputedly, Pulyui personally presented one to Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen who went on to be credited as the major developer of the technology.
• Ukraine stands among the five world leaders in space exploration along with the USA, Russia, France, and China. About 30 enterprises, construction bureaus and scientific institutes currently make up Ukraine's space industry. Ukrainian scholars are currently participating in 25 international scientific and commercial space projects. The Ukrainian rocket carrier Cyclone has been officially rated as the world's safest by international space experts.
• The first eastern Europe institute of higher education was in Kyiv, Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. The Kyiv-Mohyla Academy was founded in 1615 in Kyiv, and was the first in the region of its kind. In 1658 it was the first in eastern Europe to earn the title "academy". Open to young men from all social strata, the Academy attracted students and scholars not only from Ukraine but from many European nations. Many of its graduates continued their studies in European universities. From among those who graduated from Kiev-Mohyla Academy came forth renowned philosophers, economists, theologians, influential cultural personalities as well as important political leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Poland, Serbia, Bulgaria and other countries.

Other interesting facts about Ukraine

• Before 1793 French kings swore allegiance on the Reims Gospel, brought from Kyiv. This Slavonic-language Gospel was brought to France by Anna Yaroslavna (Anna de Russi) who was daughter of the Grand Prince Yaroslav the Wise. In 1049, she married the French king Henri I and became Queen of France. She is known in history as grand-grand mother of 30 French kings. Her sculpture is the main adornment of the portal of St. Vincent Church in the town of Saint-Lys (France) that she founded in 1060. A mural of Anna can be also seen in St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv.
• Ukraine's original constitution was the first in the World. The document "Pact and Constitution of the Rights and Freedoms of the Zaporizhyan Cossack Forces" prepared by Hetman Pylyp Orlyk in 1710 is considered to be the first constitution. Historians regard it as a progressive document far ahead of its time, since the first constitutions in European countries and in the USA only began to appear some 70 years later. The "Pylyp Orlyk" constitution had never came into force because it was written outside of the country while in exile and the authors could not get back into Ukraine at the time, but nevertheless it will always remain in history as an original legal document which for the first time in European history laid the groundwork for the possibility of democratic parliamentary rule.
• Four out of ten European transport corridors run through Ukrainian territory. Throughout the centuries the territory of modern Ukraine has always been crossed by valuable trade routes and some of the most important transportation corridors of the Eurasian continent. Before even the emergence of the ancient Kyivan Rus civilisation the Dnieper River was the main artery linking the Vikings and the Greeks from the Baltic to the Black Sea. Ukraine was also a station post along the Silk Route connecting the towns of medieval Europe with central Asia, Mongolia and China. To date, 273,700km of highways, 22,510km of railway, 4,500km of waterways, 250,000 different flight paths and 42,900km of pipelines form Ukraine's transportation network. Ukraine is among the world's largest transporters of natural gas.
• Ukraine possesses more than 1/4 of the world's fertile black soil. The word Chornozem, meaning "black earth" has become internationally recognised and refers to Ukrainian soil, celebrated as the most fertile possible. Byzantine emperor Constantine VII, way back in the 10th century wrote, "The best soil is Chornozem. It is not afraid of rain or drought." Even the French writer Balzak, after visiting Ukraine, praised these lands in his writings. Ukraine's rich soil was probably one of the reasons why the first agricultural civilizations in Europe emerged and developed here in the 5-4th centuries B.C.