Gechtman Giorgi
Giorgi Gechtman (b. September 1, 1870, Kutaisi – d. September 6, 1956, Tbilisi) was an economist and geographer, Doctor of Geographical Sciences (1940), professor (1923), Honored Science Worker of Georgia (1941).
In 1895, he graduated from the Faculty of History and Philology (Department of History) of the National University of Kharkiv. He returned to Georgia the same year and began teaching. He was the chairman of the Tbilisi branch of the Teachers' Union of the Caucasus (1903), an honorary member of the Society of Extracurricular Education of Tbilisi Schools (1910).
Tbilisi Women's Higher Education Courses (1909), the Department of Agricultural Economics of Tbilisi State University (TSU) (docent, 1920), the Department of Economic Geography (1923, head of the department), the Faculty of Economics of the Georgian Polytechnical Institute (present-day Georgian Technical University), the Department of Agricultural Economics of the Agricultural Institute of Georgia (its first head, 1930) were established with Gechtman's participation. He was one of the founders of the Geographical Society of Georgia (1924) and of the magazine “Nakaduli” (1904), director of the Pedagogical Museum of Caucasus, director of the State Public Library (1921–1930), head of the Department of Economic Geography of the Vakhushti Bagrationi Institute of Geography of the Georgian Academy of Sciences.
Gechtman is the founder of economic and geographic studies in Georgia. He worked on the economic and geographic description of the republics of the South Caucasus, developed an interesting scheme of economic regions of Georgia.
Gechtman laid the foundation for the historical study of geographical discoveries in Georgia, developed a special economic and geographical terminology in the Georgian language.
Gechtman received state awards. The office of the Department of Economic Geography of TSU is named after him.
Literary works: საქართველო, აზერბეიჯანი და სომხეთი (მოკლე ეკონ.-გეოგრ. მიმოხილვა), ტფ., 1923; სოფლის მეურნეობის ეკონომიკა. ნაწ. 1, ტფ., 1924; საქართველოს ეკონომიკური გეოგრაფია, ტფ., 1925.
Literature: კვერენჩხილაძე რ., გიორგი გეხტმანის ცხოვრება და მოღვაწეობა, თბ., 1992 (თანაავტ. ც. ცინაძე).
R. Kverenchkhiladze
