Ukrainian Contributions to Society

Ukraine is a country considered ‘home’ to many Edmontonians, new and old. You may not be aware of what all they have contributed to our society throughout history.

Here are five incredible contributions that you might not have known came from Ukraine:

Hard Disk Drives:
The small boxes that hold all our school assignments and work documents were created by a Ukrainian computer scientist. Not only did Lubomyr Romankiw help create Hard Disk Drives, he studied at the University of Alberta! Romankiw studied at the U of A and then received a degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technologies. In March 2012, he was entered into the US National Hall of Fame, an honour given to only ten inventors, alongside Steve Jobs.

PayPal:
Before Apple Pay, Venmo, or tap, there was PayPal. This service was founded in 1998 by four programmers, three Americans and one Ukrainian, Max Levchin. The service was sold to eBay for 1.5 billion. Levchin went on to create a startup, Slide, that went on to be sold to Google for 182 million dollars!

Immune system:
That’s right! A Ukrainian zoologist was the first to develop a coherent theory of protective systems of the human body. Ilya Mechnikov was born in Ivanivka village, the Kharkiv region, and studied at the Kharkiv University. Mechnikov was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, “in recognition of their work on immunity.”

Framework hive:
Did you know the history of beekeeping? In order to obtain honey from bees, hives were destroyed and entire colonies of bees had to be killed to do so. Petro Prokopovych, born near Chernihiv, Ukraine, put an end to that with his model of the framework hive! Prokopovych found a way to protect the bees while making honey extraction so much easier. The model quickly spread around the world, and variations have led to today’s hives.

PocketBook E-Readers:
The PocketBook Company was founded in 2007 in Kyiv, Ukraine. The company is the fourth largest manufacturer of premium electronic readers and sold in over 40 countries. Throughout the past seven years they have released more than 30 readers and received over 10 international awards and prizes.

These are all things that have become staples in our modern-day society.

We have no idea who may be the next person to help change the course of our society, but by not using our voices to spread love and kindness, they may slip through the cracks. The ongoing conflict in Ukraine is still happening and help is needed.

Source: yeg4ukraine.org

One organization providing consistent support overseas is YEG4Ukraine. Check out their website for ways you can help or get involved!

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