Grigory Nikolayevich Vyrubov, or Grégoire Wyrouboff (Григорий Николаевич Вырубов; 31 October 1843, in Moscow – 30 November 1913, in Paris) was a Russian Empire Positivist philosopher and historian of science.
Grigory Nikolayevich was born in Moscow. He was educated at home in a family that lived mostly abroad.
In 1862, he completed his studies at the Imperial Alexander Lyceum, where he was deeply impressed by the talented French literature teacher Pommier, a student of Auguste Comte and a friend of Émile Littré. While still a student at the Lyceum, he attended lectures by V. L. Gruber at the Medico-Surgical Academy. After graduating from the Lyceum, he spent two years attending lectures at the medical and natural science faculties of Moscow University.
In 1864 he received a candidate of natural sciences degree, after which he left abroad forever, returning to Russia only for short periods.
During his initial years abroad, he practiced medicine in Berlin and Paris and traveled extensively, both in Europe and the East. In Paris, he became close with Émile Littré, the widow of Auguste Comte, and the leading positivists, among whom, in 1867, the idea arose to found a periodical for positive philosophy.
The first issue of the journal "Philosophie Positive" appeared on July 1, 1867, edited by Littré and Vyrubov. The journal continued to be published until 1884 and served as the forerunner of numerous scientific philosophy publications. In 1873, Littré and Vyrubov's journal received an honorary diploma at the World's Fair in Vienna.
During the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871), he participated in the defense of Paris as a volunteer in the National Guard, primarily serving in the Red Cross field hospitals. During the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878), he went to the Caucasus, where he was tasked with setting up field hospitals in the Yerevan detachment, with which he remained until the end of war.
His first published works appeared in 1866. After the publication of "Philosophie Positive" ceased, he devoted himself entirely to scientific work. For his work, he received the right to defend a doctoral dissertation at the Sorbonne (1886), without having a licencie degree - a privilege granted very rarely.
In 1889, he naturalized in France (with permission from the Russian government) and was a member of most Parisian learned societies. In 1891, he was president of the Paris Mineralogical Society. He contributed to many Russian and foreign newspapers. His feuilletons appeared in V. F. Korsh's Sankt-Peterburgskie Vedomosti, and his correspondence from Paris appeared in the newspaper Poryadok.
He was close to Alexander Ivanovich Herzen and published his complete works in 1875–1879.
Although he had never trained as a historian of science, in 1903 he was elected as Pierre Laffitte's successor to the chair of history of science at the Collège de France, and held the chair until his death.
Vyrubov was an active freemason. He was initiated into freemasonry on 7 January 1874 in Paris. He was initially a member of the Scottish Rite, but came into conflict with the Grand Lodge of France and switched to the Grand Orient of France (French Rite). He was the "Worshipful Master" of a lodge of Russian emigrants known as the "Rose of the Perfect Silence."
