Semen Ivanovich Gamaleia

Son of a priest. From 1755 to 1763 he studied at the Kiev-Mohyla Academy. From 1769 he taught Latin at the Imperial Land Noble Cadet Corps in St. Petersburg. From 1770 he served in the Senate; in 1774 was appointed head of chancellery of the Belarusian governor Zakharii Chernyshev. From 1782 he held the same post in Moscow. One of the founders of the Printing Company in Moscow and a Freemason. He participated in the work of the Assembly promoting the translation of foreign books. He translated a number of works (Joan Lluis Vives, Valentin Esprit Fléchier). He also made translations in connection with the propaganda for smallpox vaccination in Russia initiated by Catherine II.