Konstantin Nikolayevich Bestuzhev-Ryumin was one of the most popular Russian Imperial historians of the 19th century. He held a chair in Russian History at the University of St. Petersburg (1864–85) and was elected into the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences in 1890. In 1878 he founded and gave his name to the Bestuzhev Courses, "the largest and most prominent women's higher education institution in Russia".