The Pedagogical Institute of Irkutsk State University was founded in 1909 in Irkutsk, Siberia as Irkutsk Teaching Institute for training teachers for schools and colleges. The institute has 3 faculties and 21 departments, and provides education in 9 training directions. Minor plant 2585 Irpedina, discovered by Soviet astronomer and a graduate of the Institute Nikolay Chernykh, is named after the institute (Chernykh's wife, Lyudmila Chernykh, was also an astronomer and a graduate of the institute).