The history of exploration by citizens or subjects of the Russian Federation, the Soviet Union, the Russian Empire, the Tsardom of Russia and other Russian predecessor states forms a significant part of the history of Russia as well as the history of the world. At 17,075,400 square kilometres (6,592,850 sq mi), Russia is the largest country in the world, covering more than a ninth of Earth's landmass. In the times of the Soviet Union and the Russian Empire, the country's share in the world's landmass reached 1/6. Most of these territories were first discovered by Russian explorers (if indigenous peoples of inhabited territories are not counted). Contiguous exploration in Eurasia and the building of overseas colonies in Russian America were some of the primary factors in Russian territorial expansion.
Apart from their discoveries in Alaska, Central Asia, Siberia, and the northern areas surrounding the North Pole, Russian explorers have made significant contributions to the exploration of the Antarctic, Arctic, and the Pacific islands, as well as deep-sea and space explorations.
* Siberia/the Far East | ^ Alaska/ North Pacific | ~ Europe | † Tropics |
‡ Arctic/the Far North | § Antarctic/ South Pacific | ! Central Asia | $ Space |
Portrait | Person | Achievements | Image |
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Valerian Albanov‡ (1881–1919) Russian Navy lieutenant |
Albanov was one of the only two survivors of the ill-fated 1912–14
Brusilov expedition, the other being
Alexander Konrad. They left the ice-bound ship St. Anna and by ski, sledge, and kayak crossed the
Kara Sea, reached
Franz Josef Land and were finally rescued by
Georgy Sedov's Saint Phocas. The data about ice drift of St. Anna, provided by Albanov, helped
Vladimir Vize to calculate the coordinates of previously unknown
Vize Island.
[1] Either Albanov or Konrad is a prototype for a hero in the novel The Two Captains by Veniamin Kaverin. |
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Pyotr Anjou‡ (1796–1869) Russian admiral, hero of the Battle of Navarino |
In 1820, as a lieutenant, Anjou described the coastline and the islands of
Eastern Siberia between the
Olenek and
Indigirka rivers and mapped the
New Siberian Islands. In 1825–26 he participated in describing the northeastern coast of the
Caspian Sea and the western coast of the
Aral Sea.
[2] Named in honor: Anjou Islands. |
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Danila Antsiferov* (?–1712) Siberian Cossack ataman |
Danila Antsiferov was elected Cossack ataman on
Kamchatka after the death of
Vladimir Atlasov. He was one of the first Russians to visit the
Kuril Islands and describe them in writing, including
Shumshu and
Paramushir Island.
[3] Named in honor: Antsiferov Island. |
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Dmitry Anuchin† (1843–1923) geographer, anthropologist, ethnographer, archaeologist |
In 1880 Anuchin researched
Valday Hills and
Lake Seliger. In 1894–95, joining the expedition of
Alexei Tillo, he again studied Valday. Anuchin finally determined the location of the source of the
Volga River, the largest
European river. He published a major work about the relief of
European Russia and founded the Geography Museum at
Moscow State University.
[4] Named in honor: Anuchin crater (Moon), Anuchin Island. |
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Vladimir Arsenyev* (1872–1930) military topographer, writer |
Arsenyev wrote a number of popular books about his journeys to the
Ussuri basin in 1902–07, where he was accompanied by
Dersu Uzala, a native
Nanai hunter. Arsenyev was the first to describe numerous species of
Siberian flora; he produced some 60 works on the geography, wildlife and ethnography of the regions he traveled to. In 1975, the joint Japanese-Soviet movie
Dersu Uzala by
Akira Kurosawa won an
Academy Award for the
Best Foreign Language Film.
[5] Named in honor: Arsenyev (town). |
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Vladimir Atlasov* (1661/64–1711) Siberian Cossack ataman |
Atlasov established the first permanent Russian settlements on
Kamchatka Peninsula and led its colonisation. He was the first to present a detailed description of the region's nature and people, and also accounted on the lands near Kamchatka –
Chukotka and Japan. Atlasov brought
Dembei, a shipwrecked Japanese merchant, to Moscow, where he conducted the first
Japanese language education in Russia.
[6] Named in honor: Atlasov Island, Atlasov volcano. |
Portrait | Person | Achievements | Image |
---|---|---|---|
Mikhail Babushkin‡ (1893–1938) military and polar aviator, Hero of the Soviet Union |
Babushkin took part in an expedition to rescue
Umberto Nobile in 1928, and in the rescue of the
SS Chelyuskin crew in 1933. He performed the flights to the first drifting ice station
North Pole-1 in 1937. In 1937–38 he participated in a search for
Sigizmund Levanevsky.
[3] Named in honor: Babushkinsky District (Moscow), Babushkinskaya (Moscow Metro). |
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Konstantin Badygin‡ (1910–1984) Soviet Navy captain, writer, scientist, Hero of the USSR (Badygin left, Sedov's mechanic D.G. Trofimov right) |
In 1938 Badygin became the captain of the ice-captured icebreaker Sedov, turned into a kind of drifting ice station. Most of the crew was evacuated, but 15 sailors and scientists, including Vladimir Vize, stayed aboard and carried out valuable scientific research in the course of 812 days. After drifting from New Siberian Islands across the North Pole, they were finally freed between Greenland and Svalbard by icebreaker Joseph Stalin in 1940. [7] | ||
Karl Ernst von Baer* (1792–1876) naturalist, a founder of embryology |
In 1830–40 Baer researched Arctic meteorology. He was interested in the northern part of Russia and explored Novaya Zemlya in 1837 collecting specimens. Other travels led him to the Caspian Sea, Lapland, and North Cape, Norway. After his explorations of the Volga River he formulated the geological Baer's law, stating that in the Northern Hemisphere erosion occurs mostly on the right banks of rivers, and in the Southern Hemisphere on the left banks. Baer was one of the founders of the Russian Geographical Society in 1845, and also a co-founder and the first President of the Russian Entomological Society. [4] | ||
Georgiy Baidukov‡ (1904–1994) military and test pilot, Hero of the Soviet Union (Baidukov, Chkalov and Belyakov in 1937) |
Baidukov was involved in a number of Soviet ultralong flights. In 1936
Valery Chkalov, Baidukov and
A.V.Belyakov on
ANT-25 flew 9,374 km from Moscow through the
North Pole to follow-up
Chkalov Island in
Okhotsk Sea, which took 56 h 20 min. In 1937, also on ANT-25, the same crew flew 8,504 km from Moscow through the North Pole to
Vancouver, Washington, which was the first transpolar flight between Europe and North America by airplane, rather than
dirigible.
[8] Named in honor: Baydukov Island. |
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Alexander Baranov^ (1746–1819) merchant, colonial administrator |
Baranov was hired to head the
Shelikhov-Golikov Company, which in 1799 was transformed into the
Russian-American Company. Thus Baranov became the first governor of
Russian America and held this post in 1799–1818. He explored the coast areas of northwestern North America, helped
Russian Orthodox missionaries and improved relations with
Alaska natives. He established trade with China,
Hawaii and also with
California, where he founded
Fort Ross.
[9] Named in honor: Baranof Island. |
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Nikifor Begichev‡ (1874–1927) Russian Navy officer ( forensic facial reconstruction) |
Begichev was the bosun of the ship
Zarya, carrying
Eduard Toll's expedition in 1900–03. In 1922, at the request of Norway, Begichev led a Soviet expedition in search of the lost crew members of
Roald Amundsen's 1918 expedition on the ship
Maud,
Peter Tessem and Paul Knutsen, but was unsuccessful (remains were later found by
Georgy Rybin). In 1923–24 Begichev explored the
Taymyr Peninsula with
Nikolay Urvantsev.
[10]
[11] Named in honor: Bolshoy Begichev Island, Maliy Begichev Island. |
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Pyotr Beketov* (c. 1600–c. 1661) Siberian Cossack voevoda (a monument in Chita, Zabaykalsky Krai) |
Beketov, initially a strelets, was appointed Enisei voevoda in Siberia after 1627. He successfully carried out the voyage to collect taxes from Zabaykalye Buryats, becoming the first Russian to set foot in Buryatia. He founded the first Russian settlement there, Rybinsky ostrog. Beketov was sent to the Lena River in 1631, where in 1632 he founded Yakutsk, a startpoint of further Russian expeditions eastward, southward and northward. He sent his Cossacks to explore the Aldan and Kolyma rivers, to found new fortresses, and to collect taxes. In 1652 he launched another voyage to Buryatia, and in 1653 Beketov's Cossacks founded follow-up Chita and then future Nerchinsk in 1654. [12] | ||
Alexander Bekovich-Cherkassky! (?–1717) Russian Army officer |
Bekovich-Cherkassky, a Circassian Muslim converted to Christianity, was made by Tsar Peter the Great the leader of the first Russian military expeditions into Central Asia in 1714–17, with the aim of conquering the Khanate of Khiva and the golden sands of the Oxus River. Bekovich received these orders in Astrakhan, where he was engaged in preparing the first Russian map of the Caspian Sea. He commanded a preliminary expedition to Turkmenistan and set up the forts in Krasnovodsk and Alexandrovsk. In 1717 he won the battle against Khivan Khan, but was tricked into separating his men, betrayed by the Khan, defeated and killed. [13] | ||
Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen§ (1778–1852) Russian admiral, circumnavigator, cartographer |
Bellingshausen took part in the
first Russian circumnavigation under
Ivan Krusenstern on
Nadezhda in 1803–06. He himself led another Russian circumnavigation in 1819–21 on the sloop
Vostok, together with
Mikhail Lazarev on
Mirny – this expedition was the first to discover the continent of
Antarctica on January 28, 1820 (
New Style). They also discovered and named
Peter I Island,
Zavodovski,
Leskov and
Visokoi Islands,
Antarctic peninsula mainland and
Alexander Island (Alexander Coast), and made discoveries in the tropical waters of the
Pacific, including
Vostok Island.
[14]
[15] Named in honor: Bellingshausen Island (Atlantic), Bellingshausen Sea, Bellingshausen Station, Bellinshausen Island (Pacific), Faddey Islands, Bellingshausen Plate, Bellinsgauzen crater (Moon), 3659 Bellingshausen (minor planet). |
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Lev Berg! (1876–1950) geographer, biologist |
Berg studied and determined the depth of the lakes of Central Asia, including Balkhash Lake and Issyk Kul. He researched the ichthyology of Central Asia and European Russia. He developed Dokuchaev's doctrine of biomes and climatology and was one of the founders of the Geographical Institute, now the Faculty of Geography of the Saint Petersburg University. In 1940–50 Berg was the President of the Soviet Geographical Society. [16] | ||
Vitus Bering^ (1681–1741) Russian Navy captain-commander |
Returning from the
East Indies, Bering joined the Russian Navy in 1703. He became the main organiser of the
Great Northern Expedition to explore northern Asia. In 1725, Bering went overland to
Okhotsk, crossed to
Kamchatka, and aboard
Sv. Gavriil mapped some 3500 km of the
Bering Sea coast and passed the
Bering Strait in 1728–29. Later,
Ivan Fyodorov and
Mikhail Gvozdev aboard the same Sv. Gavriil sighted the
Alaskan shore in 1732. Having organised a major
Second Kamchatka expedition, Bering and
Aleksei Chirikov sailed from
Okhotsk in 1740 aboard
Sv. Piotr and
Sv. Pavel, founded
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, and headed together to
North America in 1741, until separated by storm. Bering discovered the southern coast of
Alaska, landed near
Kayak Island and discovered the
Aleutian Islands. Chirikov discovered the shores of America near
Aleksander Archipelago and safely returned to Asia. Bering, however, became very ill and his ship was driven to an uninhabited follow-up
Bering Island of the
Commander group. Bering died there, along with part of his crew. The rest built a vessel out of the wreckage of Sv. Piotr and escaped to Petropavlovsk.
[17]
[18]
[19] Named in honor: Bering Strait, Bering Sea, Bering Island, Bering Glacier, Bering Land Bridge, Beringia. |
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Yuri Bilibin‡ (1901–1952) geologist |
Bilibin led the First
Kolyma Expedition in 1928 and in 1931–1932 he organized the Second Kolyma Expedition. The result of the explorations was the discovery of gold deposits in Northeast
Siberia. In 1934, together with mining engineer
Evgeny Bobin (1897–1941), Bilibin surveyed and charted the last unmapped areas of the continental
USSR, the
Yudoma-Maya and the
Aldan highlands, as well as the
Sette-Daban, in the course of an expedition sent by the Soviet government.
[20] Named in honor: Bilibino Town, Bilibino District, Bilibinskite. |
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Joseph Billings^ (c. 1758–1806) Royal Navy and Russian Navy officer |
In 1785–95 Billings, previously an English officer who had sailed with
Captain Cook, led a Russian expedition in search of the
Northeast Passage, with
Gavril Sarychev as his deputy. They made accurate maps of the
Chukchi Peninsula, the west coast of
Alaska, and the
Aleutian Islands. They landed on
Kodiak Island, examined the area of
Prince William Sound and compiled a census of the native population of the Aleutians. Billings crossed Chukotka on
reindeer and made the first elaborate description of the
Chukchi people.
[21] Named in honor: Cape Billings, Billings (Chukotka). |
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Georgy Brusilov^ (1884–1914?) Russian Navy captain |
In 1910–11, Brusilov took part in a hydrographic expedition on the icebreakers
Taymyr and
Vaygach to the
Chukchi and
East Siberian Seas. In 1912–14 he led an expedition on the brig
St.Anna, which aimed to travel by the
Northern Sea Route from the Atlantic to the Pacific. St.Anna became icebound west of
Yamal Peninsula and drifted to the
North Pole in 1913. Brusilov became ill and many of the crew succumbed to scurvy. In 1914 a group led by lieutenant
Valerian Albanov abandoned the ship and walked south over the drifting ice. Only Albanov and
Alexander Konrad managed to reach
Franz Joseph Land, where they were rescued by
Georgy Sedov's St. Foka. The efforts to find the St. Anna were unsuccessful.
[1] Brusilov and his ship are among the prototypes for the novel The Two Captains by Veniamin Kaverin, where the fictional St. Maria repeats the drift of St. Anna. |
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Alexander Bulatovich† (1870–1919) Russian Army officer, writer, hieromonk (tonsured Father Antony), imiaslavie leader, hero of World War I |
In 1897 Bulatovich was a member of the Russian mission of the
Red Cross in Africa, where he became a confidant of Negus
Menelek II of Ethiopia and his military aide in the war with Italy and the southern tribes. He became the first European to provide a description of the
Kaffa province (conquered by Menelek II with Bulatovich's help) and among the first to reach the mouth of the
Omo River. Among the places named by Bulatovich was the
Nicholas II Mountain range.
[22]
[23] The prototype for grotesque Schema-Hussar Alexei Bulanovich in Ilf and Petrov's The Twelve Chairs; the hero of Valentin Pikul's The Hussar on a Camel and Richard Seltzer's The Name of Hero. |
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Fabian Bellingshausen† (1878–1852) Russian officer of Baltic German descent in the Imperial Russian Navy, cartographer and explorer |
The discoverer of the
Antarctica.
In 1819 the authorities selected Bellingshausen to lead the First Russian Antarctic Expedition which was intended to explore the Southern Ocean and to find land in the proximity of the South Pole. With two ships, sloop-of-war Vostok ("East") and support vessel Mirny ("Peaceful") were led by Mikhail Lazarev, the journey started from Kronstadt on 4 June 1819. Bellingshausen and Lazarev managed to twice circumnavigate the continent. Thus they disproved Captain Cook's assertion that it was impossible to find land in the southern ice fields. The expedition also made discoveries and observations in the tropical waters of the Pacific Ocean. |
Portrait | Person | Achievements | Image |
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Semion Chelyuskin‡ (c. 1700–1764) Russian Navy officer ( Malygin, D. Ovtsyn, Chelyuskin, Kh. Laptev and D. Laptev on a commemorative coin) |
Chelyuskin participated in the
Great Northern Expedition in 1733–43. He traveled in the groups led by
Vasily Pronchischev and
Khariton Laptev. In 1741 he led his own voyage from the
Khatanga River to the
Pyasina River by land. He explored and described the western coastline of
Taimyr Peninsula and the mouths of Pyasina and
Yenisei Rivers. In 1741–42, he traveled from
Turukhansk to the mouth of the Khatanga and described the northern coastline of Taimyr from Cape Faddey in the east to the mouth of the
Taimyra River in the west. Chelyuskin discovered the northern extremity of
Asia,
Cape Chelyuskin.
[24] Named in honor: Cape Chelyuskin, Chelyuskin Peninsula, Chelyuskin Island, Chelyuskin steamship. |
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Ivan Chersky* (1845–1892) paleontologist, geologist, geographer |
Exiled to
Transbaikalia for participation in the
January Uprising and pardoned only in 1883, Chersky became a self-taught scientist in
Siberia. He traveled to the
Sayan Mountains, the
Irkut River Valley and
Lower Tunguska. During four expeditions in 1877–81 Chersky explored
Selenga river. He explained the origin of
Lake Baikal, made the first geological map of its coast and described the geological structure of
East Siberia. He analysed the
tectonics of Inner Asia and pioneered the
geomorphological evolution theory. He collected over 2,500 ancient bones. In 1892 he explored the
Kolyma,
Yana and
Indigirka Rivers and died from illness there.
[25] Named in honor: Chersky Range, Chersky (settlement). |
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Vasili Chichagov‡ (1726–1809) Russian admiral, victorious commander-in-chief of the Baltic Fleet in the Russo-Swedish War (1788–1790) |
In 1764–66 Chichagov led two expeditions to find the
Northeast Passage between the
Atlantic and the
Pacific along the northern coast of
Siberia, a project of
Mikhail Lomonosov. Although he sailed past
Svalbard, reached 80°26'N in 1765 and 80°30'N in 1766, and conducted valuable research, both expeditions failed to find the route.
[26] Named in honor: Chichagof Island. |
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Pyotr Chikhachyov! (1808–1890) naturalist, geologist |
In 1842 Chikhachyov led an expedition to the unknown territories of the Altai and Sayan Mountains. He discovered Kuznetsk Coal Basin, reached the sources of the rivers Abakan, Chu and Chulyshman, and entered Tuva. In 1845 he published works on the geology of Altai Mountains and Xinjiang. In 1848–63 he led eight expeditions in Asia Minor, Armenia, Kurdistan and East Thrace. In 1853–69 he conducted a major study of Asia Minor, while being the attaché of the Russian embassy in Constantinople. In 1878, at the age of 71, he visited Algeria and Tunis. He published many works in geography, natural history and the politics of the Eastern Question. [27] | ||
Artur Chilingarov‡ (born 1939) polar scientist, Hero of the Soviet Union, Hero of Russia, politician |
In 1969 Chilingarov became the head of the research station " North Pole-19" and in 1971 the head of Bellingshausen Station during the 17-th Soviet Antarctic Expedition. In 1985 he successfully led the mission to rescue the research vessel Mikhail Somov, which had been ice-blocked in the Southern Ocean. During the Russian Arktika 2007 expedition, Chilingarov, accompanied by other explorers from different countries, descended to the seabed 13,980 feet below the North Pole in order to plant the Russian flag there and gather specimens of the bottom ground, using MIR submersibles. In 2008 he took part in the expedition which descended one mile to the bottom of Lake Baikal on MIRs. [28] | ||
Aleksei Chirikov^ (1703–1748) Russian Navy captain |
In 1725–30 and in 1733–43, Chirikov was
Vitus Bering's deputy during the 1st and the
2nd Kamchatka expeditions. On July 15, 1741, Chirikov, the captain of
Sv. Pavel, became the first European to land on the northwestern coast of
North America near
Alexander Archipelago. Thereafter he discovered some of the
Aleutian Islands. In 1742 Chirikov specified the location of the
Attu Island during the search for Bering's lost ship. In 1746 Chirikov took part in creating the final map of the Russian discoveries in the northern
Pacific Ocean.
[29] Named in honor: Chirikof Island. |
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Valery Chkalov‡ (1904–1938) military and test pilot, Hero of the Soviet Union |
Chkalov developed several new figures of
aerobatics. He was involved in a number of
Soviet ultralong flights. In 1936 Chkalov,
Georgiy Baidukov and
A.V.Belyakov on
ANT-25 flew 9,374 km from
Moscow through the
North Pole to follow-up
Chkalov Island in the
Okhotsk Sea, which took 56 h 20 min. In 1937, also on ANT-25, the same crew flew 8,504 km from Moscow through the North Pole to
Vancouver, Washington, which was the first transpolar flight between
Europe and
North America on airplane, rather than on
dirigible.
[30] Named in honor: Chkalovsk; Chkalov Island, Chkalovskaya (Moscow Metro), Chkalovskaya (Saint Petersburg Metro). |
Portrait | Person | Achievements | Image |
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Semyon Dezhnyov^ (c. 1605–1672) Siberian Cossack leader |
In 1643 Dezhnyov and
Mikhail Stadukhin discovered the
Kolyma River and founded
Srednekolymsk.
Fedot Alekseyev Popov organized a further expedition eastward, and Dezhnyov became a captain of one
koch. In 1648 they sailed from Srednekolymsk down to the
Arctic and after some time they rounded a '
great rocky projection', thus becoming the first to pass through the
Bering Strait and to discover
Chukchi Peninsula and the
Bering Sea. All their kochi and most of their men (including Popov himself) were lost in storms and clashes with the natives. A small group led by Dezhnyov reached the mouth of the
Anadyr River and sailed up it in 1649, having built new boats out of the wreckage. They founded
Anadyrsk and were stranded there, until Stadukhin found them, coming from Kolyma by land.
[31] Named in honor: Cape Dezhnyov (the easternmost cape of Eurasia). |
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Vasily Dokuchaev~ (1846–1903) geographer, geologist, pedologist |
Dokuchaev led numerous expeditions to study the
soils and geology of
European Russia. As a result of his long research of Russian soils, he founded modern
soil science, developed the conception of
biomes and proposed ways to improve soil productivity.
[2] Named in honor: Dokuchaevsk. |
Portrait | Person | Achievements | Image |
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Arvid Adolf Etholén^ (1799–1876) Russian Navy officer, colonial administrator |
Etolin sailed to
Alaska with
Vasily Golovnin on
Kamchatka and entered the service of the
Russian-American Company. He was part of a group that surveyed the
Aleutian Islands in 1822–24. In 1833 he explored the
Gulf of Alaska. Etolin was the governor of
Russian America in 1840–45, and continued to explore Alaska and the
Bering Sea.
[32] Named in honor: Etolin Island, Etolin Strait. |
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Eduard Eversmann! (1794–1860) naturalist |
In 1820 Eversmann traveled to
Bukhara disguised as a merchant and in 1825 traveled with a military expedition to
Khiva. In 1828 he became a professor of
zoology and
botany at the
University of Kazan. He wrote numerous publications and pioneered the research of the flora and fauna of the southeast steppes of Russia between the
Volga and the
Urals.
[33] Named in honor: Eversmann's redstart, Eversmann's parnassian, Eversmann's rustic and other species. |
Portrait | Person | Achievements | Image |
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Alexei Fedchenko! (1844–1873) naturalist |
In 1868 Fedchenko traveled through
Turkestan, including
Samarkand,
Panjkent and the upper
Zarafshan River valley. In 1870 he explored the Fan Mountains south of the Zarafshan. In 1871 he reached the
Alay Valley at
Daroot-Korgan and explored the northern
Pamir Mountains but was unable to penetrate southward. He perished on
Mont Blanc while engaged in an exploring tour in France.
[17]
[34] Named in honor: Fedchenko Glacier, 3195 Fedchenko (asteroid). |
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Alexander Fersman~ (1883–1945) geologist, geochemist |
Fersman founded
geochemistry, the science of the chemical composition of the
Earth. He led numerous expeditions in
Crimea,
Kola Peninsula and the
Urals. He discovered
copper and
nickel in
Monchegorsk,
apatite reserves in
Khibiny and
sulfur in
Central Asia.
[35] Named in honor: Fersman Mineralogical Museum, Fersman crater ( Moon). |
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Ivan Fyodorov^ (?–1733) Russian Navy officer |
Fyodorov, took part in the first Kamchatka expedition of Vitus Bering in 1725–30. In 1732 Fyodorov and geodesist Mikhail Gvozdev aboard the Sviatoi Gavriil (Bering's ship) sailed to Cape Dezhnyov, the easternmost point of Asia. From there they sailed east and soon discovered the Alaskan mainland near the Cape Prince of Wales, the westernmost point of North America. They charted the north-western coast of Alaska. By doing this, Fyodorov and Gvozdev completed the discovery of the Bering Strait, started by Semyon Dezhnyov and Fedot Popov and continued by Bering. Their expedition also discovered three previously unknown islands. [36] | ||
Johan Hampus Furuhjelm^ (1821–1909) Russian admiral, governor of the Russian Far East, Taganrog and Russian America (in photo with his wife Anna) |
In 1850 Furuhjelm became a commander of
Novoarkhangelsk port (now
Sitka,
Alaska) and in 1854 of
Ayan port. In 1858–64 he was the governor of
Russian America. He improved relations with natives, once using the
Columbus-like trick of an eclipse of the moon to impress the Indians. In 1865–72 Furuhjelm served as military governor of
Primorsky Krai and chief of Russian seaports on the
Pacific, where he contributed significantly to the development and exploration of the whole region.
[37] Named in honor: Mount Furuhelm, Furugelm Island. |
Portrait | Person | Achievements | Image |
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Yury Gagarin (1934–1968) Soviet Air Force pilot, cosmonaut, Hero of the Soviet Union |
On
12 April 1961, Gagarin became the first human to travel into space, launching into orbit aboard the
Vostok 3KA-3 (
Vostok 1).
[38] Named in honor: Gagarin (Russia), Gagarin ( Armenia), Gagarinsky (inhabited locality), Gagarinsky District, Gagarinskaya metro station, Gagarin crater (Moon), asteroid 1772 Gagarin, Kosmonavt Yuri Gagarin (ship), Gagarin's Start, Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, Gagarin Air Force Academy, Gagarin Cup; Cosmonautics Day aka Yuri's Night is a yearly celebration of Gagarin's flight on 12 April. |
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Yakov Gakkel‡ (1901–1965) oceanographer |
Gakkel was a director of the geography department of the
Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute. He participated in numerous
Arctic expeditions, including the ones on the icebreaker
Sibiryakov in 1932 and on
Chelyuskin in 1934. He was the first to create a
bathymetric map of the
Arctic Ocean.
[3] Named in honor: Gakkel Ridge. |
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Matvei Gedenschtrom‡ (1780–1845) public servant, scientist |
Gedenschtrom was sent to serve in Siberia for his connection with a smuggling affair at Tallinn customs. In 1809–10 together with Yakov Sannikov he led the cartographic expedition to the Arctic shores of Yakutia. They explored and named the New Siberian Islands (earlier discovered by Yakov Permyakov). This expedition established a theory about the existence of the legendary Sannikov Land somewhere northwest of Kotelny Island. Gedenschtrom discovered the presence of Siberian polynya (patches of open water at the edge of the drifting ice and continental fast ice). He charted the coastline between the Yana and Kolyma Rivers. He made numerous trips across Yakutia and the areas east of Lake Baikal. [2] | ||
Johann Gottlieb Georgi* (1729–1802) geographer, naturalist, ethnographer, physician, chemist |
Georgi accompanied both
Johan Peter Falk and
Peter Simon Pallas on their respective journeys through
European Russia and
Siberia. In 1772 he mapped
Lake Baikal and was the first to describe
omul fish, as well as other fauna and flora of the Baikal region. He amassed a large collection of minerals and in 1776–80 published the first comprehensive work on the ethnography of the
indigenous peoples of Russia.
[39] Named in honor: Georgia flower. |
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Johann Georg Gmelin* (1709–1755) naturalist, botanist, geographer |
In 1733–43 Gmelin participated in the
Great Northern Expedition and made a number of journeys through
Siberia, covering more than 34,000 km in total. He discovered that the
Caspian Sea lies below sea level. He published two major works about his travels in Russia and the flora of Siberia, and described more than 500 previously unknown plants.
[40] Named in honor: Gmelina and Larix gmelinii plant genera. |
||
Vasily Golovnin^ (1776–1831) Russian admiral, circumnavigator |
Golovnin made two
circumnavigations on the sloop Diana (1807–09) and the frigate
Kamchatka (1817–19). In 1811 he described and mapped part of the
Kuril Islands. At that time he was taken prisoner for two years by the Japanese. He described his years in captivity, life in Japan, and his voyages around the world in books. Later he was the general
quartermaster of the Russian Navy and supervised the building of the first Russian
steamships. He tutored
Fyodor Litke,
Ferdinand Wrangel and other seafarers.
[41] Named in honor: Golovin, Alaska. |
||
Bronislav Gromchevsky! (1855–1926) Russian Army officer |
Gromchevsky participated in the Russian conquest of Central Asia and led reconnaissance expeditions in the surrounding regions. In 1885–86 he explored Kashgar and Tian Shan. In 1888–89 he explored the Pamirs, Kafiristan, Kashmir and northwestern Tibet and went as far as British India. He is regarded as the Russian counterpart to the British military-explorer Francis Younghusband. The two Great Game rivals famously met in 1889 when they were exploring the Hunza Valley. In 1900 Gromchevsky explored North Eastern China. [17] [42] | ||
Grigory Grum-Grshimailo! (1860–1936) zoologist, entomologist, ethnographer, geographer |
In 1884 Grum-Grshimailo started his first Pamir expedition on which he explored the Alai Mountains and reached as far as Lake Karakul. In 1885–87 he traveled extensively through Central Asia, reaching the Silk Road, Lake Chatyr-Kul and Kashgar. In 1889–90 he discovered the Ayding Lake, the second lowest land point on Earth, at 130 m below sea level. He obtained two Przewalski's horses, over 1000 bird specimens and tens of thousands of insects during his 8600 km long travels. In 1903 he explored Mongolia and Tuva and later traveled in the Far East. [3] [17] | ||
Mikhail Gvozdev^ (1700/04–after 1759) military geodesist |
Gvozdev took part in the 1st Kamchatka expedition of Vitus Bering. In 1732 together with Ivan Fedorov aboard Sviatoi Gavriil (Bering's ship) they reached Dezhnev Cape (the easternmost point of Asia), sailed east and soon discovered the Alaskan mainland near the Cape Prince of Wales (the westernmost point of North America). They charted that part of the Alaskan coast and discovered three new islands. Thus they completed the discovery of the Bering Strait, once started by Semyon Dezhnyov and Fedot Popov and continued by Bering. Subsequently, in 1741–42 Gvozdev participated in the Great Northern Expedition and mapped most of the western and southern shores of the Okhotsk Sea, and the eastern shore of Sakhalin. [43] |
Portrait | Person | Achievements | Image |
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Ludwig von Hagemeister^ (1780–1833) Russian Navy captain, colonial administrator, circumnavigator |
After taking part in the
Napoleonic Wars, in 1806–07 Hagemeister journeyed to
Alaska as captain of the
Neva (former ship of
Lisyansky). In 1808–09, he explored the shores of Alaska and the waters of the
North Pacific. In 1812–15 he supervised the building of the first
tall ships to sail on
Lake Baikal. In 1816–19 he made a circumnavigation on Kutuzov, with a stop in Alaska, where he was a governor of
Russian America in 1818–19. In 1828–29, Hagemeister made his second circumnavigation aboard Krotky. Among other islands, he surveyed the
Menshikov Atoll (Kwajalein) in the
Marshall Islands group.
[44] Named in honor: Hagemeister Island. |
Portrait | Person | Achievements | Image |
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Kurbat Ivanov* (?–1666) Siberian Cossack voevoda |
In 1642, on the basis of explorations made by Ivan Moskvitin, Ivanov made the earliest known map of the Russian Far East. In 1643 with a group of Cossacks he sailed up the Lena River from Verkholensky ostrog, having decided to check the rumors of a large body of water to the south. They crossed the Baikal Mountains by foot, descended down the Sarma River, discovered Lake Baikal and visited its Olkhon Island. Ivanov made the first chart and description of Baikal. In 1659–65 Ivanov was the next head of Anadyrsky ostrog after Semyon Dezhnyov. In 1660 he sailed from Anadyr Bay to Cape Dezhnyov. He is credited with the creation of the early map of Chukotka and the Bering Strait, which was the first to show on paper (schematically) the yet undiscovered Wrangel Island, both Diomede Islands and Alaska. [45] [46] | ||
Gerasim Izmailov^ (c. 1745–after 1795) Russian Navy officer |
In 1771 Izmailov was caught up in the Benevsky mutiny while serving on Kamchatka. After an attempt to break away from the mutineers he was marooned on Simushir, an uninhabited isle in the Kurils. For a year he lived like Robinson Crusoe before being rescued, tried on charges of mutiny and cleared. From 1775 he created the first detailed map of the Aleutian Islands. In 1778 he met with Captain James Cook in Unalaska. In 1783–85 Izmaylov and Grigory Shelikhov founded the first permanent Russian settlement in North America on Kodiak Island. In 1789 Izmaylov became the first to explore and map the Kenai Peninsula. Later he helped Alexander Andreyevich Baranov to fight off the Tlingit natives and saved the lost crew of a Russian ship from Saint Paul Island, Alaska. [47] |
Portrait | Person | Achievements | Image |
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Wilhelm Junker† (1840–1892) physician, ethnographer |
Born into the rich family of a Moscow banker, Junker traveled a lot. He carried out a major exploration of Eastern and Equatorial Africa in 1875–86, with Khartoum and then Lado as bases for his expeditions. He researched African peoples, including the Zande people from Niam-Niam, and collected plant and animal specimens. He explored the Congo-Nile Divide, where he established the identity of the Uele and Ubangi rivers. The Mahdist uprising prevented his return to Europe through the Sudan, and in 1884–86 he went south, traveled through Uganda and Tabora, reached Zanzibar and finally returned to St. Petersburg. [17] |
Portrait | Person | Achievements | Image |
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Otto Kalvitsa‡ (1888–1930) aviator, polar explorer |
Finnish-born aviator who is one of the pioneers of the Soviet
Arctic aviation. He explored the waters of
Matochkin Strait between the
Severny and
Yuzhny Islands of
Novaya Zemlya in order to survey ship routes for the
Northeast passage. Kalvitsa also participated
Georgy Ushakov's expedition to the
Wrangel Island.
[48] Named in honor: Kalvitsa. |
||
Yerofey Khabarov* (1603–after 1671) Siberian Cossack leader |
A manager for the merchants
Stroganovs, Khabarov went to Siberia and in 1641 founded
saltworks on the
Lena River. In 1649–50 he became the second Russian to explore the
Amur river (after
Vassili Poyarkov). Through the
Olyokma,
Tungur and
Shilka Rivers he reached Amur (
Dauria), returned to
Yakutsk and then back to Amur with a larger force, where he engaged in the
Russian-Manchu border conflicts. He built winter quarters at
Albazin, then sailed down the Amur and found Achansk, which preceded the present-day
Khabarovsk, defeating or evading large armies of Daurian
Manchu
Chinese and
Koreans on his way. He charted the Amur in his Draft of the Amur river.
[49] Named in honor: Khabarovsk. |
||
Maria Klenova§ (1898–1976) marine geologist |
Klenova was one of the founders of marine geology. She began her career in 1925 aboard the Soviet research vessel Persey in the Barents Sea, visiting Novaya Zemlya, Spitsbergen and Franz Josef Land. In 1933 Klenova made the first complete seabed map of the Barents Sea. Her later work included the research of seabed geology in the Atlantic and the Antarctic, and in the Caspian and White Seas. She was one of the earliest women explorers of the Antarctic. [50] | ||
Aleksandr Kolchak^ (1874–1920) Russian admiral, hero of the Russo-Japanese War, World War I, Russian Civil War, one of the leaders of the White movement |
Kolchak joined the expedition of
Eduard Toll on the ship
Zarya in 1900 as a hydrologist. He took part in two further
Arctic expeditions and explored the shores of
Taymyr Peninsula. He was nicknamed "Kolchak the Polar". He published a number of important works on
Arctic ice.
[51] Named in honor: Kolchak Island. |
||
Nikolai Kolomeitsev^ (1867–1944) Russian admiral, hero of the Russo-Japanese War |
After several expeditions in the
Arctic, Kolomeitsev became a commander of
Eduard Toll's ship
Zarya during the Russian Polar Expedition in 1900. They aimed to explore the area north of the
New Siberian Islands and to find
Sannikov Land. There was a disagreement between Kolomeitsev and Toll over the treatment of the crew, and finally
Fyodor Matisen was made captain, while Kolomeitsev was sent with
Stepan Rastorguyev to organize coal depots and carry the post to the mainland. They made a number of discoveries on the 800 km long sledge trip over
Taymyr Peninsula.
[52] Named in honor: Kolomeitsev Islands. |
||
Fyodor Konyukhov§ (born 1951) yacht captain, traveler, painter, writer, Orthodox priest |
Konyukhov made more than 40 unique trips and climbs expressing his vision of the world in more than 3000 paintings and 9 books. He set a record for crossing the Atlantic on a single row-boat in 46 days. He also crossed 800 km in a record 15 days and 22 hours during a Trans- Greenland dog sleigh ride. He was the first Russian to complete the Three Poles Challenge and Explorers Grand Slam. He is the first and so far the only person in the world to have reached the five extreme Poles of the planet: North Pole (3 times), South Pole, the Pole of inaccessibility in the Arctic Ocean, Mount Everest ( Alpinists pole) and Cape Horn ( Yachtsmen pole). He set a record for the solo yacht circumnavigation of Antarctica in 2008 (102 days). [53] [54] | ||
Nikolai Korzhenevskiy! (1879–1958) Russian Army officer, geographer, glaciologist |
In 1903–28 Korzhenevskiy organized 11 expeditions to explore the Pamir Mountains. He discovered a number of glaciers and the highest peaks in the Pamirs, including Peak Korzhenevskaya which he named after his wife Evgeniya. He discovered and named Academy of Sciences Range (in honor of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR) and made a catalogue of all the glaciers in Central Asia, having discovered 70 of them himself. [3] | ||
Otto von Kotzebue^ (1787–1846) Russian Navy captain, circumnavigator |
Kotzebue accompanied
Ivan Krusenstern on the
first Russian circumnavigation in 1803–06. On the brig
Rurik he led another Russian circumnavigation in 1815–18. He discovered the Romanzov Islands, Rurik Islands and
Krusenstern Islands in the
Pacific, then moved towards
Alaska and discovered and named
Kotzebue Sound and
Cape Krusenstern. Returning south he discovered the
New Year Island. In 1823–26 he made another world cruise on the sloop "Enterprise" making more discoveries.
[17] Named in honor: Kotzebue Sound, Kotzebue, Alaska. |
||
Pyotr Kozlov! (1863–1935) Russian Army officer |
Kozlov started traveling in Central Asia with Nikolai Przhevalsky, and after the death of his mentor he continued his work. From 1899 to 1901 he explored the upper reaches of the Yellow River, Yangtze, and Mekong rivers. He rivaled Sven Hedin and Aurel Stein as the foremost researcher of Xinjiang at the historical peak of the Great Game. In 1907 he visited the Dalai Lama in Urga. In 1907–09, Kozlov explored the Gobi Desert and discovered the remains of the ancient Tangut city of Khara-Khoto. He excavated the site and uncovered no less than 2,000 books in the Tangut language. In 1923–26 he explored Mongolia and Tibet and discovered an unprecedented number of Xiongnu royal burials at Noin-Ula. [55] | ||
Stepan Krasheninnikov* (1711–1755) naturalist, geographer |
Krashennikov was a classmate of
Mikhail Lomonosov. Krashennikov traveled in
Siberia in 1733–36 and then on Kamchatka Peninsula in 1737–41, during the
Second Kamchatka Expedition. He gave the first full description of
Kamchatka in his book An Account of the Land of Kamchatka, with detailed reports of the plants and animals of the region, and also the language and culture of the indigenous
Itelmen and
Koryaks.
[56] Named in honor: Krascheninnikovia and other species. |
||
Pyotr Krenitsyn^ (1728–1770) Russian Navy captain |
In 1766–70 Krenitsyn led the "secret" expedition to the
North Pacific together with
Mikhail Levashov, as ordered by
Catherine the Great. They explored the
Aleutian Islands and part of the
Alaskan shore, discovering good haven in
Unalaska and many features of the Alaskan coast. Krenitsyn died by drowning in the
Kamchatka River. On the basis of his explorations the first general map of the
Aleutian Islands was created.
[2] Named in honor: Krenitzin Islands. |
||
Sergei Krikalyov$ (born 1958) cosmonaut and mechanical engineer, Hero of the Soviet Union, Hero of Russia |
Krikalyov spent a record 803 days 9 hours and 39 minutes in space during his six spaceflights. As a Soviet cosmonaut he traveled into space and back aboard Soyuz TM-7 in 1988 and then launched aboard Soyuz TM-12 in 1991, both times working on the Soviet space station Mir. "The last Citizen of the USSR", Krikalev landed back on Earth aboard Soyuz TM-13 in 1992 to turn into a Russian cosmonaut. He became the first Russian to travel on an American Space Shuttle during the STS-60 mission to Mir in 1994, and then he made another Shuttle flight STS-88, which was the first Shuttle mission to the International Space Station. He again traveled to ISS on Soyuz TM-31 in 2000 and returned on STS-102 in 2001. Again he traveled to ISS and back on Soyuz TMA-6 in 2005. [57] | ||
Pyotr Kropotkin* (1842–1921) Russian Army officer, geographer, zoologist, anarchist revolutionary |
While serving in
Siberia, in 1864 Kropotkin led a survey expedition crossing North
Manchuria from
Transbaikalia to the
Amur River. Subsequently, he took part in the expedition which proceeded up the
Sungari River into central Manchuria, yielding valuable geographic results. In 1871 he explored the glacial deposits of
Finland and Sweden. He published several important works on the geography of Asia.
[58] Named in honor: Kropotkin, Krasnodar Krai, Kropotkinskaya ( Moscow Metro). |
||
Adam Johann von Krusenstern^ (1770–1846) Russian admiral, circumnavigator, geographer |
In 1803–06, under the patronage of
Alexander I of Russia and
Nikolai Rumyantsev, Krusenstern led the
first Russian circumnavigation of the world aboard the
Nadezhda together with
Yuri Lisianski on
Neva. The purpose of the expedition was to establish trade with China and Japan, and examine
California for a possible colony. They sailed from
Kronshtadt, rounded
Cape Horn, and reached the northern
Pacific, making a number of discoveries. Krusenstern made an atlas of the Pacific, receiving an honorary membership in the
Russian Academy of Sciences for the work.
[3] Named in honor: Krusenstern Islands, Cape Krusenstern, Kruzenshtern (ship), Krusenstern (crater). |
||
Alexander Kuchin‡ (1888–1913?) Russian Navy captain, oceanographer |
Kuchin's life was bound with Norway: he started as a seaman on a Norwegian ship, created a Small Russian-Norwegian dictionary, studied oceanography from Bjorn Helland-Hansen, conducted oceanographic studies during Amundsen's South Pole Expedition on the Fram, when he became the first Russian to set foot on the land of Antarctica, and married Aslaug Poulson, a Norwegian. In 1912–13 he was the captain of Vladimir Rusanov's expedition to Svalbard on their ship Hercules. After the successful research of the coal reserves on Svalbard, without consultation with the Russian authorities they made an incredibly rash attempt to pass via the Northern Sea Route, and were lost in the Kara Sea. Relics of the Herkules were found near the Kolosovykh Islands. [59] |
Portrait | Person | Achievements | Image |
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Georg von Langsdorff† (1774–1852) physician, naturalist, consul general of Russia in Rio de Janeiro |
Langsdorf participated as a naturalist and physician in the first Russian circumnavigation in 1803–05. Independently, he explored the Aleutians, Sitka and Kodiak Islands in 1805–07. In 1813 he became consul general of Russia in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. There he explored the flora, fauna and geography of the province of Minas Gerais with French naturalist Augustin Saint-Hilaire in 1813–20. In 1821–22 he led an exploratory and scientific expedition from São Paulo to Pará in the Amazon Rainforest via a fluvial route, accompanied by an international team of scientists. In 1826–29 he led a 6000 km long expedition from Porto Feliz to the Amazon River and back emassing huge scientific collections now deposited in Kunstkamera. [60] | ||
Dmitry Laptev‡ (1701–1771) Russian admiral ( Malygin, Ovtsyn, Chelyuskin, Kh.Laptev and D.Laptev on a commemorative coin) |
A cousin of Khariton Laptev, Dmitry Laptev led one of the parties of the
Great Northern Expedition in 1739–42. He described the sea coastline from the mouth of the
Lena River to the Cape Bolshoy Baranov east of the mouth of the
Kolyma River, the basin and the mouth of the
Anadyr River, and the land route from the Anadyr fortress to the
Penzhin Bay. In 1741–42, Laptev surveyed the
Bolshoy Anyuy River.
[61] Named in honor: Laptev Sea. |
||
Khariton Laptev‡ (1700–1763) Russian Navy officer ( Malygin, Ovtsyn, Chelyuskin, Kh.Laptev and D.Laptev on a commemorative coin) |
A cousin of Dmitry Laptev, Khariton Laptev led one of the parties of the
Great Northern Expedition in 1739–42. Together with
Semion Chelyuskin, N. Chekin, and G. Medvedev, Laptev described the
Taimyr Peninsula from the mouth of the
Khatanga River to the mouth of the
Pyasina river and discovered several islands. He participated in the creation of the "General Map of the
Siberian and
Kamchatka Coast".
[61] Named in honor: Laptev Sea. |
||
Adam Laxman^ (1766–1806?) Russian Army officer, diplomat |
Son of Kirill Laxman, Adam Laxman led a diplomatic mission to Japan in 1791–92, with the aim to return Daikokuya Kōdayū and another Japanese castaway in exchange for trade concessions from Tokugawa shogunate. He made valuable observations, but returned to Russia essentially empty-handed, though he possibly obtained the first official Japanese documents granting very limited permission to trade, to a nation other than China or the Netherlands. [62] | ||
Kirill Laxman* (1737–1796) clergyman, naturalist |
Kirill Laxman became a priest first in St. Petersburg and then in the Siberian town of Barnaul. In 1764–68 he explored Siberia, reaching Irkutsk, Baikal, Kiakhta and the border with China and researching the Siberian flora and fauna. In 1782 he founded the oldest museum in Siberia in Irkutsk, where he had settled earlier and was a business partner of Alexander Baranov (the future governor of Russian America). Laxman was engaged in attempts to establish relationships between Russia and Japan. He brought Daikokuya Kōdayū, a Japanese castaway, to the court of empress Catherine the Great. [3] | ||
Mikhail Lazarev§ (1788–1851) admiral, circumnavigator, hero of the Battle of Navarino, commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, tutor of admirals and war heroes Nakhimov, V. Kornilov and V. Istomin |
Lazarev thrice circumnavigated the globe. He led the 1813–16
circumnavigation aboard the vessel
Suvorov and discovered
Suvorov Atoll. He commanded
Mirny, the second ship in the Russian circumnavigation of 1819–21 under the leadership of
Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen aboard
Vostok – this expedition was the first to discover the continent of
Antarctica on January 28, 1820 (
New Style). They also discovered and named
Peter I Island,
Zavodovski,
Leskov and
Visokoi Islands, the
Antarctic peninsula mainland and
Alexander Island (Alexander Coast), and made some discoveries in the tropical waters of the
Pacific. In 1822–25 Lazarev sailed around the globe for the third time on his frigate Kreyser. Named in honor: Lazarev Bay, Lazarev atoll, Lazarevskoye (settlement), Novolazarevskaya Station, Lazarev Mountains, Lazarev Ice Shelf, Lazarev Trough, 3660 Lazarev (minor planet). |
||
Alexei Leonov (1934–2019) cosmonaut and Soviet Air Force general, twice a Hero of the Soviet Union, painter, writer |
On March 18, 1965, connected to the spacecraft
Voskhod 2 by a 5.35 meter tether, Leonov became the first person to make a spacewalk, or
extra-vehicular activity. He was in open space for 12 min 9 sec. At the end of the spacewalk, Leonov's
spacesuit had inflated in the vacuum to the point where he could not reenter the airlock. He opened a valve to allow some of the suit's pressure to bleed off, and was barely able to get back inside the capsule, where his companion
Pavel Belyayev assisted him. Subsequently, Leonov made a second spaceflight on the
Soyuz 19, a part of the
Apollo–Soyuz Test Project in 1975. Thus Leonov participated in the first joint flight of the U.S. and Soviet
space programs. He published several books and albums of paintings, some of which he created in space.
[63] Named in honor: a fictional spaceship in Arthur C. Clarke's book 2010: Odyssey Two, which was dedicated to Leonov. |
||
Mikhail Levashov^ (c. 1738–1774/76) Russian Navy officer |
In 1766–70 Levashov was second-in-command in the "secret" expedition to the North Pacific led by Pyotr Krenitsyn, as ordered by Catherine the Great. They explored the Aleutian Islands and part of the Alaskan shore, discovering good haven in Unalaska and many features of the Alaskan coast. Levashov also explored and described the Commander Islands. On the basis of their explorations the first general map of the Aleutian Islands was created. [64] | ||
Yuri Lisyansky^ (1773–1837) Russian Navy officer, circumnavigator |
In 1803–06 Lisyansky, aboard the
Neva, together with
Ivan Krusenstern on the
Nadezhda, led the
first Russian circumnavigation of the world. The purpose of the expedition was to establish trade with China and Japan and to examine
California for a possible colony. The ships split near
Hawaii and Lisyanski headed to
Russian Alaska, where the Neva became essential in defeating the
Tlingit in the
Battle of Sitka. Lisyansky was the first to describe the
Hawaiian monk seal on the island which now bears his name. He met Krusenstern again in
Macau, but they soon separated. Eventually, Lisyansky was the first to return to
Kronstadt.
[65] Named in honor: Lisianski Island. |
||
Friedrich von Lütke^ (1797–1882) Russian admiral, circumnavigator |
Litke took part in
Vasily Golovnin's
world cruise on the ship
Kamchatka in 1817–19. In 1821–24, Litke explored the coastline of
Novaya Zemlya, the
White Sea, and the eastern
Barents Sea. In 1826–29, he led the circumnavigation on the ship
Senyavin and accompanied Mikhail Staniukovich on the sloop Moller. During this voyage they explored the
Bering Sea (including the
Pribilof Islands,
St. Matthew Island and the
Commander Islands), the
Bonin Islands off Japan, and the
Carolines, discovering 12 new islands. Litke was a co-founder and the president of the
Russian Geographic Society in 1845–50 and 1857–72. He was the president of the
Russian Academy of Sciences in 1864–82, and occupied a number of major military and state offices.
[66] Named in honor: Cape Lutke, Alaska, Litke Strait, Icebreaker Feodor Litke. |
||
Fyodor Luzhin* (?–1727) cartographer, geodesist |
In 1719–1721, together with
Ivan Yevreinov, Luzhin made the first instrumental mapping of
Kamchatka and the first map of the
Kuril Islands during the "secret expedition", as ordered by
Peter the Great. In 1723–24 he made surveys of different parts of
East Siberia near
Irkutsk. In 1725–27, Luzhin participated in the first Kamchatka Expedition led by
Vitus Bering.
[67] Named in honor: Luzhin Strait. |
||
Ivan Lyakhov‡ (?–c. 1800) merchant |
Lyakhov, a merchant, investigated the
New Siberian Islands in three expeditions on
dogsleds in 1770, 1773–74 and 1775. He hoped to find
mammoth ivory there as he believed the islands were mainly formed by a substratum of bones and tusks of mammoths. He explored the follow-up
Lyakhovsky Islands, crossed the
Sannikov Strait and discovered
Kotelny Island.
[68] Named in honor: Lyakhovsky Islands. |
||
Vladimir Lysenko† (born 1955) traveler, scientist, circumnavigator |
Dr. Vladimir Lysenko had three globe circumnavigations: (1) in a car (1997–2002), crossed 62 countries; (2) on a bicycle, crossed 29 countries; (3) along the equator, from west to east, deviating no more than two degrees of latitude from the Equator – starting in Libreville (Gabon), Vladimir had successfully crossed (in a car, a motor boat, a yacht, a ship, a kayak, a bicycle, and by foot) Africa, Indian Ocean, Indonesia, Pacific Ocean, South America and Atlantic Ocean with finish in Libreville in 2012. He also completed project titled "From Earth's Bowels to Stratosphere". Vladimir rafted on rivers in 63 countries. He visited all 195 UN member and observer states. [69] [70] |
Portrait | Person | Achievements | Image |
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Stepan Makarov‡ (1849–1904) Russian admiral, oceanographer, naval engineer and inventor, hero of the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) and Russo-Japanese War, commander of the Russian Pacific Fleet |
Makarov built and captained the world's first
torpedo boat tender
Velikiy Knyaz Konstantin. He was the first in the world to successfully launch torpedoes (against the
Turkish armed ship Intibah in 1877). He was one of the developers of the Russian
Flag semaphore system and
insubmersibility theory. Makarov directed two round-the-world oceanographic expeditions on the
corvette Vityaz in 1886–89 and in 1894–96. He built and commanded
Yermak, the world's first true
icebreaker, which was able to ride over and crash
pack ice. Yermak was tested in two
Arctic expeditions in 1899 and in 1901. Admiral Makarov was killed in action during the 1904–05 war with Japan after his battleship
Petropavlovsk struck a
naval mine.
[71] Named in honor: Makarov (town), Admiral Makarov State Maritime Academy, Admiral Makarov National University of Shipbuilding, Russian cruiser Admiral Makarov (1906), Icebreaker Admiral Makarov. |
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Stepan Malygin‡ (?–1764) Russian Navy captain, navigator, cartographer (Malygin, Ovtsyn, Chelyuskin, Kh. Laptev and D. Laptev on a commemorative coin) |
Malygin was the first to write a manual on
navigation in the
Russian language in 1733. In early 1736, he was appointed leader of the western unit of the
Great Northern Expedition. In 1736–37, two boats Perviy (First) and Vtoroy (Second) under the command of Malygin and A. Skuratov undertook a voyage from the
Dolgiy Island in the
Barents Sea to the mouth of the
Ob River. During this trip, Malygin for the first time described and mapped the part of the
Russian Arctic coastline between the
Pechora and
Ob Rivers.
[72] Named in honor: Malygin Strait, Icebreaker Malygin (1912). |
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Fyodor Matisen‡ (1872–1921) Russian Navy officer, hydrographer |
Matisen replaced Nikolai Kolomeitsev as commander of Eduard Toll's Zarya during the Russian Polar Expedition in 1900–03. He was the first to make a thorough geographical survey of the Nordenskiöld Archipelago, exploring it on dogsled and discovering and naming 40 of its islands. Subsequently, Toll and Matisen led Zarya across the Laptev Sea to the New Siberian Islands. The ship was trapped in fast ice, and Toll and three companions went in search of the elusive Sannikov Land on foot and kayaks, and were lost. When Zarya became able to set sail, Matisen made for the Lena River delta. [52] | ||
Fyodor Matyushkin‡ (1799–1872) Russian admiral, circumnavigator |
Matyushkin studied in Tsarskoselsky College together with Alexander Pushkin. He participated in Vassili Golovnin's world cruise aboard the Kamchatka in 1817–19. In 1820–24 he took part in Ferdinand Wrangel's Arctic expedition to the East Siberian Sea and the Chukchi Sea. They explored and mapped the Medvyezhi Islands. Following this survey, Matyushkin on his own explored a vast tundra area east of the Kolyma River. In 1825–27, he joined Wrangel in his world cruise aboard Krotky. [2] | ||
Alexander Middendorf* (1815–1894) zoologist, botanist, geographer, hippologist. agriculturalist |
In 1840 Middendorf took part in
Karl Baer's expedition to the
Kola Peninsula and
Lapland. In 1843–45 he pioneered the scientific exploration of the
Taimyr Peninsula and discovered the
Putorana Plateau on
Central Siberian Plateau. Then he traveled along the coast of the
Sea of Okhotsk and entered the lower
Amur River valley. He studied the ethnography of Siberian peoples, and the climate, animals and plants of Siberia. He was a founder of
permafrost science and the Vice President of the
Russian Geographical Society. He determined the southern border of the
permafrost and explained the high
sinuosity of the northern boundary of the
taiga zone. In 1870 he accompanied
Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich to
Novaya Zemlya and discovered the
North Cape sea current (a part of the
Norwegian Current). In 1870 he also explored the
Baraba steppe, and in 1878 he travelled in
Fergana Valley.
[73] Named in honor: Middendorff Bay, Middendorff's grasshopper warbler. |
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Nicholas Miklouho-Maclay† (1846–1888) ethnologist, anthropologist, biologist |
Miklouho-Maclay visited north-eastern
New Guinea, the
Philippines,
Indonesia and
Melanesia on a number of occasions starting in 1870, and for a long time he lived amongst the native
Oceanian tribes, studying their way of life and customs. One of the earliest followers of
Charles Darwin, he was among the first to refute the then prevailing view that the different '
races' of mankind belonged to different species. He arrived in
Sydney in 1878 and organised a zoological centre known as the Marine Biological Station, the first marine biological research institute in Australia. He married a daughter of the
Premier of New South Wales,
John Robertson, and returned to Russia. Being in poor health after the trip he died, and left his skull to the St. Petersburg Military and Medical Academy.
[74] Named in honor: Macleay Museum, N. N. Miklukho-Maklai Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology. |
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Nicolae Milescu* (1636–1708) writer, scientist, traveler, geographer, diplomat |
In 1671 Milescu went from Moldavia to Russia, where he became a diplomat. He wrote the first arithmetics textbook in the Russian language, Arithmologion. He led the Russian diplomatic mission to China in 1675–78, for the first time among Russian ambassadors travelling to Beijing through East Siberia rather than through Mongolia. After his assistant Ignatiy Milovanov (sent beforehand) Milescu was the first known European to cross the Amur River from the north and reach Beijing by that route. Milescu made the first detailed description of Lake Baikal and all the rivers feeding the lake, and he was the first to point out Baikal's unfathomable depth. His travel notes also contain valuable descriptions of major Siberian rivers and the first ever orographic scheme of East Siberia. [75] | ||
Fyodor Minin‡ (c. 1709–after 1742) Russian Navy officer |
In the 1730s, Minin participated in the
Great Northern Expedition. In 1736, he joined the unit led by
Dmitry Ovtsyn. In 1738 together with Dmitry Sterlegov he led the group that charted the
Arctic coastline east of the
Yenisei river for some 250 km. In 1738–42, Minin made several vain attempts to sail around the
Taimyr Peninsula. He also mapped and described
Dikson Island.
[76] Named in honor: Minina Skerries. |
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Ivan Moskvitin* (?–after 1645) Siberian Cossack leader |
Moskvitin came with ataman Dmitry Kopylov from Tomsk to Yakutsk and then to a new fort on the Aldan River in 1638. In 1639 Kopylov sent Moskvitin in command of 20 Tomsk Cossacks and 29 Krasnoyarsk Cossacks to look for silver ore to the east. Leading the party, Moskvitin became the first Russian to reach the Pacific Ocean and to discover the Sea of Okhotsk, building a winter camp on its shore at the Ulya River mouth. In 1640 the Cossacks apparently sailed south, explored the south-eastern shores of the Okhotsk Sea and probably reached the mouth of the Amur River. On their way back they discovered the Shantar Islands. Based on Moskvitin's account, Kurbat Ivanov draw the first Russian map of the Far East in 1642. Moskvitin, presumably a native of Moscow, personally brought the news of the discovery of the eastern ocean to his native city. [77] | ||
Gerhard Friedrich Müller* (1705–1783) historian, ethnologist |
Müller came to St. Petersburg in 1725 and became a co-founder of the Russian Academy of Sciences. In 1733–43 he participated in the Academic Squad of the Great Northern Expedition and traveled extensively through Siberia, studying its geography and peoples. Müller is considered to be one of the fathers of ethnography. He collected vernacular stories and archival documents about Russian explorers of Siberia, including Pyanda, Fedot Popov and Semyon Dezhnyov. He was among the first to write a general account of Russian history based on extensive study of documentary sources. He put forth the Normanist theory, a controversial accentuation of the role of Scandinavians and Germans in the history of Russia. [78] | ||
Nikolay Muravyov-Amursky* (1809–1881) Russian Army general, statesman, diplomat |
In 1847 Muravyov became the governor general of
Eastern Siberia. He pursued the Russian exploration and settlement of the territories north of the
Amur River. He assisted in the organisation of
Gennady Nevelskoy's expeditions, which led to the Russian presence near Amur estuary and on
Sakhalin. In 1854 military troops sailed down the Amur, in 1855 the first settlers reached the river mouth, and in 1856 the city of
Blagoveshchensk was founded. In 1858, Muravyov concluded the
Treaty of Aigun with China, which recognised the Amur River as a border between the two countries and granted Russia easier access to the
Pacific Ocean. The new territories acquired by Russia included
Priamurye and most of the territories of modern
Primorsky and
Khabarovsk Krais. For this achievement Muravyov was granted the title of Count Amursky. The Treaty of Aigun was confirmed and expanded the
Convention of Peking of 1860, which granted Russia the right to the
Ussuri krai and the south of Primorsky Krai. To defend the new lands Muravyov created the
Amur Cossacks corps.
[79]
[80] Named in honor: Muravyov-Amursky Peninsula. |
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Ivan Mushketov! (1850–1902) geologist, geographer |
In 1873–79 Mushketov traveled extensively in Central Asia, discovering and cataloguing mineral deposits. He produced the first geological map of Turkestan (together with S. Romanovsky). Mushketov also started observations of earthquakes in Kazakhstan, organized regular observation of the glaciers of the Caucasus, and researched the gold mines of the Urals. He led the team that surveyed the territory for the future Circum-Baikal Railway. [81] |
Portrait | Person | Achievements | Image |
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Ivan Nagurski‡ (1888–1976) engineer, Russian Navy officer, pioneer of aviation, hero of the First World War and Russian Civil War |
Nagurski was among the first pilots of the
Russian Navy. In 1914 he was tasked with the difficult mission of locating the expeditions of
Georgy Sedov,
Georgy Brusilov, and
Vladimir Rusanov all lost in the Russian Arctic. He flew five missions, spending more than ten hours in the air and travelling more than a thousand kilometers over land and the
Barents Sea reaching as far as the
76th parallel north. He did not find the expeditions, but became the first polar aviator in history. Later he performed the first ever loop with a
flying boat.
[82] Named in honor: Nagurskoye airfield. |
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Gennady Nevelskoy* (1813–1876) Russian admiral |
In 1848 Nevelskoy led the expedition in the
Russian Far East, exploring the area of
Sakhalin and the
Amur Liman (which he found possible to sail through on
tall ships). He proved that the
Tatar Strait was not a gulf, but indeed a strait, connected to the
Amur River's estuary by a narrow section later called
Nevelskoy Strait. Not knowing about the efforts of Japanese navigator
Mamiya Rinzo who explored the same area earlier, Nevelskoy's report was taken as the first proof that Sakhalin was indeed an island. In 1850 Nevelskoy founded
Nikolayevsk-on-Amur, the first Russian settlement in the lower Amur region. He also founded several military posts on
Sakhalin.
[83] Named in honor: Nevelskoy Strait, Nevelsk. |
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Afanasy Nikitin† (?–1472) merchant, writer |
In 1466, Nikitin left his hometown of Tver on a commercial trip to India. He traveled down the Volga River, reached Derbent, then Baku and later Persian Empire by crossing the Caspian Sea, where he lived for a year. In 1469 Nikitin arrived in Ormus and then, crossing the Arabian Sea, reached the sultanate of Bahmani, where he lived for 3 years. On his way back, Nikitin visited the African continent ( Somalia), Muscat, Trabzon and in 1472 arrived at Feodosiya by crossing the Black Sea. Thus Nikitin became one of the first Europeans to travel to and to document his visit to India. He described his trip in a narrative known as A Journey Beyond the Three Seas, which is a valuable study of the 15th-century India, its social system, government, military (Nikitin witnessed war-games featuring war elephants), its economy, religion and lifestyles. [84] |
Portrait | Person | Achievements | Image |
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Vladimir Obruchev* (1863–1956) geologist, geographer, science fiction author |
Having graduated from the
Petersburg Mining Institute in 1886, Obruchev went to
Siberia. He studied gold-mining and assisted in constructing the
Trans-Siberian and
Central Asian Railways. In Central Asia he explored the
Kara Kum Desert, the shores of the
Amu Darya River, and the old riverbeds of the
Uzbois. In 1892–94 Obruchev took part in
Grigory Potanin's expedition to
Mongolia and
North China. He explored the
Transbaikal area,
Dzhungaria and the
Altai Mountains. Having spent half a century in exploring Siberia and Inner Asia, Obruchev summarized his findings in the extensive work The Geology of Siberia. He studied the origins of
loess, the ice formation and
permafrost, and the
tectonics of Siberia. All together, he authored over a thousand scientific works. Obruchev is also known as the author of two popular science fiction novels,
Plutonia (1915) and
Sannikov Land (1924). These stories, imitating the pattern of
Arthur Conan Doyle's
The Lost World, depict in vivid detail the discovery of an isolated world of prehistoric animals in hitherto unexplored large islands in the Arctic.
[85] Named in honor: Obruchev Hills, Obruchev crater (Moon), 3128 Obruchev (asteroid), Obruchevsky District. |
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Dmitry Ovtsyn‡ (?–after 1757) Russian Navy officer, hydrographer |
In 1737–38 Ovtsyn led one of the units of the Great Northern Expedition that charted the coastline of the Kara Sea east of the Ob River, making the first hydrographic description of the large Gydan Peninsula and part of the Taymyr Peninsula. In 1741–42 Ovtsyn took part in Vitus Bering's voyage to the shores of North America. [86] |
Portrait | Person | Achievements | Image |
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Pyotr Pakhtusov‡ (1800–1835) Russian Navy officer, hydrographer (a monument in Kronstadt) |
A participant of the earlier explorations by Fyodor Litke, Pakhtusov led two expeditions to Novaya Zemlya in 1832 and 1835. He twice wintered on the islands and took detailed meteorological observations. Together with fellow explorer and cartographer Avgust Tsivolko, Pakhtusov made the first reliable maps of Novaya Zemlya's southern shores. [87] | ||
Peter Simon Pallas~ (1741–1811) naturalist, zoologist, botanist, geographer |
Born in
Berlin, Pallas was invited by
Catherine the Great to become a professor at the
St Petersburg Academy of Sciences. In 1768–74, he led an academic expedition to the
Central Russia,
Povolzhye, the
Caspian Sea, the
Urals, and
Siberia, reaching as far east as
Transbaikal. Pallas sent regular reports to St. Petersburg covering the topics of geology, native peoples, new plants and animals. He became a favourite of Catherine II and was provided with the specimens collected by other naturalists to compile the Flora Rossica (publ. 1784–1815) and Zoographica Rosso-Asiatica (1811–31). He also published an account of
Johann Anton Güldenstädt's travels in the Caucasus and the journals of
Georg Wilhelm Steller from
Kamchatka and
Alaska. In 1793–94 Pallas led an expedition to southern Russia, visiting the
Crimea and the
Black Sea, the
Caucasus and the
Dnieper. He discovered and described a large number of new species and amassed a vast natural history collection.
[88] Named in honor: pallasite (meteorite type), Pallasovka (town), asteroid 21087 Petsimpallas, Pallas's cat, Pallas's squirrel, Pallas's gull and other species. |
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Ivan Papanin‡ (1894–1986) Soviet admiral, scientist, twice a Hero of the Soviet Union |
In 1931 Papanin took part in the expedition on icebreaker Malygin to Franz Josef Land, where in 1932–33 he was the chief of a polar expedition on the Hooker Island. In 1934–35 he was the head of a polar station on Cape Chelyuskin. In 1937–38 he was the head of the drifting ice station North Pole-1, the world's first expedition of its kind. Together with Ernst Krenkel, Yevgeny Fyodorov and Pyotr Shirshov he landed on the Arctic drifting ice-floes in an airplane flown by Mikhail Vodopyanov. For 234 days the team carried out a wide range of scientific observations in the near-polar zone, until taken back. In 1939–46 Papanin became the head of the Glavsevmorput, an establishment that oversaw operations on the Northern Sea Route. In 1940 he organized the expedition that rescued the ice-trapped icebreaker Sedov. [89] | ||
Maksim Perfilyev* (?–after 1638) Siberian Cossack leader |
In 1618–19 Perfilyev became a co-founder of Yeniseysky ostrog, the first Russian fortress on the central Yenisey River and a major standpoint for further expeditions eastward. In 1618–27 Perfilyev made several journeys on the Angara, Ilim, Lena and Vitim rivers, and built several new ostrogs. In 1631 he founded Bratsky ostrog (follow-up Bratsk). In 1638 he became the first Russian to set foot in Transbaikalia. [90] [91] | ||
Yakov Permyakov‡ (?–1712) Siberian Cossack, seafarer, merchant |
In 1710, while sailing from the Lena River to the Kolyma River, Permyakov discovered the Medvezhyi Islands, siting them from afar. In 1712, Permyakov and his companion Merkury Vagin crossed the Yana Bay from the mouth of the Yana over the ice and explored Bolshoy Lyakhovsky island, the southernmost of the New Siberian Islands, thus initiating the exploration of the archipelago. On their way back Permyakov and Vagin were murdered by mutineering expedition members. [92] | ||
Ivan Petlin! (?–after 1619) Siberian Cossack, diplomat |
Petlin was the first Russian to reach China on an official diplomatic mission in 1618–19. His expedition may have been the second European expedition to reach China from the west by an overland route (after that of Bento de Góis) since the fall of the Yuan Dynasty. Together with Andrey Mundov and 10 other men, Petlin went south up the Ob River, crossed the Abakan Range, went south to Tuva and rounding Uvs Nuur reached the court of the Altan Khan of the Khotgoid. Then they passed through Mongolia to the Great Wall of China and Beijing. He was not allowed to see the Wanli Emperor because of not bringing proper tribute. He brought back a letter in Chinese inviting Russians to open trade, but no one in Russia was able to read it until 1675. An account of Petlin's expedition was translated into English and published in Samuel Purchas's Pilgrims in 1625, and then translated into other European languages. [93] [49] | ||
Valeri Polyakov$ (born 1942) cosmonaut and physician, Hero of the Soviet Union, Hero of Russia |
Polyakov holds the world record for the longest continuous spaceflight in history, 437 days 18 hours (more than 14 months), which he spent aboard Soyuz TM-18, Mir space station and Soyuz TM-20 in 1994–95. With his earlier expedition to Mir on Soyuz TM-6 and back on Soyuz TM-7 in 1988–89, his combined space experience is more than 22 months. [94] | ||
Fedot Popov^ (?–1648/54) merchant |
An agent of Moscow merchant Alexey Usov, Fedot Popov came to Srednekolymsk in Siberia in 1645. There he organized an expedition eastward, and brought in Semyon Dezhnev. In 1648 they sailed down to the Arctic and became the first to pass through the Bering Strait and to discover Chukchi Peninsula and the Bering Sea. All their kochi and most of their men (including Popov himself) were lost in storms and clashes with the natives. A small group led by Dezhnyov reached the Anadyr River. In 1653–54, while fighting with Koryaks near Anadyrsk, Dezhnyov captured Popov's Yakut wife, who confirmed him dead. When Vladimir Atlasov came to conquer Kamchatka in 1697, he heard from the locals about a certain Fedotov, who had lived with his men near Kamchatka River and had married local women – so the Fedotov legend appeared. G. F. Müller thought Fedotov was Fedot's son, while Stepan Krasheninnikov thought he was Fedot himself, thus deeming Popov to be the possible discoverer of Kamchatka. [31] | ||
Konstantin Posyet^ (1819–1899) Russian admiral, military writer, statesman, diplomat |
In 1852–54, Posyet journeyed on the frigate Pallada to Japan under the command of admirals
Yevfimy Putyatin and
Ivan Unkovsky. Accompanied also by novelist
Ivan Goncharov and inventor
Alexander Mozhaisky, Posyet explored and mapped the northern coastline of the
Sea of Japan, including the follow-up
Possiet Bay. In 1856 he carried to Japan the news of the ratification of the
Treaty of Shimoda. Possiet's journeys and published observations made him an expert on Japan in Russia. Having become Minister of Ways and Communications, he negotiated the
Treaty of Saint Petersburg (1875) with
Enomoto Takeaki, which brought the entire
Sakhalin Island into the Russian fold. He prepared the construction of the
Trans-Siberian Railway and was a leading advocate for the restoration of the white-blue-red
flag of Russia in 1896.
[95] Named in honor: Possiet Bay, Posyet port. |
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Grigory Potanin! (1835–1920) geographer, ethnographer, botanist |
Potanin traveled extensively through
Siberia, studying its nature and peoples, once accompanied by
Nikolai Yadrintsev. In 1876 and 1879 Potanin led two expeditions into Mongolia. In 1884–86 Potanin explored Northern China and
Tibet, returning to Russia through the
Qilian Mountains and Mongolia. He encountered the
Salar people and made other ethnographic and geographic discoveries, including the first account of the East and West
Uighur languages. In 1989 Potanin became one of the founders of
Tomsk University, the first university in
Asian Russia. In 1892–93 he again explored Northern China and
Sichuan accompanied by geologist
Vladimir Obruchev. Before reaching Tibet, Potanin was forced to turn back because of the illness and death of his wife Alexandra, who was the first woman member of the
Russian Geographical Society. In 1899 Potanin travelled to
Greater Khingan.
[96] Named in honor: Potanin Glacier, 9915 Potanin (asteroid). |
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Vassili Poyarkov* (?–after 1668) Siberian Cossack ataman |
In 1643, Poyarkov was sent with 133 men from Yakutsk to explore the new lands south of Stanovoy Ridge. He reached the upper Zeya River in the country of the Daur people, who were paying tribute to the Manchu Chinese. After wintering, in 1644 Poyarkov pushed down the Zeya and became the first Russian to reach the Amur River. He descended to the Nivkh people country and discovered the mouth of the Amur River from land. Since his Cossacks provoked the enmity of the locals they passed, Poyarkov chose a different way back. They built boats and in 1645 sailed along the Sea of Okhotsk coast to the Ulia River and spent the next winter in the huts that had been built by explorer Ivan Moskvitin six years earlier. In 1646 they returned to Yakutsk. [97] | ||
Gavriil Pribylov^ (?–1796) navigator |
Pribylov, commanding the ship St. George, led an expedition funded jointly by
Grigory Shelikhov and
Pavel Lebedev-Lastochkin with an aim to find the lucrative breeding grounds of fur seals, long sought by Siberian merchants. He discovered
St. George Island in the
Bering Sea in 1786, by following the sounds of barking
northern fur seals and possibly hinted by
Aleut people. A year later in 1787, Pribylov discovered
St. Paul Island to the north of St. George.
[98] Named in honor: Pribilof Islands. |
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Vasili Pronchishchev‡ (1702–1736) Russian Navy officer ( forensic facial reconstruction) |
In 1735–36 Pronchishchev led one of the units of the Great Northern Expedition that discovered and mapped more than 500 miles of the Arctic shore to the west of the mouth of the Lena River. He took his wife Maria Pronchishcheva with him aboard the sloop Yakutsk. Despite the difficulties, they reached Taymyr Peninsula in 1736, having discovered the follow-up Faddey Islands, Komsomolskoy Pravdy Islands, Saint Peter Islands, and the east Byrranga Mountains on Taymyr. Pronchishchev and his wife died from illness on the way back and were buried at the mouth of the Olenek River [24] | ||
Maria Pronchishcheva‡ (1710–1736) first female Arctic explorer (forensic facial reconstruction) |
Maria Pronchishcheva (or Tatiana according to some sources) accompanied her husband
Vasili Pronchishchev in 1735–36, during the Great Northern Expedition, when they explored the coastline west of the mouth of the Lena River, making many discoveries. She is considered to be the first known female explorer of the
Arctic. Maria died from illness on the way back, only 14 days after the death of her husband Vasili.
[24] Named in honor: Maria Pronchishcheva Bay |
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Nikolai Przhevalsky! (1839–1888) Russian Army general, geographer, naturalist |
In 1867–69 Przhevalsky led an expedition to the basin of the
Ussuri River. Subsequently, he made four major journeys to largely unknown parts of
Central Asia, in total covering more than 40,000 km in length. In 1870–73 he crossed the
Gobi desert to
Beijing, explored the upper
Yangtze River, and crossed into Tibet, surveying over 18,000 km2 and collecting some 5,000 plant species, 1,000 birds, 3,000 insects, 70 reptiles and the skins of 130 different mammals. In 1876–77, travelling through southern
Xinjiang and the
Tian Shan range, he visited Lake
Lop Nor. In 1879–80 he traveled via
Hami City and the
Qaidam basin to Lake
Koko Nor. Passing over
Tian Shan into Tibet, he was 260 km from
Lhasa before being turned back by Tibetan officials. In 1883–85 Przhevalsky traveled across Gobi to
Alashan and Tian Shan, then back to Koko Nor, and westwards to Lake
Issyk Kul. His journeys opened a new era for the study of the geography, fauna and flora of Central Asia. He was the first to report on the wild population of
Bactrian camels, to describe the
Przewalski's gazelle and the
Przewalski's horse (the only extant
wild horse).
[80]
[99] Named in honor: Przewalski's gazelle, Przewalski's horse, Przhevalsk ( Kyrgyzstan), Przhevalskoye. |
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Yevfimy Putyatin^ (1803–1883) Russian admiral, diplomat |
In 1822–25 Putyatin sailed with Mikhail Lazarev around the world aboard the Suvorov. Later he led diplomatic missions to Iran and the Caucasus. Together with Admiral Ivan Unkovsky he led a scientific round-the-world expedition on the frigate Pallada to Japan in 1852–55. This expedition contributed many important discoveries in oceanography. One of the results achieved was the Treaty of Shimoda with Japan. In 1857–58 Putyatin twice traveled to both Japan and China and explored Peter the Great Gulf, Russky Island, the Eastern Bosphorus and other features of the Russian shores of the Sea of Japan. [2] [100] | ||
Demid Pyanda* (?–after 1637) Siberian Cossack ataman |
Coming from Mangazeya, Demid Pyanda was a hunter for Siberian furs. Starting his long journey from Turukhansk, in three and a half years from 1620 to 1624 Pyanda passed a total of 8000 km of hitherto unknown large Siberian rivers. He explored some 2300 km of Lower Tunguska (Nizhnyaya Tunguska in the Russian language) and, having reached the upper part of Tunguska, he discovered the great Siberian river Lena and explored some 2400 km of its length. When doing this, he became the first Russian to reach Yakutia and meet the Yakuts. He returned up Lena until it became too rocky and shallow, and by land reached Angara. On his way, Pyanda became the first Russian to meet the Buryats. He built new boats and explored some 1400 km of the Angara, finally discovering that the Angara (a Buryat name) and the Upper Tunguska (Verkhnyaya Tunguska, as known by Russians) are one and the same river. [101] |
Portrait | Person | Achievements | Image |
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Semyon Remezov* (c. 1642–after 1720) cartographer, geographer, historian (a monument in the Tobolsk Kremlin) |
In 1683–1710 Remezov described and mapped the Tobolsk region, where he was born. He wrote the Remezov Chronicle, one of the earliest historical accounts of Siberia and its exploration, a part of the Siberian Chronicles. In 1699–1701 he created the Chart book of Siberia, the first large format cartographic atlas of Siberia. In total, he made more than 200 charts and maps of eastern Russian regions. [102] | ||
Nikolai Rezanov^ (1764–1807) statesman, diplomat |
Rezanov was one of the founders of the
Russian-American Company in 1799, based on the earlier
Shelikhov-Golikov Company. In 1803–06, he was made an ambassador to Japan by
Alexander I of Russia, and co-led the
first Russian circumnavigation of the world, aboard the
Nadezhda under the captaincy of
Ivan Krusenstern. Rezanov was in command as far as
Kamchatka. After his embassy to Japan failed, he was made an inspector of
Russian colonies in America. In 1806 he managed to open trade with
Spanish California, conclude a treaty, and become engaged with
Concepción Argüello, the daughter of the comandante of
San Francisco. Rezanov died in Siberia, however, on a journey back to St. Petersburg while carrying the treaty to the capital.
[103] Rezanov's love affair with Concepción Argüello inspired a ballad by the San Francisco author, Francis Bret Harte, and a 1937 novel, Rezánov and Doña Concha, by another SF author, Gertrude Atherton, as well as a very successful 1979 Russian rock opera Juno and Avos by the composer Alexei Rybnikov and the poet Andrey Voznesensky. |
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Voin Rimsky-Korsakov* (1822–1871) Russian Navy officer, hydroghafer and geographer |
An elder brother of
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (the composer and conductor), in the 1850s and 1860s Voin Rimsky-Korsakov explored the area of the
Sea of Japan near
Ussuri Krai, including
Sakhalin Island, the
Amur Liman and the
Strait of Tartary. Later he also surveyed the shores of
Kamchatka and the
Kuril Islands.
[104] Named in honor: Rimsky-Korsakov Archipelago. |
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Nicholas Roerich! (1874–1947) painter, philosopher, archeologist, writer, public figure, traveler |
Roerich emigrated to the U. S. after the
Russian Revolution. By the sale of his paintings and writings, and the gains from the activity of his cultural and enlightener organizations, Roerich was able to collect the finance and lead a major expedition to Central Asia in 1924–28, in which his family, including his wife
Helena Roerich, participated. The expedition went through
Sikkim,
Kashmir,
Ladakh,
Xinjiang, Siberia, Altai,
Mongolia,
Tibet, and unstudied areas of the
Himalayas. Archeological and ethnographical investigations were conducted, dozens of new mountain peaks and passes were marked on maps, rare manuscripts were found, and some of the best series of Roerich's paintings were created. In 1934–35 Roerich conducted an expedition in
Inner Mongolia,
Manchuria and China, collecting nearly 300 species of xerophytes, herbs, manuscripts and archeological relics. Roerich was an author and initiator of an international pact for the protection of artistic and academic institutions and historical sites (
Roerich’s Pact, 1935) and a founder of an international movement for the defence of culture. He created about 7,000 paintings and founded a number of scientific and cultural institutions in the U. S., Europe and India.
[105]
[106] Named in honor: Roerich’s Pact, 4426 Roerich. |
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Alexander Nevsky! (
Rurikid) (1220–1263) Grand Prince of Novgorod and Vladimir, national hero and patron saint of Russia |
Prince Alexander Yaroslavich Nevsky traveled to the
Mongolian capital
Karakorum in Central Asia, between 1247 and 1249, accompanied by his brother
Andrey Yaroslavich. They were summoned there by the
Genghisid
Khans who had conquered
Rus' a few years before. Unlike their father
Yaroslav II of Vladimir, who had come into Karakorum in 1245–46 and was poisoned by the Mongols, Alexander and Andrey were able to get back to Rus', confirmed in power by their new overlords. Russian princes were among the first known Europeans to travel so far into Asia, making their journey around the same time as the
Italian monk
Plano Carpini traveled to Mongolia.
[107] Named in honor: Order of Alexander Nevsky, numerous Alexander Nevsky Cathedrals, churches, monasteries. |
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Vladimir Rusanov‡ (1875–1913?) geologist |
In 1909–11 Rusanov carried out explorations in the
Novaya Zemlya archipelago. In 1912 he commanded a government expedition to
Svalbard to investigate its coal reserves. They sailed on the small ship
Herkules under Captain
Alexander Kuchin,
Amundsen's South Pole expedition navigator. Concluding the work, part of the expedition returned to Russia, while the rest, without consultation with the authorities, set off with Rusanov in an incredibly rash attempt at reaching the Pacific via the
Northern Sea Route, and disappeared in the
Kara Sea. The relics of the expedition were found in 1937 in the
Kolosovykh Islands. Soviet coal mining on Svalbard began in 1932.
[108]
[109] Rusanov and his expedition are among the prototypes for the novel The Two Captains by Veniamin Kaverin, where the search proceedings for fictional captain Tatarinov resemble the search for Rusanov. |
Portrait | Person | Achievements | Image |
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Anatoly Sagalevich‡ (born 1938) oceanographer, submersible pilot, Hero of Russia (right in photo with Vladimir Putin) |
From 1979 Sagalevich has been the head of the Deepwater Submersibles Laboratory at the Shirshov Institute of Oceanology. He took part in the construction of the Pisces VIII, Pisces IX and MIR Deep Submergence Vehicles and completed more than 300 submersions as the chief pilot of DSVs. He piloted MIRs during expeditions to RMS Titanic, German battleship Bismarck, Soviet and Russian submarines K-278 Komsomolets and K-141 Kursk, and Japanese submarine I-52. Sagalevich holds the world record for the deepest fresh water dive at 1637 m in Lake Baikal aboard a Pisces in 1990. On August 2, 2007, he was the pilot of the MIR-1 DSV that reached the seabed at the North Pole during the Arktika 2007 expedition. [110] | ||
Rudolf Samoylovich‡ (1881–1940?) geographer |
In 1912 Samoylovich took part in Vladimir Rusanov's geological expedition to Spitsbergen. He was one of the initiators and the first director of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute. In 1928 he was the head of the rescue party on the Krasin icebreaker, that saved most of the crew of the Airship Italia of Umberto Nobile. He participated in the polar flight of LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin in 1931 and headed expeditions on the icebreakers Vladimir Rusanov (1932), Georgy Sedov (1934), and Sadko (1936 and 1937–38). [111] | ||
Yakov Sannikov‡ (1780–after 1812) merchant |
Exploring the
New Siberian Islands, in 1800 Sannikov discovered and charted
Stolbovoy Island, and then
Faddeyevsky Island in 1805. In 1809–1810, he took part in the expedition led by
Matvei Gedenschtrom. He discovered
Bunge Land and suggested that there was a vast land north of
Kotelny Island, thus introducing a theory about the existence of the legendary
Sannikov Land.
[112] Named in honor: Sannikov Land, Sannikov Strait. |
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Gavriil Sarychev^ (1763–1831) Russian admiral, cartographer |
In 1785–94 Sarychev took part in the expedition sponsored by
Catherine the Great and led by
Joseph Billings. Commanding the ship Slava Rossii (Glory of Russia), he mapped the coastline of the
Sea of Okhotsk from
Okhotsk to
Aldoma and many of the
Aleutian Islands (especially
Unalaska). He also described the
Pribilof Islands,
St. Matthew Island,
St. Lawrence Island,
Gvozdev, and
King Island. He was in charge of hydrographic research in Russia from 1808 and led the compilation of the Atlas of the Northern Part of the
Pacific Ocean in 1826.
[113] Named in honor: Sarychev Peak, Cape Sarichef Airport, Sarichef Island. |
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Svetlana Savitskaya (born 1948) female cosmonaut, aviator, twice a Hero of the Soviet Union, politician (Savitskaya with her 1982 crew fellows Popov and Serebrov) |
Savitskaya was the second woman in space (after Valentina Tereshkova) and the first woman to conduct an extra-vehicular activity. She achieved this during the two successful expeditions to the Salyut 7 space station in 1982 and 1984, making her spacewalk on July 25, 1984. [114] | ||
Johan Eberhard von Schantz† (1802–1880) admiral, ship designer, explorer |
Finnish-born admiral of the
Russian Imperial Navy who circumnavigated the globe as the commander of the Imperial Navy ship America in 1834–1836. He rediscovered the
Wotho Atoll, originally discovered by the Spanish expedition of
Ruy López de Villalobos in the 1540s.
[115] Named in honor: Schantz Islands (now Wotho Atoll). |
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Otto Schmidt‡ (1891–1956) mathematician, astronomer, geophysicist, statesman, Hero of the Soviet Union |
In 1932–39 Schmidt was the head of the
Chief Directorate of the Northern Sea Route. In 1929–30, travelling on the
icebreaker Sedov, he established the first research station on
Franz Josef Land, explored the northwestern
Kara Sea and western
Severnaya Zemlya, discovering a few islands. In 1932 his expedition on the icebreaker
Sibiryakov with
Captain Vladimir Voronin made the first non-stop voyage through the
Northern Sea Route from
Arkhangelsk to the
Pacific without wintering. In 1933–34 Schmidt and Voronin led the voyage on the
steamship Cheliuskin, that resulted in the loss of the ship and evacuation of the crew. In 1937 Schmidt supervised an airborne expedition that established the first ever
drift-ice station,
North Pole-1.
[116] Named in honor: 2108 Otto Schmidt (minor planet). |
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Leopold von Schrenck* (1826–1894) zoologist, geographer, ethnographer |
Schrenck explored the fauna of the
Russian Far East, in
Amurland between 1853 and 1854, and on
Sakhalin in 1854–55, discovering a number of animals. Later he turned to the study of the
native peoples of Russia. He coined the term
Paleo-Asiatic peoples and was a director of the
Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography in
St Petersburg.
[80] Named in honor: Amur sturgeon, Manchurian black water snake. |
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Georgy Sedov‡ (1877–1914) Russian Navy captain |
In 1909 Sedov led the expedition that described the mouth of the
Kolyma River. In 1910 he explored the Krestovaya Bay on
Novaya Zemlya. He suggested an expedition to the
North Pole and found private sponsors. In 1912 Sedov's ship "Svyatoy Muchenik Foka" (Saint Martyr Foka) sailed north but had to stay for the winter near Novaya Zemlya because of impassable ice. Sv. Foka reached
Franz Josef Land then, but had to stop for another winter due to lack of coal. In early 1914, Sedov, sick with scurvy, set off with two companions for the North Pole with the draft dogs. Sedov died near
Rudolf Island and was buried there, at Cape Auk. On the way back, at Franz Josef Land, the Sv. Foka rescued the two survivors of the
Brusilov expedition,
Valerian Albanov and
Alexander Konrad.
[3] Named in honor: Icebreaker Sedov, Sedov (sailing ship). He and his last expedition are among the prototypes for the novel The Two Captains by Veniamin Kaverin, where the fictional captain Tatarinov has Sedov-like appearance and shares his passion for Arctic exploration. |
||
Pyotr Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky! (1827–1914) geographer, statistician, entomologist |
In 1856–57 Semyonov passed through the Altay Mountains, visited the Issyk Kul and came to the then largely unknown Tian Shan Mountains. He was the first European to see the peak of Khan Tengri. He disproved Alexander Humboldt's earlier claims about Tian Shan's supposed volcanic origins. In 1858, he published the first systematic description of the Tian Shan. Half a century later Nicholas II of Russia authorized him to add the epithet "Tian-Shansky" to his last name. For many years Semyonov served as chairman of Russia's Central Committee for Statistics, where he organized the first Russian Empire Census held in 1897. Semyonov amassed a large collection of the old Dutch masters, which now belongs to the Hermitage Museum, and an insect collection of c. 700,000 specimens. He was a member of 53 learned societies and headed the Russian Geographical Society for 40 years from 1873 until his death, using this position to encourage the exploration of inland Asia, notably by Nikolai Przhevalsky and Pyotr Kozlov. [3] [80] [117] | ||
Yuri Senkevich† (1937–2003) physician, scientist, traveler, TV anchorman |
Senkevich participated in the 12th Soviet Antarctic expedition at Vostok station in 1966–67. In 1969 he sailed with Thor Heyerdahl on the Ra papyrus boat, and later on the Ra II across the Atlantic Ocean in 1970. He also sailed with Heyerdahl on another reed boat the Tigris across the Indian Ocean in 1978. In 1973–2003, Senkevich was a host of the "Travelers' Club" show on Soviet Television for a record 30 years, making it into the Guinness Book of Records. He visited more than 200 countries as a journalist and TV anchorman. [118] | ||
Nikolai Severtzov! (1827–1885) naturalist |
In 1857–58, on an expedition to Syr Darya in Central Asia, Severtzov was captured by Kokand bandits and severely wounded. He was freed after a month by the Russian military and continued his studies. In 1865–68 he explored the Tian Shan and Lake Issyk Kul. In 1877–78 he explored the unknown areas of the Pamir Mountains following a route close to the current Pamir Highway as far as Lake Yashil Kul on the Ghunt River. Severtzov wrote a major study of Turkestan zoology called Vertical and horizontal distribution of Turkestan wildlife (1873), which included the first description of a number of animals. [80] | ||
Grigory Shelikhov^ (1747–1795) seafarer, merchant |
Shelikhov organized commercial trips of merchant ships to the
Kuril Islands and the
Aleutian Islands starting in 1775. Together with Ivan Golikov, he founded the precursor of the
Russian-American Company (the name appeared in 1799 after Shelikhov's death). In 1783–86, he led an expedition to the shores of
Russian America, during which he founded the first permanent Russian settlement in
North America in
Three Saints Bay on
Kodiak Island. In 1790 he hired
Alexander Baranov to manage fur enterprise in America.
[119] Named in honor: Shelikhov Bay, Shelikhov Strait, Shelekhov. |
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Pyotr Shirshov‡ (1905–1953) oceanographer, hydrobiologist, statesman, Hero of the Soviet Union |
Shirshov participated in numerous Arctic expeditions, including the ones on the icebreaker
Sibiryakov (1932) and
steamship Chelyuskin (1934). He was among the crew of the
drifting ice station
North Pole-1 in 1937–38. In 1942–48, Shirshov was a Maritime Minister of the Soviet Union. In 1946–53, he became the founder and the first director of the
Institute of Oceanology of the Soviet Academy of Sciences. He wrote numerous works about plankton in the polar regions and proved that there is life in the high latitudes of the
Arctic Ocean.
[3] Named in honor: Shirshov Institute of Oceanology |
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Gleb Shishmaryov^ (1781–1835) Russian Navy officer, circumnavigator |
In 1815–18 Shishmaryov accompanied
Otto von Kotzebue on his circumnavigation on Rurik, including the visit to
Alaska, when they discovered the
Shishmaref Inlet. In 1820 he returned to Alaska accompanied by Lt.
Mikhail Vasiliev. They explored the coast of Alaska from
Kotzebue Sound to
Icy Cape and later from
Norton Sound to Cape Newenham.
St. Lawrence Island was mapped on the return voyage.
[2] Named in honor: Shishmaref, Alaska, Shishmaref Inlet. |
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Nikolay Shkot* (1829–1870) Russian Navy officer |
After being wounded in the
Siege of Sevastopol (1854–1855), Shkot served in the Far East. In 1856–63 he explored
Sakhalin, the
Moneron Island and the coast of
Primorsky Krai in the area of
Peter the Great Gulf and
Nakhodka Bay, making a number of discoveries. He founded a hydrographic post in what is now modern
Nakhodka, and was one of the founders of
Vladivostok in 1860.
[120] Named in honor: Shkot Island, Shkotovo (village), Shkotovka River. |
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Yuly Shokalsky~ (1856–1940) Russian Navy officer, oceanographer, meteorologist, cartographer, geographer |
In 1897–1901 Shokalsky researched
Lake Ladoga. From 1907 he supervised all oceanographic works in Russia. He coined the term
World Ocean. In 1919 he headed the commission that set up
time zones in Russia. In 1918–31 he was the head of the
Russian Geographical Society and contributed widely to
Arctic exploration at this post.
[121] Named in honor: Shokalsky Strait, Shokalskogo Island. |
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Anatoly Solovyev (born 1948) cosmonaut, aviator, Hero of the Soviet Union |
Solovyev holds the world record for the number of spacewalks (16), and accumulated time spent spacewalking (over 82 hours), which he performed during his five spaceflights. In 1988 he traveled on Soyuz TM-5 to the Mir space station and back on Soyuz TM-4. In 1990 he again traveled to Mir and back on Soyuz TM-9, and in 1990 made a similar journey on Soyuz TM-15. In 1995 he got to Mir on Space Shuttle STS-71 and went back on Soyuz TM-21, and in 1997–98 again traveled to Mir and back on Soyuz TM-26. [122] [123] | ||
Mikhail Somov§ (1908–1973) geographer, oceanologist, Hero of the Soviet Union |
In 1950–51, Somov headed the second
drifting ice station, North Pole-2. In 1955–57, he became the leader of the
1st Soviet Antarctic Expedition on the icebreakers
Ob and
Lena. The expedition established the first Soviet Antarctic station,
Mirny, performed some observations and reconnaissance, and researched the oceanography of the
Indian Ocean. Somov was also the first Soviet delegate to the international Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research.
[124] Named in honor: 3334 Somov (minor planet). |
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Mikhail Stadukhin* (?–1666) Siberian Cossack leader |
In 1643, accompanied by Semyon Dezhnyov, Stadukhin led a group of Cossacks from Indigirka to the east by the Arctic coast. They discovered the Kolyma River and founded Srednekolymsk there. In 1649 he followed by sea the traces of Dezhnyov's and Fedot Popov's expedition to the east, which started earlier in 1648 (and reached the Bering Strait). He learned from the captive natives that two of Dezhnyov's kochi had been wrecked and the crews killed by the natives. Later Stadukhin found the connection of the Kolyma watershed to that of the Anadyr and thus explored the land way to the Chukchi Peninsula, where he found Dezhnyov in 1650. In 1651 Stadukhin set off south and discovered the Penzhin Bay of the northern Okhotsk Sea. He also may have explored the western shores of Kamchatka. [31] | ||
Georg Wilhelm Steller^ (1709–1746) botanist, zoologist, physician |
In 1734 Steller moved from
Bavaria to work at the
Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences. He traveled trough Siberia, researching its nature, and in 1740 reached
Okhotsk and
Kamchatka. He joined
Vitus Bering on the voyage to
North America. The expedition landed in
Alaska at
Kayak Island in 1741, staying only long enough to take on fresh water. During this time Steller became the first European naturalist to describe a number of North American plants and animals, including the
Steller's jay. On the return journey the expedition was shipwrecked on
Bering Island. Here Bering died, and almost half of the crew perished from scurvy. Despite the hardships, Steller studied the flora and fauna of the island in great detail. He collected the only existing detailed observations of the now extinct
Steller sea cow, a large
sirenian mammal. In the spring the crew constructed a new vessel and returned to Kamchatka, where Steller continued his research. He died on the journey to
St. Petersburg, but his journals were published by
Peter Simon Pallas and were later used by other explorers, including
Captain Cook.
[125] Naned in honor: Steller's sea lion, Steller's eider, Steller's sea ape, Steller's sea eagle, Steller sea cow. |
Portrait | Person | Achievements | Image |
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Valentina Tereshkova$ (born 1937) cosmonaut, Hero of the Soviet Union, major general, politician |
Aboard
Vostok 6 on 16 June 1963 Tereshkova became the first woman as well as the first civilian to travel into space. On this mission, lasting almost three days in space, she performed various tests on herself to collect data on the reaction of the female body to spaceflight. She took photographs of the horizon, which were used to identify
aerosol layers in the
Earth atmosphere.
[126] Named in honor: Tereshkova crater (Moon). 1671 Chaika (minor planet, after Tereshkova's call sign). |
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Aleksey Tillo~ (1839–1900) geographer, cartographer, land surveyor, lieutenant general of the Russian Army |
Tillo created the first correct
relief map of
European Russia in 1889. He coined the term
Central Russian Upland. He measured the length of the main
Russian rivers and the level difference of the
Caspian Sea and the
Sea of Aral.
[127] Named in honor: Tillo Islands. |
||
Gherman Titov$ (1935–2000) cosmonaut, Hero of the Soviet Union |
Aboard
Vostok 2 on August 6, 1961, Titov became the second man to orbit the Earth, the first to do it multiple times (a total of 17), the first to spend more than a day in space, and the first person to drive a spaceship manually. He also was the first person to sleep in space and to suffer from
space sickness. He made the first manual photographs from orbit, thus setting a record for
space photography. A month short of 26 years old at launch, until this day he remains the youngest person to fly in space.
[128] Named in honor: Titov (crater) (Moon). |
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Eduard Toll‡ (1858–1902) zoologist, paleontologist, geologist |
In 1885–86, Baron Toll took part in an expedition to the New Siberian Islands led by Alexander Bunge. In 1893 Toll led an academic expedition to Yakutia and explored the region between the lower Lena and Khatanga Rivers, the basins of the Yana, Indigirka, and Kolyma Rivers, the plateau between the Anabar and Popigay Rivers, and the Vasily Pronchischev mountain ridge (named by Toll) between the Olenek River and the Anabar. In 1899, Toll took part in a voyage of the icebreaker Yermak to Spitsbergen, led by Stepan Makarov. In 1900–02, Toll led an expedition on the ship Zarya to find the legendary Sannikov Land. Due to severe ice conditions the expedition was forced to spend two winters in the Arctic. Toll traveled to Bennett Island by sledge and kayak with three companions, and they were lost. In 1903 the search led by Mikhail Brusnev and Aleksandr Kolchak brought out the diaries and the collections of Toll's party. [52] | ||
Yevgeny Tolstikov§ (1913–1987) geographer, Hero of the Soviet Union |
In 1954 Tolstikov was the head of the
drifting ice station North Pole-3 in the
Arctic. In 1957–59 he led the
3rd Soviet Antarctic Expedition and founded the
Sovetskaya and
Pole of Inaccessibility Antarctic stations. The expedition discovered the
Gamburtsev Mountain Range and other features of
Antarctica relief under the ice. Tolstikov was the chief editor of the general atlas of the
Antarctic.
[129] Named in honor: 3357 Tolstikov (minor planet). |
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Fyodor Ivanovich Tolstoy^ (1782–1846) nobleman, adventurer |
A count from the
Tolstoy family, Fyodor Tolstoy was known for his unusual temper, gambling and passion for duels. In 1803 he took part in the
first Russian circumnavigation on
Nadezhda, captained by
Ivan Krusenstern. However, multiple quarrels with the crew and very bad behaviour, including successfully teaching a pet
orangutan to cover the captain's longbook in ink, caused Tolstoy to be abandoned on a stop in
Kamchatka with the aforementioned ape, whose later fate is unknown. On a different ship Tolstoy managed to get into
Sitka, Alaska, where he spent several months among
Alaskan natives of the
Tlingit tribe and acquired multiple tattoos. Finally he returned to
St. Petersburg via Kamchatka and Siberia. His voyage to North America earned him the nickname the American and a legendary celebrity due to the tales and gossip of his adventures.
[130] Tolstoy served as a prototype for a number of characters in Russian literature, including the duellist Zaretsky in Eugene Onegin by Aleksandr Pushkin. |
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Alexey Tryoshnikov§ (1914–1991) geographer, oceanologist |
Tryoshnikov participated in the 1948 Soviet expedition to the North Pole. In 1954–55, he headed the
drifting ice station North Pole-3 in the
Arctic. In 1956–58 he led the
2nd and in 1967–69 the
13th Soviet Antarctic Expedition, founding the
Bellingshausen Station. He took part in the creation of the general atlas of the
Antarctic and was the main editor of the atlas of the Arctic. He was the president of the
Soviet Geographical Society in 1977–91 and the director of the
Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute in 1960–81.
[131] Named in honor: 3339 Treshnikov (minor planet). |
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Avgust Tsivolko‡ (1810–1839) Russian Navy officer, hydrographer |
In 1832–34 Tsivolko made the first reliable maps of Novaya Zemlya's southern shores together with Pyotr Pakhtusov, and was the first to map the Matochkin Strait between the two main islands of the archipelago. In 1837 he commanded the schooner Krotov during Karl Baer's expedition to Novaya Zemlya. In 1838 he died from scurvy while mapping the northern and northeastern shores of Novaya Zemlya. [132] | ||
Gombojab Tsybikov! (1873–1930) anthropologist, ethnographer, statesmen |
A native Buryat, Tsybikov traveled to Tibet in a group of Buryat and Kalmyk Buddhist pilgrims in 1899–1902. He became the first photographer of Tibet, taking pictures in secret. These pictures were widely celebrated throughout the world, printed by the National Geographic in the U. S. In 1904 Tsybikov presented his pictures to Dalai Lama in Urga, Mongolia. He published his travelogue with many valuable translations from Tibetan included. [133] |
Portrait | Person | Achievements | Image |
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Ivan Unkovsky^ (1822–1886) Russian admiral |
Unkovsky led an expedition on the frigate Pallada, together with Admiral Yevfimy Putyatin, through the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans to Japan in 1852–55. This expedition contributed many important discoveries in oceanography. Described in the book by Ivan Goncharov, who also sailed on the Pallada, it was a dangerous voyage since it coincided in time with the Crimean War between Russia and the Franco- British alliance. One of the results achieved was the Treaty of Shimoda with Japan. [134] | ||
Nikolay Urvantsev‡ (1893–1985) geologist |
Urvantsev was among the discoverers of a coal basin and a copper-nickel ore region in Norilsk in 1919–22 and was among the founders of Norilsk town. In 1922 he found evidence of the disappeared Roald Amundsen's 1918 Arctic expedition crew members Peter Tessem and Paul Knutsen on the Kara Sea shore. In 1930–32 Urvantsev and Georgy Ushakov explored and completely mapped the Severnaya Zemlya and established that it was an archipelago, discovering a number or major islands. Urvantsev also explored Taymyr Peninsula and the Central Siberian Plateau. In 1933–34 aboard the Steamer Pravda Urvantsev led the first Arctic oil exploration expedition. [3] [11] | ||
Georgy Ushakov‡ (1901–1963) geographer |
In 1926 Ushakov founded the first Soviet settlement on Wrangel Island. In 1930–32 Ushakov and Nikolay Urvantsev explored and completely mapped the Severnaya Zemlya and established that it was an archipelago, the last one on Earth to be explored. In 1935–36 Ushakov led the first Soviet high-latitude expedition on the icebreaker Sadko, examining the last unexplored areas in the northern Kara Sea and discovering Ushakov Island, the last unknown island in the Russian Arctic outside any archipelago. Ushakov died in Moscow, but was buried in Severnaya Zemlya. [135] | ||
Tatyana Ustinova* (1913–2009) geologist |
In 1940 Ustinova came to Kronotsky Nature Reserve in Kamchatka. In 1941, with the help of the local guide Anysyfor Krupenin, she discovered the Valley of Geysers, the second largest concentration of geysers in the world. She researched the geysers until 1946 and gave names to the most notable of them. She requested in a testament that her ashes were to be buried in the Valley of Geysers. [136] |
Portrait | Person | Achievements | Image |
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Merkury Vagin‡ (?–1712) Siberian Cossack, seafarer, merchant |
In 1712, Vagin and his companion Yakov Permyakov crossed the Yana Bay over the ice and explored Bolshoy Lyakhovsky island (sited two years earlier by Permyakov), spotting Maly Lyakhovsky island from there. Thus they initiated the exploration of the large New Siberian archipelago. On the way back they were murdered by mutineering expedition members. [137] | ||
Nikolai Vavilov† (1887–1943) botanist and geneticist |
In 1924–35 Vavilov was the director of the
Institute of Plant Industry. He organized a series of botanical-agronomic expeditions, collected seeds from every corner of the globe, and created the world's largest collection of plant seeds in
Leningrad. As a result of his explorations he identified the
centres of origin of main cultivated plants.
[138] Named in honor: Vavilov Institute of Plant Industry, Vavilovian mimicry; 2862 Vavilov (minor planet), Vavilov crater (Moon) (named also after Vavilov's brother, physicist Sergey Vavilov). |
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Boris Vilkitsky‡ (1885–1961) Russian Navy captain, hydrographer |
In 1913–15 Vilkitsky led the
Arctic hydrographic expedition on the icebreakers
Taimyr and
Vaigach, exploring parts of the
Northern Sea Route. In 1913, the expedition discovered
Severnaya Zemlya, the last archipelago on Earth to be explored.
Vilkitsky Island was also discovered, as well as
Maly Taymyr and
Starokadomsky Islands. In 1914–15, another Vilkitsky's expedition made the first through voyage from
Vladivostok to
Arkhangelsk, discovered
Zhokhova Island and described the southern coast of Severnaya Zemlya.
[139] Named in honor: Vilkitsky Strait, Vilkitsky Island (Kara Sea), Vilkitsky Island (East Siberian Sea) |
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Vladimir Vize‡ (1886–1954) oceanographer |
In 1912–14 Vize took part in
Georgiy Sedov's expedition to
Novaya Zemlya and
Franz Josef Land. In 1924 he studied the drift of
Georgy Brusilov's ill-fated ship
St. Anna, trapped on pack ice. As a result of this study he predicted the location of the yet unseen
Vize Island, based on the analysis of ice movement in the
Kara Sea. He took part in the first successful crossing of the Northern Sea Route in a single navigation on the icebreaker
Sibiryakov in 1932. In 1938–40 he conducted scientific research on the ice-captured
icebreaker Sedov, turned into a
drifting ice station.
[3] Named in honor: Vize Island |
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Vladimir Voronin‡ (1890–1952) Soviet Navy captain |
In 1932 Voronin commanded the expedition of the icebreaker
Sibiryakov which made the first successful crossing of the
Northern Sea Route in a single navigation without wintering, in 65 days from
Archangelsk to
Yokohama in Japan. In 1933–34 he commanded the
Chelyuskin steamship with the scientific expedition of
Otto Schmidt aboard. The ship became ice-bound in the
Chukchi Sea, but almost all the crew was rescued by planes from their camp on the ice.
[140] Named in honor: Voronina Island. |
Portrait | Person | Achievements | Image |
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Ferdinand von Wrangel‡ (1797–1870) Russian admiral, colonial administrator |
Ferdinand Wrangel took part in
Vasily Golovnin's world cruise on the ship
Kamchatka in 1817–19. In 1820–24 Wrangel sailed north of the
Kolyma River and established that there was an open sea, not dry land, as was previously thought. Together with
Fyodor Matyushkin and P. Kuzmin, he described the
Medvyezhi Islands and the
Arctic coastline from the
Indigirka River to the
Kolyuchinskaya Bay. After noticing swarms of birds flying north and questioning the native population, he determined that there must be an undiscovered island in the
Arctic Ocean. Even though his search for it was unsuccessful the island was later named
Wrangel Island. Wrangel led the circumnavigation on the ship Krotky in 1825–27. He was the governor of
Russian America in 1829–35, the president of the
Russian-American Company in 1840–49 and the
Minister of the Navy in 1855–57. In 1845 he became one of the founders of the
Russian Geographic Society.
[141] Named in honor: Wrangel Island ( Chukchi Sea), Wrangell Island in Alexander Archipelago; Wrangell, Alaska; Wrangell Narrows Cape Wrangell, Mount Wrangell. |
Portrait | Person | Achievements | Image |
---|---|---|---|
Nikolai Yadrintsev! (1842–1894) public figure, archaeologist, turkologist |
In 1889 Yadrintsev located the remains of the medieval city Hara-Balgas and Genghis Khan's capital Karakorum in Mongolia. In the valley of the Orkhon River he discovered the Orkhon script of the ancient Türks on two petroglyphic monuments with runiform writing, later decoded by the Danish scientist Vilhelm Thomsen. In 1891 Yadrintsev together with Vasily Radlov found more monuments of Türkic runiform writing. [142] | ||
Yermak Timofeyevich* (1532/42–1585) Cossack ataman, folk hero |
Around 1577, the merchants
Stroganovs, who were the main colonisers of the
Urals, hired Yermak to protect their lands from attacks by the Siberian
Khan
Kuchum. The Russians planned to attack Kuchum in his own land, and in 1581 Yermak penetrated into Siberia. After a few victories over the khan's army, Yermak's Cossacks defeated Kuchum's main forces on the
Irtysh River in a 3-day
Battle of Chuvash Cape in 1582, forcing them to retreat to the steppes. Thus Yermak
captured the
Siberia Khanate, including its capital
Qashliq near modern
Tobolsk. Kuchum was still strong and suddenly attacked Yermak in 1585 in the dead of night, killing most of his people. Yermak was wounded and tried to swim across the Wagay River (
Irtysh's tributary), but drowned under the weight of his own
chain mail armor. The Cossacks had to withdraw from Siberia completely, but thanks to Yermak's having explored the main river routes of
West Siberian Plain, the Russians successfully recaptured all Yermak's conquests just a few years later.
[143] Named in honor: Icebreaker Yermak, Yermak Stone. |
Portrait | Person | Achievements | Image |
---|---|---|---|
Lavrenty Zagoskin^ (1808–1890) Russian Navy officer, naturalist |
Commissioned by the Russian America Company, in 1842–44 Zagoskin traveled extensively in Alaska, covering more than 3300 miles. He explored and mapped the Yukon, Kuskokwim, Innoko and Koyukuk Rivers, and researched the native peoples and nature of the region. He published the first detailed description of the inner areas of Alaska. [144] | ||
Vasily Zavoyko* (1809–1898) Russian admiral |
In 1835–38 Zavoyko twice circumnavigated the globe. After 1840, during his service for the Russian-American Company in the Okhotsk Sea, Zavoyko explored the estuary of the Amur River. His reports led to further expeditions and ultimately the incorporation of Primorsky Krai into Russia. In 1854, at the time of Crimean War, Zavoyko led the successful defence of Kamchatka during the Siege of Petropavlovsk. He repelled the superior allied British-French forces and even captured the Union Jack. In 1855, making his way through the frozen seas and successfully avoiding the large enemy fleet, he supervised the transfer of the Russian Pacific Fleet from Petropavlovsk to Nikolayevsk-on-Amur. [145] |
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