Dimitrij Andrusov (7 November 1897 – 1 April 1976) was a Slovak

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...

of Russian origin, member of the

Slovak Academy of Sciences The Slovak Academy of Sciences ( sk, Slovenská akadémia vied, or SAV) is the main scientific and research institution in Slovakia fostering basic and strategic basic research. It was founded in 1942, closed after World War II, and then reestab ...

. He was first professor of geology on Slovak colleges. He is considered the founder of modern Slovak geology.

Life

Dimitrij Andrusov was born on 7 November 1897 in the former Yuryev (today

Tartu Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after the Northern European country's political and financial capital, Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 91,407 (as of 2021). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of ...

) then in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

(today

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

). He was a grandson of

Heinrich Schliemann Johann Ludwig Heinrich Julius Schliemann (; 6 January 1822 – 26 December 1890) was a German businessman and pioneer in the field of archaeology. He was an advocate of the historicity of places mentioned in the works of Homer and an archaeologi ...

and son of geologist

Nicolai Ivanovich Andrusov Nicolai Ivanovich Andrusov (russian: Николай Иванович Андрусов, Nikolay Ivanovich Andrusov; 19 December 1861 – 27 April 1924) was a Russian Empire born geologist, stratigrapher, and palaeontologist. He was born in Odessa ...

.Veľký, J. (Ed.), 1978, ''Encyklopédia Slovenska I. zväzok A — D.'' Veda, Bratislava, p. 52 (In Slovak) In 1915-1918 he studied on the university in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. Later in 1920–1922 on

Sorbonne University Sorbonne University (french: Sorbonne Université; la Sorbonne: 'the Sorbonne') is a public research university located in Paris, France. The institution's legacy reaches back to 1257 when Sorbonne College was established by Robert de Sorbon ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. He continued his studies on the Faculty of Chemical Technology on

Czech Technical University in Prague Czech Technical University in Prague (CTU, cs, České vysoké učení technické v Praze, ČVUT) is one of the largest university, universities in the Czech Republic with 8 faculties, and is one of the oldest institutes of technology in Centra ...

and graduated there in 1925. Since 1929 he worked in the Technical University. Following the closure of Czech higher education during the German occupation of the country, he has gone to

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

, where he worked since 1938 at the Slovak Technical University in

Bratislava Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approxim ...

. Since 1940 he began to work at the same time on the

Faculty of Natural Sciences A faculty is a division within a university or college comprising one subject area or a group of related subject areas, possibly also delimited by level (e.g. undergraduate). In American usage such divisions are generally referred to as colleges ...

of the

Comenius University Comenius University in Bratislava ( sk, Univerzita Komenského v Bratislave) is the largest university in Slovakia, with most of its faculties located in Bratislava. It was founded in 1919, shortly after the creation of Czechoslovakia. It is name ...

in the office of head of Geological and Paleontological Institute. He was the first professor of geology working on Slovak colleges. At the same time, with help of

Imrich Karvaš Imrich Karvaš (25 February 1903 – 22 February 1981) was a Slovak economist. Life Imrich Karvaš was born in Varšany, now Kalinčiakovo, on 25 February 1903. He entered the Law Faculty of Comenius University in Bratislava in 1921, graduating i ...

, he contributed to the establishment of the Slovak geological survey which he led in the years 1940 to 1945. In 1952 Andrusov became head of Department of Geology at the Faculty of Natural Sciences at the Comenius University and remained in office until 1970. As a teacher, he wrote several textbooks and teaching texts, in addition to teaching students of geology and geological mapping, he personally led courses and field excursions, where he imparted his knowledge in practice. He was also the founder and in the years 1957-1958 first director of the Geological Laboratory, which was later transformed into the Geological Institute of

Scientific activities

His research interests have been multilateral. His wide interests were devoted to

geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ear ...

stratigraphy Stratigraphy is a branch of geology concerned with the study of rock (geology), rock layers (Stratum, strata) and layering (stratification). It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary rock, sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks. Stratigrap ...

tectonics Tectonics (; ) are the processes that control the structure and properties of the Earth's crust and its evolution through time. These include the processes of mountain building, the growth and behavior of the strong, old cores of continents k ...

paleontology Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...

, geology of deposits and engineering geology. He studied the Klippen and Flysch belt of the

Western Carpathians The Western Carpathians are a mountain range and geomorphological province that forms the western part of the Carpathian Mountains. The mountain belt stretches from the Low Beskids range of the Eastern Carpathians along the border of Poland wi ...

, but also Central Western Carpathians and especially the Subtatric nappes. He demonstrated the existence of large

nappe In geology, a nappe or thrust sheet is a large sheetlike body of rock (geology), rock that has been moved more than or above a thrust fault from its original position. Nappes form in compressional tectonic settings like continental collision z ...

s in the Western Carpathians and the extent of several orogenetic phases. He also allocated a number of tectonic units and brought paleogeographic picture of the Carpathian

geosyncline A geosyncline (originally called a geosynclinal) is an obsolete geological concept to explain orogens, which was developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, before the theory of plate tectonics was envisaged. Şengör (1982), p. 11 A geo ...

during the

Mesozoic The Mesozoic Era ( ), also called the Age of Reptiles, the Age of Conifers, and colloquially as the Age of the Dinosaurs is the second-to-last era of Earth's geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceo ...

. The results of his research enhanced knowledge of particular tectonic and stratigraphic units of the Western Carpathians and became the foundation of the modern understanding of their structure and relationship to adjacent geological units. His scientific work is ranked among the leading European geologists. The results of his research were summarized in a five volume monograph ''The Geological research of Klippen zone of the Western Carpathians'' (1931 - 1955), ''Apercu de la Géologie des Carpathes occidentales de la Slovauie centrale'' (1931), three volumes of ''The Geology of Czechoslovak Carpathians'' (1958 - 1965) and monograph ''Grundriss der Tektonik der Nördlichen Karpaten'' (1968),Barica, J., 2004, ''Malý Slovenský Panteón vedy a techniky.'' Úrad priemyselného vlastníctva SR, Bratislava, p. 104 (In Slovak) which is considered one of the highlights of synthesis of the tectonic structure of the Western Carpathians based on the principles of the geosyncline theory. He was the author of many other monographic works and about 250 papers in scientific journals in Czechoslovakia and abroad. In addition to scientific activities he also solved practical geological tasks related to construction of dams, railways, tunnels and searching for non-metallic deposits.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Andrusov, Dimitrij 1897 births 1976 deaths Scientists from Tartu People from Kreis Dorpat Czechoslovak geologists Tectonicists Saint Petersburg State University alumni Czech Technical University in Prague alumni Academic staff of Czech Technical University in Prague Academic staff of the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava Members of the Austrian Academy of Sciences Gustav-Steinmann-Medaille winners Czechoslovak people of German descent Czechoslovak people of Russian descent White Russian emigrants to Czechoslovakia People from the Russian Empire of German descent