Carl Friedrich Schmidt (russian: Фёдор Богданович Шмидт, Fyodor Bogdanovich Schmidt; also known as Friedrich Schmidt; in Kaisma,

Livonia Livonia ( liv, Līvõmō, et, Liivimaa, fi, Liivinmaa, German and Scandinavian languages: ', archaic German: ''Liefland'', nl, Lijfland, Latvian and lt, Livonija, pl, Inflanty, archaic English: ''Livland'', ''Liwlandia''; russian: Ли ...

– 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 ...

) was a

Baltic German Baltic Germans (german: Deutsch-Balten or , later ) were ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since their coerced resettlement in 1939, Baltic Germans have markedly declined ...

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, althoug ...

and botanist in the Russian Empire. He is acknowledged as the founder of

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 ...

n geology. In the mid-19th century, he researched Estonian

oil shale Oil shale is an organic-rich fine-grained sedimentary rock containing kerogen (a solid mixture of organic chemical compounds) from which liquid hydrocarbons can be produced. In addition to kerogen, general composition of oil shales constitut ...

, kukersite, and named it as kuckers. Main papers of Friedrich Schmidt research the stratigraphy and

fauna Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is ''flora'', and for fungi, it is ''funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as ''Biota (ecology ...

Lower Palaeozoic The Paleozoic (or Palaeozoic) Era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. The name ''Paleozoic'' ( ;) was coined by the British geologist Adam Sedgwick in 1838 by combining the Greek words ''palaiós'' (, "old") and ' ...

rocks in Estonia and the neighboring areas. In 1885 he became academician of St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. He won the

Wollaston Medal The Wollaston Medal is a scientific award for geology, the highest award granted by the Geological Society of London. The medal is named after William Hyde Wollaston, and was first awarded in 1831. It was originally made of gold (1831–1845), ...

, awarded by the

Geological Society of London The Geological Society of London, known commonly as the Geological Society, is a learned society based in the United Kingdom. It is the oldest national geological society in the world and the largest in Europe with more than 12,000 Fellows. Fe ...

, in 1902. Friedrich Schmidt was the first European to "discover" the

Sakhalin Fir ''Abies sachalinensis'', the Sakhalin fir, is a species of conifer in the family Pinaceae. It is found in Sakhalin island and southern Kurils (Russia), and also in northern Hokkaido ( Japan). The first discovery by a European was by Carl Fri ...

on the Russian island of Sakhalin in 1866, but he did not introduce it to Europe. The

Schmidt Peninsula (Sakhalin) Schmidt Peninsula (russian: Полуостров Шмидта) is a peninsula in Sakhalin Oblast, Russian Federation. It is the northernmost point of Sakhalin Island and is located north of Okha, Russia, Okha town. History The indigenous Nivkh peo ...

was named after him.

Notes

1832 births 1908 deaths People from Põhja-Pärnumaa Parish People from the Governorate of Livonia Baltic-German people Russian geologists Estonian geologists Biologists from the Russian Empire 19th-century Estonian botanists Full members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences Wollaston Medal winners Oil shale researchers {{Russia-scientist-stub