Konstantin Gedroits 2022 stamp of Transnistria

Konstantin Kaetanovich Gedroits (Russian: Константин Каэтанович Гедройц; 25 March 1872 – 5 October 1932) was a Russian

soil scientist Soil science is the study of soil as a natural resource on the surface of the Earth including soil formation, classification and mapping; physical, chemical, biological, and fertility properties of soils; and these properties in relation to the ...

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

n origins. He was a full member of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union and a president of the International Union of Soil Sciences (1927–1930).

Biography

Gedroits belonged to the Lithuanian aristocratic

Giedroyć family The House of Giedroyć (; lt, Giedraitis; russian: Гедройц; French: ''Guedroitz'') is the name of an aristocratic clan and family which traces its origins to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Accordin ...

. He was born in

Bessarabia Bessarabia (; Gagauz: ''Besarabiya''; Romanian: ''Basarabia''; Ukrainian: ''Бессара́бія'') is a historical region in Eastern Europe, bounded by the Dniester river on the east and the Prut river on the west. About two thirds of Be ...

, which was then part of 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. ...

. He studied 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 ...

, where he graduated from the Forest Institute in 1897 and from the Saint Petersburg Imperial University in 1903. After that he led the chemistry laboratory of the Dokuchaev Soil Institute in Moscow (1915–17) and the Department of Soil Science of the Forest Institute in Saint Petersburg (1917–30). In 1929–30 he headed the Dokuchaev Soil Institute, and in 1927 was elected as president of the International Union of Soil Sciences. In 1929, he became a full member if the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union and in 1930, a full member of the

National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine The National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NASU; uk, Національна академія наук України, ''Natsional’na akademiya nauk Ukrayiny'', abbr: NAN Ukraine) is a self-governing state-funded organization in Ukraine th ...

. Gedroits was the founder of

colloid A colloid is a mixture in which one substance consisting of microscopically dispersed insoluble particles is suspended throughout another substance. Some definitions specify that the particles must be dispersed in a liquid, while others extend ...

al soil chemistry in Russia. He introduced the concept of "soil absorbing complex" and singled out several types of soil absorption capacity, including mechanical, physico-chemical and biological. He also developed a classification of soils based on the difference in the composition, which included soils unsaturated with

cation An ion () is an atom or molecule with a net electrical charge. The charge of an electron is considered to be negative by convention and this charge is equal and opposite to the charge of a proton, which is considered to be positive by convent ...

s, soils saturated with

calcium Calcium is a chemical element with the symbol Ca and atomic number 20. As an alkaline earth metal, calcium is a reactive metal that forms a dark oxide-nitride layer when exposed to air. Its physical and chemical properties are most similar to ...

and

sodium Sodium is a chemical element with the symbol Na (from Latin ''natrium'') and atomic number 11. It is a soft, silvery-white, highly reactive metal. Sodium is an alkali metal, being in group 1 of the periodic table. Its only stable iso ...

ions, etc. He explained the evolution of saline soils from the chemical point of view, and developed a theoretical basics of liming and of the introduction of

gypsum Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula . It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, blackboard or sidewalk chalk, and drywall. ...

into the soil.

Awards and legacy

For his achievement in soil science, Gedroits was awarded the Lenin Prize in 1927. In 2002, the Central Bank of Transnistria minted a silver coin honoring this native of today's

Transnistria Transnistria, officially the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR), is an unrecognised breakaway state that is internationally recognised as a part of Moldova. Transnistria controls most of the narrow strip of land between the Dniester riv ...

, as part of a series of memorable coins called ''

The Outstanding People of Pridnestrovie The rubla ( ro, рублэ, rublă, , plural ruble; russian: wikt:рубль, рубль) is the currency of Transnistria and is divided into 100 ''kopecks''. It is also known as the rouble in Commonwealth English or ruble in American English. Si ...

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gedroits, Konstantin 1932 deaths 1872 births Geologists from the Russian Empire Presidents of the International Union of Soil Sciences Full Members of the All-Ukrainian Academy of Sciences