This list of Russian Earth scientists includes the notable geographers, geologists, oceanographers, meteorologists, ecologists and other representatives of Earth sciences from the Russian Federation, the Soviet Union, the Russian Empire and other predecessor states of Russia.

Alphabetical list

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A

Vladimir Abazarov Vladimir Alekseevich Abazarov (russian: Владимир Алексеевич Абазаров; 6 May 1930 – 13 May 2003) was an eminent Soviet Union, Soviet geologist. He took part in discovering of large and unique oil fields in Western Si ...

, geologist, discoverer of

Samotlor oil field Samotlor Field is the largest oil field of Russia and the sixth largest in the world, owned and operated by Rosneft. The field is located at Lake Samotlor in Nizhnevartovsk district, Khanty–Mansi Autonomous Okrug, Tyumen Oblast. It covers . The ...

, the largest Russian oil field * Dmitry Anuchin, anthropologist and geographer, coined the term " anthroposphere", determined the location of the Volga river source *

Andrey Arkhangelsky Andrey Dmitriyevich Arkhangelsky (russian: Андре́й Дми́триевич Арха́нгельский) (December 8, 1879 – June 16, 1940) was a Russian geologist. He was a professor at Moscow State University. He was Corresponding Memb ...

, geologist

B

* Karl Baer, naturalist, formulated the geological Baer's law on river erosion, co-founder of the

Russian Geographical Society The Russian Geographical Society (russian: Ру́сское географи́ческое о́бщество «РГО»), or RGO, is a learned society based in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It promotes geography, exploration and nature protection wi ...

* Valeri Barsukov, geologist *

Vladimir Belousov Vladimir Vladimirovich Belousov (russian: Влади́мир Влади́мирович Белоу́сов) ( in Moscow – December 25, 1990) was an Earth scientist in the Soviet Union, and a prominent advocate of alternatives to the theorie ...

, geologist *

Lev Berg Lev Semyonovich Berg, also known as Leo S. Berg (russian: Лев Семёнович Берг; 14 March 1876 – 24 December 1950) was a leading Russian geographer, biologist and ichthyologist who served as President of the Soviet Geographical So ...

, determined the depth of Central Asian lakes, including Balkhash Lake and Issyk Kul, a head of the Soviet Geographical Society * Yuri Bilibin, geologist, studied placer geology and organized expeditions that discovered gold deposits in Eastern Siberia *

Mariya Borodayevskaya Mariya Borisovna Borodaevskaya, née Kessenikh (9 December 1911, Tbilisi – 11 November 1994, Moscow) was a doctor of geological and mineralogical sciences, professor, specialist in gold and copper deposits. She was an Honored Worker of Science ...

, geologist *

Leonid Brekhovskikh Leonid Maksimovich Brekhovskikh (6 May 1917 – 15 January 2005; russian: Леони́д Макси́мович Бреховски́х) was a Soviet and Russian scientist known for his work in acoustical and physical oceanography. Early life and ...

, founder of modern acoustical oceanography, discovered the deep sound channel, the first to observe

mesoscale ocean eddies In fluid dynamics, an eddy is the swirling of a fluid and the reverse current (water), current created when the fluid is in a Turbulence, turbulent flow regime. The moving fluid creates a space devoid of downstream-flowing fluid on the downstream ...

C

* Feodosy Chernyshov, geologist *

Ivan Chersky Jan Stanisław Franciszek Czerski (russian: Иван Дементьевич Черский; 3 May 1845, in Swolna – 25 June 1892, nr. Kolyma) was a Polish paleontologist, osteologist, geologist, geographer and explorer of Siberia. He was ex ...

, paleontologist, geologist and explorer of Siberia, explained the origin of

Lake Baikal Lake Baikal (, russian: Oзеро Байкал, Ozero Baykal ); mn, Байгал нуур, Baigal nuur) is a rift lake in Russia. It is situated in southern Siberia, between the federal subjects of Irkutsk Oblast to the northwest and the Repu ...

, pioneered the

geomorphological Geomorphology (from Ancient Greek: , ', "earth"; , ', "form"; and , ', "study") is the scientific study of the origin and evolution of topographic and bathymetric features created by physical, chemical or biological processes operating at or n ...

evolution theory *

Pyotr Chikhachyov Pyotr Alexandrovich Chikhachyov, last name also spelled Chikhachev or Tchihatchev (russian: link=no, Пётр Алекса́ндрович Чихачёв; 23 December 1808 – 13 October 1890) was a Russian naturalist and geologist who was admitt ...

, early geographer and geologist of Central Asia, discovered

Kuznetsk Coal Basin The Kuznetsk Basin (russian: Кузнецкий угольный бассейн, Кузбасс; often abbreviated as Kuzbass or Kuzbas) in southwestern Siberia, Russia, is one of the largest coal mining areas in Russia, covering an area of aroun ...

D

* Vasily Dokuchaev, founder of soil science, created the first soil classification, determined the five factors for soil formation

E

* Raul–Yuri Ervier, geologist, organizer and head of wide-ranging geological explorations that discovered of the largest oil and gas fields in Western Siberia

F

* Alexander Fersman, a founder of geochemistry, discovered copper in Monchegorsk,

apatite Apatite is a group of phosphate minerals, usually hydroxyapatite, fluorapatite and chlorapatite, with high concentrations of OH−, F− and Cl− ions, respectively, in the crystal. The formula of the admixture of the three most common e ...

s in Khibiny,

sulfur Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formula ...

in Central Asia

G

Grigory Gamburtsev Grigory Aleksandrovich Gamburtsev (russian: Григо́рий Алекса́ндрович Га́мбурцев; – June 28, 1955) was a Soviet seismologist and academician from Saint Petersburg, Russia who worked in the area of seismomet ...

, Soviet

seismologist Seismology (; from Ancient Greek σεισμός (''seismós'') meaning "earthquake" and -λογία (''-logía'') meaning "study of") is the scientific study of earthquakes and the propagation of elastic waves through the Earth or through other ...

, invented a number of seismological methods and devices * Boris Golitsyn, inventor of electromagnetic

seismograph A seismometer is an instrument that responds to ground noises and shaking such as caused by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and explosions. They are usually combined with a timing device and a recording device to form a seismograph. The output ...

, the president of International Association of Seismology * Maria Glazovskaya, soil scientist and agrochemist. *

Konstantin Glinka Konstantin Dmitrievich Glinka (russian: Константи́н Дми́триевич Гли́нка) (1867–1927) was a Russian soil scientist. He was Director of the Agricultural College of Leningrad and Experimental Station, and the first dir ...

, influential Russian soil scientist. Glinka_Konstantin_Dmitrievich

Ivan Gubkin Ivan Mikhailovich Gubkin (russian: Ива́н Миха́йлович Гу́бкин; – 21 April 1939) was a Soviet and Russian geologist and president of the 1937 International Geological Congress in Moscow. He was a petroleum geologist particu ...

, founder of the

Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas The Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas (russian: Российский государственный университет нефти и газа имени И. М. Губкина) is a public university in Moscow, Russia. The univer ...

K

* Stanislav Kalesnik, geographer *

Alexander Karpinsky Alexander Petrovich Karpinsky (russian: Александр Петрович Карпинский, trl. Aljeksandr Pjetrovič Karpinskij; 7 January 1847 ( NS) – 15 July 1936) was a prominent Russian and Soviet geologist and mineralogist, and ...

, geologist and mineralogist, the first President of the Soviet Academy of Sciences * Alexander Keyserling, naturalist, a founder of Russian geology * Maria Klenova, a founder of marine geology, polar explorer * Wladimir Köppen, meteorologist and author of the commonly used Köppen climate classification * Nikolai Korzhenevskiy, geographer * Stepan Krasheninnikov, geographer, the first Russian naturalist, made the first scientific description of Kamchatka *

Peter Kropotkin Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin (; russian: link=no, Пётр Алексе́евич Кропо́ткин ; 9 December 1842 – 8 February 1921) was a Russian anarchist, socialist, revolutionary, historian, scientist, philosopher, and activis ...

, geographer * Alexander Kruber, founder of Russian karstology * Nikolai Kudryavtsev, author of modern

abiogenic theory The abiogenic petroleum origin is a fringe science which proposes that most of earth's petroleum and natural gas deposits were formed inorganically. Mainstream theories about the formation of hydrocarbons on earth point to an origin from the decompo ...

for origin of petroleum, coordinated oil and gas exploration in Siberia *

Leonid Kulik Leonid Alekseyevich Kulik (Russian: Леонид Алексеевич Кулик; 19 August 1883 – 14 or 24 April 1942) was a Soviet mineralogist who is noted for his research into meteorites. He was born in Dorpat, (now Tartu, Tartu County, ...

, meteorite researcher, the first to study Tunguska event

L

* Dmitry Lachinov, meteorologist *

Vladimir Larin Vladimir Ivanovich Larin (russian: Владимир Иванович Ларин; 15 May 1948 – 18 October 1995)
was a Russi ...

, geologist *

Irina Levshakova Irina Yuryevna Levshakova (née Kuznetsova; Russian: Ирина Юрьевна Левшакова; 6 May 1959 – 31 January 2016) was a Russian paleontologist, geologist, artist and musician. She is most famous for her deep involvement in the ...

, paleontologist and geologist *

Victor Linetsky Victor Pylypovych Linetsky (russian: Виктор Филипович Линецкий, uk, Віктор Пилипович Лінецький; 31 January 1901 – Yekaterinodar, Kuban Region, Southern Russia – 19xx Lviv, Ukraine) was a R ...

, geologist *

Mikhail Lomonosov Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov (; russian: Михаил (Михайло) Васильевич Ломоносов, p=mʲɪxɐˈil vɐˈsʲilʲjɪvʲɪtɕ , a=Ru-Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov.ogg; – ) was a Russian Empire, Russian polymath, s ...

, polymath, suggested the

organic Organic may refer to: * Organic, of or relating to an organism, a living entity * Organic, of or relating to an anatomical organ Chemistry * Organic matter, matter that has come from a once-living organism, is capable of decay or is the product ...

origin of soil, peat, coal, petroleum and amber; forerunner of the continental drift theory, pioneer researcher of atmospheric electricity Middendorff1

M

Alexander Middendorf Alexander Theodor von Middendorff (russian: Алекса́ндр Фёдорович Ми́ддендорф; tr. ; 18 August 1815 – 24 January 1894) was a zoologist and explorer of Baltic German and Estonian extraction. He is known for his ex ...

, zoologist and explorer, founder of

permafrost Permafrost is ground that continuously remains below 0 °C (32 °F) for two or more years, located on land or under the ocean. Most common in the Northern Hemisphere, around 15% of the Northern Hemisphere or 11% of the global surface ...

science, determined the southern border of permafrost *

Pavel Molchanov Pavel Alexandrovich Molchanov (russian: Павел Александрович Молчанов) ( in Volosovo, Russian Empire – October 1941 in Leningrad, Russian SFSR) was a Soviet Russian meteorologist and the inventor of the first Russian r ...

, meteorologist inventor of radiosonde *

Andrei Monin Andrei Sergeevich Monin (russian: Андре́й Серге́евич Мо́нин; 2 July 1921 – 22 September 2007) was a Russian physicist, applied mathematician, and oceanographer. Monin was known for his contributions to statistical theory of ...

, meteorologist *

Dmitrii Mushketov Dmitry Ivanovich Mushketov (russian: Дми́трий Ива́нович Мушкетов; – 18 February 1938) was a Russian Empire and Soviet geologist and paleontologist, one of the victims of the Great Terror. Biography Dmitry Mushketov was ...

, geologist *

Ivan Mushketov Ivan Vasilʹevich Mushketov (russian: Иван Васильевич Мушкетов; 1850–1902) was a famous Russian geologist, tectonist, explorer, and geographer. Biography Mushketov was born 9 (21 New Style) January 1850 in the Dango Cos ...

, made the first geological map of Turkestan * Konstantin K. Markov, geomorphologist Obruchev young

O

Vladimir Obruchev Vladimir Afanasyevich Obruchev (russian: Влади́мир Афана́сьевич О́бручев; , Klepenino near Rzhev, Tver Oblast, Russian Empire – June 19, 1956, Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Моск� ...

, geologist and explorer, author of the comprehensive ''Geology of Siberia'' and two popular science fiction novels, '' Plutonia'' and '' Sannikov Land'' * Alexander Obukhov, meteorologist

P

Fyodor Panayev Fyodor Nikolayevich Panayev (russian: Фёдор Никола́евич Пана́ев, 1856—1933) was a Russian teacher and climatologist, the author of a number of books on climatology and one of the founders of Perm Zoo. Fyodor Panayev was ...

, meteorologist * Vasiliy Podshibyakin, geologist, discoverer of Urengoy gas field * Pavel Polian, geographer * Mikhail Pomortsev, meteorologist, inventor of the nephoscope * Aleksandr Popov,

researcher * Vladimir Porfiriev, geologist

R

Voin Rimsky-Korsakov Voin Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov ( rus, Воин Андреевич Римский-Корсаков, p=ˈvoɪn ɐnˈdrʲeɪvʲɪtɕ ˈrʲimskʲɪj ˈkorsəkəf, a=Ru-Voin Andreevich Rimsky-Korsakov.ogg; 1822–1871) was a Russian navigator, hydrog ...

, geographer * Vladimir Rusanov, geologist *

Vasiliy E. Ruzhentsev Vasily Ermolaevich Ruzhentsev (russian: Василий Ермолаевич Руженцев, April 4, 1899 - October 12, 1978) was a Soviet paleontology, paleontologist, Malacology, malacologist and geologist. From 1937 to 1978 he worked at the ...

, geologist Szokalski

S

Farman Salmanov Farman Gurban oglu Salmanov ( az, Fərman Salmanov; russian: Фарман Салманов; July 28, 1931, Morul – March 31, 2007, Moscow) was a Soviet and later Russian geologist famous for discovering great oil fields in Western Siberia in ...

, discoverer of giant oil fields in

West Siberia Western Siberia or West Siberia (russian: Западная Сибирь, Zapadnaya Sibir'; kk, Батыс Сібір) is a part of the larger region of Siberia that is mostly located in the Russian Federation. It lies between the Ural region an ...

* Pyotr Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky, explorer of the Tian Shan Mountains, for 40 years the head of the

, prominent statistician and organiser of the first

Russian Empire Census The first general census of the population of the Russian Empire in 1897 ( pre-reform Russian: ) was the first and only nation-wide census performed in the Russian Empire (the Grand Duchy of Finland was excluded). It recorded demographic data as ...

* Nikolay Shatsky, made a comprehensive tectonic map of North Eurasia, introduced Riphean and

Baikalian The Neoproterozoic Era is the unit of geologic time from 1 billion to 538.8 million years ago. It is the last era of the Precambrian Supereon and the Proterozoic Eon; it is subdivided into the Tonian, Cryogenian, and Ediacaran periods. It is prec ...

geological stages * Pyotr Shirshov, polar explorer, founder of the

Shirshov Institute of Oceanology The Shirshov Institute of Oceanology ( P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology (IO) RAN, russian: Федеральное государственное бюджетное учреждение науки Институт океанологии имен ...

, proved that there is life in high latitudes of the Arctic Ocean * Yuly Shokalsky, first head of the Soviet Geographical Society, coined the term " World Ocean" * Sergey Smirnov, geologist * Boris Sokolov, geologist *

Kozma Spassky-Avtonomov Kozma Fyodorovich Spassky-Avtonomov (russian: Козьма Фёдорович Спасский-Автономов) was born in 1807, in Zakharovka, now Lipetsk Oblast and died in 1890. He was a Russian researcher of the region of Baku, then a city ...

, meteorologist

T

* Mikhail Tetyaev, geologist *

Andrey Tikhonov Andrey Valeryevich Tikhonov (russian: Андрей Валерьевич Тихонов; born 16 October 1970) is a Russian football manager and a former midfielder who was recently the manager of Kazakhstani club Astana. Tikhonov is primarily ...

, mathematician and inventor of magnetotellurics in geology * Aleksey Tillo, made the first correct hypsometric map of

European Russia European Russia (russian: Европейская Россия, russian: европейская часть России, label=none) is the western and most populated part of Russia. It is geographically situated in Europe, as opposed to the cou ...

, coined the term "

Central Russian Upland The Central Russian Upland (also Central Upland and East European Upland) is an upland area of the East European Plain and is an undulating plateau with an average elevation of . Its highest peak is measured at . The southeastern portion of the u ...

", measured the lengths of the main Russian rivers

U

* Nikolay Urvantsev, geologist *

Mikhail Usov Mikhail Antonovich Usov (russian: Михаил Антонович Усов; February 20, 1883 in Kainsk (now Kuybyshev), Tomsk Governorate – July 26, 1939 in Belokurikha, Altai Krai) was a Russian and Soviet geologist and member of the Ac ...

, geologist * Tatyana Ustinova, geographer

V

* Nikolai Vavilov, geographer * Vladimir Vernadsky, philosopher and geologist, a founder of geochemistry, biogeochemistry and

radiogeology Radiometric dating, radioactive dating or radioisotope dating is a technique which is used to date materials such as rocks or carbon, in which trace radioactive impurities were selectively incorporated when they were formed. The method compares t ...

, creator of

noosphere The noosphere (alternate spelling noösphere) is a philosophical concept developed and popularized by the Russian-Ukrainian Soviet biogeochemist Vladimir Vernadsky, and the French philosopher and Jesuit priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. Vernads ...

theory, popularized the term " biosphere" and developed biosphere theory Zimov

Z

* Sergey Zimov, geophysicist specialising in arctic and subarctic ecology, known for advocating the theory that human overhunting of large herbivores during the Pleistocene caused Siberia's grassland-steppe ecosystem to disappear, for raising awareness of the roles permafrost and thermokarst lakes play in the global carbon cycle, and for creating Pleistocene Park *

Yevdokim Zyablovskiy Yevdokim Filippovich Zyablovskiy (russian: Евдоким Филиппович Зябловский) (July 31, 1763 – March 30, 1846) was a Russian geographer and academic. In 1797 Zyablovskiy was appointed as professor of history and geogra ...

, geographer

Alphabetical list

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

K

L

M

O

P

R

S

T

U

V

Z

See also