Mikhail Antonovich Usov ( February 20, 1883 in Kainsk (now Kuybyshev),

Tomsk Governorate Tomsk Governorate () was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire, the Russian Republic, and the Russian SFSR, which existed from 1804 to 1925 as part of Siberian Governorate-General (1804–1822) and West Siberian ...

– July 26, 1939 in Belokurikha,

Altai Krai Altai Krai (, ) is a federal subject of Russia (a krai). It borders, clockwise from the west, Kazakhstan ( East Kazakhstan Region, Abai Region and Pavlodar Region), Novosibirsk and Kemerovo, and the Altai Republic. The krai's administrative ce ...

) was a Russian and

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the structure, composition, and History of Earth, history of Earth. Geologists incorporate techniques from physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and geography to perform research in the Field research, ...

and member of the

Academy of Sciences of the USSR The Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union was the highest scientific institution of the Soviet Union from 1925 to 1991. It united the country's leading scientists and was subordinated directly to the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union (u ...

. He was the first

native Native may refer to: People * '' Jus sanguinis'', nationality by blood * '' Jus soli'', nationality by location of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Nat ...

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

to be elected. He completed his studies at Tomsk Technological Institute (now Tomsk Polytechnic University) under

Vladimir Obruchev Vladimir Afanasyevich Obruchev (; – June 19, 1956) was a Russian and Soviet geologist who specialized in the study of Siberia and Central Asia. He was also one of the first Russian science fiction authors. Scientific research Vladimir Obr ...

and later served on the school's faculty. Usov studied the geology of Siberia as well as adjacent regions in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

and

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

and the gold producing regions of

Kuznetsk Alatau Kuznetsk Alatau () is a mountain range in southern Siberia, Russia. The range rises in the Altai-Sayan region of the South Siberian Mountains, northwest of Mongolia. The Siberian Railway skirts the northern limit of the range. Geography ...

and

Transbaikal Transbaikal, Trans-Baikal, Transbaikalia ( rus, Забайка́лье, r=Zabaykal'ye, p=zəbɐjˈkalʲjɪ), or Dauria (, ''Dauriya'') is a mountainous region to the east of or "beyond" (trans-) Lake Baikal at the south side of the eastern Si ...

. His most significant contributions to Russia were in his studies of the geological structure of the

Kuznetsk Basin The Kuznetsk Basin (, 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 around . It lies in the Kuznetsk Depression between Tomsk and ...

. His work enabled an evaluation of the coal reserves in the region and the prospects for developing industry around the coal. Usov Street in

Tomsk Tomsk (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Tomsk Oblast in Russia, on the Tom (river), Tom River. Population: Founded in 1604, Tomsk is one of the oldest cities in Siberia. It has six univers ...

, where the Geology Department of

Tomsk Polytechnic University National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU) is a technical university in Russia. TPU was a member of 12 international associations, including the Conference of European Schools for Advanced Engineering Education and Research (CESAER) ...

is located, is named after him. A small mountain, Mons Usov, in

Mare Crisium Mare Crisium (Latin ''crisium'', the "Sea of Crises") is a lunar mare located in the Moon's Crisium basin, just northeast of Mare Tranquillitatis. Mare Crisium is a basin of Nectarian age. It was formed by the flooding of basaltic lava that fill ...

on the moon is also named after him.

References

Lives of Scientists, Produced by the Siberian Division of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 30 October 2001 (in Russian)

Tomsk History, Stariy Tomsk Organization, Housed at the Tomsk Oblast Library of Sciences (in Russian)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Usov, Mikhail 1883 births 1939 deaths People from Kuybyshev, Novosibirsk Oblast People from Tomsk Governorate Full Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences Russian geologists Soviet geologists Tomsk Polytechnic University alumni Academic staff of Tomsk Polytechnic University