Who is Karpinsky. Arkhipova N.P., Yastrebov E.V. How the Ural Mountains were discovered. Alexander Karpinsky: “You have to study all your life”

Karpinsky Alexander Petrovich - geologist and paleontologist, public figure. Academician of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1889). Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR (1925) and the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR (1928). President of the Russian Academy of Sciences / Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Member of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR (1935). Alexander Petrovich Karpinsky was born on December 26, 1846 (January 7), 1847 in the village of Turinskiye Rudniki, now Krasnoturinsk, Sverdlovsk Region. In 1866 he graduated from the Mining Institute in St. Petersburg. He was sent to the disposal of the head of the Ural mining plants. He worked as an assistant to a geologist in the Zlatoust district, then as a superintendent of the Miass gold mines.

In 1867 he was invited to the Mining Institute to engage in scientific and teaching activities. In 1869, he defended his dissertation on petrography at the institute “Augite rocks of the village of Muldakaeva and Mount Kachkanar in the Urals” and was approved as an adjunct of the department of geology, geognosy and ore deposits. In 1877-96. institute professor. Actively participated in the organization of the Geological Committee (1882), in which at first he worked as a senior geologist, in 1885-1903 he was its director, and in 1903-29 - honorary director. From 1899 to 1936. - President of the Mineralogical Society of Russia.

Karpinsky is considered one of the founders of the Russian geological school, while Karpinsky bore the honorary title of "Father of Russian Geology" during his lifetime. He participated in the compilation of the geological map of Europe and in the unification of graphic images in geology. Scientific activity of A.P. Karpinsky was distinguished by versatility. He compiled consolidated geological maps of the Urals and the European part of the USSR. The works of A.P. Karpinsky on tectonics, paleogeography and paleontology. He was the first to reveal the main features of the tectonic structure of the Russian Platform, pointing out (in 1880) the presence of a crystalline folded base and sedimentary cover in its structure, highlighting (in 1883) a band of dislocated sedimentary rocks in southern Russia.

In 1869 A.P. Karpinsky was one of the first in Russia to use a microscope to study rocks. At the International Geological Congress in 1900. in Paris, he delivered a report on the principles of classification and nomenclature of rocks, indicating that in the classification of igneous rocks their mineralogical composition and structure should be of primary importance. Geological and petrographic studies of A.P. Karpinsky are closely connected with practical geology. The general geological work of A.P. Karpinsky, in particular his geological and paleogeographic maps, served as the basis for broad practical forecasts for mineral prospecting. For the totality of works, A.P. Karpinsky was awarded the Konstantinovsky medal of the Russian Geographical Society (1892) and the Prize. Cuvier AN France (1921). A.P. Karpinsky was a permanent representative of Russian geological science at international geological congresses (beginning with the 2nd session of the congress in Bologna in 1881); participated in the compilation of a geological map of Europe and in the unification of graphic images in geology. He was chairman of the Organizing Committee and president of the 7th session of the International Geological Congress (1897, St. Petersburg). From 1899 to 1936 President of the Mineralogical Society. Elected an honorary member of many foreign academies of sciences.

A.P. Karpinsky enthusiastically studied the so-called problematic organic remains, the taxonomic position or morphology of which did not allow them to be given an exact position in the hierarchy of the organic world. Among such organisms unraveled by him are the dental apparatus of sharks - Helicoprion, the nature of some plant organisms - Trochiliscus and Mitsia, etc. An independent series of works consists of A.P. Karpinsky’s research on the history of the development of the vast territory of the Russian Platform, the outlines of the ancient seas that once flooded almost its entire territory. They allowed A.P. to predict the eastern continuation of the Donets Ridge to the territory of the Caspian Sea. This buried mountain range was called the Karpinsky Ridge.

Proceedings of A.P. Karpinsky: Collected Works: In 4 vols. M.; L .: Publishing House Acad. Sciences of the USSR, 1939-1949. Literature about A.P. Karpinsky: Alexander Petrovich Karpinsky: 1847-1936: Index of the main works. L.; Moscow: Acad. Sciences of the USSR, 1936. A.P. Karpinsky: On the life and work of the founder of Soviet geology. M .: Young Guard, 1937. Kumok Ya.N. Karpinsky. M .: Young Guard, 1978. (ZhZL). Romanovsky S.I. Alexander Petrovich Karpinsky: 1847-1936. L .: Nauka, 1981. Karpinsky Alexander Petrovich. M., 2000. (Materials for the biobibliography of scientists: Geol. Sciences: Issue 50). Solovyov Yu.Ya., Bessudnova Z.A., Przhedetskaya L.T. Domestic full and honorary members of the Russian Academy of Sciences: XVIII–XX centuries: Geology and mining sciences. M.: Scientific world, 2000.

Membership in RAS (3)

Membership in other academies

corresponding member of the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia (1897)

corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences in Vienna (1897)

honorary member of the Bologna Academy of Sciences (1898)

foreign member of the National Academy in Rome (1898)

foreign member of the Belgian Academy (1898)

corresponding member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences in Munich (1899)

honorary member of the Academy of Sciences, Literature and Art in Acireale, Sicily (1903)

full member of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR (1925)

full member of the Academy of Sciences of the Byelorussian SSR (1928)

Administrative positions (2)

Higher education (1)

Awards and prizes

Big gold medal of the Russian Geographical Society (1892),

Medal of Honor in memory of Hayden of the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia (1897),

Order of the Crown of the Commander's Cross, Romania (1899),

Order of the Sacred Treasure 1st Class, Japan (1899),

Order of the Polar Star of the Commander's Cross, 1st class with a star, Sweden (1903),

Wollaston Medal of the Geological Society of London, England (1916),

prize to them. J. Cuvier of the Paris Academy of Sciences, France (1921) and others.

Archive (place of storage of the archival fund, archival materials):

1. SPF ARAN. Fund 265
2. Karpinsky Alexander Petrovich (1847–1936), President of the USSR Academy of Sciences in 1917–1936 (documentary exhibition on the SPF ARAN website)

Place of storage of personal files: SPF ARAN

Cipher: SPF ARAN. F.2. Op.17. D.62.

Area of ​​expertise: Geology

Curriculum vitae

Karpinsky Alexander Petrovich (1847, Bogoslovsky plant of the Perm province - 1936, Udelnoye settlement, Moscow region) - geologist;

ordinary academician of the Academy of Sciences (1896), president of the Academy of Sciences (1917-1936)

Alexander Petrovich Karpinsky was born on December 26, 1846 (January 7, 1847) at the Theological Plant (until 1776 the plant was called Turinsky, and then it was named after the cathedral erected next to the plant in the name of St. Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian) Theological mountain district of the Verkhotursky district of the Perm province (since 1941, the city of Karpinsk, Sverdlovsk region) in the family of Peter Mikhailovich and his wife, Maria Ferdinandovna Karpinsky.

A.P. Karpinsky from a dynasty of mining engineers, the founders of the so-called "Ural" branch of which were the brothers Peter and Mikhail (1777-1848) Karpinsky, and the founder of the "Altai" branch was their younger brother Alexander (1789-1857). They were the sons of Mikhail Fedorovich Karpinsky (1746–1789), a teacher of rhetoric at the Tobolsk Theological Seminary, archpriest of the Sophia Cathedral in Tobolsk.

Father A.P. Karpinsky - Pyotr Mikhailovich (1808–1856), graduated from the St. Petersburg Mining Cadet Corps (1829) and was appointed to serve in the Urals as the superintendent of the gold mines of the Bogoslovsky District, in 1831 he discovered new gold placers, from 1837 - the manager of the Turinsky mines, from 1848 - mining chief of the Yekaterinburg factories, retired colonel (1854). Mother - Maria Ferdinandovna, nee Grashof, daughter of the head of the Theological Plants, Major General of the Corps of Mining Engineers Ferdinand Bogdanovich Grashof (1798-1852), was the granddaughter of the famous metallurgist, a major organizer of the mining industry of the Southern Urals, Tomsk civil governor Pavel Petrovich Anosov (1796-1851 ). In the family of P.M. and M.F. Karpinsky had four sons, two of them Mikhail (1843–1920?) and Alexei (1845–1920) followed in the footsteps of their father and were mining engineers, Peter died early, the younger Alexander became a scientist, geologist, the first president of the Academy of Sciences.

After the death of her husband in 1856, the widow would not have been able to give her sons a decent education, if not for the rule that the children of mining engineers could receive education at public expense. Alexander Karpinsky (and his brothers: Mikhail and Alexei) were educated in the St. Petersburg Mining Cadet Corps. In 1857 all three were sent to St. Petersburg.

The Mining Cadet Corps, formed in 1773, was the first domestic higher technical educational institution, was originally called the Mining School, 30 years later it was renamed the Mining Cadet Corps, and since 1866 it became known as the Mining Institute. Corps - an institution militarized and closed; the students were divided into companies, they were commanded by sergeants and non-commissioned officers; in addition to general education and special subjects, they studied rifle techniques, marching, choral singing, fencing, gymnastics and dancing. By that time, the equipment of the laboratories and classrooms of the Mining School was at a high level: models, flasks, globes, preparations, various kinds of mechanisms, retorts made by the best domestic craftsmen; bought equipment from abroad. The library contained thousands of volumes in European languages, a museum, and many paleontological exhibits. The mine was especially famous - a real, albeit small, dug in the yard. Alexander Karpinsky graduated from the institute in 1866 with a small gold medal, with the rank of lieutenant and with the title of mining engineer. Graduates were assigned to the civil service in the mining district of their choice. A.P. Karpinsky chose the Urals, where he was born and spent his childhood, and in the Urals - the Zlatoust district, with mineral mines of iron mines.

For two years, A.P. Karpinsky worked in the Urals, first at the disposal of the head of the Ural mining plants, an assistant geologist in the Zlatoust district, under the guidance of a mining engineer and professor at the Mining Institute Gennady Danilovich Romanovsky; then from August 1, 1867 - the caretaker of the Miass gold mines.

At the end of 1867, on the recommendation of G.D. Romanovsky, Karpinsky was invited by his institute teacher of geology and geognosy, professor, honorary doctor of geology of the St. Petersburg Mining Institute Nikolai Pavlovich Barbot de Marny to St. Petersburg to teach at the Mining Institute. On January 4, 1868, Karpinsky set to work. At the institute, he began processing the geological materials he had in order to prepare a dissertation. In 1868-1872. Karpinsky together with Professor N.P. Barbot de Marny took part in geological research along the lines of railways under construction in the European part of Russia.

On May 11, 1869, Karpinsky defended his dissertation on petrography (“Augite rocks of the village of Muldakaeva and Mount Kachkanar in the Urals”), which was published in the Mining Journal. After reading two trial lectures, on May 15, 1869, he was approved as an adjunct of the department of geology, geognosy and ore deposits, which was headed by Barbot de Marny.

Karpinsky's works in the field of petrography played an important role in the development of this science in Russia. The scientist studied various igneous rocks from various regions of Russia, and he paid special attention to the most difficult and mysterious petrographic formations. He subjected the selected objects to a comprehensive, in-depth study. Karpinsky was one of the first to use a polarizing microscope in Russia to study rocks (1869). The experiment was combined in the petrographic studies of Karpinsky with a broad geological approach and always with an exhaustive characterization of the literature on this issue.

In 1876 A.P. Karpinsky began extensive research on the geological structure of the Urals.

In 1877 A.P. Karpinsky was elected professor of the Department of Geology, Geognosy and Ore Deposits of the Mining Institute, where he lectured on historical geology, petrography and ore deposits until 1896. Alexander Petrovich created a large school of petrographers-geologists at the Mining Institute. The characteristic scientific methods of his school were approaches to rocks as natural historical formations, which cannot be studied without a careful study of the geological environment surrounding them. He was convinced that in the classification of rocks their mineralogical composition and structure should be of primary importance. As for the chemical composition of the rock, in most cases it can be judged already on the basis of the mineralogical composition. A.P. Karpinsky created a general classification of sedimentary formations of the earth's crust. The nomenclature, which denotes the divisions of the sedimentary strata of the earth's crust, was adopted at the II International Geological Congress in Bologna (September 26 - October 2, 1881), where Karpinsky took part and was in two subcommittees: on the unification of geological designations and on the unification of geological nomenclature. On October 5, 1881, Karpinsky was awarded the Congressional Prize for this work.

Geological and petrographic studies of Karpinsky were closely connected with practical geology. On January 19, 1882, by decree of Emperor Alexander III, the Geological Committee (Geolcom) was created as part of the Mining Department of the Ministry of State Property. The tasks of the Geolcom included the systematic study of the geological structure of the country and the mineral wealth of its subsoil, the conduct of regional geological mapping, and later the systematic description of the geological structure of the territory of the Russian Empire. A.P. Karpinsky was one of the organizers of the Geological Committee, in which at first he was a senior geologist, and from February 25, 1885 to April 28, 1903 he was its director, in 1903-1929. - honorary director Geolcom originally included only a few geologists, but they were prominent scientists, and therefore, in a very short time, the committee did a lot of work - reworking the stratigraphy of the entire European part of our country and the Urals. As a result, a geological map was supplemented and published (scale: 60 miles in one inch), compiled even earlier for educational purposes by A.P. Karpinsky. Then they began to draw up a more detailed map (10 miles to an inch). A series of geological and paleontological monographs has been published. At the same time, the Russian part of the International Geological Map of Europe was compiled. On November 10, 1882, Karpinsky was elected a representative of Russia in the International Commission for the Publishing of a Geological Map of Europe. In 1885 (September 28 - October 3) Karpinsky took part in the III International Geological Congress in Berlin, where he was a member of the International Commission for the Unification of Geological Designations and the Commission for the Geological Map of Europe. The work of Russian geologists in compiling a geological map of Europe received a brilliant assessment and world recognition in 1897 at the International Geological Congress that took place in St. Petersburg.

Karpinsky conducted his geological research (study of minerals) in the Donbass, in the Kharkov and Pskov regions and other places in the European part of Russia. Karpinsky predicted the presence of rock salt in the Donbass, which was soon confirmed by drilling; but his most important works were devoted to his homeland - the Urals. Their significance for the development of the mining industry in the Urals is exceptionally great.

February 7, 1886 A.P. Karpinsky was elected an adjunct of the Physics and Mathematics Department of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences with a degree in geology. On December 29, 1886, at a solemn public meeting of the Academy of Sciences, Karpinsky read a report "On the physical and geographical conditions of European Russia in past geological periods."

On March 4, 1889, at the General Meeting of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, Karpinsky was unanimously elected an extraordinary academician.

A.P. Karpinsky began to be involved in solving academic problems. In 1894, Karpinsky was included in the Commission for editing a new draft of the Charter of the Academy of Sciences, headed by the president, Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich; in 1895 - to the Commission to provide benefits to needy scientists, writers, publicists; in 1911 - to the Commission for the organization of the Lomonosov Institute, etc. September 4, 1904, in connection with the death of Academician N.F. Dubrovin, the General Meeting instructed A.P. Karpinsky to temporarily fulfill the position of indispensable secretary of the Academy of Sciences. He contributed to the academic career of many scientists, first of all, a prominent scientist and thinker V.I. Vernadsky. It was at the suggestion of Karpinsky that Vernadsky was elected an ordinary academician in 1911, and in 1913 he was appointed director of the Geological and Mineralogical Museum.

The First World War changed the activities of the Academy of Sciences. In order to mobilize the resources needed for defense, in 1915 the Commission for the Study of Natural Productive Forces (KEPS) was organized. One of the main initiators of its creation was A.P. Karpinsky. He ensured close cooperation between KEPS and the Geological Committee, which was searching for strategic raw materials (tungsten, molybdenum, bismuth, tin, etc.). Karpinsky also participated in the work of the Commission for the Salvation of Monuments of Art and Culture from the Devastating Consequences of the War.

A.P. Karpinsky huge authority in various sectors of society. It is no coincidence that on May 15, 1916, Emperor Nicholas II instructed him to act as Vice-President of the Academy of Sciences after the death of P.V. Nikitin. A year earlier, the Academy also lost its president, Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich, so A.P. Karpinsky had to head the Academy of Sciences and ensure its survival in the tragic trials that befell Russia after the February Revolution of 1917.

On March 24, 1917, an extraordinary General Meeting of the Academy of Sciences took place, at which a decision was made to rename the Imperial Academy of Sciences into the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS). Steps were taken to democratize the RAS, in particular, the autonomy of the board was introduced. May 15, 1917 A.P. Karpinsky became the first president of the Russian Academy of Sciences elected by the scientists themselves at the General Meeting. The Ministry of Public Education, in its letter No. 1481 dated July 28, 1917, notified the Academy that the Provisional Government approved this election. Five years later, in May 1922, the General Meeting of the Russian Academy of Sciences again elected Academician A.P. Karpinsky as President of the Academy for a new term.

Under the leadership of Karpinsky, measures began to be taken to reform the Academy of Sciences and Russian science as a whole. Scientists developed plans for the creation of new universities, institutes, associations in different regions of Russia. Karpinsky was one of the organizers of the Free Association for the Development and Propagation of Positive Sciences, founded in the spring of 1917.

Karpinsky did not accept the October Revolution. On November 18, 1917, at an extraordinary meeting of the General Assembly of the Russian Academy of Sciences, he stated that the ongoing events threatened the death of the country and called for a protest. However, after trying to organize resistance to the Bolshevik government, Karpinsky embarked on the path of professional cooperation with him.

Largely due to the high moral and scientific authority of A.P. Karpinsky, his personal courage and responsibility for the fate of the country and Russian scientists, the leadership of the Academy of Sciences managed to preserve domestic fundamental science and lay the foundations for its further successful development. As a result of energetic efforts undertaken by the president of the Academy of Sciences and its other leaders, on July 27, 1925, the Central Executive Committee of the USSR and the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR "On the recognition of the Russian Academy of Sciences as the highest scientific institution of the USSR" were adopted. The Academy of Sciences, transformed into an all-Union one, became known as the Academy of Sciences of the USSR.

The leadership of the Academy of Sciences managed to achieve the adoption of a new academic Charter. On June 18, 1927, this Charter was approved by the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR. In accordance with it, the number of full members of the Academy of Sciences increased from 42 to 75; the right to nominate candidates for elections to the Academy of Sciences was granted to scientific institutions, public organizations and groups of scientists. Instead of three departments, two departments were formed at the Academy of Sciences of the USSR: the Department of Mathematical and Natural Sciences and the Department of the Humanities. On May 23, 1930, the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR approved the new Charter of the USSR Academy of Sciences, in which special attention was paid to the need to replenish the Academy of Sciences with highly qualified scientific personnel in order to intensify its work on solving specific national economic problems.

During the presidency of A.P. Karpinsky, a lot of work was done to expand the network of academic institutions. Already in 1917, the Caucasian Historical and Archaeological Institute arose, in 1918 - the Institute of Physical and Chemical Analysis and the Institute for the Study of Platinum and Other Precious Metals, and in 1921 - the Institute of Physics and Mathematics. In 1925, academic institutes were created - Physiological, Chemical and Soil Institutes. V.V. Dokuchaev. On the basis of the KEPS departments, new academic institutes grew up: Optical, Hydrological, Radium, Ceramic, X-ray, the first academic technical institute - Energy. At the beginning of the 1930s, a number of new institutions were organized: the Institute of Oriental Studies, the Botanical, Zoological Institutes, the Institute of History, etc.

The leadership of the Academy of Sciences, headed by A.P. Karpinsky carried out work on the organization of branches and bases in different regions of the USSR. Early 1930s. the Ural, Far Eastern and Transcaucasian branches were organized; Kazakh and Tajik bases, Khibiny base on the Kola Peninsula.

In 1934, by decision of the government of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, she was transferred to Moscow.

Successes in the development of domestic science in the 1920s - the first half of the 1930s. largely became the result of the activities of the President of the Academy of Sciences A.P. Karpinsky. Over the years, A.P. Karpinsky managed to do a lot in terms of improving the material support of academic science and scientists.

The main scientific works of A.P. Karpinsky: Geological research in the Orenburg region (1874); Geological map of the eastern slope of the Urals (1881); Materials for studying the methods of petrographic research (1885); Essay on the physical and geographical conditions of European Russia in past geological periods (1887); On the Ammoneans of the Artinskian Stage and on some Carboniferous forms similar to them (1890); On the correctness in the outline, distribution and structure of the continents (1888); General nature of fluctuations of the earth's crust within European Russia (1894); On the tectonics of European Russia (1919); Collected Works (1939-1941); Essays on the geological past of European Russia (1947).

Scientific and scientific-organizational activity of A.P. Karpinsky was awarded many awards and prizes, among them: the Big Gold Medal of the Russian Geographical Society (1892), the Medal of Honor in memory of Hayden of the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia (1897), the Order of the Crown of the Commander's Cross, Romania (1899), the Order of the Sacred Treasure of the 1st class, Japan (1899), Order of the Polar Star of the Commander's Cross, 1st class with a star, for participation in the organization of the 1902 expedition by degree measurement to the islands of Svalbard, Sweden (1903), Wollaston medal (named after William Hyde Wollaston; William Hyde Wollaston 1766-1828 ) of the London Geological Society, England (1916), prize to them. J. Cuvier of the Paris Academy of Sciences, France (1921) and others.

A.P. Karpinsky was an honorary member of many national academies and scientific societies: president of the Russian Mineralogical Society (1899-1936), honorary member of the Belgian Geological Society (1892), honorary member of the Kyiv Society of Naturalists, at the University of St. Vladimir (1892), corresponding member of the Royal Society of Sciences in Göttingen (1892), emeritus professor of the Mining Institute (1894), honorary member of the Belgian Society of Geology, Paleontology and Hydrology in Brussels (1897), full member of the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia (1897) , honorary member of the Natural History Society in Mecklenburg (1897), corresponding member of the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia (1897), corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences in Vienna (1897), honorary member of the Swiss Society of Natural Sciences (1897), honorary member of the Scientific Society in Mexico (1898), honorary member of the Bologna Academy of Sciences (1898), corresponding member of the London Geological Society (1898), foreign member of the National Academy in Rome (1898), foreign member of the Belgian Academy (1898), director of the St. Petersburg Mineralogical Society (since 1899 ), corresponding member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences in Munich (1899), ordinary foreign member of the London Geological Societies a (1902), honorary member of the Academy of Sciences, Literature and Art in Acireale, Sicily (1903), honorary member of the Geological Society in Vienna (1924), foreign member of the Academy of Naturalists in Galle (1925), honorary member of the Academy of Sciences in La Spezia, Italy ( 1926), honorary member of the All-Russian Literary, Drama and Musical Society named after A.N. Ostrovsky (1928), full member of the Academy of Sciences in Turin (1928).

Family: Wife - Alexandra Pavlovna, nee Brusnitsyna, daughter of Academician of the Academy of Arts - Pavel Lvovich Brusnitsyn (1816-1871). Children - Evgenia Alexandrovna (1874-1963), in the 1920s. worked in the Polar Commission of the Academy of Sciences, husband - Innokenty Pavlovich Tolmachev, geologist, geographer and paleontologist; Tatyana Alexandrovna (1876-1942), artist; Maria Alexandrovna (1881-1943), husband - Nikolai Nikolaevich Becker, artist, lived in Paris; Alexandra Alexandrovna (1886 -1942), graduated from the St. Petersburg Conservatory.

Alexander Petrovich Karpinsky died on July 15, 1936 in the village. Specific, near Moscow. Urn with ashes of A.P. Karpinsky rests in Moscow, on Red Square, in the Kremlin wall.

Since 1946, the Academy of Sciences has been awarding a prize and a gold medal named after A.P. Karpinsky for outstanding work in the field of geology. The city of Karpinsk (formerly Bogoslovsk) in the Sverdlovsk region bears the name of Academician Karpinsky.

Venerable Russian geologists in the Urals

"The Urals attracted me with its nature, gold placers, mineral mines, and a variety of geological composition."

A. P. Karpinsky

In order to carry out geological prospecting work more successfully, it is necessary to know the regularities in the distribution of minerals, their association with rocks of a certain petrographic composition and age, it is necessary to know the geological structure and geological history of the region.

The special attention of researchers of the nature of the Urals was riveted to the study of just such problems. Among the scientists in the Urals there have always been the most geologists. And among the huge army of geologists there were the most venerable ones, whose names entered the history of our region forever. Among them are A.P. Karpinsky, F.N. Chernyshev, E. S. Fedorov. The fates of these scientists, the areas of their research, their thoughts about the Urals were different. But all of them are united by one thing: selfless service to Russian science, service to their country. These scientists made a great contribution to the study of the geological structure of the Urals, to the identification of regularities in the distribution of minerals.

The route map of expeditions of A.P. Karpinsky, F.N. Chernysheva, E. S. Fedorova

CORIPHEUS OF THE URAL GEOLOGISTS A.P. KARPINSKY

In the words of Academician D. V. Nalivkin, Alexander Petrovich Karpinsky "was connected with the Urals throughout his life." He was born on December 26, 1846 in the village of Turinskiye Rudniki (Krasnoturinskiy district), died in 1936 near Moscow. In 1866, he graduated from the St. Petersburg Mining Institute with a gold medal and was sent to the disposal of the head of the Ural mining plants. There he was assigned to the Zlatoust mining district and in 1867 was appointed superintendent of the Miass gold mines. Then he first visited the famous Ilmen mineralogical mines. However, the first business trip to the Urals turned out to be short, because already in 1868 he was enrolled as an adjunct to the St. Petersburg Mining Institute, and in 1871 he was approved as a professor at this institute.

In 1882, the Geological Committee was organized in St. Petersburg - the first state geological institution in Russia, which was responsible for a comprehensive geological study of the country and conducting geological surveys. Karpinsky took an active part in the organization and work of this institution and from 1885 was its director (and from 1903 to 1929 - honorary director). In 1896 he was elected a member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, from 1917 until the end of his life he was president of the USSR Academy of Sciences. In 1932, the Ural branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences was organized in Sverdlovsk. Then Karpinsky was elected its honorary chairman.

Karpinsky began a serious study of the Urals in 1871. Since then, for decades, he repeatedly came to the Urals, which allowed him to understand the age and territorial distribution of the rocks presented here more deeply than his predecessors, to solve a number of important problems of the geological structure of the Urals in in general.

Karpinsky's merit is great in that he revealed some general patterns in the location of the main geological zones, as well as sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic rocks in the Urals. True, some considerations on this issue have been expressed before. But Karpinsky confirmed them with convincing factual material from different regions of the region.

Being a thinker on a large scale, Karpinsky outlined the main stages of the geological history of the Urals, namely: the stage of accumulation of kilometer-long strata of various sedimentary material and the intrusion of magma, which took place in the Lower and Middle Paleozoic; the main stage of folding and formation of the Urals as a large mountainous country (in the Upper Paleozoic); the stage of the destruction of mountains and the removal of clastic material from it to the adjacent plains (Upper Paleozoic and Mesozoic). This general scheme, along with the identified main geological zones and structures in the Urals, helped him and other researchers to understand the patterns of territorial distribution of the most important ore and non-metallic minerals.

The scientist noted that the geological structure of the Urals is characterized by great complexity and is associated with a variety of conditions in which sedimentation and the formation of various structures took place, as well as the intrusion of magma for a long time. He significantly refined many aspects of the paleogeography of the Urals.

Karpinsky paid the main attention to the study of the eastern slope of the Middle and Southern Urals. This is the subject of the major summary work Geological Investigations on the Eastern Slope of the Urals, which occupies almost the entire fourth volume of his collected works (1949).

Karpinsky emphasized the significant difference between the geological structure of the eastern and western slopes of the Urals. “The spurs of the western slope,” he wrote, “are formed mainly by sedimentary rocks ... on the eastern slope of the Urals, on the contrary, mainly crystalline rocks are developed” (Karpinsky A.P. Geological studies on the eastern slope of the Urals / Collected works in 4 -x vol. - T. 4. - 1949 - S. 13-14). In this regard, different types of mineral deposits are presented on different slopes. The western slope is characterized by deposits of brown iron ore, cuprous sandstone and coal. The vein and stock-like deposits are located on the eastern slope.

Studying the Southern Urals, Karpinsky, together with F.N. Chernyshev, came to the conclusion that the relief of this part of the Urals is closely related to the geological structure. Scientists have given many examples characterizing the confinement of various relief elements (remnants on mountain tops, karst cavities, etc.) to certain rocks.

Conducting field research in the Middle Cis-Urals in 1873, in the area of ​​the Artinsky plant, on Mount Kashkabash (Now Mount Kashkabash has been declared a geological natural monument of federal significance (Sverdlovsk region)), Karpinsky drew attention to the rock mass containing a peculiar fauna (cephalopods) . This stratum has not been distinguished by geologists before. Karpinsky called it the Artinsk stage of the Permian system. During the years of Soviet power, geologists discovered oil in the Artinsk stage, and therefore it was subjected to careful study, in particular, with the help of drilling.

In the last decades of the XIX century. in the Urals, the demand for hard and brown coal began to increase. By that time, its deposits were known both on the western and eastern slopes. But the deposits remained extremely poorly explored. Karpinsky paid much attention to coal-bearing deposits. As a result of the work carried out, it turned out that the area of ​​coal occurrence is much larger than expected.

The name of Karpinsky is also associated with the study of copper ore, iron ore and other mineral deposits.

The scientist made a lot of geological maps on the territory of the Urals. Some of them Karpinsky created together with F. N. Chernyshev and S. N. Nikitin. These include maps of the Zlatoust Mining District, the Ilmensky Mountains, and others. Having collected and processed a vast amount of factual material, Karpinsky led the work on compiling a geological map of European Russia and the Urals. It summarizes the results of the knowledge that Russian geological science had at that time. Named after Karpinsky in the Urals are: mountain (see Ch. 27); glacier (see Ch. 26) and a city in the Sverdlovsk region.

Alexander Petrovich Karpinsky Born December 26, 1846 (January 7, 1847) in the village of Turinskiye Rudniki, now the city of Krasnoturinsk, Sverdlovsk Region, died July 15, 1936 in Moscow.

Born in the family of a mining engineer. Graduated from the Mining Institute in St. Petersburg (1866). From 1869 adjunct, in 1877-96 professor at the same place. Actively participated in the organization of the Geological Committee (1882), in which at first he worked as a senior geologist, in 1885-1903 he was its director, and in 1903-29 - honorary director. Academician A.A. Borisyak wrote that “A.P. Karpinsky was formally the third, but, in fact, the first director of the Geological Committee. Under him and under his direct supervision, work was launched on the geological mapping of the country, when a small group of prominent geologists (S.N. Nikitin, I.V. Mushketov, etc.) in 10-15 years brought Russia to the forefront in setting up a geological service countries.

In 1886 he was elected an adjunct of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, in 1889 an extraordinary one, and in 1896 an ordinary academician. Since 1916, he served as vice president of the Academy of Sciences, and on May 15, 1917, he became its first elected president. Under his leadership, the work of the Academy of Sciences was restructured. A.P. played a big role. Karpinsky in organizing the study of the country's productive forces.

Scientific activity of A.P. Karpinsky was distinguished by versatility. He compiled consolidated geological maps of the Urals and the European part of the USSR. The works of A.P. Karpinsky on tectonics, paleogeography and paleontology. He was the first to reveal the main features of the tectonic structure of the Russian Platform, pointing out (in 1880) the presence of a crystalline folded base and sedimentary cover in its structure, highlighting (in 1883) a band of dislocated sedimentary rocks in southern Russia.

At the second session of the CIM (Bologna, 1881), proposed by A.P. Karpinsky's article "The experience of the systematic unification of graphic symbols in geology", written just in connection with the needs of world geological cartography, received the second prize and, as a result, the coloring of the Mesozoic systems (Triassic - purple, Jurassic - blue, chalk - green) and Cenozoic (yellow tones ) was approved by the session of the IGC for A.P. Karpinsky, and for the Paleozoic, the colors proposed by the Swiss geologist A. Game were adopted.

Later (1887 and 1894), using the method of tectonic analysis developed by him using paleogeographic constructions, A.P. Karpinsky showed that the strike of structures created by the oscillatory movements of the earth's crust within the Russian platform in the early Paleozoic was parallel to the Baltic Shield, and later - to the system of ridges of the Greater Caucasus or the Urals. Only after the work of A.P. Karpinsky, the phenomena of transgressions and regressions received their real scientific explanation in geology. As stated in one of the latest editions of the History of Geology (1973, p. 388): “These generalizing studies of A.P. Karpinsky received high praise and worldwide recognition from his contemporaries. In fact, the existence of a new young science, paleogeography, was confirmed.”

In 1899, A.P. Karpinsky's monograph “On the remains of edestids and their new genus Helicoprion” was published. Karpinsky considered the most important result of his research to be that in the monograph "the assignment of edestids to elasmobranchia is proved by their histological structure and shagreen scales." The use of the histological method in the research work of a paleontologist was an innovation. Therefore, Alexander Petrovich himself considers its use one of the important achievements of his monograph on helicoprion. In 1906 his monograph "On the Trochilis" was published. In this comprehensive study, A.P. Karpinsky proved that trochilisks and forms close to them are not animals (foraminifera, or coelenterates), as the first researchers of these organisms believed, but calcified spores of higher thallus plants - charophyte.

One of the first in Russia, A.P. Karpinsky used (1869) a microscope to study rocks. At the 8th session of the International Geological Congress in 1900 in Paris, A.P. Karpinsky made a report on the principles of classification and nomenclature of rocks, indicating that in the classification of igneous rocks their mineralogical composition and structure should be of primary importance.

Geological and petrographic studies of A.P. Karpinsky are closely connected with practical geology. The general geological work of A.P. Karpinsky, in particular his geological and paleogeographic maps, served as the basis for broad practical forecasts for mineral prospecting.

For the totality of works, A.P. Karpinsky was awarded the Konstantinovsky medal of the Russian Geographical Society (1892) and the Prize. Cuvier AN France (1921). A.P. Karpinsky was a permanent representative of Russian geological science at international geological congresses (beginning with the 2nd session of the congress in Bologna in 1881); participated in the compilation of a geological map of Europe and in the unification of graphic images in geology. He was chairman of the Organizing Committee and president of the 7th session of the International Geological Congress (1897, St. Petersburg). From 1899 to 1936 President of the Mineralogical Society. Elected an honorary member of many foreign academies of sciences.

A.P. Karpinsky worked a lot in various commissions, both scientific and organizational. A city in the Sverdlovsk region, a volcano on the island of Paramushir (Kuril Islands), a mountain in the Northern Urals, a bay near the Taimyr Peninsula, a bay on the Pacific Ocean, a glacier on Novaya Zemlya are named after A.P. Karpinsky, there is also a mineral karpinskyt - a complex silicate, geological museum of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and a street in Leningrad, etc. Our institute bears the name of A.P. Karpinsky. In 1946, the USSR Academy of Sciences established the A.P. Karpinsky Prize and Gold Medal for outstanding work in the field of geology.

He was buried in Red Square near the Kremlin wall.

life path

Alexander Petrovich Karpinsky was born on December 26, 1846 (January 7, 1847) in the village of Turinskiye Rudniki, now Krasnoturinsk, Sverdlovsk Region. He came from an old family of Ural miners, whose representatives, according to established tradition, after graduating from the Cadet Mining Corps in St. Petersburg, renamed the Mining Institute in 1883, served as plant managers and engineers mainly in the Urals. For the first time, Alexander Petrovich came to the northern capital in the summer of 1858 as an eleven-year-old boy. Together with other orphans of mining engineers, where he arrived, comprehending the "encyclopedia" of mining business, for seven years.

After graduating from this educational institution with a small gold medal and an engineering diploma and having served for a short time in the South Urals in the Zlatoust district, A.P. Karpinsky was invited to teach at the Mining Institute and taught there for 29 years, from 1867 to 1896. But also in the later years of his life, he did not cease to be a teacher, due to the fact that he was sociable, ready to share his thoughts, and at the same time a specialist in all geological disciplines, he had students in all of them.

In 1882, a state geological institution was organized, which received the name of the Geological Committee. A.P. Karpinsky took an active part in its creation and from 1885 to 1900 was its director. Beginning in 1881, he was a permanent representative of Russian geology at international geological congresses. The merits of Alexander Petrovich were noted by our Academy of Sciences, which elected him a member in 1886. Later he became a member of a number of European academies. In 1916, A.P. Karpinsky was elected the first elected president of the Academy of Sciences and remained so for 20 years until the end of his life.

The owner of high scientific regalia, awards and prizes awarded to him by the most authoritative domestic and foreign academies and societies, he has always been close to matters related to art. At one time he was a member of the commission on the issue of copyright in literary, musical and artistic works, was an honorary member of the All-Russian Literary, Drama and Musical Society named after A. N. Ostrovsky.

He was the permanent chairman of the Mineralogical Society and for a long time was chairman of the Geological Department of the St. Petersburg Society of Naturalists.

The scientific activity of A.P. Karpinsky was distinguished by its versatility. His most outstanding works, which brought him worldwide fame, touched upon the fields of paleontology, tectonics and paleogeography of European Russia and the Urals.

The first works of A.P. Karpinsky, including his dissertation, were petrographic. One of the first in Russia in 1869, he used a microscope to study rocks. Problems of ore deposits are connected with petrography. One of the questions that interested him keenly until the last days was the origin of the Ural deposits of platinum. A.P. Karpinsky developed his own theory, which raised a number of fundamental questions of magma differentiation.

In 1880, his work "Remarks on the sedimentary formations of European Russia" was published, where he first noted the two-tiered structure of the studied territory, distinguishing between the "granite base" and the sedimentary cover. In later works: "Essay on the physical and geographical conditions of European Russia in past geological periods" (1887) and "The general nature of the fluctuations of the earth's crust within European Russia" (1894), the method of tectonic analysis developed by him was applied using paleogeographic constructions. A.P. Karpinsky showed that the strike of structures created by oscillatory movements of the earth's crust within the Russian platform in the early Paleozoic was parallel to the Baltic Shield, and later - to the system of ridges of the Greater Caucasus or the Urals. A.P. Karpinsky was the first to use facies analysis in the field of paleooceanography to clarify the nature of the marine basin in which the sediments that formed the modern Donbass were deposited. They were the first to give a tectonic map of the Urals, mainly its eastern slope, and the first tectonic map of the European part of our country.

In close connection with the tectonic constructions of A.P. Karpinsky are his paleogeographic maps - maps of the distribution of seas and land in past periods on the area of ​​the Russian platform. The construction of such maps led A.P. Karpinsky to a generalization of exceptional importance. He noted that the change in the configuration of the seas is subject to certain rules. In other words, he was the first to state the regularity of the movement of the earth's crust.

The basis, the general background of the work of A.P. Karpinsky was his stratigraphic research. The Urals, where he was born and where his independent scientific work began, enjoyed his special attention. He gave the best years of his life to the Urals. Unfortunately, not all the results of his work have been published. He compiled a geological map of the eastern Urals, unsurpassed in accuracy. The works of A.P. Karpinsky for the first time outlined the solution to the riddle of the eastern slope of the Urals, which was largely destroyed and buried under the West Siberian lowland. Russian science is indebted to him for the elegant reconstructions of the mighty folds of the Urals on the basis of materials supplied to him as the greatest geologist by other researchers from all over the country. He illuminated the structure of many areas of the European and Asian parts of our country and established many of the most important geological facts. At the second session of the International Geological Congress in Bologna in 1881, the article "The experience of the systematic unification of graphic symbols in geology" proposed by Karpinsky received the second prize and, as a result, the coloring of the Mesozoic systems was approved (Triassic - purple, Jurassic - blue, Chalk - green) and Cenozoic (yellow tones).

His paleontological works are also of the greatest importance. On invertebrates, he owns a monograph on the Artinsk (Lower Permian) ammonians. Extremely thorough studies allowed A.P. Karpinsky to establish the phylogenetic relationships of the ammoniums he studied, i.e. build their family tree. It was one of the first works of its kind in world literature, introducing a new ontogenetic method into science. For this work, he received the Cuvier Prize from the French Academy of Sciences. The history of the Artinsk ammonians showed that they developed locally from the Carboniferous, and did not come to us in the Urals from the outside, i.e. that there was no break between the Carboniferous and Permian sea basins, as geologists believed based on the study of the same ammoniums.

The second remarkable paleontological monograph by A.P. Karpinsky has as its object the mysterious Artinsk fish. Only the dental apparatus, which looks like a spiral saw, has been preserved from it. According to A.P. Karpinsky, this apparatus should have protruded from the mouth in the form of a special appendage. A.P. Karpinsky was also engaged in other mysterious fossils, which flocked to his hands as the largest paleontologist from all sides. The third major monograph by A.P. Karpinsky, which has become a classic, describes the oogonia ("fruits") of Devonian charophytes, which are found in abundance in Devonian deposits.

The garden, in which there were lawns, and impenetrable thickets, and alleys, and flower beds, fell down to the Protoka River, and, when he had enough strength, he went to the shore, found stumps, and sat down. The summer was unusually stuffy, thunderstorms often blazed. There were many mosquitoes, and the windows in the country house were covered with gauze. Doctors tightened the diet and prescribed a dozen more drugs, some of which he took with mineral water, others with compote after dinner, and still others were injected with a needle, for which a team of nurses was constantly on duty at the dacha. And he asked for one medicine: Castor oil. Nothing else. But the doctor thought that this was just impossible, because it would hurt the heart, and it was already weak.

Alexandra Alexandrovna took a chance, seized the moment when the nurses left him, poured some castor oil. And it really did get easier! He cheered up, walked, ate with appetite.

But the weakness did not go away. They put him back to bed. He was depressed that they were on duty around him, he complained about the nurses.

That I'm the only one, or what?

The night of the fifteenth of June was especially stuffy. Lightnings were engaged and extinguished, everything gathered, gathered, and a thunderstorm could not break out in any way. Alexander Petrovich tossed about in bed:

Tear off the damned gauze, I'm suffocating! The electricity went out.

Call the station immediately! - Worried relatives and nurses. - In half an hour to do an injection!. Get at least a candle!

Suddenly he sent everyone away, quietly and distinctly, as best he could:

Let everyone come out and leave me alone.

And they listened to him, it is not clear why, and left. When they return, they will find him dead, and everyone will be left with the unsolved secret of his last will.

He was a secretive person and did not let anyone into the intimate corners of his soul, and what is more intimate for a person than his farewell minute with the world?