Towards the history of the Russian-Swedish grade measurement expedition in the Svalbard Archipelago (1899–1901): an analysis of the scientific legacy of academician F. N. Chernyshev
- Authors: Filippova T.P.1
-
Affiliations:
- Federal Research Center “Komi Scientific Center of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences”
- Issue: Vol 45, No 1 (2024)
- Pages: 98-113
- Section: Materials for the Biographies of Scientists and Engineers
- URL: https://journals.rcsi.science/0205-9606/article/view/257165
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.31857/S0205960624010056
- ID: 257165
Open Access
Access granted
Abstract
Based on the topical and chronological analysis of archival sources and publications of a prominent Russian geologist, Academician F. N. Chernyshev (1856–1914), his scientific and organizational activities associated with the exploration of little-known territories of the North and the Arctic in the late 19ʰᵗ – early 20ʰᵗ century are reviewed. In particular, the article analyzes the documents regarding the role of F. N. Chernyshev in the organization of the Russian-Swedish Grade Measurement Expedition in the Svalbard Archipelago in 1899–1901. Chernyshev’s contribution to the preparation and implementation of this international scientific project is pictured, based on the documents from his personal fonds and those of the Academy of Sciences’ Commission for Grade Measurement in the Islands of Svalbard, stored in the St. Petersburg Branch of the RAS Archive. The study focuses on Chernyshev’s expeditionary diaries that are introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. Based on these documents, the Expedition’s route and the course of its scientific research are analyzed and the scientists’ working conditions during the trips to the archipelago are shown. The published works by F. N. Chernyshev and his companions were used as additional sources. It is concluded that Chernyshev’s scientific legacy is an important part of the history of the Russian-Swedish Expedition to the Svalbard Archipelago as well as a valuable source for the studies of Russian exploration of the Arctic territories at the turn of the 20ʰᵗ century.
Full Text
About the authors
Tatiana P. Filippova
Federal Research Center “Komi Scientific Center of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences”
Author for correspondence.
Email: tanya.tatiana-fil@yandex.ru
Russian Federation, str. Kommunisticheskaia, 24, Syktyvkar, Republic of Komi, 167982
References
- Anisimov, Iu. A., and Onoprienko, V. I. (1985) Feodosii Nikolaevich Chernyshev: 1856–1914 [Feodosii Nikolaevich Chernyshev: 1856–1914]. Moskva: Nauka.
- Baklund, F. N. (1914) Chernyshev i gradusnoe izmerenie na Shpitsbergene [Chernyshev and Grade Measurement in Svalbard]. Petrograd: Tipo-litografiia “Energiia”.
- Baklund, O. O. (1914) F. N. Chernyshev i gradusnye izmereniia na Shpitsbergene [F. N. Chernyshev and Grade Measurements in Svalbard], Izvestiia Russkogo geograficheskogo obshchestva, vol. l, no. 8, pp. 445–454.
- Beliaev, D. P. (2013) Nauka v interesakh geopolitiki: rossiisko-shvedskaia ekspeditsiia na arkhipelag Shpitsbergen [Science in the Interests of Geopolitics: The Russian-Swedish Expedition to the Svalbard Archipelago], Vestnik Moskovskogo gosudarstvennogo tekhnicheskogo universiteta, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 267–270.
- Chernyshev, F. N. (1901) Russkaia ekspeditsiia na Shpitsbergen [The Russian Expedition to Svalbard], Mir bozhii, no. 2. pp. 223–284.
- Chernyshev, F. N. (1902) Raboty ekspeditsii po gradusnym izmereniiam na Shpitsbergene v 1901 g. [The Works of the Grade Measurement Expedition in Svalbard in 1901], Izvestiia Akademii nauk, 5-ia seriia, vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 133–136.
- Chernyshev, F. N. (1902) Verkhnekamennougol’nye brakhiopody Urala i Timana [Upper Carboniferous Brachiopods of the Urals and Timan]. Sankt-Peterburg: Tipografiia M. Stasiulevicha.
- Chernyshev, F. N. (1915) Orograficheskii ocherk Timana [An Orographic Study of the Timan], Trudy Geologicheskogo komiteta, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 1–136.
- Chernyshev, F. N. (1929) Istoricheskaia geologiia. Kamennougolnaia i permskaia sistemy. 2-e izd. (red. B. K. Likharev) [Historical Geology. The Carboniferous and Permian Systems. 2nd ed. (ed. B. K. Likharev)]. Moskva: Gosudarstvennoe tekhnicheskoe izdatelʼstvo.
- Filippova, T. P. (2021) Dnevnik V. N. Vebera o rabote rossiisko-shvedskoi ekspeditsii po gradusnym izmereniiam na arkhipelage Shpitsbergen v 1901 g. [V. N. Weber’s Diary on the Work of the Russian-Swedish Grade Measurement Expedition in the Svalbard Archipelago in 1901], Vestnik arkhivista, no. 3, pp. 713–724.
- Kasiian, A. S. (2008) Rossiisko-shvedskaia ekspeditsiia po gradusnomu izmereniiu na Shpitsbergene (1898–1901 gg.): vzgliad s rossiiskoi storony [The Russian-Swedish Grade Measurement Expedition in Svalbard (1898–1901): A View from the Russian Side], in: Fedorov, P. V. (ed.) Zhivushchie na Severe: opyt i prognozy [Living in the North: Experience and Forecasts]. Murmansk: Izdatel’stvo Murmanskogo gosudarstvennogo pedagogicheskogo universiteta, pp. 189–194.
- Koren’, T. N. (ed.) (2007) Feodosii Nikolaevich Chernyshev [Feodosii Nikolaevich Chernyshev]. Sankt-Peterburg: Izdatel’stvo VSEGEI.
- Shafranovskii, K. I. (ed.) (1961) Feodosii Nikolaevich Chernyshev. Bibliograficheskii ukazatel’ i materialy k biografii [Feodosii Nikolaevich Chernyshev. Bibliographic Index and Materials for the Biography]. Leningrad.
- Vasil’ev, A. V. (1915) Na Shpitsbergen i po Shpitsbergenu vo vremia gradusnogo izmereniia [To Svalbard and Across Svalbard in the Course of Grade Measurement]. Odessa: Kommercheskaia tipografiia B. I. Sapozhnikova.
- Zimovka na Shpitsbergene 1899–1900 gg. (iz zapisok doktora Bunge) [Wintering in Svalbard in 1899–1900 (From Dr. Bunge’s Notes)] (1900), Pravitelstvennyi vestnik, no. 141, pp. 2–3.
