DOI: 10.25136/2409-8744.2023.2.37594

Abstract: The subject of the study is the practice of functioning of the scientific community of Russia at the turn of the XIX and XX centuries. The object of the study is the personality of the famous scientist, academician E.S. Fedorov (1853-1919). The main source of the research was the memoirs "Our everyday life, sorrows and joys", the author of which is the wife of the scientist L.V. Fedorov. The memoirs were prepared by 1927 at the request of E.S. Fedorov's students and colleagues and were dedicated to his personality. The memoirs cover the period of the second half of the XIX century – the beginning of the XX century . and they cover the life of the Fedorov family. Currently, the original document is stored in the Academician's personal fund in the St. Petersburg branch of the Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences. In 1992, the memoirs were published in print. Based on the thematic-chronological method of analyzing the source, the article considers the image of E.S. Fedorov as a scientific figure. The main attention is paid to the study of the scientific biography of the scientist in the 1880s-1890s. During this period, the scientist was an employee of the Geological Committee, conducted successful expedition studies of the Northern Urals, published the first results of the theory of crystal structure he was developing. The ideas and achievements of the scientist at that time were not recognized among the scientific community of Russia and he had to fight for a place in the scientific world. Based on the memoirs, the motives of E.S. Fedorov's scientific activity, his relationships with colleagues and mentors are analyzed for the first time, the scientist is shown in the role of a family man. The conclusion is made about the value of this source as expanding the boundaries of the study of the biography of a scientist and the functioning of science in general. XIX century – beginning . XX century .

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2020.3.33326

Abstract: The object of this research is the history of scientific development of the European North of Russia in the late XIX – early XX century. The subject of this research is the historical role of the Geological Committee in exploration of this territory. The chronological framework covers the period from 1882 to 1918, since the establishment of scientific institution until its reorganization as a result of revolutionary events of 1917. Based on the archival and published sources, the author analyzes expedition activity of the Geological Committee in Northern Ural, Timman, Novaya Zemlya, and the Kola Peninsula in the late XIX – early XX centuries, the results of which became the first systematic integrated explorations on regional geology of the European North of Russia. The indicated problematic has not previously become the subject of separate research. It is proven that research of the European North of Russia was one of the priority vectors of the Geological Committee at the time. The following expedition results are highlighted:  a substantial territory of the European North of Russia is explored; thorough geological surveying is conducted; extensive paleontological collection is amassed; mineral deposits are discovered that gave science conceptually new data on geological development of this region. Research conducted by the Geological Committee demonstrated the resource potential of northern territories and raised the question on the need for their inclusion into economic development of the country, which became an important factor for further development of the European North of Russia.