Nikolay Urvantsev
Encyclopedia
Nikolay Nikolayevich Urvantsev was a Soviet
geologist
and explorer. He was born in the town of Lukoyanov
of Nizhny Novgorod Governorate, Russian Empire
to the family of a merchant. He graduated from the Tomsk Engineering Institute
in 1918.
Urvantsev was among the discoverers of the Norilsk
coal
basin and Norilsk copper
-nickel
ore region in 1919-1922 and was among the founders of Norilsk town.
In 1922, while leading a geological expedition, Urvantsev found evidence of the mysteriously disappeared Amundsen
's 1918 Arctic expedition crew members Peter Tessem and Paul Knutsen
. Urvantsev recovered the mail and scientific data that the two ill-fated Norwegians
had been carrying. The valuable documents were lying abandoned on the Kara Sea
shore near the mouth of the Zeledeyeva River
.
In 1930-1932 Urvantsev, together with Georgy Ushakov
, explored the Severnaya Zemlya
archipelago where they discovered a number of islands. He published a book about the expedition, At the Severnaya Zemlya. He also explored other remote areas of Russia, Taimyr and Central Siberian Plateau
.
In 1933-34 the newly formed Glavsevmorput’
(Chief Administration of the Northern Sea Route) sent the steamer Pravda
to Nordvik
on the historical first oil exploration
expedition to Northern Siberia. This venture was led by Nikolay Urvantsev who travelled on the Pravda along with his wife, Dr. Yelizaveta Ivanovna. She was the officer in charge of the medical care of the expedition.
During the Stalinism
era Urvantsev was several times wrongfully accused of wrecking
. He was convicted and had to serve in Karlag
(Karaganda
labor camp
system) and Norillag
(Norilsk labor camp
system).
Urvantsev was fully exonerated
in 1954. Until his death he worked as Chair of the Arctic Geology Department in the Scientific Research Institute of Arctic Geology (НИИГА, now All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of World Ocean Geology and Mineral Resources, VNIIOkeanologiya, ВНИИОкеанология).
He was the recipient of two Orders of Lenin and several medals and the honorary title
of Honored Worker of Science. The USSR Geographical Society elected him an Honorary Member and awarded him the Great Gold Medal.
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
geologist
Geologist
A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth as well as the processes and history that has shaped it. Geologists usually engage in studying geology. Geologists, studying more of an applied science than a theoretical one, must approach Geology using...
and explorer. He was born in the town of Lukoyanov
Lukoyanov
Lukoyanov is a town and the administrative center of Lukoyanovsky District of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia, located on the Tyosha River, south of Nizhny Novgorod. Population: It was established in the 16th century and was granted town status in 1779....
of Nizhny Novgorod Governorate, Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
to the family of a merchant. He graduated from the Tomsk Engineering Institute
Tomsk Polytechnic University
Tomsk Polytechnic University in Tomsk, Russia, is the oldest technical university in Russia east of the Urals. The university was founded in 1896 and opened in 1900 as the Tomsk Technological Institute. In 1923, the school was renamed the Siberian Technological Institute and in 1930, the institute...
in 1918.
Urvantsev was among the discoverers of the Norilsk
Norilsk
Norilsk is an industrial city in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, located between the Yenisei River and the Taymyr Peninsula. Population: It was granted city status in 1953. It is the northernmost city in Siberia and the world's second largest city north of the Arctic Circle...
coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
basin and Norilsk copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
-nickel
Nickel
Nickel is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel belongs to the transition metals and is hard and ductile...
ore region in 1919-1922 and was among the founders of Norilsk town.
In 1922, while leading a geological expedition, Urvantsev found evidence of the mysteriously disappeared Amundsen
Roald Amundsen
Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen was a Norwegian explorer of polar regions. He led the first Antarctic expedition to reach the South Pole between 1910 and 1912 and he was the first person to reach both the North and South Poles. He is also known as the first to traverse the Northwest Passage....
's 1918 Arctic expedition crew members Peter Tessem and Paul Knutsen
Peter Tessem and Paul Knutsen
Peter Tessem and Paul Knutsen were two young men from Norway who went with fellow Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen on his 1918 Arctic expedition aboard ship Maud. Peter Tessem was a carpenter and Paul Knutsen was an able-bodiedseaman...
. Urvantsev recovered the mail and scientific data that the two ill-fated Norwegians
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
had been carrying. The valuable documents were lying abandoned on the Kara Sea
Kara Sea
The Kara Sea is part of the Arctic Ocean north of Siberia. It is separated from the Barents Sea to the west by the Kara Strait and Novaya Zemlya, and the Laptev Sea to the east by the Severnaya Zemlya....
shore near the mouth of the Zeledeyeva River
Zeledeyeva River
The Zeledeyeva River is a river in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. Its source is in the Byrranga Mountains.It flows across desolate tundra regions into the Kara Sea....
.
In 1930-1932 Urvantsev, together with Georgy Ushakov
Georgy Ushakov
Georgy Alexeyevich Ushakov was a Soviet explorer of the Arctic, Doctor of Geographic Sciences ....
, explored the Severnaya Zemlya
Severnaya Zemlya
Severnaya Zemlya is an archipelago in the Russian high Arctic at around . It is located off mainland Siberia's Taymyr Peninsula across the Vilkitsky Strait...
archipelago where they discovered a number of islands. He published a book about the expedition, At the Severnaya Zemlya. He also explored other remote areas of Russia, Taimyr and Central Siberian Plateau
Central Siberian Plateau
The Central Siberian Plateau is made up of sharply demarcated surfaces of varying altitudes occupying most of Siberia between the Yenisei and Lena rivers. It extends over an area of 3.5 million km². The highest point is the Putoran Mountains rising to 1701 m. To the north of the plateau are...
.
In 1933-34 the newly formed Glavsevmorput’
Chief Directorate of the Northern Sea Route
The Chief Directorate of the Northern Sea Route , also known as Glavsevmorput, was a Soviet government organization in charge of the naval Northern Sea Route, established in January 1932 and dissolved in 1964.-History:The organization traces its roots to AO Komseveroput, a shipping company...
(Chief Administration of the Northern Sea Route) sent the steamer Pravda
Steamer Pravda
Steamer Pravda was a Soviet merchant freighter of about 3,100 tonnes displacement, which was active in the Soviet Arctic during the 1930s. This ship had been normally used for carrying timber. It was named after Soviet newspaper Pravda....
to Nordvik
Nordvik (Laptev Sea)
Nordvik was a harbor-port in the Khatanga Gulf at the mouth of the Khatanga River. It was located on the Uryung Tumus Peninsula, west of a bay called Nordvik Bay . Formerly there was a small town and a penal colony next to the harbour, called Nordvik...
on the historical first oil exploration
Oil exploration
Hydrocarbon exploration is the search by petroleum geologists and geophysicists for hydrocarbon deposits beneath the Earth's surface, such as oil and natural gas...
expedition to Northern Siberia. This venture was led by Nikolay Urvantsev who travelled on the Pravda along with his wife, Dr. Yelizaveta Ivanovna. She was the officer in charge of the medical care of the expedition.
During the Stalinism
Stalinism
Stalinism refers to the ideology that Joseph Stalin conceived and implemented in the Soviet Union, and is generally considered a branch of Marxist–Leninist ideology but considered by some historians to be a significant deviation from this philosophy...
era Urvantsev was several times wrongfully accused of wrecking
Wrecking (Soviet crime)
Wrecking , was a crime specified in the criminal code of the Soviet Union in the Stalin era. It is often translated as "sabotage"; however "wrecking" and "diversionist acts" and "counter-revolutionary sabotage" were distinct sub-articles of Article 58 , and the meaning of "wrecking" is closer to...
. He was convicted and had to serve in Karlag
Karlag
Karlag was one of the largest Gulag labor camps, located in Karaganda Oblast , Kazakh SSR, USSR. About 800,000 inmates served in total in Karlag over its history....
(Karaganda
Karaganda
Karagandy , more commonly known by its Russian name Karaganda, , is the capital of Karagandy Province in Kazakhstan. It is the fourth most populous city in Kazakhstan, behind Almaty , Astana and Shymkent, with a population of 471,800 . In the 1940s up to 70% of the city's inhabitants were ethnic...
labor camp
Labor camp
A labor camp is a simplified detention facility where inmates are forced to engage in penal labor. Labor camps have many common aspects with slavery and with prisons...
system) and Norillag
Norillag
Norillag, Norilsk Corrective Labor Camp was a gulag labor camp set by Norilsk, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia and headquartered there. It existed from June 25, 1935 to August 22, 1956....
(Norilsk labor camp
Labor camp
A labor camp is a simplified detention facility where inmates are forced to engage in penal labor. Labor camps have many common aspects with slavery and with prisons...
system).
Urvantsev was fully exonerated
Rehabilitation (Soviet)
Rehabilitation in the context of the former Soviet Union, and the Post-Soviet states, was the restoration of a person who was criminally prosecuted without due basis, to the state of acquittal...
in 1954. Until his death he worked as Chair of the Arctic Geology Department in the Scientific Research Institute of Arctic Geology (НИИГА, now All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of World Ocean Geology and Mineral Resources, VNIIOkeanologiya, ВНИИОкеанология).
He was the recipient of two Orders of Lenin and several medals and the honorary title
Title of honor
An honorary title or title of honor is a title bestowed upon individuals or organizations as an award in recognition of their merits.Sometimes the title bears the same or nearly the same name as a title of authority, but the person bestowed does not have to carry any duties, possibly except for...
of Honored Worker of Science. The USSR Geographical Society elected him an Honorary Member and awarded him the Great Gold Medal.
See also
- Nordvik (Laptev Sea)Nordvik (Laptev Sea)Nordvik was a harbor-port in the Khatanga Gulf at the mouth of the Khatanga River. It was located on the Uryung Tumus Peninsula, west of a bay called Nordvik Bay . Formerly there was a small town and a penal colony next to the harbour, called Nordvik...
- Maria Pronchishcheva BayMaria Pronchishcheva BayMaria Pronchishcheva Bay is a deep gulf in the Laptev Sea. It is located about 75 km north of the mouth of the Khatanga Gulf, on the eastern side of the Taymyr Peninsula....
- Komsomolskaya Pravda IslandsKomsomolskaya Pravda IslandsThe Komsomolskaya Pravda Islands are a group of islands covered with tundra vegetation, shingle and ice. They were known as Ostrova Samuila before the 1917 Russian Revolution and then they were renamed after Komsomolskaya Pravda, being for a while the only island group in the world named after a...