Alexei Pavlovich Fedchenko (; 31 August/15 September 1873), or Fedtschenko, was a Russian

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

and

explorer Exploration is the process of exploring, an activity which has some Expectation (epistemic), expectation of Discovery (observation), discovery. Organised exploration is largely a human activity, but exploratory activity is common to most organis ...

well known for his travels in

central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

. Alternative transliterations of his name, used in languages such as German, include Aleksei Pavlovich Fedtschenko and Alexei Pawlowitsch Fedtschenko.

Biography

Fedchenko was born at

Irkutsk Irkutsk ( ; rus, Иркутск, p=ɪrˈkutsk; Buryat language, Buryat and , ''Erhüü'', ) is the largest city and administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. With a population of 587,891 Irkutsk is the List of cities and towns in Russ ...

, in

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 ...

, and after attending the gymnasium of his native town, proceeded to the University of Moscow, to study

zoology Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...

and

geology Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...

. He married Olga Armfeldt, a botanist. In 1868, they travelled through Turkestan,

Samarkand Samarkand ( ; Uzbek language, Uzbek and Tajik language, Tajik: Самарқанд / Samarqand, ) is a city in southeastern Uzbekistan and among the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities in Central As ...

, Panjakent, and the upper

Zarafshan River The Zarafshon is a river in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan in Central Asia. Its name, "spreader of gold" in Persian language, Persian, refers to the presence of gold-bearing sands in the upper reaches of the river. To the ancient Greeks it was known ...

valley. In 1870, they explored the Fan Mountains south of the Zarafshan. In 1871, they reached the

Alay Valley The Alai Valley is a broad, dry valley running east–west across most of southern Osh Region of Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia. Geography The valley spreads over a length of east–west. It has a width of in the west, in the central part, and i ...

at Daroot-Korgan and saw the northern

Pamir Mountains The Pamir Mountains are a Mountain range, range of mountains between Central Asia and South Asia. They are located at a junction with other notable mountains, namely the Tian Shan, Karakoram, Kunlun Mountains, Kunlun, Hindu Kush and the Himalaya ...

but were unable to penetrate southward. He also collected significant numbers of insects from three explorations from 1869 to 1873. These were then studied by Ferdinand Morawitz in

St Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

. He recorded 438 species belonging to 36 genera from Central Asia, 68 species of ''

Andrena ''Andrena'' is a genus of bees in the family Andrenidae. With over 1,500 species, it is one of the largest genera of animals. It is a strongly Monophyly, monophyletic group that is difficult to split into more manageable divisions; currently, '' ...

'', 17 species from Europe, and 51 new species. Soon after their return to Europe, he perished on

Mont Blanc Mont Blanc (, ) is a mountain in the Alps, rising above sea level, located right at the Franco-Italian border. It is the highest mountain in Europe outside the Caucasus Mountains, the second-most prominent mountain in Europe (after Mount E ...

while engaged in a tour in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. He had been trying to look at glaciers in France to see how they compared with those in Turkestan. He was 29 years old. His widow had him buried in

Chamonix Chamonix-Mont-Blanc (; ; (no longer in use)), more commonly known simply as Chamonix (), is a communes of France, commune in the departments of France, department in the regions of France, region in Southeastern France. It was the site of the f ...

. After he died, his widow published his investigations and work, before she started re-exploring. She later worked with their son, Boris, but Olga remained an important botanist in her own right. Alexei Fedchenko discovered the life cycle of '' Dracunculus'' which causes Dracunculiasis, more commonly known as Guinea worm disease (GWD). Accounts of the explorations and discoveries of Fedchenko were published by the Russian government: his ''Journeys in Turkestan'' in 1874, ''In the Khanat of Khokand'' in 1875, and ''Botanical Discoveries'' in 1876. See also Petermann's ''Mittheilungen'' (1872–1874). The Fedchenko Glacier in the Pamirs is named after him, as is the asteroid 3195 Fedchenko. The botanical epithets ''fedtschenkoi'' and ''fedtschenkoanus'' may each refer to either Alexei Fedtchenko, or his son Boris Fedtchenko. '' Primula fedtschenkoi'' (Regel) was named after him in 1875. '' Bambusa fecunda fedtschenkoi'', may have been named after him, also a

lacewing The Hemerobiiformia are a suborder of insects in the order Neuroptera that include most of the lacewings, antlions and their allies. The phylogeny of the Neuroptera was explored in 2014 using mitochondrial DNA sequences. The results indicate t ...

in 1875, '' Lopezus fedtschenkoi'' (MacLachlan). A species of

gecko Geckos are small, mostly carnivorous lizards that have a wide distribution, found on every continent except Antarctica. Belonging to the infraorder Gekkota, geckos are found in warm climates. They range from . Geckos are unique among lizards ...

, '' Tenuidactylus fedtschenkoi'', is named in his honor. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Fedtschenko", p. 88).

Works

*1875 ''Puteshestvie v Turkestan; zoogeographicheskia izledovania. Gos. izd-vo Geograficheskoi Literatury'', Moskva.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fedchenko, Alexei Pavlovich 1844 births 1873 deaths 19th-century explorers from the Russian Empire Geographers from the Russian Empire Geologists from the Russian Empire Naturalists from the Russian Empire 19th-century botanists from the Russian Empire Hymenopterists Explorers of Asia People from Irkutsk Moscow State University alumni Mountaineering deaths Deaths on Mont Blanc Sport deaths in France

Biography

Works

References

Further reading

External links