Nikolay Nikolayevich Urvantsev (; – 20 February 1985) was a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the structure, composition, and History of Earth, history of Earth. Geologists incorporate techniques from physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and geography to perform research in the Field research, ...

and explorer. He was born in the town of Lukoyanov in the Lukoyanovsky Uyezd of the

Nizhny Novgorod Governorate Nizhny Novgorod Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire, Russian Republic, and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR, roughly corresponding to the Volga region, Upper and ...

of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

to the family of a merchant. He graduated from the Tomsk Engineering Institute in 1918. Urvantsev was among the discoverers of the

Norilsk Norilsk ( rus, Нори́льск, p=nɐˈrʲilʲsk) is a closed city in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, located south of the western Taymyr Peninsula, around 90 km east of the Yenisei, Yenisey River and 1,500 km north of Krasnoyarsk. Norilsk is 300 ...

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

basin and Norilsk

copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

nickel Nickel is a chemical element; it has symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive, but large pieces are slo ...

ore region in 1919-1922 and was among the founders of Norilsk town.

Overview

Career

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 Norwegians () are an ethnic group and nation native to Norway, where they form the vast majority of the population. They share a common culture and speak the Norwegian language. Norwegians are descended from the Norsemen, Norse of the Early ...

had been carrying. The valuable documents were lying abandoned on the

Kara Sea The Kara Sea is a marginal sea, separated from the Barents Sea to the west by the Kara Strait and Novaya Zemlya, and from the Laptev Sea to the east by the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago. Ultimately the Kara, Barents and Laptev Seas are all ...

shore near the mouth of the Zeledeyeva River.William Barr, ''The Last Journey of Peter Tessem and Paul Knutsen'', 1919 In 1930-1932 Urvantsev, together with Georgy Ushakov, explored the

Severnaya Zemlya Severnaya Zemlya (, ) is a archipelago in the Russian high Arctic. It lies off Siberia's Taymyr Peninsula, separated from the mainland by the Vilkitsky Strait. This archipelago separates two marginal seas of the Arctic Ocean, the Kara Sea i ...

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 The Central Siberian Plateau (; ) is a vast mountainous area in Siberia, one of the Great Russian Regions. Geography The plateau occupies a great part of central Siberia between the Yenisei and Lena rivers. It is located in the Siberian Plat ...

. 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 Hydrocarbon exploration (or oil and gas exploration) is the search by petroleum geologists and geophysicists for hydrocarbon deposits, particularly petroleum and natural gas, in the Earth's crust using petroleum geology. Exploration methods V ...

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 (, ) is the Totalitarianism, totalitarian means of governing and Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union (USSR) from History of the Soviet Union (1927–1953), 1927 to 1953 by dictator Jose ...

era Urvantsev was several times wrongfully accused of wrecking. He was convicted and had to serve in

Karlag Karlag (Karaganda Corrective Labor Camp, Russian: Карагандинский исправительно-трудовой лагерь, Карлаг) was one of the largest Gulag labor camps, located in Karaganda Region, Karaganda Oblast (now ...

( Karaganda

labor camp A labor camp (or labour camp, see British and American spelling differences, spelling differences) or work camp is a detention facility where inmates are unfree labour, forced to engage in penal labor as a form of punishment. Labor camps have ...

system) and

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. *Karlo Štajner (1902-1992), Croatian writer *Nikolay Urvantsev ( ...

(Norilsk

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).

Awards and honors

He was the recipient of two

Orders of Lenin The Order of Lenin (, ) was an award named after Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the October Revolution. It was established by the Central Executive Committee on 6 April 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration bestowed by the Soviet ...

and several medals and the

honorary title A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify their generation, official position, military rank, professional or academic qualification, or nobility. In some languages, titles may be ins ...

of Honored Worker of Science. The USSR Geographical Society elected him an Honorary Member and awarded him the Great Gold Medal. The mineral Urvantsevite honors his name.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Urvantsev, Nikolay 1893 births 1985 deaths People from Nizhny Novgorod Oblast People from Lukoyanovsky Uyezd Karlag detainees Russian geologists Soviet geologists 20th-century Russian explorers Explorers of Siberia Severnaya Zemlya Explorers of the Arctic Arctic scientists Tomsk Polytechnic University alumni Recipients of the Order of Lenin Norillag detainees Soviet rehabilitations Soviet explorers

Overview

Career

Awards and honors

See also

References