Georgii Nikolaevich Frederiks () (1889–1938) was a

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

and

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, ...

who specialized in

paleontology Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure ge ...

tectonics Tectonics ( via Latin ) are the processes that result in the structure and properties of the Earth's crust and its evolution through time. The field of ''planetary tectonics'' extends the concept to other planets and moons. These processes ...

and

stratigraphy Stratigraphy is a branch of geology concerned with the study of rock layers (strata) and layering (stratification). It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks. Stratigraphy has three related subfields: lithost ...

. He described many

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

taxa In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; : taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular name and ...

before becoming a victim of the

Great Terror The Great Purge, or the Great Terror (), also known as the Year of '37 () and the Yezhovshchina ( , ), was a political purge in the Soviet Union that took place from 1936 to 1938. After the assassination of Sergei Kirov by Leonid Nikolaev ...

. G. N. Frederiks was born in the

Volga The Volga (, ) is the longest river in Europe and the longest endorheic basin river in the world. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catchment ...

region, graduated from the Kazan Imperial University in 1911, and obtained his master's degree in mineralogy and geognosy (geology) from there in 1917. He inherited the title of

Baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...

from his father some time before April 1913. "This title was to cause him angst in subsequent years and, apparently, be a contributing factor to his death at the hands of the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

". He was employed by the

Geological Committee 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 s ...

from 1913, and between 1920 and 21 he was sent to inaugurate the teaching of geology at the newly autonomous

Perm State University Perm State University (now Perm State National Research University; , , romanised: , ) or PSU, PSNRU (, , romanised: , ), is located in the city of Perm, Perm Krai, Russia. Founded in 1916, it claims to be one of the oldest universities in ...

, where he served as professor, head of the Department of Geology, and dean of the Technical Faculty, then returned to the Geological Committee. In 1931 he was purged from the Geological Committee and went to work at the Mining Institute both in the palaeontology section of the Mining Museum and teaching in the Department of General Geology. At that time D. I. Mushketov was the director of the museum and head of the General Geology Department. Skilled in languages and maintaining contact with foreign scientists and with White Russian scientists, he is said to have believed that science is independent of politics. He was arrested February 24, 1935, and exiled for three years to corrective labour camps, from which he was released eight months early, after which he returned to his home in

Leningrad 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 was arrested repeatedly after that and finally on June 13, 1937, was charged with deliberately misinterpreting the geological structure during explorations in the Chusovskie Gorodki Oil Field, and also with conspiracy to kill the leaders of the

USSR 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 ...

. He was executed February 18, 1938, on the same day as his colleague and likely protector D. I. Mushketov and several other colleagues. Full exoneration ( rehabilitation) was granted, posthumously, November 30, 1956. As well as major contributions to stratigraphy and geological mapping, G. N. Frederiks is particularly remembered for his contributions to the paleontology of the late

Paleozoic The Paleozoic ( , , ; or Palaeozoic) Era is the first of three Era (geology), geological eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. Beginning 538.8 million years ago (Ma), it succeeds the Neoproterozoic (the last era of the Proterozoic Eon) and ends 251.9 Ma a ...

era (

Carboniferous The Carboniferous ( ) is a Geologic time scale, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era that spans 60 million years, from the end of the Devonian Period Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the ...

and

Permian The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years, from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.902 Mya. It is the s ...

periods), notably

Brachiopoda Brachiopods (), phylum (biology), phylum Brachiopoda, are a phylum of animals that have hard "valves" (shells) on the upper and lower surfaces, unlike the left and right arrangement in bivalve molluscs. Brachiopod valves are hinged at the rear e ...

Ammonoidea Ammonoids are extinct, (typically) coiled-shelled cephalopods comprising the subclass Ammonoidea. They are more closely related to living octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish (which comprise the clade Coleoidea) than they are to nautiluses (family N ...

, and

Bryozoa Bryozoa (also known as the Polyzoa, Ectoprocta or commonly as moss animals) are a phylum of simple, aquatic animal, aquatic invertebrate animals, nearly all living in sedentary Colony (biology), colonies. Typically about long, they have a spe ...

References

Further references

Web site of Perm State University with reference to G. N. FrederiksGeologist-to-geologist entry for G. N. Fredericks
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frederiks, Georgiy Nikolaevich 1889 births 1938 deaths Russian geologists Soviet paleontologists Soviet geologists Academic staff of Perm State University Great Purge victims from Russia Soviet rehabilitations People from Sechenovsky District