Count Grigory Kirillovich Razumovsky (; ; November 10, 1759 – June 3, 1837) was a Russian nobleman, political philosopher, botanist, zoologist and

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, ...

. He was a member of the

Razumovsky The House of Razumovsky or Rozumovsky (, Ukrainian: ''Розумовський'', German: ''Razumofsky'') is the name of an Imperial Russian noble family of Zaporozhian Cossack origin from Siveria. The main family line became extinct in th ...

noble family.

Career

Razumovsky is known from his writings in the West as Gregor or Grégoire, who lost his Russian citizenship for openly criticizing the czarist system under emperor

Alexander I Alexander I may refer to: * Alexander I of Macedon, king of Macedon from 495 to 454 BC * Alexander I of Epirus (370–331 BC), king of Epirus * Alexander I Theopator Euergetes, surnamed Balas, ruler of the Seleucid Empire 150-145 BC * Pope Alex ...

, which he saw as pandering to the desires of a corrupt oligarchy of nobles. Gregor emigrated to western Europe, where was subsequently incorporated into the

Bohemian nobility Czech nobility consists of the noble families from historical Czech lands, especially in their narrow sense, i.e. nobility of Bohemia proper, Moravia and Austrian Silesia – whether these families originated from those countries or moved into th ...

(Inkolat im Herrenstande) in 1811 and accorded the rank of count of the

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire, officially known as the Empire of Austria, was a Multinational state, multinational European Great Powers, great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the Habsburg monarchy, realms of the Habsburgs. Duri ...

. As a natural scientist, Gregor was the first to describe and classify ''Lissotrion helveticus''. He was the fifth son of the last

hetman ''Hetman'' is a political title from Central and Eastern Europe, historically assigned to military commanders (comparable to a field marshal or imperial marshal in the Holy Roman Empire). First used by the Czechs in Bohemia in the 15th century, ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

Kirill Grigorievich Razumovsky Count Kirill Grigoryevich Razumovsky or Razumovski (also known as ''Cyril Razumovski''; ; ;Oleksander Ohloblyn. Rozumovsky, Kyrylo'. Encyclopedia of Ukraine – ) was a Russian statesman of Ukrainian Cossack origin who served as the last h ...

and brother of prince

Andreas Razumovsky Count (later Prince) Andrey Kirillovich Razumovsky (2 November 1752 – 23 September 1836) was a Russian diplomat who spent many years of his life in Vienna. His name is transliterated differently in different English sources, including sp ...

, he is also the ancestor of all living members of the family as such, the Russian lines having gone extinct. In the field of geology, Razumovsky has been described as a "non-actualistic catastrophist". He was also an advocate of

Neptunism Neptunism is a superseded scientific theory of geology proposed by Abraham Gottlob Werner (1749–1817) in the late 18th century, who proposed that rocks formed from the crystallisation of minerals in the early Earth's oceans. The theory took ...

. In 1788, he was elected a foreign member of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences () is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special responsibility for promoting nat ...

Publications

* Observations Minéralogiques sur les environs de Vienne (1822). * «Essai d’un système de transition de la nature dans le règne minéral. Lausanne» * «Oeuvres de M. le comte Grégoire de Razoumowsky». Lausanne, chez Maures Cadet. 1784. 2 vol. * "Histoire naturelle de Jorat et de ses environs et celle des trois lacs de Neufchatel, Morat et Brienne, précédée d’un essai sur le climat, les productions, le commerce, les animaux de la partie du pays de Vaud ou de la Suisse Romanne, qui entre dans le plan de cet ouvrage, par le comte de Razoumowsky (Lausanne, chez Jean Maures. 1789. 2 vol). * Von der Ukrainischen Stutereien. Lernbegriff von den Krankheiten der Pferde und deren Heilung von I. C. Zeihers. Berlin. 8

Memberships

* Royal Academy of Turin *

Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities The Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities () is an independent public institution, located in Munich. It appoints scholars whose research has contributed considerably to the increase of knowledge within their subject. The general goal of th ...

Russian Mineralogical Society The Russian Mineralogical Society (RMS) is a public scientific organization uniting specialists and scientific groups working in the field of mineralogy and adjacent sciences. RMS was founded in 1817 Saint Petersburg, Russia, and is the world oldes ...

* Jena Mineralogical Society * Imperial Moscow Society of Naturalists * Zurich Physical Society * Basel Medical Physics Society * Turin Agronomic Society

References

1759 births 1837 deaths Catastrophism Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Scientists from Saint Petersburg Grigory Geologists from the Russian Empire Ukrainian people in the Russian Empire Emigrants from the Russian Empire Immigrants to the Austrian Empire {{Geologist-stub