Ivan Mikhailovich Gubkin (; – 21 April 1939) was a Soviet and Russian geologist and president of the 1937 International Geological Congress in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

. He was a

petroleum geologist A petroleum geologist is an earth scientist who works in the field of petroleum geology, which involves all aspects of oil discovery and production. Petroleum geologists are usually linked to the actual discovery of oil and the identification ...

particularly interested the region between the Volga and the Urals. Gubkin was born to a poor farmer's family in the Belgorod area in the South of Russia. In 1895, aged 24 he moved to Saint Petersburg, but, due to the lack of money, could only enroll to a teachers institute. Only in 1903, he could enter the Petersburg Mining Institute. During his studies there, and after graduation in 1910, he worked at

Maykop Maykop is the capital city of Adygea, Russia, located on the right bank of the Belaya River. It borders Maykopsky District, from which it is administratively and municipally independent, to the east and south; Giaginsky District to the north, ...

Kuban Kuban ( Russian and Ukrainian: Кубань; ) is a historical and geographical region in the North Caucasus region of southern Russia surrounding the Kuban River, on the Black Sea between the Don Steppe, the Volga Delta and separated fr ...

Taman Taman may refer to: Places Africa * Taman, Togo, a town in Bassar Prefecture Asia *Taman, Nepal * Taman, Pemalang, a district in Pemalang Regency, Central Java *Taman, a district in Madiun, East Java, Indonesia *Taman, a district in Sidoarjo Re ...

and Absheron oil fields. In 1920 Gubkin was appointed to lead a government commission that was tasked to study the origin of the

Kursk Magnetic Anomaly The Kursk Magnetic Anomaly () is recognized as the largest magnetic anomaly on Earth. It is a territory rich in iron ores located within the Kursk, Belgorod, and Voronezh oblasts in Russia, and constitutes a significant part of the Central Bla ...

. The commission proved the relation between the anomaly and the nearby iron ore deposits. In 1921, Gubkin joined the Communist Party. He was elected to the

Soviet Academy of Sciences The Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union was the highest scientific institution of the Soviet Union from 1925 to 1991. It united the country's leading scientists and was subordinated directly to the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union (un ...

in 1929, and served as its vice-president from 1936 to 1939. Gubkin's book "The Study of Oil" (1932) developed theory on the origins of oil and the conditions necessary for the formation of oil deposits, and laid out the principles of oil geology. He led the studies of the

from 1920 to 1925, which eventual led to the discovery of huge iron deposits. Gubkin was the editor of the journal ''Problems of Soviet Geology''. During the first and second

Five-Year Plans Five-year plan may refer to: Nation plans * Five-year plans of the Soviet Union, a series of nationwide centralized economic plans in the Soviet Union * Five-Year Plans of Argentina, under Peron (1946–1955) * Five-Year Plans of Bhutan, a series ...

, he was chairman of the "Production Committee" of the Academy of Sciences (1930–1936). In 1936 he became Vice President of the Soviet Academy of Sciences. Gubkin died in Moscow in 1939, and was buried at the

Novodevichy Cemetery Novodevichy Cemetery () is a cemetery in Moscow. It lies next to the southern wall of the 16th-century Novodevichy Convent, which is the city's third most popular tourist site. History The cemetery was designed by Ivan Mashkov and inaugurated ...

. Gubkin was well known to American geologists, as Goubkin. He attended the Annual Fieldtrip of the American Association of State Geologists in 1917, and was the only member of the

American Association of Petroleum Geologists The American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) is one of the world's largest professional geological societies with about 17,000 members across 129 countries. The AAPG works to "advance the science of geology, especially as it relates to ...

from the Soviet Union.

Named in his honor

*Academician Gubkin Prize for accomplishment in petroleum science and engineering (1949–present) *

Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas The Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas () is a public university in Moscow, Russia. The university was founded in 1930 and is named after the geologist Ivan Gubkin. The university is colloquially known as Kerosinka (), meaning 'keros ...

Gubkin Gubkin (, ) is a town in Belgorod Oblast, Russia, located northeast of Belgorod on the Oskolets River, a tributary of the Oskol River. Population: History It was founded in the 1930s in place of the village of Korobkovo and named after geol ...

, a town in Belgorod Oblast, Russia * Gubkinsky, a town in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region of Russia *Gubkina Street in

Belgorod Belgorod (, ) is a city that serves as the administrative center of Belgorod Oblast, Russia, located on the Seversky Donets River, approximately north of the border with Ukraine. It has a population of It was founded in 1596 as a defensiv ...

Grozny Grozny (, ; ) is the capital city of Chechnya, Russia. The city lies on the Sunzha River. According to the 2021 Russian census, 2021 census, it had a population of 328,533 — up from 210,720 recorded in the 2002 Russian Census, 2002 ce ...

Kazan Kazan; , IPA: Help:IPA/Tatar, ɑzanis the largest city and capital city, capital of Tatarstan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka (river), Kazanka Rivers, covering an area of , with a population of over 1. ...

Krasnodar Krasnodar, formerly Yekaterinodar (until 1920), is the largest city and the administrative centre of Krasnodar Krai, Russia. The city stands on the Kuban River in southern Russia, with a population of 1,154,885 residents, and up to 1.263 millio ...

, Moscow,

Murom Murom (, ) is a historical types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in Vladimir Oblast, Russia, which sprawls along the west bank of the Oka River. It borders Nizhny Novgorod Oblast and is situated from the administrative center Vladimir, ...

Novocherkassk Novocherkassk () is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in Rostov Oblast, Russia, located near the confluence of the Tuzlov and Aksay Rivers, the latter a distributary of the Don (river), Don River. Novocherkassk is best known as the ...

, Novyi Urengoi,

Omsk Omsk (; , ) is the administrative center and largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Omsk Oblast, Russia. It is situated in southwestern Siberia and has a population of over one million. Omsk is the third List of cities and tow ...

Volgograd Volgograd,. formerly Tsaritsyn. (1589–1925) and Stalingrad. (1925–1961), is the largest city and the administrative centre of Volgograd Oblast, Russia. The city lies on the western bank of the Volga, covering an area of , with a population ...

Yekaterinburg Yekaterinburg (, ; ), alternatively Romanization of Russian, romanized as Ekaterinburg and formerly known as Sverdlovsk ( ; 1924–1991), is a city and the administrative centre of Sverdlovsk Oblast and the Ural Federal District, Russia. The ci ...

and other sities.

Named in his honor

References

Further reading