Mirali Seyidali oglu Qashqai (; January 20, 1907 – April 23, 1977) was an eminent

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

i 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, ...

, author of multitude works in the sphere of

geomorphology Geomorphology () is the scientific study of the origin and evolution of topographic and bathymetric features generated by physical, chemical or biological processes operating at or near Earth's surface. Geomorphologists seek to understand wh ...

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 ...

.''Azerbaijan Soviet Encyclopedia'' (Baku, 1979), vol. 3, p. 106 He was an honorary member of Mineralogical Society, former chairman of Azerbaijani department of the Society, and full member of the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

of the

Azerbaijan SSR The Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, also referred to as the Azerbaijani Soviet Socialist Republic, Azerbaijan SSR, Azerbaijani SSR, AzSSR, Soviet Azerbaijan or simply Azerbaijan, was one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union be ...

. He was one of the founders of scientific school in the sphere geologo-mineralogical sciences and he was the supervisor of geochemistry and mineralogy of ore departments of Geology Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan. Most important works of Mir Ali Gashgai were dedicated to petrology and mineralogy of Azerbaijan. Qashqai studied the

iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...

cobalt Cobalt is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Co and atomic number 27. As with nickel, cobalt is found in the Earth's crust only in a chemically combined form, save for small deposits found in alloys of natural meteoric iron. ...

and

alunite Alunite is a hydroxylated aluminium potassium sulfate mineral, formula potassium, Kaluminium, Al3(sulfur, Soxygen, O4)2(Ohydrogen, H)6. It was first observed in the 15th century at Tolfa, near Rome, where it was mined for the manufacture of alum ...

deposits of Dashkasan and discovered the deposits of

obsidian Obsidian ( ) is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed when lava extrusive rock, extruded from a volcano cools rapidly with minimal crystal growth. It is an igneous rock. Produced from felsic lava, obsidian is rich in the lighter element ...

and

perlite Perlite is an amorphous volcanic glass that has a relatively high water content, typically formed by the Hydrate, hydration of obsidian. It occurs naturally and has the unusual property of greatly expanding when heated sufficiently. It is an indu ...

Kalbajar Kalbajar ( ; ) is a city and the capital of the Kalbajar District of Azerbaijan. Located in the Tartar Valley, it is away from the country's capital city Baku. Before the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, the city had a population of 7,246 people. I ...

(together with A. Mammadov). Together with S. Aliyev, he compiled the

geothermic Geothermal energy is thermal energy extracted from the crust. It combines energy from the formation of the planet and from radioactive decay. Geothermal energy has been exploited as a source of heat and/or electric power for millennia. Geoth ...

map of Azerbaijan and proposed the theory of

volcanic A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often fo ...

origin of Caucasian

pyrite The mineral pyrite ( ), or iron pyrite, also known as fool's gold, is an iron sulfide with the chemical formula Fe S2 (iron (II) disulfide). Pyrite is the most abundant sulfide mineral. Pyrite's metallic luster and pale brass-yellow hue ...

and

chalcopyrite Chalcopyrite ( ) is a copper iron sulfide mineral and the most abundant copper ore mineral. It has the chemical formula CuFeS2 and crystallizes in the tetragonal system. It has a brassy to golden yellow color and a Mohs scale, hardness of 3.5 to 4 ...

instead of the intrusive one. Following the landfall of Yardymly meteorite in 1959 he led the examination of its chemical and physical properties.

Primary dates of life and activity

*1912 – Mir Ali Gashgai entered Ganja gymnasium. *1919 – Mir Ali's mother Habiba Khanim and his uncle Jamil was shot to death by bandits in a home invasion, and Mir Ali was injured. *1920 – Mir Ali was taken to local theatre as the actor and later he became the director of the theatre. Mir Ali's family, which was deprived of livelihood was supported by his salary. *1923 – He left Ganja and moved to Baku. *1924 – He entered the first course of geological-exploratory department of mining faculty of Azerbaijan State Polytechnic Institute. *1930 – After the graduation he became the director of geological-exploratory works in

deposits of Zagliksk. *1930–1935 – Education years in a graduate school of Petrographical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Azerbaijan SSR (

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 ...

), expeditionary trips to the

North Caucasus The North Caucasus, or Ciscaucasia, is a subregion in Eastern Europe governed by Russia. It constitutes the northern part of the wider Caucasus region, which separates Europe and Asia. The North Caucasus is bordered by the Sea of Azov and the B ...

, Azerbaijan and

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 ...

. Three research papers were the result of Siberian expeditions, which were published in the works of Petrographical Institution, in publishing house of the Academy of Sciences 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 ...

, under the edition of the Council for analysis of natural resources. *1934 – Gashgai studied mineral sources of Isti-su in Azerbaijan, collected materials for Candidate's dissertation. Later, these mineral sources will be the separate area of his scientific activity. *1935 – successful defense of the dissertation 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 ...

, in a session of the board of experts of the Institute of Geological Sciences of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union. Leading one of the brigades of the North Caucasian petrographical-chemical expedition of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, he went to study minerals in Karachay autonomous oblast. Research paper “On the northern slope of the Main Caucasian ridge”, where was written about characteristics of minerals of the North Caucasus was the result of the mission. *1935-1936 – Worked as the scientist-expert in the Geological department of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR in Moscow under the guidance of professor P.I.Lebedyev. Composition of geological and geochemical maps of vast territories of Altai, the Southern Siberia, the Northern Caucasus – the main result of Russian period in the life of Azerbaijani scientist. *1936 – He returned to the motherland, where he worked as the senior research officer of Azerbaijani branch of the Academy of Sciences and associate professor of geology cathedra of the university. The expedition, which he led opened six new chromite deposits- valuable raw material for metallurgical industry, deposits of sulfuric pyrite (necessary for oil refinement) and iron minium in mountains of

Lesser Caucasus The Lesser Caucasus or Lesser Caucasus Mountains, also called Caucasus Minor, is the second of the two main ranges of the Caucasus Mountains, of length about . The western portion of the Lesser Caucasus overlaps and converges with east Turkey an ...

. He released a book “Geological terms” (in Azerbaijani and Russian languages) together with such young scientists as K.Alizade, G.Efendiyev and S.Mammadzade.

Works

*The hydrothermal-metasomatic formation of Kaolin and genetic classification of clay rocks. Clay miner. Bull., London, 1959, vol. 4, No.21ю *On the Alpientype veins of Caucasus, Just. Lugas Mallada. C.S.L.O., Madrid, 1960.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Qashqai, Mirali 1907 births 1977 deaths Scientists from Ganja, Azerbaijan Azerbaijan Technical University alumni Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Azerbaijani geologists Soviet geologists Burials at Alley of Honor