Vladimir Yulyevich Wiese (; 5 March 1886 – 19 February 1954) was a Russian scientist of German descent who devoted his life to the study of the Arctic

ice pack An ice pack or gel pack is a portable bag filled with water, refrigerant gel, or liquid, meant to provide cooling. They can be divided into the reusable type, which works as a thermal mass and requires freezing, or the instant type, which coo ...

. His name is associated with the Scientific Prediction of Ice Conditions theory. Wiese was a member of the Soviet Arctic Institute and an authority on polar

oceanography Oceanography (), also known as oceanology, sea science, ocean science, and marine science, is the scientific study of the ocean, including its physics, chemistry, biology, and geology. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of to ...

. He was also the founder of the Geographico-hydrological School of Oceanography.

Biography

Wiese was born to German immigrants to Saint Petersburg, Julius Friedrich Franz Wiese and Lydia Karoline Amalie Gertrud Blass. He graduated from the

Saint Petersburg University Saint Petersburg State University (SPBGU; ) is a public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter the Great, the university from the be ...

and the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen (, commonly referred to as Georgia Augusta), is a Public university, public research university in the city of Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1734 ...

Arctic expeditions

In 1912–14 Wiese went with

Georgy Sedov Georgy Yakovlevich Sedov (; – ) was a Russian Arctic explorer. Sedov was born in the village of Krivaya Kosa of Taganrog district (now Novoazovskyi Raion, Donetsk Oblast) to a fisherman's family. In 1898, he finished navigation courses in ...

’s expedition on the ship ''St. Foka'' to

Novaya Zemlya Novaya Zemlya (, also , ; , ; ), also spelled , is an archipelago in northern Russia. It is situated in the Arctic Ocean, in the extreme northeast of Europe, with Cape Flissingsky, on the northern island, considered the extreme points of Europe ...

and

Franz Josef Land Franz Josef Land () is a Russian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. It is inhabited only by military personnel. It constitutes the northernmost part of Arkhangelsk Oblast and consists of 192 islands, which cover an area of , stretching from east ...

. After the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

Wiese took part in a number of

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 ...

Arctic expeditions. In 1924 Wiese studied the drift of

Georgy Brusilov Georgy Lvovich Brusilov (; May 19, 1884 – disappeared in 1914) was a Russian naval officer of the Imperial Russian Navy and an Arctic explorer. His father, Lev Brusilov, was also a naval officer. In 1912 Brusilov led a maritime expedition whic ...

's ill-fated Russian ship ''St. Anna'' when she was trapped on the pack ice of 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 ...

. He detected an odd deviation of the path of the ship's drift caused by certain variations of the patterns of sea and ice currents. He concluded that the deviation was caused by the presence of an undiscovered island, whose coordinates he could accurately calculate thanks to the availability of the successive positions of the ''St. Anna'' during its drift. The island was later named after Wiese. Finally the island was discovered on 13 August 1930 by a Soviet expedition led by

Otto Schmidt Otto Yulyevich Shmidt (born Otto Friedrich Julius Schmidt; – 7 September 1956), better known as Otto Schmidt, was a Soviet scientist, mathematician, astronomer, geophysicist, statesman, and academician. Biography He was born in the town of ...

aboard the icebreaker ''Sedov'' under

Captain Vladimir Voronin Vladimir Ivanovich Voronin (; October 17, 1890 – October 18, 1952) was a Soviet Navy captain, born in Sumsky Posad, in the present Republic of Karelia, Russia. In 1932 he commanded the expedition of the Soviet icebreaker '' A. Sibiryakov'' whi ...

. The island was named Wiese Island, who was at the time aboard the ''Sedov''. In July 1931 Wiese led an expedition on icebreaking steamer '' Malygin'' to Franz Josef Land and the northern part of the

. He carried out meteorological, electromagnetic and hydrological observations during this expedition. During this expedition German

airship An airship, dirigible balloon or dirigible is a type of aerostat (lighter-than-air) aircraft that can navigate through the air flying powered aircraft, under its own power. Aerostats use buoyancy from a lifting gas that is less dense than the ...

''Graf Zeppelin'' made a rendezvous with icebreaker ''Malygin'' at Bukhta Tikhaya in

Hooker Island Hooker Island (; ''Ostrov Gukera'') is one of the central islands of Franz Josef Land. It is located in the central area of the archipelago at . It is administered by the Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. History Hooker Island was discovered by the ...

. At

Rudolf Island Prince Rudolf Land, Crown Prince Rudolf Land, Prince Rudolf Island or Rudolf Island () is the northernmost island of the Franz Josef Archipelago, Russia and is home to the northernmost point in Russia. Owing to the island's location, its shelter ...

Wiese recovered artifacts from the abandoned huts of the 1904–1905

Ziegler Polar Expedition The Ziegler polar expedition of 1903–1905, also known as the Fiala expedition, was a failed attempt to reach the North Pole. The expedition party remained stranded north of the Arctic Circle for two years before being rescued, yet all but one o ...

to Franz Josef Land. His intention was to carry out deep-sea oceanographic research in the Arctic basin, but due to fog and bad weather he reluctantly gave up and the expedition headed south. He had also hoped to carry out oceanographic research in the then little-explored northern part of the

, but the ice concentrations became progressively heavier until it was decided to turn back. In this Arctic expedition Wiese's scientific zeal was tempered by Captain Chertkhov's prudent decisions. Even so, the expedition was quite successful. Surface water temperatures were taken at 295 locations, water samples were taken from 273 stations, and meteorological observations were duly taken every four hours. Earlier in 1929 Wiese proposed setting up a drifting polar observatory near the North Pole. His proposal was accepted only in 1935, resulting in the

North Pole-1 North Pole-1 () was the world's first crewed drifting ice station in the Arctic Ocean, primarily used for research. North Pole-1 was established on 21 May 1937 and officially opened on 6 June, some from the North Pole by the expedition into the ...

expedition.Дрейфующие станции
RIA Novosti. 21 May 2017 Wiese took part in its preparation, but could not participate due to declining health. He went into his final expedition in 1937, on icebreaker ''Sadko''. Its goal was to sail to

Henrietta Henrietta may refer to: * Henrietta (given name), a feminine given name, derived from the male name Henry Places * Henrietta Island in the Arctic Ocean * Henrietta, Mauritius * Henrietta, Tasmania, a locality in Australia United States * Hen ...

, Zhokhov and

Jeannette Island Jeannette Island (; ) is the easternmost island of the De Long Islands archipelago in the East Siberian Sea. Administratively it belongs to Sakha Republic, Yakutia of the Russian Federation. Geography Jeannette is the second smallest island of ...

s, in the De Long group and carry out scientific research. The purpose of the expedition was also to find out how could the Northern Sea Route be used for regular shipping. But the Soviet naval authorities changed the plans and the ice-breaker was sent instead to help ships in distress in the

Kara Kara or KARA may refer to: Geography Localities * Kara, Chad, a sub-prefecture * Kára, Hungary, a village * Kara, Uttar Pradesh, India, a township * Kara, Iran, a village in Lorestan Province * Kara, Republic of Dagestan, a rural locality in ...

and

Laptev Sea The Laptev Sea () is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. It is located between the northern coast of Siberia, the Taimyr Peninsula, Severnaya Zemlya, and the New Siberian Islands. Its northern boundary passes from the Arctic Cape to a point with ...

s. ''Sadko'' itself became trapped in fast ice at 75°17'N and 132°28'E near

New Siberian Islands The New Siberian Islands (; ) are an archipelago in the Extreme North of Russia, to the north of the East Siberian coast between the Laptev Sea and the East Siberian Sea north of the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic, of whose Bulunsky District they ar ...

. Two other Soviet icebreakers that researched the ice condition in the same area, ''Sedov'' and ''Malygin'', also became trapped by sea ice and drifted helplessly. Owing to persistent bad weather conditions, part of the stranded crew members and some of the scientists could only be rescued in April 1938. On 28 August 1938, icebreaker ''Yermak'' freed two of the three ships at 83°4'N and 138°22'E. The third ship, ''Sedov'', would remain in the ice to begin an 812-day drift during which the one remaining junior scientist supervised hundreds of astronomical, electromagnetic and depth measurements before they were finally freed between

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

and

Svalbard Svalbard ( , ), previously known as Spitsbergen or Spitzbergen, is a Norway, Norwegian archipelago that lies at the convergence of the Arctic Ocean with the Atlantic Ocean. North of continental Europe, mainland Europe, it lies about midway be ...

by the icebreaker ''Joseph Stalin'' on 18 January 1940. The crew and scientists were welcomed back in the Soviet Union as heroes.

Personal life

Wife - Olga Wiese (nee Balabina) (1902-1983). Vladimir Yulievich had two daughters, Olga and Tatyana. The descendants of Vladimir Yulievich live in Germany, as well as in Estonia, in the city of Narva.

Awards and honors

In 1933 Wiese was elected as a corresponding member of the Soviet Academy of Sciences. He was awarded 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 a Stalin Prize (1946). Several geographical objects in the Soviet Arctic bear his name, including the Wiese Island.Визе Владимир Юльевич
knowledge.su

Scientific works

* ''Morya Sovetskoy Arktiki''. (Russian) Moscow-Leningrad 1948 * ''The expedition on board the icebreaking steamer “Malygin” to Zemlya Frantsa Iosifa''. 1933 (transl. from Russian) * ''The voyage of the icebreaker “Malygin” to Zemlya Frantsa Iosifa in 1931''. Trudy (transl. from Russian) * "Die Vorhersage der Eisverhältnisse im Barentsmeer". ''Arktis I''. 1928 (German).

References