Rudolf (Ruvim) Lazarevich Samoylovich (; 13 September ( O.S. 1 September), 1881 – 4 March 1939) was a

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 ...

polar explorer, professor, and doctor of geographic sciences.

Biography

Samoylovich was born into the family of a Jewish merchant in

Azov Azov (, ), previously known as Azak ( Turki/ Kypchak: ), is a town in Rostov Oblast, Russia, situated on the Don River just from the Sea of Azov, which derives its name from the town. The population is History Early settlements in the vici ...

. After graduating from the

Mariupol Mariupol is a city in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. It is situated on the northern coast (Pryazovia) of the Sea of Azov, at the mouth of the Kalmius, Kalmius River. Prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it was the tenth-largest city in the coun ...

Gymnasium ( ru), he studied

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

and

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

at Imperial Novorossiya University where he became involved in revolutionary activities and came under police surveillance. Under pressure from his concerned mother, he relocated to Germany and studied at the Mining Academy in Freiberg. While in Germany he remained politically active, including by shipping to Azov copies of the underground newspaper ''

Iskra ''Iskra'' (, , ''the Spark'') was a fortnightly political newspaper of Russian socialist emigrants established as the official organ of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP). History ''Iskra'' was published in exile and then smuggl ...

''. After graduating in 1904, he returned to Azov and worked on the underground printing of revolutionary literature. In 1906, he moved to

Rostov-on-Don Rostov-on-Don is a port city and the administrative centre of Rostov Oblast and the Southern Federal District of Russia. It lies in the southeastern part of the East European Plain on the Don River, from the Sea of Azov, directly north of t ...

. Samoylovich participated in rallies and campaigns to organize railroad workers,

Cossacks The Cossacks are a predominantly East Slavic languages, East Slavic Eastern Christian people originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe of eastern Ukraine and southern Russia. Cossacks played an important role in defending the southern borde ...

, and soldiers. During this time he was once again under police surveillance and was arrested in July 1906. He lived in

Saint Petersburg 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 ...

for two years as an accountant under the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...

Sorokin. During this time he was involved with the

Russian Social Democratic Labour Party The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP), also known as the Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party (RSDWP) or the Russian Social Democratic Party (RSDP), was a socialist political party founded in 1898 in Minsk, Russian Empire. The ...

. He was arrested and exiled to Pinega. In 1910, he was allowed to relocate to the nearby city of

Arkhangelsk Arkhangelsk (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. It lies on both banks of the Northern Dvina near its mouth into the White Sea. The city spreads for over along the ...

where he became involved in Arctic studies and met Vladimir Rusanov. In 1912, he participated in Rusanov's geological expedition to

Spitsbergen Spitsbergen (; formerly known as West Spitsbergen; Norwegian language, Norwegian: ''Vest Spitsbergen'' or ''Vestspitsbergen'' , also sometimes spelled Spitzbergen) is the largest and the only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipel ...

. Samoylovich was one of the initiators and the first director of the Northern Research and Trade Expedition. In 1925, this research center was reorganized into the Institute of Northern Studies, which was headed by Samoylovich until 1930. The institute was reorganized as the All-Union Arctic Institute in which Samoylovich served as deputy director from 1932 to 1938. Samoylovich founded the Department of Polar Countries at Leningrad State University and served as its chairman from 1934 to 1937. During this period, Samoylovich also took part in numerous Arctic expeditions. In 1928 he commanded the icebreaker '' Krassin'' in a mission to rescue survivors of the airship ''Italia'' which had crashed during an expedition to the

North Pole The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distingu ...

. He led the scientific team on the 1931 Arctic expedition of the airship ''Graf Zeppelin'', which studied

magnetism Magnetism is the class of physical attributes that occur through a magnetic field, which allows objects to attract or repel each other. Because both electric currents and magnetic moments of elementary particles give rise to a magnetic field, ...

and mapped

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 ...

. He then led Arctic expeditions on several icebreakers: '' Vladimir Rusanov'' in 1932, '' Georgiy Sedov'' in 1934, and '' Sadko'' in 1936 and 1937–1938. Samoylovich was arrested in May 1938 and was shot on March 4, 1939, 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 posthumously rehabilitated in 1957.

Legacy

A strait and a glacier top on

, a bay on

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 ...

, an island in

Severnaya Zemlya Severnaya Zemlya (, ) is a archipelago in the Russian high Arctic. It lies off Siberia's Taymyr Peninsula, separated from the mainland by the Vilkitsky Strait. This archipelago separates two marginal seas of the Arctic Ocean, the Kara Sea i ...

, a peninsula and a

nunatak A nunatak (from Inuit language, Inuit ) is the summit or ridge of a mountain that protrudes from an ice field or glacier that otherwise covers most of the mountain or ridge. They often form natural pyramidal peaks. Isolated nunataks are also cal ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

bear Rudolf Samoylovich's name as does a liquified natural gas carrier built in 2018. He was awarded the

Order 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

Order of the Red Banner of Labour The Order of the Red Banner of Labour () was an order of the Soviet Union established to honour great deeds and services to the Soviet state and society in the fields of production, science, culture, literature, the arts, education, sports ...

. In '' The Red Tent'', a 1969 Soviet-Italian film about the ''Italia'' expedition, Samoylovich is played by Grigory Gai ( ru). Since 1981, the house where Samoylovich lived in Azov has been operated as a museum.

References

*
Жертвы политического террора в СССР
lists.memo.ru

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Samoylovich, Rudolf 1881 births 1939 deaths People from Azov Explorers of the Arctic Great Purge victims from Russia Jews executed by the Soviet Union Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Residents of the Benois House Russian geographers Russian Jews Russian polar explorers Soviet geographers Soviet Jews Soviet polar explorers Soviet rehabilitations