Memorable dates
March 16,
1879,
Pyotr Lyudovikovich Dravert was born, a mineralogist, geologist, and
poet (See Among Minerals, Moscow, 1998, p. 33–36, in Russian).
January 19, 1817:
a group of researchers founded the St. Petersburg Mineralogical Society
(currently, the All-Russia Mineralogical Society).
January 19, 1961:
Geologists M.G. Ravich and B.I. Revnov found the first iron meteorite in
the Droning Maud Land, Antarctic, named the Lazarev (M.A. Nazarov,
1999).
January 25, 1905: the Cullinan diamond of 3,106 ct, the largest stone of
the kind, was found in the Premier kimberlite pipe.
January 25, 1917: Richard Gaines, an outstanding American mineralogist
was born (d. Jan. 21, 1999). Mineral gainessite was named after him
(about him Mineralogical Record, 1991, v. 30, p. 249–250).
January 27, 1879, Pavel Petrovich Bazhov, an author of stories and
legends about Uralian diggers and miners (The Stone Flower and
other legends in the Malachite Case book) was born into a family
of Uralian mining workers and lapidists (d. 1950). See
www.bazhov.ru for his biography, photos, and stories in Russian.
January 29, 2001,
the first meeting of the Gemologist Society occurred at the Geological
Department of the Lomonosov Moscow State University, and the first issue
of Vestnik Gemmologii [Gemological Herald] was published.
January 31, 1910:
Academician Vladimir Ivanovich Smirnov was born (d. 1988), a geologist
and specialist in metallogeny and geology of ore deposits. Mineral
vismirnovite is named in his honor.
January 1999, the first volume of Mineralogical Almanac, a new
illustrated annual magazine for mineralogists and collectors, was
published. The title is Gold: nuggets of Russia by Lyudmila S.
Sher.
January–February, 1970: Alexandra Rybochkina, Mikhail Nazarov,
Alexander Evseev, and other students of the Lomonosov Moscow State
University discovered a celestite occurrence near Shurab, North
Tajikistan; that year and later many geodes with gypsum and celestite
crystals has been found here.
February 1755: Prokofiy and Grigoriy Demidov donated to the
“newly born” Moscow University a collection of minerals and equipment.
This collection consists of two parts – first was bought by their
father from Professor Johann F Henkel, Saxony, and another part -
samples from the Urals and Siberia. Cost of this collection was
estimated as an impressive sum of 20,000 gold rubles. This collection
became core of the Moscow University collection, the best in the Russia
in the 19th century. In the 1920s the collection was
transferred to the Moscow Geological Prospecting Institute and
subsequently in 1988 became a part of the Vernadsky State Geological
Museum collection.
February 1947: Sikhote-Alin meteorite fall in the Russian Far
East; it has been the largest meteorite found on the territory of the
former Soviet Union.
February 1989: a new geological museum had been opened in the Moscow
Mining Institute (6 Leninsky Prospect, Moscow). Currently, the institute
became a University, and the museum is named after V.V. Ershov.
February 1, 1927: Evgeniy I. Semyonov was born, a mineralogist and a
researcher of the alkali plutons who discovered many new minerals.
Mineral semenovite found in Greenland was named in his honor by Danish
colleagues.
February 4, 1924: Constantin I. Chapizhny was born (d. 1989).
Ravil V. Galiulin named him a mineralogist of the strongest
geometrical imagination (more information see in Russian
http://www.galiulin.narod.ru/CHAPIZHN.htm).
February 5, 1878: Vissarion V. Karandeev, a mineralogist and
crystallographer, was born (d. 1916). He was a lecturer of the Chair of
Mineralogy, Lomonosov Moscow State University and a supporter of V.I.
Vernadsky.
February 8, 1831: the Government-supported studies started at the
emerald deposits in the Urals. Yakov V. Kokovin, a supervisor of the
Ekaterinburg lapidaries, visited the pit dug by Kozhevnikov, a peasant
who managed to discover emeralds in the Urals at the roots of the
tempest-fallen tree; having found the pit unreliable he ordered a new
pit to be dug near the old one, and this stroke a rich vein almost
immediately (see V.B. Semyonov’s publication in Ural, 2001, No.
7)
February 8, 1935: Boris E. Borutsky was born, a mineralogist
graduated from the Lomonosov Moscow State University and a principal
researcher of IGEM RAS who has been studying mineralogy and origin of
the Khibiny and other alkali plutons (see also in Russian
http://geo.web.ru/conf/CD_Smirnov/html_99/30_baruts/index.html for
data on him and his verse).
February 9: Elena V. Pryakhina was born, a chief of the
Mineralogical museum of the Moscow Geological Prospecting and Mining
University.
February 10, 1810: Archangelo Scacchi, an Italian mineralogist
and researcher of the Mt. Vesuvius minerals, was born. During the period
from 1841 through 1884, he discovered 22 new minerals in the Monte Somma
– Vesuvius area. His huge collection he started in 1844 currently
occupies an hall of the Royal Mineralogical Museum in Naples (www.musei.unina.it/Mineralogia/eng/2.1.1.htm).
February 13, 1970, the Friends of Mineralogy Society was founded
at George Bideaux’s house in Tucson, Arizona, United States.
On Book Shelve
On January 2004 the Mineralogical Almanac, volume 7 was published. The
title is Kukisvumchorr deposit (Khibiny, Kola Peninsula, Russia):
; The authors are Igor V. Pekov, a well-known mineralogist, and
Alexander S. Podlesny, a collector who works as a blaster at the local
mine.
The Grandmasters of Mineral Photographing -- this album is a real
gift to those who is interested in the art of mineral photography.
