Ivan Mushketov

Who was Ivan Mushketov?

Ivan Vasilʹevich Mushketov was a famous Russian geologist, tectonist, explorer, and geographer who was born in the Don region and entered Saint Petersburg University in 1867, but soon transferred to the Mining Institute where he was a student of A. P. Karpinsky, and graduated from there in 1872. He later became a professor at the Mining Institute, and also served as head geologist of the Geological Committee, and president of the physical geography section of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society.

Upon graduation in 1872 he began his "continuous, almost uninterrupted explorations of Russia" which included a 6-year term as a mining attaché to the Governor General of Turkestan. These remarkable journeys resulted in numerous scientific papers, important geological maps including the first geological map of Turkestan, and the two-volume work "Turkestan". Cataloguing and discovering mineral deposits formed part of this work. Prof. Mushketov also made careful observations of earthquakes in Kazakhstan and Russia, and organized regular observation of the glaciers of the Caucasus. He led the team that surveyed the Circum-Baikal Railway, and published textbooks on physical geology and on petrography.