Vasily Vasilyevich Dokuchaev is a Russian geologist who has reached special heights in soil science. He was the founder of the school of soil science and created a full-fledged doctrine in this direction. He discovered the main regularities of the geographical location and genesis of soils. In this article, you will get acquainted with the biography of Vasily Vasilyevich Dokuchaev and his main achievements.
Childhood and education
Vasily Dokuchaev was born in the village of Milyukovo, located in the Smolensk province, on February 17, 1846. The father of the future geologist was a priest. Vasily became the seventh child in the family - he had four older sisters and two brothers. He received his primary education at the theological school of the town of Vyazma, and his secondary education at the Smolensk Theological Seminary. Free education in the seminary was predominantly the children of clergy. It was a place dominated by cruel customs and traditions, supported by both students and teachers. In the seminary, there was an informal division of students, according to which Dokuchaev was "Bashka" - the first in studies and the last in behavior.
After graduating from the seminary in 1867, Vasily, as one of her best students, went to the Theological Academy of St. Petersburg. Despite good prospects, he studied at this institution for only three weeks. Dokuchaev realized that he wanted to devote his life to a completely different direction, and transferred to St. Petersburg University, to the natural department. Of the respected scientists of that time, Dokuchaev was greatly influenced by: D. I. Mendeleev, A. N. Beketov, A. V. Sovetov and A. A. Inostrantsev. He knew them personally and continued to associate after graduation in 1871. In his Ph. D. thesis, Vasily Dokuchaev conducted a geological description of the coastal zone of the Kasni River, which flows in the Smolensk region.
First studies
Before we find out what Vasily Dokuchaev discovered, let's get acquainted with his first steps in science. After graduating, the novice geologist stayed to work at his faculty as a conservator of the mineralogical collection. Here he stayed for 6 years (1872-1878). Then the young scientist was elected assistant professor, and even later (1883) professor of mineralogy. After receiving a scientific degree, he got a job at the Institute of Civil Engineers as a teacher of mineralogy. One of the outstanding students of Dokuchaev was P. A. Solomin.
In the period up to 1878, Vasily Vasilyevich's scientific activity was mainly connected with the study of the latest deposits (Quaternary formations) and soils in the European part of Russia. From 1871 to 1877, the scientist made several expeditions to the central and northern parts of Russia, as well as to the south of Finland. Dokuchaev's task was to study the geological structure, time and method of formation of river valleys, as well as to studygeological activity of rivers. The following year, Vasily Vasilyevich successfully defended his thesis on the origin of the river valleys of the European part of Russia. In this paper, the geologist outlined the theory of the formation of river valleys, under the influence of a gradually developing process of linear erosion.
Already in those days, soils that he studied along with Quaternary deposits and dynamic geology fell into the field of scientific interest of Vasily Dokuchaev. In 1874, he spoke at a meeting of the Society of Naturalists of the city of St. Petersburg with a report on the topic "Podzols of the Smolensk province." The following year, the scientist was invited to participate in the compilation of soil maps of the European part of Russia. In 1878, the project manager, V. I. Chaslavsky, died, so Dokuchaev personally had to draw up an explanatory note for the map. He successfully completed this task by 1879. In the same year, Vasily Vasilyevich initiated the creation of a soil museum, in which a laboratory would work.
Genetic soil science
In the Imperial VEO (free economic society), since the 40s of the 19th century, the question of the need to study black soil was raised, but the first steps in this area were taken only after the adoption of the reforms of Alexander II, which led to the development of capitalism and the appearance of signs soil depletion (droughts in 1873 and 1875). In 1876, M. N. Bogdanov, together with A. V. Sovetov, were able to convince the VEO of the need for a thorough study of soils. Dokuchaev was also attracted to this work by the Soviets. In 1877 Vasily Vasilyevichmade a presentation to the representatives of the VEO. In his speech, he critically analyzed the previously published information about chernozems and the theories of their origin (marsh, marine, vegetative-terrestrial). In addition, Vasily Vasilievich Dokuchaev briefly outlined his plan for future research. P. A. Kostychaev proposed another program, but the VEO still preferred Dokuchaev’s plan and appointed him head of the “Black Earth Commission.”
From 1877 to 1881, Vasily Dokuchaev made a number of trips to the black earth zone. The total length of his expedition was more than 10 thousand kilometers. In addition to describing soil sections and geological outcrops, an extensive laboratory analysis of samples was carried out, in which P. Kostychev, K. Schmidt, N. Sibirtsev, P. Zemyatchensky and others took part.
Russian Chernozem
In 1883, Dokuchaev published the essay "Russian Chernozem". In this work, the following were considered in detail: the method of origin, area of use, chemical composition, research methods and principles for classifying chernozem. In addition, Vasily Vasilyevich proposed to define the soil as a special natural mineral-organic formation, and not any surface deposit (the concept of agrogeology) or an arable layer (agronomy). He believed that each soil is the result of the interaction of the animal world, climate, parent rock, topography and time.
To classify soils and use them rationally, you need to rely on themorigin (genesis) and not petrographic, chemical or granulometric composition. In his work, the scientist also analyzed the reasons for the increase in the number of droughts and the damage they cause. Among these, he singled out: the lack of proper methods of soil cultivation and measures to preserve moisture, the deterioration of air and water regimes, erosion and dispersion of the granular structure of the earth.
For this research St. Petersburg University awarded Vasily Dokuchaev the degree of Doctor of Mineralogy and Geognosy. In addition, the geologist received a special thanks from the VEO and a full Makariev Prize from the Academy of Sciences. At the same time, P. A. Kostychev criticized the “Russian Chernozem”, complaining about the too small number of samples that were studied to analyze the dependence of soil properties on climatic conditions.
Nizhny Novgorod expedition
In 1882, the Nizhny Novgorod provincial zemstvo offered Dokuchaev to make a complete survey of the province from a geological, soil and natural-historical point of view, in order to more correctly assess the land. The scientist, together with specialists trained by him personally in the field of soil science, agreed to this work. For six years of research, 14 issues of the report were published, called "Materials for the assessment of the lands of the Nizhny Novgorod province." Each issue was dedicated to one county and had a soil and geological map as an appendix. N. Sibirtsev, P. Zamyatchensky, A. Ferkhmin, A. Krasnov, F. Levison-Lessing and other students of Vasily Vasilyevich were involved in work in this area.
As part of the expeditionscientists:
- Created and developed a methodology for compiling soil maps.
- Developed a genetic classification of soils.
- Improved the grading method.
- Checked and expanded the concept of genetic soil science.
Poltava expedition
In 1888-1894, Vasily Dokuchaev, at the invitation of the provincial zemstvo, conducted a large-scale study of the soils of the Poltava province. He published the results of the work done in 16 volumes of the report. Both experienced and young pupils of Dokuchaev took part in this expedition: G. Vysotsky, V. Vernadsky, K. Glinka, G. Tanfiliev and others. During this campaign, gray forest soils were first identified and carefully examined, and the study of solonetzes began. In Poltava, as well as in Nizhny Novgorod, Dokuchaev created a natural history museum with a soil department. During the life of the scientist, his pupils conducted similar studies in 11 provinces.
Special Expedition
As part of the assessment campaigns and expeditions, which were many in the biography of Vasily Dokuchaev, he actively searched for the causes of the degradation of chernozems and ways to combat it. In 1888, the geologist met A. A. Izmailsky. In 1982, a year after a major drought, Dokuchaev published Our Steppes Before and Now, in which he proposed a plan for the protection of black soil. This plan included the following measures: soil protection from washout; regulation of beams and ravines; artificial irrigation; creationforest belt; maintaining the established ratio between meadow, forest and arable land.
In 1892, Dokuchaev managed to obtain permission for the "Special Expedition" to test and take into account the methods and methods of forestry and water management in the Russian steppes. In short, Vasily Dokuchaev wanted to test the effectiveness of the program he had created with the help of this campaign. N. Sibirtsev, P. Zemyatchensky, G. Vysotsky, K. Glinka, N. Adamov and others took part in the work together with Dokuchaev.
Treatment of soil protection methods was carried out at three sites:
- Stone steppe, Shipov forest and Khrenovskoy forest (Voronezh region). In 1911, an experimental station named after V. I. Dokuchaev. Now there operates the Research Institute. V. V. Dokuchaev.
- Veliko-Anadolsky area.
- Starobelsky massif "weed steppe".
As a result, Dokuchaev's team demonstrated the effectiveness of his program. However, due to the fact that every year investments in the expedition were reduced, in 1897 it had to be stopped.
Organizational work
On the initiative of Dokuchaev and with his assistance in 1888, the Soil Commission was established under the VEO, which became the first organization of soil scientists. Vasily Vasilyevich was appointed its chairman. The following year, also under the leadership of Dokuchaev, a commission was organized for a comprehensive study of St. Petersburg and its region.
In the 89-90s of the 19th century, Vasily Vasilyevich Dokuchaev, whose brief biography wetoday we are considering, he was the secretary of the 8th Congress of Physicians and Naturalists, which was held in the city of St. Petersburg. In 1889, the scientist presented his collection of soils at the World Exhibition held in Paris, for which he was awarded the Order of Merit in Agriculture. In 1895, Dokuchaev founded the Soil Science Bureau, which operates under the Scientific Committee of the Ministry of Agriculture. In the same year, he received consent to prepare an updated soil map, which was completed only in 1900 by A. Ferkhman, N. Sibirtsev and G. Tanfiliev.
In the period from 1892 to 1895, Vasily Vasilyevich temporarily acted as head of the Novo-Alexandria Agricultural and Forestry Institute. It was under his leadership that the institute was transformed into a higher educational institution. In 1894, thanks to the efforts of Dokuchaev, the first department of genetic soil science was organized within its walls, headed by N. M. Sibirtsev.
Recent years
At the end of 1895, Dokuchaev was diagnosed with a severe form of nervous breakdown. A year later there was a second attack of the disease, the scientist spent two weeks in delirium. In February 1897, Dokuchaev's wife died of cancer. In the summer of that year, he was tormented by severe headaches, the weakening of his memory and feelings began. Only in autumn the geologist was able to return to his favorite work.
The next three years of Dokuchaev's life were extremely fruitful: they accounted for about 25% of the geologist's publications. During this period, Vasily Vasilyevich wentwith expeditions to the Caucasus, Central Asia and Bessarabia. In 1899, he published two works in which, based on the dependence of soils on the factors of their formation, he studied the zoning law discovered by A. von Humboldt. Dokuchaev also came up with the idea of the book "On the Correlation of Living and Dead Nature", but managed to write only the first chapter for it.
In 1900, the geologist was overtaken by another bout of illness. At the end of the year, he practically stopped leaving the house. In March 1901, the scientist wrote the last letter to V. I. Vernadsky.
October 26, 1903 Dokuchaev died. His funeral took place on 29 October. They were attended by: D. Mendeleev, A. Inostrantsev, A. Karpinsky, numerous students and friends of Vasily Vasilyevich, as well as delegates from various educational institutions. Dokuchaev was buried at the Lutheran cemetery in St. Petersburg.
Spreading ideas
Vasily Dokuchaev, whose brief biography came to an end, brought up many students who later became famous researchers. Thanks to participation in world exhibitions and presenting his achievements at them, the scientist managed to earn recognition far beyond the borders of Russia.
In 1886, in an article on chernozems, E. Bruckner analyzed Dokuchaev's concept and called it "a new word in science." At the turn of the century, E. Ramann also accepted the ideas of Vasily Vasilyevich, but he could not completely move away from agrogeological views. An important role in the dissemination of the ideas of the geologist was played by the domestic publication Soil Science. I. V. Vernadskyconsidered his teacher a great scientist and put him on a par with Lavoisier, Maxwell, Mendeleev, Darwin and other prominent representatives of science of the 19th century. To date, the photo of Vasily Dokuchaev is familiar to everyone who is interested in soil science and geology.
