Yakov Edelstein

Yakov Samoylovich Edelstein
Born	(1869-08-15)15 August 1869 Balakliya, Kharkov Governorate
Died	12 January 1952(1952-01-12) (aged 82) Leningrad (in prison hospital)
Nationality	Russian
Alma mater	Kharkiv University
Awards	Order of Lenin Order of the Red Banner of Labour Medal "For Labour Valour" Honoured Scientist of the RSFSR (1936)
Scientific career
Fields	Geology, Geomorphology
Institutions	Leningrad State University
Doctoral advisor	Andrey Krasnov

Yakov Samoylovich Edelstein (15 August [O.S. 1869] 28 August – 12 January [O.S. 1952] 21 January) was a Russian and Soviet geologist and geomorphologist, professor of Leningrad State University (from 1925), Honoured Scientist of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (1936), who was repressed at the age of 80.

Biography

Yakov Edelstein was born on 15 August 1869 in the city of Balakliya, Kharkov Governorate, in the minor official's family. He lost his parents early and was under the care of his elder sister; he entered the 3rd Kharkov classical gymnasium, and started teaching at the age of 11.

In 1889, he graduated from the gymnasium with a gold medal, participated in circles where they were fond of publicists and critics of that time (V. G. Belinsky, N. G. Chernyshevsky, D. I. Pisarev, N. A. Dobrolyubov). This, together with a negative reaction to the "dead gymnastic science", contributed to the awakening of interest in natural sciences.

He entered the natural department of the physics and mathematics faculty of Kharkiv University. In 1894, he graduated from the university with a first-class diploma. He participated in excursions to the Caucasus with the famous geographer Prof. A. N. Krasnov, and in scientific hydrogeological studies of the Yekaterinoslav Governorate under the guidance of professor A. V. Gurkov.

He studied the region of the Slavyanoserbsk uezd, to whose hydrogeological conditions his first work was devoted, published in 1895. In this extensive work, the young scientist, in addition to geological and hydrogeological information, provides much data on relief, and also tries to clarify the origin and development of the surface of the studied territory and the connection of the relief with the geological structure. He reports on the differences in the structure of river valleys and gullies depending on the geological structure and the composition of the rocks. He emphasizes the relatively weak development of ravines due to the limited distribution of loose rocks. At the same time, he notes the peculiar features of the relief of the Carboniferous strip of the county, where "in essence, we have before us rather a low mountainous country, with all the typical features inherent in the latter".

Geological research

He worked in the Far East on assignments from the Russian Gold Mining Society from 1896 to 1903. He traveled to the Far East by sea, as the Siberian Railway was still under construction at that time. In 1896, Yakov Samoylovich worked in North Korea and the South Ussuri region, in 1897–1901 – in the area of the Sikhote-Alin ridge, in 1902 – in Northern Manchuria, in the area of the Lesser Khingan ridge, and in 1903 – in the Mukden province of Southern Manchuria. In the Sikhote-Alin, he discovered a new gold-bearing district in the basin of the Tumning River.

Yakov Samoylovich also made significant geological and geomorphological discoveries in the Sikhote-Alin. He found a rich Miocene flora in deformed strata, which made it possible to establish the young age of the folding of the ridge; he described an extensive lava (basaltic) cover in the central part of the ridge. Many valuable observations were made on the relief.

The results of the research were presented in a number of printed works, where the general geological, geomorphological, and geographical features of the Sikhote-Alin ridge and the deposits of useful minerals were covered. For that work Y. S. Edelstein was awarded a gold medal by the Geographical Society.

Simultaneously with the research in the Far East (1901), he undertook a long circumnavigation by sea and land, visiting Japan, China, India, the Hawaiian Islands, North America, as well as Western Europe (England, France, Germany). This journey was associated with a break in field research due to the Boxer Rebellion in China. Later, in 1928, he visited Germany, Austria, and Italy.

From 1904 to 1907, he was a curator of the Geological Museum of the Academy of Sciences, on behalf of which and with the assistance of the Geographical and Mineralogical Societies, he studied the geology of Mountainous Bukhara, especially the ridges of Peter the Great, the Garm Valley, and Darvaz. Field research was conducted in 1904–1906. Their main goal was to study Paleozoic deposits, about which there had been very little information before.

Y. S. Edelstein devoted a number of works to the results of the research. The main one, Upper Paleozoic Layers of Darvaz (1908), was awarded the N. M. Przhevalsky medal by the Geographical Society in 1912.

In parallel with these studies, Yakov Samoylovich studied traces of ancient glaciation, mainly in the Peter the Great ridge. Typical glacial forms were noted: cirques, overdeepened valleys, arêtes, cirques, glacial lakes, polished rocks. It was found that on the southern slopes of the indicated ridge, traces of glaciation are found up to an altitude of about 2000m altitude. Somewhat later (in 1909), these observations were used by Yakov Samoylovich in compiling, jointly with A. P. Gerasimov, the Instructions for the Study of Traces of Ancient Glaciation, which was published by the Geographical Society. The "Instructions" was the first generalizing work (in Russian) on glacial forms of mountains. In it, in addition to the relevant instructions, a precise description of the forms is given, accompanied by excellent photographs from Central Asia, the Kuznetsk Alatau, and the Caucasus. At the same time, this was, in essence, Yakov Samoylovich's first proper geomorphological work.

From 1907, he was a geologist (from 1912 – senior geologist) of the Geological Committee, where he served with short interruptions until the committee was abolished in 1930. Long-time employee of the Geological Committee, Yakov Samoylovich was one of the leading figures of this largest center of geology in Russia. Here he took part in the study of gold-bearing districts of Siberia, mainly in the Minusinsk region, together with the adjacent areas of the Kuznetsk Alatau, Western and Eastern Sayan. He devoted about 20 years to the study of these areas.

Yakov Samoylovich was one of the organizers of the International Conference on the Study of Quaternary Deposits (1932), as well as the 17th session of the International Geological Congress (1937). He performed very extensive and responsible work as the chief (de facto) editor of the multi-volume and complex publication "Geology of the USSR", which he led with full knowledge of the matter and with his inherent tact.

On assignment from the Geological Committee (then the Central Geological Exploration Institute), he organized a large expedition in 1929 to study the relief and Quaternary deposits of the West Siberian Plain. The works of this expedition laid the foundation for the latest systematic geological and geomorphological research in Western Siberia, in which Yakov Samoylovich's closest colleagues (A. G. Ber, V. I. Gromov, V. A. Dementyev, and others) took a significant part.

During the Great Patriotic War, while in evacuation in Sverdlovsk (then Yekaterinburg), he headed large-scale work on compiling a geomorphological map of the Urals, uniting around him a large number of geomorphologists and geologists.

In 1935 and 1947, Yakov Samoylovich published the instructions for geomorphological training. In the "Brief Methodological Guide for Conducting Geomorphological Observations in the Field" (1947), along with methodological instructions, there is much general information. Various types of valleys, river terraces, features of the relief of interfluve spaces, plains, and mountains were described. Yakov Samoylovich managed to briefly (in 66 pages) and systematically present diverse concepts of genetic geomorphology and a broad program for collecting and processing geomorphological data.

Geography

Y. S. Edelstein's works devoted to the features of the relief and geology of the West Siberian Plain, and especially the book Geomorphological Sketch of the West Siberian Plain (1936), are of great importance.

The main area of research was the Minusinsk region, where he worked for 20 years (from 1907). He devoted a large number of works to this region, among which, in addition to numerous articles and "reports", it is necessary to note descriptions of excursions of the International Geological Congress (in 1937).

Known as the author of the first course in geomorphology in Russian, it went through several editions, and several generations of geomorphologists studied from it.

Immediately after the Far Eastern expeditions, he became a full member of the Geographical Society.

From 1930 to 1938, he was one of the leaders of the society (as scientific secretary and editor of its Proceedings), and in the last years (from 1947), he was a member of the Presidium of the society.

This commission, established in 1928, was one of the most active organizations of the Geographical Society. It was not only a union of Leningrad geomorphologists, but also a school for speakers and listeners. A significant part of the reports was then published in the Proceedings of the Geographical Society. He was one of the organizers of the All-Union Geographical Congresses of 1933 and 1947.

He did much for the development of geographical education in Russia. He is among the founders and first professors of the higher geographical courses, and then the Geographical Institute in Leningrad that arose on their basis (1918).

Since 1924, after the merger of the institute with Leningrad University, he became the dean of the geographical faculty, and for a long time was the director of the Geographo-Economic Research Institute at the Geographical Faculty. In the last years of his activity (1944–1949), he headed two departments – geomorphology and general geology.

Repressions

In 1949, in an atmosphere of secrecy, geologist scientists working on the study of mineral deposits in the Krasnoyarsk Krai were arrested. They were accused by the newspaper Pravda and the country's top party leadership of allegedly concealing the discovered deposits of uranium, that is, sabotage in favor of foreign states. Among them, on the basis of a denunciation, was Professor Y. S. Edelstein.

Before that, publicly, under the pretext of discussing a new edition of the book Fundamentals of Geomorphology, they tried to accuse him of cosmopolitanism.

On March 31, 1949, Yakov Samoylovich was arrested. On October 28, 1950, he was sentenced to 25 years.

He died in a prison hospital in Leningrad on January 12, 1952. Posthumously rehabilitated in 1954.

The location of his grave is unknown.

Family

He was married to Vera Alexandrovna Sementovskaya, daughter of Alexander Maksimovich Sementovsky-Kurillo. In 1920, they adopted Vera Alexandrovna's twelve-year-old niece, Zoya Sergeevna Sementovskaya.

Students

• Konstantin Markov – Soviet geographer, geomorphologist, Doctor of Geographical Sciences, Professor of Moscow State University, Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR.
• Innokenty Gerasimov – Soviet geographer, Professor of Moscow State University, Director of the Institute of Geography of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR.
• Aleksey Treshnikov – Soviet oceanologist, geographer, researcher of the Arctic and Antarctic. Doctor of Geographical Sciences, Professor, Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR.
• Alexander Vologdin – Soviet geologist and paleontologist, Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR.
• Valerian Gromov – Soviet Quaternary geologist, paleontologist and stratigrapher, Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences, researcher of large Quaternary mammals, head of the Department of Quaternary Geology at the IGN of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and GIN of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR.
• Vasily Dementyev – Belarusian geographer, Candidate of Geographical Sciences, Head of the Department of Physical Geography, Dean of the Geographical Faculty of Belarusian State University, Associate Professor of the Department of Geography of Pyongyang University of the DPRK, Professor.
• Sergey Shults – geologist, Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences, Professor, Head of the Department of Geomorphology of the Geographical Faculty of LSU.
• Ivan Gladyshin – geomorphologist, Professor, author of the first university course "Geomorphology of the USSR". Repressed.

Awards, titles and prizes

• 1936 – Honoured Scientist of the RSFSR
• 1944 – Order of the Red Banner of Labour
• 1946 – Medal "For Labour Valour"
• 1949 – Order of Lenin.

Legacy

The geographical objects named after Y. S. Edelstein include:

• Edelstein Peak – summit in the Kryzhina Ridge (Sayans).
• Edelstein Cape – Ussuri Bay, Vladivostok.
• Edelstein Glacier – on Severny Island (Novaya Zemlya), named in 1925.
• Underwater volcanic Edelstein Massif – 22 km north of Chirinkotan Island, on the edge of the Kuril Trench (discovered and mapped in 1949–1954 by the research vessel "Vityaz").
• A memorial plaque "Last Address" was installed on the house where Y. S. Edelstein lived (Saint Petersburg, 1st Line of Vasilyevsky Island, house 54).

The scientist's name appears in paleontological names:

• Pseudofusulina edelshteini Kalmykova, 1956 – subclass Foraminifera, Lower Permian of Central Asia.
• Ethmophyllum edelsteini (Vologdin, 1931), originally Tegerocyathus – type of Archaeocyatha, Lower Cambrian of Khakassia.
• Korovinella edelsteini (Yavorsky, 1932), originally Clathrodictyon – class Stromatoporoidea, Lower Cambrian of the Western Sayan.
• Edelsteinaspis Lermontova, 1940 – class Trilobite, Lower Cambrian of the Minusinsk region.
• Kooteniella edelsteini Lermontova, 1940 – class of trilobites, Middle Cambrian of the Minusinsk region.
• Juvenites edelsteini Shevyrev, 1990 – class of cephalopod mollusks, Lower Triassic of Darvaz.
• Prosicanites edelsteini Tumanskaya, 1937 – class of cephalopod mollusks, Lower Permian of the Pamirs.
• Acantospirifer edelschteini Manakova, 1964 – class of articulate brachiopods, Lower Silurian of Central Asia.
• Comarotoechia edelchteini Zavodowsky, 1970 – class of articulate brachiopods, Lower Permian of Northeast Russia.
• Purdonella edelchteini Zavodowsky, 1970 – class of articulate brachiopods, Lower Permian of Northeast Russia.

In Düsseldorf, the Russian-speaking "Geoclub named after Yakov Edelstein" operates. Its members go on local history hikes in North Rhine-Westphalia several times a month.

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