Mikhail Mikhailovich Somov

Mikhail Mikhailovich Somov

Mikhail Somov ( Russian Михаил Михайлович Сомов ., Scientific transliteration Mikhail Somov Michajlovič ; born March 25, ^jul. / 7. April  1908 ^greg. In Moscow ; † 30th December 1973 in Leningrad ) was a Soviet oceanographer and polar explorer.

Life sketch

Mikhail Somov successfully graduated from the Hydrometeorological Institute in Moscow in 1937. In 1939 he became a researcher at the Arctic and Antarctic Institute, in 1954 he received his doctorate in geographic sciences .

In 1950 and 1951 he was in charge of the scientific ice drift station North Pole 2, which was built on a drifting ice floe to research the Arctic Ocean. This continued the tradition of drifting research stations that had been interrupted by World War II. Somow led the Soviet Union's First Antarctic Expedition from 1955 to 1957 and the Eighth and Ninth Antarctic Expeditions from 1962 to 1965 . In addition, he was the first Soviet delegate to the Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research .

Honors

The Somow Sea and the Somoveken Glacier in Queen Maud Land in East Antarctica were named after Mikhail Somow.

A polar research ship was also called Michail Somow , which had its home port in Leningrad and was in action in the Antarctic .

The asteroid (3334) Somov , discovered by the Czech astronomer Antonín Mrkos in 1981, was named after him in Somow's honor.

For his services, Somov was honored as a Hero of the Soviet Union in 1951 , he received the Order of Lenin three times . In 1957 he was awarded the Vegamedal by the Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography and in 1961 the Gold Medal by the Royal Geographical Society .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Dietrich Pätzold: Freed from the stranglehold of the ice ... , In: Freie Welt 20/85, pages 10/11 and 50/51
2. ↑ Dictionary of Minor Planet Names - p.278 (English)

Web links

• Михаил Михайлович Сомов (1908-1973) (Russian)