Background
FERSMAN, Aleksandr was born on November 8, 1883 in St. Petersburg. Son of a soldier.
FERSMAN, Aleksandr was born on November 8, 1883 in St. Petersburg. Son of a soldier.
1901-1903 studied at Novorossiysk University, Odessa. 1903-1907 studied at Moscow University.
1907-1909 worked under French mineralogist and petrographer A. Lacroix in Paris and at W. Goldschmidt’s crystallographic laboratory in Heidelberg, where he coauthored the almanach "Der Diamant” (1911). During this period also visited Elba, where he began research on pegmatites. From 1909 worked at Moscow University.
From 1910 professor, Shanyavskiy People’s University. 1912 began reading course on geochemistry at this university. 1911 resigned from Moscow University in protest against Tsarist educational policy.
From 1912 senior custodian, Mineralógica! Museum, Russian Academy of Sciences and professor, St. Petersburg Higher Women’s Courses. From 1912 also co-founder and ed, popular-sci journal Priroda. During World War 1 worked for Raw Materials Commission, Military Technical Aid Committee, and for Commission for the Study of Natural Resources, Academy of Sciences.
Did field research in Urals, Altay, Transbaykal, Northern Mongolia and Crimea. 1920 began large- scale survey of Khibinv tundra, leading in 1926 to the discovery of a large apatite deposit and in 1929 to the industry exploitation of the resources of the Kola Peninsula. Also did research at the Tyuya-Muyunsk radium deposit in Fergana, the sulphur deposits in Karakumy, on Cheleken Island, at the emerald mines in the Urals, at the tungsten deposits in the Transbaykal, etc.
Also made field trips to Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Italy, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Switzerland and Belgium. 1926-1929 vice-president, from 1934 Presidium member, USSR Academy of Sciences. His most important research project was the study of pegmatites, on which he spent 25 years.
1939 published his findings in the classic monograph Pegmatity (Pegmatites). Expert on precious stones and artificial gems, on which he wrote several popular works. Died important research on natural compounds of variable composition (notably magnesium silicates and zeolites) in the upper strata of the earth’s crust.
Together with V. I. Vernadskiy pioneered research on geochemistry, which he defined as the study of the chemical elements in the earth’s crust and their behavior under different thermodynamic and physiochemical conditions. 1933-1939 published his major contribution to this field in the 4-volume work Geokhimiya (Geochemistry). Studied the frequency of elements in the Earth and published several Clark tables.
1920 and 1941 contributed to regional geochemistry with his studies of European Russia and the Kola Peninsula. Attributed great importance to the theoretical principles of ore prospecting based on large-scale mineralógica! and geochemical survey techniques. 1940 summarized his experience in this field in the book Geokhimicheskiye i mineralogicheskiye metody poiskov poleznykli iskopayemykh (Mineralogical and Geochemical Methods of Ore and Mineral Prospecting).
Wrote excellent popular-sci works.
Religion gets people to believe something untrue.
Marxism–Leninism as the only truth could not, by its very nature, become outdated.
Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences from 1919.