Background

Modest Nikolayevich Bogdanov was born on October 1, 1841, in Russkaya Bekshanka village, Baryshsky region, Ulyanovsk Oblast, Russian Federation. His father was a local landlord.

Education

After his graduation from the Simbirsk Gymnasium, Modest Nikolayevich attended the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics at the University of Kazan till 1864. Such famous names as A.М. Butlerov, М.А. Kovalsky, and E.A. Eversmann were among his favorite professors.

Career

Modest Nikolayevich worked as an assistant professor at the Kazan University between 1864 and 1870, before being promoted to an associate professor in 1870. In 1868-1870 he was also involved in the exploration of the Volga region, traveling from Kazan to Astrakhan.

His Saint Petersburg career began in 1871 when Modest Nikolayevich first became an associate professor of zoology and a Zoological Museum keeper a year later. In 1871 he was sent on an expedition to the Caucasus. This trip was a huge success in terms of the amount of scientific data gathered, but Modest Nikolayevich caught a severe fever which later caused many of his illnesses.

1873 was the year when Modest Nikolayevich took another big trip, this time to the deserts of Central Asia and the Khivin Oasis. Those areas were barely known to the public back then. Not only did he document his discoveries; he also took part in local military operations. A year later Modest Nikolayevich participated in a scientific expedition to the Aral–Caspian Depression. It was organized and financed by the Imperial Geographical Society.

In the 1870s Modest Nikolayevich was sent abroad to work for zoological museums of Paris, Berlin, Vienna, etc. His scientific focus was then on the ornithology. His publications were considered to be a standard of the clarity of expression and of the ability to portray natural phenomena in a vivid way. In 1878 he was awarded a degree of zoology docent by the University of Saint Petersburg.

1880 was the year when Modest Nikolayevich headed a scientific expedition to the White Sea and the Arctic Ocean. From 1881 to 1888 he published his children's novels and fairytales on pages of the Education and Tuition editorial. Some of his works were republished many times. In 1881 Modest Nikolayevich defended his doctoral dissertation and became a professor. His health was gradually worsening since the 1870's, so by 1885, he had to leave his position of the museum keeper and to stop giving lectures at the university.

In 1889, after Bogdanov's death, his novels and essays were compiled into the book From the life of Russian nature, which was critically acclaimed. His other book called Beggars of the earth was also highly estimated by critics, although it was noted that several of its novels were a little sentimental. Besides that, Modest Nikolayevich created a popular biography of K. F. Kessler in 1882.

Achievements

• Modest Bogdanov was one of the first people to explore the deserts of Central Asia and the Khivin Oasis. His ornithological researches made him a world-known scientist.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Iz zhizni russkoĭ prirody (Vol-1): zoologicheskīe ocherki i razskazy

    (Russian edition)

    2012
  • Proceedings of the Aral-Caspian expedition. Issue 1

    (Russian edition)

    2015
  • Obzor ekspeditsij i estestvennoistoricheskih issledovanij v Aralo-Kaspijskoj oblasti s 1720 po 1874 g

    (Russian edition)

    2014
  • Trudy Aralo-Kaspijskoj ekspeditsii Vypusk 1

    (Russian edition)

    2013
  • Perechen Ptitz Rossii Skoi Imperii Conspectus Avium Imperii Rossici 2011

Membership

• Imperial Russian Geographical Society

Connections

colleague:

Konstantin Fedorovich Kessler

References

• Russian writers. 1800-1917. Biographical Dictionary. Volume 1
  1989