Fedchenko Biography

A campaign in Kyzylkum and Kokand young years of Alexei Pavlovich Fedchenko Alexei Pavlovich Fedchenko - a famous Russian scientist and traveler was born in a year in a rich family of a gold miner. The family had two sons, the eldest son - Gregory - graduated from Moscow University. The place of birth of Alexei is unknown, according to some researchers, he was born in Irkutsk, according to others - in Barnaul.

He spent his childhood and youth in Irkutsk. Being a gymnasium student, Alexei lost his father - he went bankrupt and died soon. Left without a breadwinner and income, the family moves to Moscow. In the year, Alexei entered the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics at the same university that his brother had previously graduated. As a student of the natural department, the young Fedchenko was seriously interested in Botanika.

Gathering plants in forests near Moscow, he collected an extensive herbarium. The student’s collection was so impressed by Professor Kaufman, the eminent botanist that he included part of herbarium Fedchenko in his work, which was called the “Moscow Flora”. Studying in the third year of the university, Alexei Fedchenko accompanied the older brother of George on the expeditions of the lands of the south of the Russian Empire.

Fedchenko Sr. was interested in salty lakes, the youngest enthusiastically studied the flora of the steppe. The herbarium brought by him from the expedition was also rich and diverse. At the same time, Alexei Pavlovich became interested in entomology. He managed to collect a good collection of webding and double -winged insects. According to scientists, the gathered herbaria and the collections of butterflies were so complete that on their basis it became possible to publish a “list of double -winged Moscow training districts”.

Scientific work was published in the year with the support of the zoologist Professor Bogdanov. After graduation, Alexei Pavlovich Fedchenko worked at the department of the Moscow Nikolaev Institute, a teacher of natural science. The first Turkestan expedition to the year, a scientist and his wife are taking the first expedition to Turkestan. On the assignment to this Academy of Sciences, they should have been through Tashkent, Samarkand to get to Kattacacangan, which was supposed to serve as an expeditionary base.

From here, scientists took excursions to the mountains. The result of these studies was numerous observations, herbariums, collections. Having passed hundreds of kilometers through the mountain valleys, scientists collected a herbarium, which totaled about eight hundred plant samples. The leadership of Moscow University praised the work of scientists. Alexey Pavlovich was awarded the Schurovsky Prize, an expensive microscope acted as a reward here, his wife was awarded a gold medal.

The second Turkestan expedition, the second expedition took place two years later. This time, the spouses studied Turkestan and Zeravshansky ridges, as well as the channel and valleys of rivers flowing in this area. In the vicinity of Lake Iskanderkul, scientists made an unexpected find. They found a people whose language was not like any of the existing ones. Later studies conducted by the Linguists showed that these people belong to the descendants of the ancient Sogdians.

Here, an unexpected discovery also awaited him, this time from the field of geography. The left bank of the Syr Darya River, as it turned out, bordered not directly on the desert. Between them was a wide steppe strip. Upon returning to Tashkent, the scientist determined the new route for himself. Now the area of ​​his research was in the Kokand Khanate. Here Alexei Fedchenko honored the audience with Khan Khudoyar.

By permission of the ruler, scientists reached the Isfara River basin. An impressive glacier was opened here. Having reached the Pamirs, the expedition members found his highest point. Going through the Alai ridge, scientists reached one of the sources of the Amu Darya River. The results of this expedition were the zoological collection, proof that Flora and Faun in this area have much in common with representatives of the Himalayas and Central Asia.

All scientific discoveries were recorded in the work published later by the “Journey to Turkestan”. See also:.