September 7: In memory of Otto Schmidt, mathematician, polar explorer, and creator of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia
On September 7, 1956, Otto Schmidt—mathematician, geographer, astrophysicist, polar explorer, and scientific organizer—passed away. He led the legendary Arctic expeditions on the icebreaker Sibiryakov and the steamship Chelyuskin, and also became the founder and first editor-in-chief of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia.
A real person is drawn to where it is difficult
Three languages and a gold medal
Otto Schmidt was born in 1891 in Mogilev, to a Baltic German father and a Latvian mother. Three languages were spoken at home, but Otto considered Russian his primary language.
He grew up smart. His Latvian grandfather decided he needed to give his grandson an education and helped him with his school fees. He graduated with a gold medal. He enrolled in the physics and mathematics department at Kyiv University. Around that time, he compiled a list of books he needed to read to become a good scientist—and was disappointed.
It turned out that 1000 years were needed to overcome everything that was planned.
From abstract algebra to people's commissariats
He wrote his first scientific paper in his first year. After graduation, he remained at the university to prepare for a professorship. From 1916, he became a privat-docent. It was then that he wrote the monograph "Abstract Group Theory."
After the February Revolution, he went to Petrograd for a scientific conference and never returned.
He worked as an economist under the Provisional Government. After the October Revolution, he served in the People's Commissariat of Food, the People's Commissariat of Finance, and the People's Commissariat of Education. In 1923, he published "Mathematical Laws of Money Issue" and participated in the theoretical justification of the New Economic Policy (NEP). He taught mathematics at Moscow universities.
Great Soviet Encyclopedia
In 1921, Schmidt became head of the State Publishing House—he was the one who conceived the idea for the Great Soviet Encyclopedia. He was its first editor-in-chief. He also consulted for the People's Commissariat of Education. It is believed that he was the one who introduced the word "aspirant" into academic usage.
In 1924, he was allowed to travel to Austria to receive treatment for tuberculosis. He became interested in mountaineering. In 1928, he took part in the first Soviet-German Pamir expedition, taking several lessons in topography.
It's a shame to walk through places where no one has set foot before you and not be able to depict on paper what you've experienced.
Sibiryakov: The Northern Sea Route in a single navigation
In 1929, Schmidt embarked on a polar expedition to Franz Josef Land. He fell in love with the Arctic for life and became head of the newly established Arctic Research Institute.
In 1932, he led an expedition that was the first to navigate the Northern Sea Route from Arkhangelsk to Kamchatka in a single navigation season, on the icebreaker Sibiryakov. At one point, they discovered that the propeller had lost a blade. They had to haul 400 tons of cargo to the bow to lift the stern out of the water and replace the blade. Soon after, the propeller shaft broke. They drifted, sailing for some time under black sails made of coal tarpaulins.
With gallows humor, we called our icebreaker a holiday home with steam heating or the most perfect buoy for studying polar currents.
(Ernst Krenkel, expedition member)
"Chelyuskin" and camp on an ice floe
From 1932 to 1938, Schmidt headed the Northern Sea Route Directorate. The task was to determine whether cargo could be transported along the Northern Sea Route using conventional steamships (icebreakers were scarce). In March 1933, the Chelyuskin, "reinforced for ice navigation," was launched. In August, the ship departed Murmansk for Vladivostok. There were 112 people on board, including families with children (one baby was born en route and named Karina, after the Kara Sea).
In September, they entered the Chukchi Sea and soon realized they would have to spend the winter in the ice—the ship had everything they needed. In February 1934, the Chelyuskin was crushed by ice, and it began to sink. Schmidt organized the unloading of the ship and the establishment of a camp on the ice floe: they built a barracks from salvaged materials, used instruments to determine their location, published a wall newspaper, "We Will Not Surrender!", and Schmidt lectured the camp's inhabitants on various topics.
The entire world followed the rescue of the Chelyuskin crew, and the polar explorers were greeted with honors in Moscow (Schmidt feared he would be executed for the loss of his ship). At the same time, new names came into common usage—like Oyushminald ("Otto Yulyevich Schmidt on the ice floe") or Lagshminald ("Schmidt's camp on the ice floe").
The drifting station and recent years
In 1937, Schmidt organized the world's first drifting polar research station - the ice floe for SP-1, with an area of 15 square kilometers and a thickness of 3 meters, was selected with his participation.
From 1939 to 1942 he was vice-president of the Academy of Sciences.
He was very ill in his final years. He worked on the origin and evolution of the solar system. He died at the age of 64.
