Kelberg, Peter Andreevich

Petr Andreevich was born on December 21, 1818 in the Nerchinsk plant of the Nerchinsk region. Father - retired ensign Andrei Kelberg served in the Nerchinsky mining district .

Pyotr Andreyevich studied at the factory school, and then was a medicinal student at the Curator hospital, where he studied under the guidance of the head physician and medical surgeon M. A. Dokhturov. In 1844, after training received the title of medical student. For two years he led the Kumatorsky hospital before transferring to Irkutsk . In Irkutsk, Kelberg worked as a medicinal salt plant. In 1847 he was transferred to Selenginsk to the position of medic of the salt plant .

In Selenginsk, Kelberg was a family doctor and a friend of the Decembrists, K. P. Torson , M. A. Bestuzhev, and N. A. Bestuzhev . Provided medical care to residents of Selenginsk and surrounding settlements.

Kelberg’s children were educated by the Bestuzhev brothers.

Peter Andreevich Kelberg died in Selenginsk around 1896 . He was buried in the cemetery of Selenginsk near the graves of N. A. Bestuzhev and K. P. Torson. In Soviet times, the stone fence of the graves of the Decembrists was reconstructed, the grave of Kelberg was lost.

Kelberg was one of the first explorers of Goose Lake . Together with N. A. Bestuzhev wrote a local history essay "Goose Lake". Investigated the failure of the Baikal , the methods of traditional medicine, ways of communication in Transbaikalia .

After the death of N. A. Bestuzhev, Peter Andreevich conducted research on: seismology, meteorology ^[1] , hydrology, geology, phenology, entomology, botany, archeology, ethnography, and geography. Organized in Selenginsk simple service instrumental observations of earthquakes and climate. For 47 years, he carried out seismic observations using a seismoscope of his own design.

In 1884, A. D. Startsev , a large merchant and the son of N. A. Bestuzhev, asked Kelberg to conduct research on the communication lines in Transbaikalia to build a railway . Kelberg explored the routes through the pass from Khilk to Ingoda, through the valleys of Khilkoson and Ares to the lake of Areysky, through the Yablonovy Range to the village of Tanginsky, located on the Ingoda tributary, along the Valley of Ingoda to Chita . In addition, he examined the valley of the river Khilka and the road from Khilok to Baikal.

The results of the expedition were published under the title “Review of a new, more direct route from Baikal through Selenginsk to the Petrovsky Plant and Chita” in 1884 as part of the report by A. K. Sidensner “On the Railway in Siberia”. The review was published again in 1886 in the Works of the Society for the Promotion of Russian Industry and Commerce.

In 1865, Kelberg was elected Chairman of the Guardianship of the Old-Selenginsk Spassky Cathedral ^[2] . Participated in the creation of the Chita regional museum.

Consisted in societies:

• Member of the Siberian Department of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society ;
• Corresponding Member of the Moscow Society of Nature Testers ;
• Corresponding Member of the Moscow Committee for Acclimatization.

More than 30 works by Kelberg in various disciplines are known. Among them:

• "Traditional medicine in Siberia"
• "Selenginsk and its intermittent fevers." 1858
• co-author of the essay N. A. Bestuzhev "Goose Lake" // Bulletin of Natural Sciences. 1854

Kelber's articles were published in German by the scholar Adolf Erman in the Archive of Scientific Information about Russia.

Silver Medal of the Society of members of the Siberian Department of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society. Awarded on December 9, 1864 for "18-year meteorological observations in Selenginsk and many other works."

• Petryaev E.D. “Pupil of Siberian Academicians” // “People and Fates” .Chita, 1957.
• Petryaev E.D. “Transbaikal Rarities” // Almanac of Bibliophile. Moscow 1976
• Petryaev E.D. “Local historians and literary men of Transbaikalia: a biobibliographic index”. Chita, 1981
• Spector MM Svyaznoy Bestuzhevs // Zabaykal. working. - 1972. - Jan. 30;
• Spector MM. The Siberian doctor is a friend of the Decembrists // Pravda Buryatia. - 1973. - 26 dec.
• Demin E. Seismic stations of the Old Selenginsk // Baikal. 1983
• Schwartz On the scholarly works of Kelberg associate member // Notes of the Siberian Department of the IRGO. - SPb., 1858. Prince. four.