Golovkinsky, Nikolai Alekseevich

Born November 17 ( 29 ), 1834 in the county town of Yadrinsk, Kazan province, in the family of an investigator of a zemstvo court . For his diligence in the service, Father Nicholas was awarded the Order of St. Anne of the 3rd degree and granted to the nobility , which gave his children the right to study at the university. And the family was big - five sons and two daughters.

First, Nicholas was assigned to study in a private boarding school in Brun, then in the 2nd gymnasium of the city of Kazan . However, he did not finish the full course and passed exams at the gymnasium as an external student.

September 1 ( 13 ), 1851 he was enrolled as a free student at the Faculty of Medicine of Kazan University . A year later, he passed the entrance exams, and after two and a half years, disappointed in the chosen specialty, he wrote a request for expulsion from the university. Soon he became a non-commissioned officer of the Ulan combined regiment: there was an Eastern war , the fighting of which was transferred to Russia, to the Crimea. From Kazan to Sevastopol, to defend the Fatherland, Nikolai Alekseevich went with great pleasure. For participation in the Crimean campaign, he was awarded a commemorative bronze medal on the St. Andrew’s ribbon and was demobilized in February 1857 as a lieutenant. Thus, Nikolai Alekseevich’s first acquaintance with Crimea took place in a difficult war situation: he was a participant in the Kadikoy (Balaklava) battle on October 13 (25), 1854.

Upon his retirement, 23-year-old N. Golovkinsky again entered the Imperial Kazan University as a free listener, but already to the natural department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics. After becoming a student, Nikolai Golovkinsky studied for the first two years with such intensity that his parents worried about his health. Having received brilliant training, thanks to gifted teachers and his own zeal, Nikolai Alekseevich graduated from Imperial Kazan University in 1861 with a candidate’s degree and was left as the curator of the museum at the mineralogical cabinet. For the graduate, it was quite respectable and respectable. And in 1862 he was sent for an internship in Germany, from where he later went to Paris, the capital of France.

In the academic year 1864–1865, H. Golovkinsky became privat-docent of the Imperial Kazan University, from which he went abroad and to which he returned two years later. During this time, the young scientist firmly decided to engage in geology, rather than chemistry, to which he was persuaded by Academician A. M. Butlerov , who became rector in Kazan. H. Golovkinsky defended his master's thesis in May 1865 on local, Volga material. Two years later, the scientist becomes a full member of the St. Petersburg Mineralogical Society, and in 1868, in Materials for Geology of Russia, he publishes his famous work On the Permian Formation in the Central Part of the Kama-Volga Basin.

It was a fundamentally new word in geological science, as it first pointed out the role of oscillatory movements in the accumulation of geological sediments. Not everyone knew then how not every scientist today has the ideas of actualistic geodynamics in geology. The year before this publication, Nikolai Alekseevich was elected professor, defending his doctoral dissertation on the Kama-Volga deposits. And in November 1871, the scientist transferred to work at the Novorossiysk University ^[2] .

Novorossiysk University

At that time, outstanding representatives of Russian science worked in Odessa : I. M. Sechenov , A. O. Kovalevsky , I. I. Mechnikov , V. V. Markovnikov . In such a constellation of world names, N. Golovkinsky begins to work as a professor in the department of mineralogy, and in April 1877, the University Council unanimously elected Nikolai Alekseevich as rector. ^[3] With great impatience, the scientist expected when his administrative activities expired: this seriously cut him off from scientific work. Exactly four years later, N. Golovkinsky resigned as rector.

Back in 1874, Nikolai Alekseevich chose Crimea for his annual practical classes with students. In March 1876, he informed a friend, doctor A. E. Golubev: “In May, I intend to take an excursion to the Crimea along the route Yalta, Castel, Chatyr-Dag, Bakhchisaray, which lasts 6 days,” accompanied by students. And after the VII Congress of Russian naturalists and doctors, which was held in Odessa in August 1883, many of its participants came to Crimea on an excursion, which was also conducted by N. Golovkinsky. And in the same year, Nikolai Alekseevich published in Odessa the work “On the Geology of Crimea”, which was the result of his many years of geological research on the peninsula and, as usual for him, a new word in science.

Life in Crimea

In 1886, after 25 years of teaching, Nikolai Alekseevich resigned and finally moved from Odessa to Crimea, where he already had a mansion near Alushta, suitable for permanent residence. This place at the foot of Mount Kastel was initially called “Kastel-Primorsky”. After many prominent scientists began to build their summer cottages near the house of H. A. Golovkinsky, the area was called the “ Professor’s Corner ”. Now here, in the village of Lazurny, the house of Nikolai Alekseevich is one of the few that have been preserved since then. Miraculously preserved, as it was erroneously nearly demolished at the very beginning of the 21st century.

There was no university on the peninsula during the move of H. A. Golovkinsky to the Crimea, and Nikolai Alekseevich gladly accepted the post of chief hydrogeologist of the Taurida Zemsky District Council. It is difficult today to evaluate the scientific feat of Nikolai Golovkinsky, who was able to examine each mountain river, rivulet, and more or less noticeable watercourse to compile a map of the natural water supply of Crimea. The scientist also paid much attention to the research of artesian, deep water reserves. He proposed the creation of Russia's first artesian station, which was founded in Saki.

N. A. Golovkinsky was the first to conclude that the crest of the Main ridge of the Crimean Mountains in the geological past was a coral reef of the ancient ocean (“warm sea”) that existed on the site of the Crimean peninsula. In one of the expeditions, Nikolai Alekseevich was lucky in an adjacent profession: in the area of ​​the Soter tract (between Alushta and Solnechnogorsk) he discovered the remains of a mammoth. Crimeans are most grateful to Nikolai Alekseevich for the two Travel Guides he wrote - in the Crimea (published seven times) and from Alushta to Sevastopol. And yet - for the annual reports of 1887-1896 on hydrogeological studies in the mountain, foothill and steppe Crimea. N.A. Golovkinsky died on June 21, 1897 in the Professor’s Corner. A waterfall opened by a scientist on the slopes of Babugan-Yayla on the Uzen-Bash River is named after him, a monument was erected in his honor near Mount Kastel. The scientist’s name also bears the natural stone cutter (the coastal boulders were originally processed by sea surfs) in the area of ​​the village of Lazurnoye near Alushta and the Kastel recreation center.

In 1868, H. A. Golovkinsky published in his Materials for the Geology of Russia his famous work On the Permian Formation in the Central Part of the Kama-Volga Basin. It was a fundamentally new word in geological science, as it first pointed out the role of oscillatory movements in the accumulation of geological sediments.

In 1867 p. N. A. Golovkinsky presented his doctoral dissertation “On the Permian Formation in the Central Part of the Kama-Volga Basin”. AT . received a doctorate in geology and mineralogy. He was elected an extraordinary, and a year later an ordinary professor in the department of geology and paleontology.

In 1883 he published the work “On the Geology of Crimea”, which was the result of his many years of geological research on the peninsula and a new word in science.

N. A. Golovkinsky was the first to conclude that the crest of the Main ridge of the Crimean Mountains in the geological past was a coral reef of the ancient ocean (“warm sea”) that existed on the site of the Crimean peninsula.

• Two introductory lectures delivered at Novorossiysk University on March 7 and 9. / N. A. Golovkinsky // Zap. imp Novoros. University. −1872. - T. 8. - S. 114-118.
• Thoughts on the past and future of our planet: publ. lecture, read Dec 6 . / N. A. Golovkinsky // Zap. imp Novoros. University. - 1876. - T. 18, h. Scientist. - S. 105-148.
• The results of geological surveys and explorations for fossil coal in the vicinity of Balaklava / N. A. Golovkinsky // Zap. Novoros. islands of natural scientists. - 1883. - T. 8, no. 2. - S. 1-41.
• Hydrogeological studies in the Tauride province / N. A. Golovkinsky // Novoros. calendar on. - Odessa, 1890.
• A brief hydrogeological sketch of the Dnieper county / N. A. Golovkinsky. - Simferopol, 1892. - 23 p.

• Prof. Odesky (Novorossiysk) University: university. words. in 4 tons / ONU im. І. І. Mechnikov, Science. b-ka. - 2nd view., Ext. - Odessa, 2005. - T. 1: Rector. - S. 31-35.
• Romanovsky S.I. Nikolai Alekseevich Golovkinsky, 1834-1897 / S.I. Romanovsky. - L .: Nauka, 1979.- 192 p.
• Golovkinsky N.A. // Great Soviet Encyclopedia. - 3rd ed. - M. , 1972. - T. 7. - S. 23.
• Brauner A. A. Geologists of Novorossiysk University: N. A. Golovkinsky / A. A. Brauner // Geologists of higher educational institutions of Southern Russia: essays on the history of geological knowledge. - M. , 1972. - Issue. 15. - S. 6-7: portr.
• Golovkinsky M.O. // Ukrainian radyan encyclopedia. - K. , 1960 .-- T. 3 .-- S. 332.
• Sokratov G. I. From the History of Russian Geology of the Second Half of the 19th Century : (On the 50th anniversary of the death of N. A. Golovkinsky and the 80th anniversary of his theory) / G. I. Sokratov // Zap. Leningra. horn in-that. - 1949. - T. 1516. - S. 41-70.
• Golovkinsky N.A.: Obituary // Odessa. news. - 1897. - June 8 (No. 399).
• Kirpichnikov A. The last days of the life of N. A. Golovkinsky / A. Kirpichnikov // Odessa. news. - 1897. - June 11 (No. 3998).
• Lagorio A.E. In memory of N.A. Golovkinsky / A.E. Lagorio // Ann. in geology and mineralogy of Russia. - 1897. - T. 28, no. 8/9. - S. 141-149.
• Pretzel R. A. In memory of N. A. Golovkinsky / R. A. Pretzel // Zap. Crimea.-Caucasus. horn the club. - 1897. - No. 12. - S. 9-15.
• Polenov B.K. Golovkinsky, Nikolai Alekseevich // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• Golovkinsky (Nikolai Alekseevich) // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary. - 1893. - T. 9: Goa - Engraver. - S. 72; 1905. - Add. t. 1a: The Hague Conference - Kochubey. - S. 590.
• Foreign members of the Russian Academy of Sciences of the 18th – 21st centuries: Geology and mining. / Ans. Editor I. G. Malakhova. M.: GC RAS , 2012 .-- 504 p. ISBN 978-5-904509-08-8 (electronic version).

• Bibliography and chronology in the information system " History of Geology and Mining " RAS.