Laptev, Mikhail Konstantinovich

Born in Perm , graduated from Vyatka gymnasium. In 1904 he entered the natural department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Kazan University , where he graduated in 1910 with a degree in zoology with a PhD in natural sciences, defending the work “The development and structure of the needle in Erinaceus europaeus” (1910).

Since February 9, 1912 he worked in Chelyabinsk as a teacher of natural physics and geography at a female gymnasium. At the same time he was engaged in scientific research, wrote a number of articles: “On setting the course of the methods of natural science in the 8th grade of the Chelyabinsk Gymnasium” (1913), “Hydrofauna of the Lake Gorky Chelyabinsk Uyezd” (1912), “Ichtiofauna p. Miass "(1913)," List of spiders p. Kazan Chelyabinsk Uyezd ”(1913), however, their manuscripts were lost during the First World War.

He actively supported I. M. Krasheninnikov in his endeavor to create a local natural-historical society and became a full member of the Ural Society of Natural History Lovers in 1913. In the years 1914-1917 he served in the army. Having demobilized, he returned to Chelyabinsk, where he continued to work in a gymnasium and a real school. Due to the civil war, he was forced to leave the city. He worked as the rector of the People’s University in Tomsk , the director of the Tomsk Natural History Museum, then a researcher of the 1st category and a senior lecturer at the Central Asian University in Tashkent (1921).

He was the head of the Central Asian Zoological Garden (1927-1929).

In 1930, Laptev headed the Department of Zoology at the Veterinary Institute in Ashgabat , and in 1934, the Department of Zoology at the Pedagogical Institute, where he worked until his death. He participated in the creation of the museum and the research zoological station at the department, as well as in the organization of the publication of the Trudov station.

In 1940 he headed the zoological section of the Turkmen branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences, was chairman of the biogeography section of the Ashgabat branch of the All-Union Geographical Society.

He died in the Ashgabat earthquake .

Mikhail Laptev is the creator of the original methodology for recording terrestrial fauna in natural conditions. He was one of the organizers of biological science in Central Asia .

He was engaged in taxonomy and zoogeography of mammals, the author of a number of works on the taxonomy of sheep ^[1] and hedgehogs ^{[2] [3]} .

His "Key to Mammals of Central Asia" became one of the first publications of this kind, and "Elements of Zoogeography", designed for zoogeographers in practice, remains relevant to this day.

Honored Scientist of the Turkmen SSR (1945). He was awarded the Order of the Badge of Honor , and the medal For Valiant Labor in the Great Patriotic War. 1941-1945 " .

In honor of the scientist, his students and colleagues named one of the discovered new subspecies of the stone partridge, as well as a number of insects.

• Laptev M.K. Key to mammals of Central Asia (insectivorous, bats, carnivores, ungulates). - Tashkent: Publishing House of the Central Asian Zoological Garden, 1929. - 107 p.
• Laptev M.K. Elements of zoogeography. - Ashgabat: Turkmen Research Zoological Station, 1940. - 152 p.
• Laptev M.K., “Accounting for the terrestrial fauna of vertebrates by the method of route counting” (“The method of species area”) // Transactions of SAGU. Series 8th. Issue 1. 1930.
• Laptev M.K., “Materials for the knowledge of the vertebrate fauna of Turkmenistan” (B. Balkhan and Zap. Kopetdag) // Bulletin of the Turkmen Interdepartmental Commission. 1934. No. 1.
• Laptev M.K., “The Experience of Biocounting of Hunting Animals of the Central Kopetdag (TSSR)” // Bulletin of TNIZS. 1936.
• Laptev M.K., “Turkmen Research Zoological Station” // Bulletin of TNIZS. 1936. No. 1.
• Laptev M.K., “Key to vertebrate animals of the TSSR”. Issue 5. Mammals. Ashgabat - Baku. 1936.
• Laptev MK, “Materials for the knowledge of the fauna of vertebrate TSSR” // Bulletin of the USSR TFAN. 1945. No. 5-6.

• G. D. Ataev. M.K. Laptev and his role in the development of zoological science in Turkmenistan. (To the centenary of his birth) // News of the Academy of Sciences of the Turkmen SSR. A series of "biology." Issue 2. Ashgabat. 1985.S. 70-73.
• G.P. Dementiev, A.K. Rustamov. In memory of Mikhail Konstantinovich Laptev // News of the Academy of Sciences of the Turkmen SSR. Issue 5. Ashgabat. 1953. S. 91-93.
• A.O. Tashliev. The role of the USSR Academy of Sciences in the development of zoological science in Turkmenistan // Bulletin of the Academy of Sciences of the Turkmen SSR. A series of biological sciences. Issue 1. Ashgabat. 1974.P. 27.
• IN AND. Garanin. Zoology: fragments of biographies // Bulletin of the Samara Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences : journal. - Samara, 2009.- T. 11 , No. 1 (4) . - S. 808 .

• Laptev Mikhail Konstantinovich (neopr.) (Unavailable link) . Center for historical and cultural heritage of Chelyabinsk. Date of treatment September 2, 2014. Archived on September 3, 2014.
• V.S. Oh god Laptev Mikhail Konstantinovich (neopr.) . Encyclopedia "Chelyabinsk" . Date of treatment September 2, 2014.