The 13th of December at 15:00 at the HeadQuarters of the Russian Geographical Society in in St. Petersburg there will take place the conference «190 years from the birth of Petr Semyonov-Tian-Shanskiy: the results of the jubilee year». There will be told about the little-known pages of the life of the scientist. For example, that he was one of the first librarians of the Russian Geographical Society. The Scientific Archive of the Society still holds bibliographic cards of book catalogs filled with Petr Petrovich. Also, the vice-chairman of the Russian Geographical Society was fond of fine art, he collected over 700 paintings by Dutch and Flemish artists - these paintings are now kept in the Hermitage.
sem1_0.jpg
An outstanding geographer Petr Petrovich Semenov-Tyan-Shanskiy devoted more than 65 years of his life to the Russian Geographical Society.
In 1856, he went to study the Tien Shan mountain system, which at that time was a white spot on the world map. The scientist first created a scheme of ridges, explored the Issyk-Kul lake, discovered the headwaters of the Syr Darya, dozens of new species of plants unknown to science. Semenov laid the foundation of geological and geographical knowledge of the Tien Shan. In the 50th anniversary of the expedition for these services, a prefix «Tian-Shansky» was added to his name.
At the initiative of Petr Petrovich, the first general census of the population of Russia was held, the only one before the 1917 revolution.
The name of Semenov-Tyan-Shansky on the maps is a glacier and a peak in the Central Tien Shan, a ridge to the south of Lake Kukunor, peaks in the Caucasus, Alaska, Spitsbergen.
In addition, the guests of the conference will see the exhibition «P.P.Semenov-Tian-Shanskiy - Geographer, Statistician» and a documentary film «10 Peaks of P.P.Semenov-Tian-Shanskiy» at the historical Headquarters of the Russian Geographical Society. By the way, it was Peter Petrovich who put a lot of effort to the Society to have this building. In the early twentieth century, he achieved that the State Council of the Russian Empire issued a permit for its construction.
191_0.jpg
The meeting is organized by the St. Petersburg City Branch of the Russian Geographical Society and the Heritage Preservation Foundation. Semenov-Tian-Shanskiy and his descendants.
Date: December 13, 2017
Time: 15:00 to 20:30
Location: St. Petersburg, Grivtsova Lane, 10, letter A.
Free admission