Second year in a row the results of the urban competition of research papers on local history among school children "Great travelers of St. Petersburg» were finalized in late December at the Headquarters of the Russian Geographical Society
The event was organized by St. Petersburg City Palace of Youth Creativity with the support of the Russian Geographical Society. The competition has increased the interest of young people in national history, the study of biographies and scientific discoveries of great scientists and travelers. It gives the opportunity to young trackers to present their research works local history.
The competition was attended by 6th-11th grade students who had submitted written research papers.
The jury included experts from the Headquarters of the Russian Geographical Society in St. Petersburg: Head of the Scientific Archives Maria Matveeva, Head of the Scientific Library Svetlana Mangutova, Deputy Director of the Executive Directorate of the Russian Geographical Society Andrei Strelnikov, as well as teachers - employees of the City Palace of Youth Creativity - Vladimir Axelrod, Tatiana Smirnova and
Maria Perevalova.
As last year, many students have chosen to study the activities of prominent scientists and travelers of the XIX and XX centuries, including Pyotr Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky, Nikolai Miklukho-Maclay, Pyotr Kozlov, Alexander Voeikov Gregory Grum-Grzhimailo Alexander Kolchak, Yuly Shokalsky. The works dedicated to the heroes of the present day are telling about the Arctic and the Antarctic explorer, First Vice President of the Russian Geographical Society Artur Chilingarov and Oleg Osipov - Head of the world circumnavigation which is being carried out on the oceanographic ship "Admiral Vladimirsky"
The experts, speaking about the level of the works, recommended to young researchers rely not only on electronic sources which are not always accurate and reliable, but above all, on library and archive data.
Maria Matveeva, summing up the results recommended next year to draw attention to the biographies of such scientists and travelers as Nikolai Vavilov, Alex Treshnikov, Sergei Lavrov, Yuri Seliverstov.
Svetlana Mangutova pointed out that in many respects the uniqueness of the work is defined by personal attitude to the hero of the study, and cited the work of Evgeny Abichev, a 10th grade student of School № 450 at the resort area of St. Petersburg who wrote about P.P. Semenov-Tyan-Shansky: "When I was reading "Memoirs", I was shocked by his perseverance and the pursuit of science. And I thought about students and people of the present: do we have such desire for learning, for the science? Today, books are not particularly revered, and say that someone has a desire to read the original Schiller and Goethe, Byron or Shakespeare with a dictionary is just ridiculous. Of course, there may be such students today somewhere, but I am not acquainted with them. My friends are mostly spend their time more careless, not even thinking about their future. "
Symbolically, the contestants and their teachers received rare books provided by the Russian Geographical Society and the St. Petersburg City Palace of Youth Creativity as prizes.
Text and photos: Tatiana Nikolaeva