by Andrei NIKONOV, Dr. Sc. (Geol. & Mineral.), Chief Research Assistant of the RAS Institute of Physics of the Earth, Leila FLEIFEL, Senior Research Assistant of the same institute German natural scientists and travellers, who worked in Russia in the first half of the 18th century, greatly contributed to the studies of Siberian nature. Their observations, published later on, remained little known in our country, especially the works, which have not been translated into Russian till now, including the work of a member of the Petersburg Academy of Sciences Johann Georg Gmelin Travels About Siberia From 1733 to 1743. The significance of his reports, practically not used by specialists, is great as they refer mainly to the unique area-Baikal rift system with its high seismic potential and activity. стр. 66 KAMCHATKA EXPEDITION The natural scientist, physician, ethnographer, and botanist Johann Georg Gmelin-senior (1709-1755) together with the historian Gerhard Friedrich Miller* headed one of the academic groups in the Second Kamchatka Expedition (1733-1743). It must be pointed out that on graduation from the medical faculty of the Tubingen University, the young Gmelin, who came to Russia from Germany (he was then 18 years old), in 1727 he became a junior scientific assistant in chemistry and natural history at the Petersburg Academy of Sciences, from 1731 to 1748 he was its professor and full member. In the course of the expedition he studied eastern slopes of the Urals, north-western part of Altai, Transbaikalia, inner regions of Eastern Siberia, in fact, he was the first to scientifically describe these vast regions. As a botanist he is known by his outstanding work Siberian Flora, published in 4 volumes by the Petersburg Academy of Sciences. His work under an extensive title Travels About Siberia, containing description of customs and ways of peoples of this land, currents of major rivers, location of mountain ranges, large forests, mi ... Читать далее