History of Soviet and Russian science knows a lot of names prominent figures who dedicated their lives to her. Thanks to them, the level was raised to the proper height technical progress in our country and general education its citizens. One of them was Schmidt Otto Yulievich, whose biography formed the basis of this article.
First steps into science
The famous Soviet scientist Otto Yulievich Schmidt was born on September 30, 1891 in Mogilev. His paternal ancestors were German colonists who settled in Livonia in the 18th century, and his maternal ancestors were Latvians. From early childhood, he showed extraordinary abilities, which, combined with perseverance and love of knowledge, brought brilliant results.
Having graduated from a classical gymnasium with a gold medal, and then in 1913 from the physics and mathematics department Kyiv University, Schmidt Otto Yulievich received the right to remain within the walls of the educational institution and prepare to receive a professorship. During that period, the result of his work in the field of mathematics was a monograph published in 1916.
Social activities combined with science
As a person filled with a sense of civic duty, the young scientist could not stay away from the events that gripped the country in 1917. Without interrupting scientific activity, Schmidt became involved in the work of the Ministry of Food created by the Provisional Government, and after the victory of the Bolsheviks he became part of the People's Commissariat of Food. At the same time he joined the ranks of the Russian Social Democratic Party.
In the 20s, Otto Yulievich Schmidt taught at various higher educational institutions in the country, and in 1929 he became the head of one of the departments at Moscow University. In parallel with this, he launched extensive activities in the field public education. With his participation, centers for training qualified personnel for the country's enterprises were created, technical schools were opened and the system was reformed higher education. The fruit of his many years of work was the publication of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, of which he was the editor-in-chief.
From the Pamirs to the Arctic
While in Austria in 1924, where he was sent for treatment of chronic tuberculosis, Otto Yulievich Schmidt received unique opportunity graduate from mountaineering school. In those years she was the only one in the world. The skills acquired during his studies were useful to him during the international expedition to the Pamirs, which the Soviet scientist led in 1928. Taking part in numerous ascents, he spent great job to study the glaciers that covered this vast mountainous country.
However, the main business of Otto Yulievich’s life was the development of the Arctic. He started working on it in 1929, and devoted the next decade to this activity. The whole country then, without stopping, followed the unprecedented, at that time, expeditions three Soviet icebreakers - "Sedov", "Chelyuskin" and "Sibiryakov", also headed by Schmidt.
Three victorious expeditions to the Arctic
As a result of the first of them, carried out in 1929 on the icebreaker "Sedov", scientists managed to reach Franz Josef Land, where in Tikhaya Bay, under the leadership of Otto Yulievich, a polar geophysical observatory began work, which made it possible to study the straits and islands of the archipelago.
A year later, a new expedition was made. Otto Yulievich Schmidt and the scientists accompanying him then mapped five previously unknown islands, which later received the names Domashny, Dlinny, Isachenko, Voronin and Wiese. However, the true triumph of the explorers of the North was the transition they made in 1932. For the first time in the history of the expedition led by Schmidt, the icebreaker Sibiryakov managed to travel from Arkhangelsk to the Pacific Ocean during one navigation.
This achievement laid the foundation for the subsequent development of the Arctic in the interests of National economy. Schmidt Otto Yulievich, who had headed the All-Union Arctic Institute since 1930, after an unprecedented voyage on the Sibiryakov, was appointed head of the Main Directorate that controls shipping along the Northern Sea Route.
The tragedy and feat of the Chelyuskinites
The name of Otto Yulievich is inextricably linked with the famous epic of the Chelyuskinites, which attracted the attention of the whole world in 1933. It began with the fact that at the beginning of the next navigation along the route previously traversed by the Sibiryakov, the Chelyuskin ship was sent under the command of O. Yu. Schmidt and V. I. Voronin. The purpose of the voyage was to test the possibility of using the transport fleet in the Arctic Ocean.
The crew consisted of 104 people, among whom, in addition to members of the ship's crew, were polar scientists with their families who were to land on Wrangel Island, as well as workers for the construction of all structures necessary in the conditions of the polar night. This voyage, which began quite happily, ended in tragedy. On one of the sections of the route, the ship, unable to cope with strong winds and the current, it was crushed by ice, and after a short period of time sank.
Rescue and return to homeland
Fortunately, none of the expedition members were injured. As witnesses of those events later said, Otto Yulievich Schmidt was the last to leave the doomed ship. The polar explorers had to spend two months on the ice floe before they were discovered and transported to the mainland by polar aviation pilots. All participants in the rescue of the Chelyuskinites were then presented with high government awards.
For Otto Yulievich, the result of a two-month stay among polar ice he developed severe pneumonia, for which he went to Alaska to treat. After returning to his homeland, where he was greeted as a hero, Schmidt repeatedly gave reports in which he scientifically substantiated the further prospects for the development of the North. In 1937, for the exploration of the Arctic and the creation of a drifting scientific station, he was awarded the title of Hero Soviet Union.
last years of life
During the Great Patriotic War Otto Yulievich led the evacuation scientific institutions, establishing their work in the rear. During this period, tuberculosis, which had tormented him since childhood, worsened significantly and forced the scientist to spend a long time in various medical institutions. Despite all the doctors' efforts, Schmidt's condition deteriorated irreversibly. Last years he was practically confined to a hospital bed. September 7, 1956 this outstanding man passed away, opening the path to science for many of his followers and students. His ashes rest at the Novodevichy cemetery in the capital.
Wife and children of an outstanding scientist
After Schmidt's death, his three sons remained. The eldest of them, Vladimir, was born from the marriage of Otto Yulievich with Vera Fedorovna Yanitskaya, who became famous as an outstanding teacher and psychoanalyst. Their son also made his contribution to science, becoming a professor and a candidate of technical sciences.
The mother of the second son Sigurd (photo is in the article) was Margarita Emmanuilovna Golosovker. A literary critic by training, she held a prominent position in the USSR Academy of Sciences. Sigurd Ottovich became famous Soviet and Russian historian. He passed away relatively recently - in 2013.
And finally, Schmidt’s youngest son, Alexander, was born to a participant in the Chelyuskin expedition, Alexandra Alexandrovna Gorskaya. Like all the participants in that unforgettable epic, she was presented with a government award - the Order of the Red Star.
!) born on September 30 (September 18, old style) 1891 in the Belarusian city of Mogilev. Among Otto Yulievich's ancestors there were both burghers and peasants. He grew up in a large, modestly living family. The grandfather noticed his grandson’s extraordinary abilities. He proposed to family council All relatives will help each other as much as they can, and use this money to provide an education for the promising scion of the Schmidt family.
In 1900, Otto entered school in Mogilev. Soon the family moved first to Odessa, and then to Kyiv. In 1909, the young man graduated from the Second Classical Gymnasium of Kyiv with a gold medal. During his high school years, he engaged in self-education a lot: read, studied foreign languages, higher mathematics. It was the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics that he chose when entering Kiev University.
Student Schmidt made a list of books to read. It turned out that even if you read one serious book a week, reading it would take a thousand years. The young man reduced the list four times.
Already in student years Otto Yulievich began to conduct independent mathematical research. Three of his articles were published in 1912-1913. In 1913, Schmidt graduated from the university and was retained there to prepare for a professorship.
In 1916, Otto Yulievich brilliantly passed his master's degree exams and was confirmed as a private assistant professor. At the same time, the main work of Schmidt the mathematician was published - “ Abstract theory groups." This work was recognized by his peers as a major contribution to algebra. But it actually became the only major development of the scientist in his beloved ancient science. The whirlpool of history brought Schmidt to the crest of a completely different wave.
In 1918, Professor Schmidt joined the Bolshevik Party and began to build with inspiration new world. In 1919 he writes " treatise"- a draft regulation on proletarian food units, in accordance with which he personally instructs the fighters and commanders of these units. As is known, history subsequently gave them far from unambiguous assessments.
In 1921-1922, a “new economic policy" Schmidt at this time was conducting mathematical research at the People's Commissariat of Finance and heading the Institute economic research. He is most energetically involved in the work on theoretical justification NEP
As a high-ranking official, Otto Yulievich was obliged to take part in all meetings of the Council of People's Commissars. Only God knows how much time was spent on these meetings of the “pro-sessioners,” as Vladimir Mayakovsky aptly dubbed them, and how many books from the list requiring 250 years remained unread!
In 1921-1924, Schmidt headed the State Publishing House. He came up with the idea of publishing the Great Soviet Encyclopedia. He was also the editor-in-chief of this global project in 1929-1941. At the same time, Otto Yulievich lectures at Moscow State University, in Pedagogical University(then the second Moscow State University), at the Communist Academy and the Moscow Forestry Institute.
One of the most important tasks facing the country during the period of industrialization was, as they said then, “conquering Soviet Arctic" This work was coordinated by Otto Yulievich Schmidt, whose popularity reached its peak in the thirties. Newspapers wrote about him, he spoke on the radio and appeared in newsreels, girls hung his portraits cut out from magazines in their rooms.
In 1929-1930, the scientist led expeditions (there were two of them) on the icebreaker Georgy Sedov. The purpose of these voyages is the development of the Northern sea route. As a result of Sedov's campaigns, a research station was organized on Franz Josef Land. The romanticism that gripped the vast country, which enthusiastically received the news of the opening of the first polar station, is wonderfully reflected in the film by S.A. Gerasimov "Seven Brave".
"Sedov" also examined the northeastern part Kara Sea And western shores Severnaya Zemlya.
In 1930, Schmidt became director of the Arctic Institute. In 1932, the icebreaking steamship Sibiryakov, with an expedition on board led by Otto Yulievich, covered the entire Northern Sea Route in one navigation - from Arkhangelsk to Vladivostok. In 1934, Schmidt decided to consolidate his success and made a second attempt to conquer the Arctic seas - this time on the icebreaker Chelyuskin. As is known, this voyage ended in the death of the ship and heroic feat the Chelyuskinites who suffered hardships and the valiant polar pilots who came to their aid.
Failure did not make Otto Yulievich stop loving the North. In 1937, he led the operation to create a drifting station " North Pole-1,” and in 1938, under the leadership of Schmidt, the Papanin heroes were removed from the ice floe.
In terms of the intensity of passions and the ardent sense of pride in the power that gripped millions, the exploration of the Arctic in the thirties of the 20th century can be compared with the first space steps of mankind in the sixties. And the main character of these events was “ chief designer conquest of the North" Otto Schmidt. In 1935 he became full member Academy of Sciences of the USSR. By that time, a number of his works on geography, geophysics, geology, and astronomy had been published.
In 1944, when the country was still fighting against Nazi Germany, but the sun of victory was already shining over the horizon, Academician Schmidt, who had devoted many years to “applied” administrative and organizational work, suddenly remembered eternal questions and tried to answer at least one of them: “How was the Solar System formed?”
By this time, there were several hypotheses in astronomy designed to answer this sacramental question. Back in 1745, J. Buffon put forward the idea that all the satellites of the Sun were formed from a clump of matter torn out of our star by the impact of a huge comet.
A little later, two scientists - I. Kant and P. Laplace - independently suggested that the Solar system was formed from a primary rarefied and hot gas nebula with a compaction in the center. It had a radius much greater than that of modern solar system, and rotated slowly. The attraction of the particles to each other led to the compression of the nebula and an increase in the speed of its rotation. Continuously contracting and accelerating its rotation, the nebula was stratified into rings. These rings rotated in the same direction in the same plane. The densest parts of the ring attracted the rarefied ones. Gradually, each ring turned into a rarefied ball of gas, rotating around its axis. Then the compaction cooled, solidified and turned into a planet. Largest part The nebula has not cooled down yet and has become a “Star called the Sun.” This universal history is listed in science under the name “ scientific hypothesis Kant-Laplace".
However, in subsequent centuries, new phenomena were discovered in the solar system that diverged from the provisions of the above-mentioned hypothesis. So, it turned out that Uranus rotates around its axis in a different direction than other planets rotate. New information about the properties of gases also raised some doubts about the reliability of the hypothesis.
Academician Schmidt put forward his own assumptions. Based on a number of scientific data, he came to the conclusion that the Earth and planets were never hot gas bodies, like stars, but most likely formed from cold, solid particles of matter.
If we assume that there once existed a colossal dust and gas cloud around the Sun, then, according to the academician’s calculations, the following happened: countless particles collided with each other as they moved and therefore sought to move in such a way as not to interfere with each other. And for this it is necessary that all their paths be located approximately in the same plane and become circular. Rotating around the Sun in circles of various sizes, the particles no longer collided with each other. But when the particles approached the same plane, the distances between them decreased, and they began to attract each other. They united, denser and larger particles attracted smaller and lighter ones, gradually forming lumps of substance of planetary size.
The hypothesis explained the arrangement of planets in the system “by weight categories.” The huge lump of Jupiter collected a lot of matter in the region closest to the Sun. And on the other side of it, further from the Sun, another giant planet, Saturn, formed, as if in opposition. Otto Yulievich calculated that it was in the middle of the system that the most major planets, and closer to the Sun and further, behind the “giant belt” - smaller ones, such as Pluto. Schmidt's theoretical calculations made it possible to substantiate the existing distances between the planets.
Otto Yulievich Schmidt is an outstanding Arctic researcher, a famous Soviet mathematician and astronomer, who managed to achieve world recognition in scientific field. Having devoted ten years to studying the Arctic, he made a great contribution to the development of the geography of the Soviet north.
From the Pamirs to the Arctic
The famous explorer and scientist was born on September 30, 1891. WITH early age He showed exceptional abilities in his studies, and studied brilliantly at the gymnasium, and then at the Kiev University in the department of physics and mathematics, in which he defended the title of professor.
In 1928, the Soviet scientist received an offer to lead the first international expedition to the Pamirs. Making numerous dangerous ascents, Otto Yulievich carried out large-scale work to study the glaciers of this inaccessible mountainous country.
Rice. 1. Otto Yulievich Schmidt.
Schmidt acquired the mountaineering skills that were very useful during the Pamir expedition during his stay in Austria in 1924. While in a sanatorium for treatment of chronic tuberculosis, the young scientist graduated from a mountaineering school, which at that time was the only one in the world.
But still, the main work of the outstanding scientist’s life was the exploration of the Arctic, to which he devoted ten years.
Expeditions to the Arctic
Beginning in 1929, not only the Soviet Union, but the whole world followed the then unprecedented expeditions of three Soviet icebreakers: Chelyuskin, Sibiryakov and Sedov.
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- The first trip was made in 1929 on the icebreaker Sedov, which took scientists to Franz Josef Land. Under the leadership of Otto Yulievich, a geophysical station was created for a thorough study geographical objects archipelago.
- The next expedition took place a year later. Schmidt and his fellow scientists managed to discover, explore and map previously unknown islands.
Rice. 2. Schmidt's polar expedition.
- The real triumph was the polar expedition of 1932, when for the first time in history the icebreaker Sibiryakov managed to reach the Pacific Ocean from Arkhangelsk in one navigation. This discovery laid a strong foundation for the further exploration of the Arctic and the development of shipping in the polar regions.
In 1933, Schmidt led another expedition on the icebreaker Chelyuskin. According to the plan, the crew members were supposed to complete the entire scope of the scientific project and change winterers on Wrangel Island. But unexpectedly for everyone, “Chelyuskin” found itself trapped in ice Chukchi Sea and was crushed. IN extreme conditions The polar explorers managed to escape, and none of them were injured.
Rice. 3. Icebreaker Chelyuskin.
Invaluable experience gained during polar expeditions, helped Schmidt organize the first drifting station in the Soviet Union, North Pole-1, in 1937.
Sh midt Otto Yulievich - outstanding Soviet explorer Arctic, scientist in the field of mathematics and astronomy, academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
Born on September 18 (30), 1891 in the city of Mogilev (now the Republic of Belarus). German. In 1909 he graduated from the 2nd classical gymnasium of the city of Kyiv with a gold medal, in 1916 – from the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Kyiv University. He wrote his first three scientific papers on group theory in 1912-1913, for one of which he was awarded Golden medal. Since 1916, private assistant professor at Kiev University.
After October revolution 1917, O.Yu. Schmidt - member of the boards of a number of people's commissariats (Narkomprod in 1918-1920, Narkomfin in 1921-1922, Central Union in 1919-1920, People's Commissariat of Education in 1921-1922 and 1924-1927, member of the Presidium of the State Planning Committee in 1927-1930). One of the organizers of higher education and science: he worked in the State Academic Council under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, a member of the Presidium of the Communist Academy in 1924-1930. Member of the RCP(b)/VKP(b)/CPSU since 1918.
In 1921-1924 he headed the State Publishing House, organized the first edition of the Bolshoi Soviet Encyclopedia, takes an active part in the reform of higher education and the development of a network of research institutions. In 1923-1956, professor of the 2nd Moscow state university named after M.V. Lomonosov (MSU). In 1920-1923 - professor at the Moscow Forestry Institute.
In 1928, Otto Yulievich Schmidt took part in the first Soviet-German Pamir expedition, organized by the USSR Academy of Sciences. The purpose of the expedition was to study the structure mountain ranges, glaciers, passes and climbing the most high peaks Western Pamirs.
In 1929 it was organized arctic expedition on the icebreaker ship "Sedov". O.Yu. Schmidt was appointed head of this expedition and “government commissioner of the Franz Josef Archipelago”. The expedition successfully reaches Franz Josef Land; O.Yu. Schmidt created a polar geophysical observatory, explored the straits of the archipelago and some islands. In 1930, the second Arctic expedition was organized under the leadership of O.Yu. Schmidt on the icebreaking steamer "Sedov". The islands of Vize, Isachenko, Voronin, Dlinny, Domashny, and the western shores of Severnaya Zemlya were discovered. During the expedition, an island was discovered, which was named after the head of the expedition - Schmidt Island.
In 1930-1932 - director of the Arctic Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences. In 1932, an expedition led by O.Yu. Schmidt on the icebreaking steamer Sibiryakov covered the entire Northern Sea Route in one navigation, laying the foundation for regular voyages along the coast of Siberia.
In 1932-1939, he was the head of the Main Northern Sea Route. In 1933-1934, under his leadership, a new expedition was carried out on the steamer Chelyuskin in order to test the possibility of sailing along the Northern Sea Route on a non-icebreaking class ship. At the time of the death of "Chelyuskin" in the ice and subsequently during the arrangement of life for the rescued crew members and the expedition to floating ice showed courage and strong will.
In 1937, on the initiative of O.Yu.Schmidt, the Institute of Theoretical Geophysics of the USSR Academy of Sciences was organized (O.Yu.Schmidt was its director until 1949, in 1949-1956 - head of the department).
In 1937, O.Yu. Schmidt organized an expedition to the world’s first drifting scientific station"North Pole-1" in the very center of the Arctic Ocean. And in 1938 he led the operation to remove station personnel from the ice floe.
U Kazakh Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated June 27, 1937 for leadership in the organization of the drifting station "North Pole-1" Schmidt Otto Yulievich awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the presentation of the Order of Lenin, and after the establishment of the badge special distinction he was awarded the Gold Star medal.
Since 1951, editor-in-chief of the Nature magazine. In 1951-1956 he worked at the Geophysical Department of Moscow State University.
The main works in the field of mathematics relate to algebra; The monograph “Abstract Theory of Groups” (1916, 2nd ed. 1933) had a significant influence on the development of this theory. O.Yu.Schmidt – founder of the Moscow algebra school, the leader of which he was for many years. In the mid-1940s, O.Yu. Schmidt put forward a new cosmogonic hypothesis about the formation of the Earth and the planets of the Solar System (Schmidt hypothesis), the development of which he continued together with a group of Soviet scientists until the end of his life.
On February 1, 1933, he was elected a corresponding member, and on June 1, 1935, a full member (academician) of the USSR Academy of Sciences. From February 28, 1939 to March 24, 1942, he was vice-president of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR (1934).
Member of the USSR Central Executive Committee. Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the 1st convocation (1937-1946). He was an honorary member of the Moscow Mathematical Society (1920), the All-Union Geographical Society and the Moscow Society of Natural Scientists. Member of the US National Geographic Society. Editor-in-chief of the magazine "Nature" (1951-1956).
He was awarded three Orders of Lenin (1932, 1937, 1953), two Orders of the Red Banner of Labor (1936, 1945), the Order of the Red Star (1934), and medals.
The following names are named after O.Yu. Schmidt: an island in the Kara Sea, a peninsula in the northern part of Novaya Zemlya, a cape on the coast of the Chukchi Sea, one of the peaks and a pass in the Pamir Mountains, as well as the Institute of Physics of the Earth; streets in Arkhangelsk, Kyiv, Lipetsk and other cities, avenue in Mogilev; Museum of Arctic Exploration of Murmansk Gymnasium No. 4. The first Soviet scientific icebreaker, launched in 1979, was named “Otto Schmidt”. In 1995, the O.Yu. Schmidt Medal of the Russian Academy of Sciences was established for outstanding scientific work in the field of research and development of the Arctic.
Essays:
Selected works. Mathematics, M., 1959;
Selected works. Geographical works, M., 1960;
Selected works. Geophysics and cosmogony, M., 1960.
The name of the scientist is geographical features(an island in the Kara Sea, a cape and a village on the coast of the Chukchi Sea, a peak and pass in the Pamirs, a plain in Antarctica), an icebreaker for research purposes, minor planet No. 2108 (asteroid Otto Schmidt), a crater on the Moon, a Russian-German laboratory in the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, streets in populated areas. O.Yu. Schmidt achieved worldwide recognition in various fields of science, but for him it was interconnected areas unified Science. Schmidt's creative activity is characterized by the strict logic of a mathematician, the breadth of horizons of a scientist-encyclopedist, the romance of a pioneer traveler, the practical determination of an enterprising public and statesman, and the inspiration of an educator. He was also gifted with a talent for theoretical abstract thinking, and the ability to implement one’s ideas in concrete practice. He was not afraid of risk. The scale of his interests and abilities are amazing; his favorite images of the Past were Leonardo da Vinci, Lomonosov, Goethe, and he himself was compared to the titans of the Renaissance, both in terms of the significance of what he created and in the way he behaved in life.
Otto Yulievich was born in 1891 in the Belarusian city of Mogilev. His paternal ancestors were German farmers who moved to Courland (Latvia) in the second half of the 18th century, and his maternal ancestors were Latvians from a neighboring farm. As a boy, he showed extraordinary curiosity and a desire for knowledge, which amazed his grandfather, on whose farm the family visited every summer. At the family council, the father of Otto Yulievich’s mother said: “If we all work out, we will be able to send him to study at a gymnasium, and not to a craft.” Due to family moves, the boy studied at gymnasiums in Mogilev, Odessa and Kyiv. In 1909, Otto Yulievich graduated from the Kyiv Classical Gymnasium and entered the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Kyiv University. While still a student he received a prize for math work, written under the direction of D.A. Grave, and upon graduation in 1913 he was left at the University “to prepare for a professorship.” In 1916, he published the monograph “Abstract Group Theory,” which became a fundamental work in this area of mathematics. The young privatdozent proved himself both as an organizer of science and as a public figure, leading the association of scientific youth of the university (“Young Academy”), which sought to reform higher education. At the same time, he became an employee of the Kyiv city government, taking charge of providing the population with food. In the summer of 1917 O.Yu. were sent to Petrograd as a delegate to the congress on higher education affairs, and at the same time to organize the supply of food and manufactured goods to the population. Soon he became an employee of the Ministry of Food of the Provisional Government.
Otto Yulievich welcomed the October Revolution and prevented sabotage in this ministry. With the formation of the People's Commissariat for Food O.Yu. became head of the Product Exchange Department and moved to Moscow with the government. Time demanded, according to O.Yu., instead mathematical formulas master the “military weapon of the algebra of revolution.” O.Yu. Schmidt worked as a member of the boards of the People's Commissariats of Food, Finance, and Education. Turning to financial problems, O.Yu. for the first time in Russian science he studied the laws of the emission process (article 1923 “ Mathematical laws money issue"). Since 1920, he resumed teaching mathematics at universities; since 1929, he has been a professor at Moscow University, where he headed the department of algebra and created scientific school on group theory. For his mathematical works in 1933, he was elected a corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences. The most diverse and effective in the 1920s were his activities in the field of education: the organization vocational education youth school age, creation of technical schools, provision of advanced training for workers of factories and factories, restructuring schooling, reform of the university system. It was he who introduced the word “graduate student” into use.
In 1921-1924 O.Yu. was the head of the State Publishing House. Under his leadership, the world's largest publishing house was formed, which set “not commercial goals, but cultural and political ones.” The publication was also resumed scientific journals and research monographs. At the same time, the plan to prepare a large reference book, which unites, according to Schmidt himself, “the enlightenment of our era” - the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, of which he was appointed editor-in-chief in 1925. The preparation of this multi-volume publication brought together the efforts of scientists and cultural figures, specialists from older, pre-revolutionary generations and their followers (“specialists”), those who were convinced of the need for socialist transformations. The encyclopedia, which arose from his idea, O.Yu. He devoted a lot of effort: he edited and wrote articles even on expeditions.
It is clear that such work contributed to increased interest in problems of natural science and the history of science, and O.Yu. heads the section of natural and exact sciences at the Communist Academy, gives a lecture course on the history of these sciences. O.Yu. was a born lecturer and loved this activity, giving lectures and reports on a variety of topics both to a wide audience and to scientific conferences, meetings of government agencies, as well as at German to the workers of the Comintern. The need to explain briefly and clearly in lectures scientific statements, in his opinion, stimulated and facilitated research work. He also considered it important to form teams of like-minded scientists working on various problems.
Even in his youth, O.Yu. fell ill with pulmonary tuberculosis, and the disease worsened every 10 years. In 1924, he was given the opportunity to go to Austria for treatment, where he attended a mountaineering school in Tyrol. In 1928, Otto Yulievich, as the leader of a mountaineering group as part of a Soviet-German expedition, explored the glaciers of the Pamirs. In 1929, he was appointed head of an expedition to Franz Josef Land to consolidate the sovereignty of the USSR in this territory. This expedition on the icebreaker "Sedov", as well as the 1930 expedition on the same icebreaker again to Franz Josef Land and then to Severnaya Zemlya, allowed him to appreciate the significance polar research and the possibilities of sailing in those latitudes. Therefore, it became quite natural for O.Yu. organization of an expedition with the goal of a through passage by the Northern by sea for one navigation. This was first carried out in 1932 on the icebreaker Sibiryakov under the leadership of O.Yu. and captain V.I. Voronin.
The success of the expedition (for which its leaders were among the first awarded the order Lenin) proved the possibility of active economic development Arctic. For practical implementation To this end, the Main Directorate of the Northern Sea Route (GUSMP, Glavsevmorput) was created. O.Yu. was appointed his boss. The GUSMP was entrusted with the development and technical equipment routes of the Northern Sea Route, exploration of the subsoil of the polar territories, organization of diverse scientific work. The construction of weather stations along the coast, the development of radio communications, polar aviation, and the construction of icebreakers and ice-class vessels began.
To check the ability to sail on Arctic Ocean transport ships in 1933, the steamship (not icebreaker) Chelyuskin, headed by O.Yu., was sent along the route of the Sibiryakov. and V.I. Voronin. The expedition involved scientists of various specialties; it was also supposed to land a group of winterers with their families on Wrangel Island; There were also carpenters on the ship, sent to build houses for the winterers. In conditions of unusually heavy ice conditions, the Chelyuskin made its way into the Bering Strait, but was unable to enter the Pacific Ocean: winds and currents pulled it, along with the ice field, back into the Kara Sea. Wintering the ship became inevitable. On February 13, 1934, the ice broke the side and two hours later the Chelyuskin sank. During this time, pre-prepared emergency supplies were unloaded onto the ice. There were 104 people on the ice, including 10 women and two small children (Karina Vasilyeva was born in the Kara Sea, which is why she received her name). “The Chelyuskin Epic” - the epic of the life of the Chelyuskin residents in the ice “Schmidt Camp” and their rescue by the pilots - shocked the whole world, and O.Yu. then became world famous. They wrote abroad that Schmidt’s name was “inscribed in the golden book of science,” “about extraordinary adventures the entire world press wrote it in the style of Jules Verne” (reported in the Izvestia newspaper on June 3, 1934).
Maintaining discipline and good spirits on the ice floe was largely the merit of the “ice commissar”, who not only enjoyed authority among the Chelyuskinites, but also gained their love. O.Yu. and in the camp he continued to give lectures, the variety of topics of which is characteristic of his erudition and educational inclinations: on modern problems of natural and social sciences, about historical materialism, the teachings of Freud, national issue, tasks of development of the Arctic, Russian and foreign literature... Sick with pneumonia O.Yu. taken to the USA, where he met with President Roosevelt and many scientists. His return through Europe to Russia and, especially, the return of the Chelyuskinites by train from Vladivostok to Moscow, the ceremonial meeting and rally on Red Square with the participation of the country's leaders were triumphant. All Chelyuskinites were awarded the Order of the Red Star, and the pilots who saved them were the first to be awarded the title “Hero of the Soviet Union,” which was approved at that time.
O.Yu. Schmidt became a Hero of the Soviet Union in 1937, when he organized an expedition to the North Pole to create the first drifting station there, later called “SP-1”. This idea was born among the Chelyuskinites back in the “Schmidt Camp”, and it is no coincidence that of the four participants drifting on SP-1, two - E.T. Krenkel and P.P. Shirshov - were both Siberian and Chelyuskinites, and from four aircraft commanders who landed at the Pole for the first time, two - M.V. Vodopyanov and V.S. Molokov - rescued the Chelyuskinites. The entire organization of the expedition, both in the preparation process and during its conduct and rescue, was led by O.Yu. 1937 is the second peak of his fame. For the authority of O.Yu. at that time, it was indicative of his appointment as deputy chairman of the Central Election Commission for the elections to the first The Supreme Council USSR, although no less significant is the fact that he was never elected to the highest party bodies.
In 1935, for services in the field of geography O.Yu. elected academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences in the Department of Mathematical and natural sciences. With reports on scientific results and the prospects for the development of the Arctic, he also speaks abroad. He was approved as chairman of the geographical group of the Academy of Sciences, under which a geophysical section was created. In 1937, at the initiative of O.Yu. The Institute of Theoretical Geophysics of the USSR Academy of Sciences was created, of which he himself became the director. In 1946, this institute was merged with the Seismological Institute into the Geophysical Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences (GEOFIAN), and O.Yu. he headed it until 1949. Later, part of the Geophysical Institute was transformed into the Institute of Earth Physics named after O.Yu. Schmidt.
In January 1939 O.Yu. elected first vice-president of the USSR Academy of Sciences. He did a lot to reorganize the work academic institutions both in the original centers - Moscow and Leningrad, and on the periphery to implement research results into practice, attract young scientists to academic research, popularize scientific knowledge. Since the beginning of the Great Patriotic War O.Yu. supervised the evacuation and establishment of activities of academic institutions in the new environment.
Back in 1923 O.Yu. took part in the work of the Special Commission for the study of the Kursk Magnetic Anomaly. Having mathematically processed the data from instrumental measurements, he showed that there is no large ore body in that area. Interest in geophysics led to a desire to understand the process of the emergence of the Earth and other planets, the patterns of their physical and other characteristics. Gradually, the foundations of cosmogonic theory were formed, the in-depth development of which he had the opportunity to engage in after J.V. Stalin removed O.Yu. in March 1942. from the leadership of the Academy of Sciences; he soon ceased to be the editor-in-chief of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia.
A group of employees was created as part of the Institute of Theoretical Geophysics, which in 1945 became, under the leadership of Otto Yulievich, the “Department of Earth Evolution.” Based on his hypothesis, O.Yu. laid the idea of an initially cold Earth, accumulated from small solid bodies. Explaining the mechanism of its formation, he put forward the hypothesis of the capture of a preplanetary swarm by the Sun and then mathematically proved the fundamental possibility of capture in a three-body system. This hypothesis made it possible to explain the contradiction between the concentration of almost the entire mass of the Solar System at its center, but almost the entire angular momentum at its periphery.
Reported to the scientific community for the first time in 1943, the hypothesis was not immediately accepted; some of its provisions (swarm capture) aroused criticism from astronomers. But O.Yu. with collaborators, primarily B.Yu. Levin and G.F. Hilmi, successfully continued to develop it and considered it necessary to summarize it in “Four Lectures on the Origin of the Earth,” which he read at the Geophysical Institute in 1948 and published in 1949 d. This book was reprinted in 1950, and then in a revised form in 1957. It is this 3rd edition translated into English language was published in London (publishing house 1-a\otepse apo UU|zpaP) in 1959. The seriously ill scientist devoted most of his energy to this work. He wrote his last article a month before his death.
Currently, the theory of the origin of the Earth and planets, the development of which was started by O.Yu., continues by his employees and their students, is generally recognized in the world. This recognition was facilitated by the only correct formulation of the problem in the 40s by O.Yu. Schmidt, who formulated the problem of the origin of the Earth and planets as a complex astronomical and geophysical problem. He divided it into three main parts: 1) the origin of a pre-planetary cloud orbiting the Sun, 2) the formation of a planetary system in this cloud with its features, 3) the early evolution of the Earth and planets from their initial state to the modern one studied by the Earth sciences. The first part can be solved only with the development of astrophysical observations, which in the 40-50s. was clearly not enough. O.Yu. Schmidt considered the second part to be the central task of planetary cosmogony, justifying this by the fact that whatever the origin of the preplanetary cloud (capture by the Sun or joint formation from a single rotating clump), the cloud had to develop in its own way internal laws, and all the main stages of its transformation into planetary system should be found out without waiting for the solution to the first problem. For almost half a century since then, V.S. Safronov, a follower of O.Yu. Schmidt, has been working on this problem. The evolution of the gas-dust preplanetary cloud (disk) was studied step by step, starting from the interaction of primary dust particles and the gas component. It has been shown that it is unstable, i.e. disintegrating into clumps could only be a dust subdisk. This meant that massive gas protoplanets could not form in the cloud. This means that neither the Earth nor other planets were formed from massive cooling clumps solar composition(this hypothesis was still popular in the 50s of the 20th century) The transformation of dust concentrations into compact bodies was studied, the process of their association and fragmentation was studied, it was shown that the bulk of the mass was contained in a few largest bodies- potential embryos of planets, and that the main growth of the Earth's mass took 100 million years. Large thousand-kilometer bodies took part in the formation of the Earth, the heat from the impacts of which served as a source of heating of the Earth’s interior and its differentiation into the mantle and core. Estimates of the initial temperature of the Earth served as a starting point for studying the subsequent thermal history of the Earth and planets, which were also studied at the Institute of Physics of the Earth under the leadership of B.Yu. Levin. This third part of the problem also included constructing models of the internal structure of planets for comparative analysis with the Earth. We can say that by formulating this task, O.Yu. actually laid the foundation for comparative planetology, which later blossomed thanks to space research. In accordance with the hypothesis of O.Yu. Schmidt, at the Institute that bears his name, a model of the formation of the Moon and planetary satellites was developed as a process accompanying the accumulation of planets. Natural explanation in the theory of O.Yu. found ideas about the origin of asteroids and comets. In one of their latest articles O.Yu. considered the asteroid belt as an unformed planet, then this idea was supported by calculations of disturbances from bodies formed in the zone of Jupiter adjacent to the asteroids. All giant planets participated in the formation of distant clouds of comets, throwing preplanetary bodies there with their gravitational disturbances.
Thanks to O.Yu. Schmidt, domestic planetary cosmogony developed 10-15 years earlier than in developed Western countries. In the West, in the last two decades, gas and dust disks have begun to be observed around young solar-mass stars and even planets (so far only very massive ones) around other stars. The conditions are already ripe for solving the first part of the problem - the origin of the preplanetary cloud. This is what they do in different countries, including in Russia. The achievements of the domestic school of O.Yu. Schmidt’s followers are recognized in the West. V.S. Safronov’s monograph “The Evolution of the Preplanetary Cloud and the Formation of the Earth and Planets,” after its translation into English in the USA in 1972, became one of the most cited books in specialized literature. The Schmidt-Safronov model is a working tool in the interpretation of space observations.
The last period of O.Yu.’s life Schmidt was perhaps the most heroic. Since the winter of 1943-44, tuberculosis progressed and spread not only to the lungs, but also to the throat. O.Yu. periodically forbidden to speak, he spent a lot of time in sanatoriums in the Moscow region and in Yalta, and in recent years he was essentially bedridden - mainly at the dacha in Mozzhinka near Zvenigorod, where he died on September 7, 1956. But, straining his will, O.Yu. used the slightest improvement in his condition for scientific work. When he had enough strength, he gave lectures in Moscow and Leningrad. He was among those whose lectures opened classes in the new high-rise building of Moscow University in 1953. He founded and headed the Geophysical Department at Moscow State University in 1951, and conducted scientific seminars at home and in the country. O.Yu. gradually abandoned all administrative positions, he agreed only to become editor-in-chief of the journal Nature in 1951, reviving this publication.
In the life and work of O.Yu. there were sharp turns more than once: the mathematician - statesman- creator of the encyclopedia - pioneer traveler - reorganizer of the Academy of Sciences - cosmogonist. Some of them occurred at the will of O.Yu. himself, others - under the influence of circumstances. But he always worked in full force, did not know how and did not allow myself to do otherwise. This was facilitated by his tireless curiosity, broad erudition, clear logic of thinking and organization in work, the ability to highlight the most important tasks of work, the ability to cooperate with others, and democracy in relations with people. A man of irrepressible creative energy, accustomed to public practical activities, a lover of life, a witty conversationalist, due to illness he found himself cut off from people. But I still read a lot - both the latest scientific and fiction, and history books, and memoirs (mainly on foreign languages), noted music broadcasts on the radio in advance. He knew that he was doomed and left this life with wise dignity. Three months before his death, O.Yu. said: “I am grateful to fate for the life it gave me. There was so much good and so much interesting! I'm not afraid to die."
We said goodbye to academician O.Yu. Schmidt in the building of the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences, was buried in the first alley of the Novodevichy cemetery. It was decided to perpetuate his memory not only by naming the Institute of Earth Physics after him, but also by publishing it selected works. Three books: “Mathematics”, “Geographical Works”, “Geophysics and Cosmogony” were published in 1959-1960, now the fourth book of works is being prepared for publication (reports and articles by O.Yu. as an organizer of work in the field of education and the history of science ). Published in 1959 big compilation articles and memoirs “Otto Yulievich Schmidt. Life and activity". About O.Yu. Dozens of books and articles have been published. Most of they are named in G.V. Yakusheva’s unique book “Otto Yulievich Schmidt - Encyclopedist” - a brief illustrated encyclopedia prepared for the centenary of his birth in 1991. After this, books were published about O.Yu. and in the academic series “Scientific and Biographical Literature” (book by L.V. Matveeva, 1993), and in the series “People of Science” by the publishing house “Prosveshchenie” (book by N.F. Nikitchenko, 1992), articles in magazines “Bulletin of the Academy of Sciences”, “Nature” and others. Bas-relief depicting O.Yu. installed on the building of the Institute of Earth Physics. The time has come to prepare the book “Otto Yulievich Schmidt” in the academic series “Materials for the biobibliography of scientists.” Otto Yulievich Schmidt is one of those outstanding creators of science and cultural figures, respectful interest in whose life and work continues into the new millennium, and creative heritage remains at the core of our modern culture.