Voeikov Alexandre

Voeikov, Alexandre (May 8 [20], 1842, Moscow – January 27 [February 9], 1916, Petrograd), Russian climatologist and geographer. Corresponding Member of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1910).

In 1860, he entered the Physics and Mathematics Faculty of Saint Petersburg University. Due to the closure of the university in 1861 amid student revolutionary unrest, he initially continued his studies at the University of Heidelberg and subsequently at the University of Göttingen (Germany). He visited the Caucasus, Crimea, and Central Asia many times, and traveled extensively in Europe, America, and Asia.

In 1871, Voeikov published in German a scheme for the physico-geographical classification of the Caucasus, in which he identified eight districts based on the distribution of atmospheric precipitation and the nature of forest vegetation. This scheme is the first attempt at a landscape division of the Caucasus. In 1884, he published his major work, The Climates of the Earth, Especially of Russia, for which he received the Great Gold Medal of the Russian Geographical Society.

Voeikov traveled to Georgia several times (1898, 1911, 1913) and dedicated many works to the detailed characterization of the climate of some regions. He studied the climate of the Georgian Black Sea coast and the surroundings of Borjomi. He predicted the possibility of developing tea and citrus cultivations in the Southern Caucasus, and the cultivation of valuable cotton varieties in Central Asia.

Voeikov was awarded several gold and silver medals. A glacier in the Northern Urals, a strait between the Kuril Islands, and the Main Geophysical Observatory (founded in 1849) are named after him.

Literary works: Избр. соч., т. 1–4, М.–Л., 1948–57.

Literature: ჯ ა ვ ა ხ ი შ ვ ი ლ ი  შ., ა. ი. ვოეიკოვი. დიდი რუსი კლიმატოლოგი და გეოგრაფი, თბ., 1954.

Sh. Javakhishvili