Ernst Krenkel

Krenkel, Ernst 

Born Dec. 11 (24), 1903, in Tartu; died Dec. 8, 1971, in Moscow. Soviet polar explorer; doctor of geography (1938) and Hero of the Soviet Union (1938).

In 1969, Krenkel became the director of the Scientific Research Institute on Hydrometeorological Instrument-making. He was a radio operator at the polar stations Matochkin Shar (1924–25 and 1927–28), Tikhaia Bay (1929–30), Cape Oloviannyi (1935–36), and Domashnii Island (1936). He participated in arctic expeditions on the dirigible Graf Zeppelin (1931) and on the ships Sibiriakov (1932) and Cheliuskin (1933–34). He was a radio operator at the first drifting station, Severnyi Polius (1937–38). In 1927, he was the first to establish shortwave radio contact and he set the world record for long-distance radio communications, between Franz Josef Land and Antarctica. He was awarded two Orders of Lenin, three other orders, and medals.

WORKS

Chetyre tovarishcha. Moscow, 1940.
“Moi pozyvnye— RAEM.” Novyi mir, 1970, nos. 9–11; 1971, nos. 10–11.