Sokolov, Dmitrii Ivanovich

Sokolov, Dmitrii Ivanovich 

Born 1788 in St. Petersburg; died there Nov. 19 (Dec. 1), 1852. Russian geologist. Member of the Russian Academy (1839).

Sokolov graduated from the Cadet School of Mining in St. Petersburg in 1805, after which he taught there until 1841. From 1822 to 1844 he was also a professor at the University of St. Petersburg. His principal works— Guide to Mineralogy (two parts, 1832) and A Course in Geognosy (three parts, 1839)—contain a great deal of information on the various branches of mineralogi-cal and geological knowledge in the early 19th century. In 1839, Sokolov grouped the red beds of the Trans-Volga Region into an independent system, which was given the name “Permian” in 1841 by the British geologist R. Murchison. During the 1830’s, Sokolov headed geological surveys of the mountainous regions of the Urals.

Sokolov was a founding member of the Mineralogical Society (1817) and the editor of the Gornyi zhurnal (Mining Journal). He received the Demidov Prize three times. (The Demidov Prize was awarded by the Academy of Sciences from a fund established by P. Demidov.)

REFERENCE

Tikhomirov, V. V. “Dmitrii Ivanovich Sokolov: K 100-letiiu so dnia smerti.” Biull. Moskovskogo ob-va ispytatelei prirody: Otdelgeologicheskii, 1952, vol. 27, no. 6.