145th Anniversary Of The Birth Of Russian Scientist, Oceanographer And Cartographer Yuli Shokalsky

October 17, 2001 is the 145th anniversary of the birth of Russia's famous scientist, oceanographer and cartographer Yuli Shokalsky. Having graduated from the Naval School, which he entered in 1874, Shokalsky joined the Hydrographical Department of the St. Petersburg Naval Academy. He embarked on his professional career in the autumn of 1880, when he was appointed in charge of the naval meteorology section at the Central Physical Observatory. Simultaneously, Shokalsky set out to write his first scientific papers. In the course of his career, the scientist authored and published several hundred works and a large number of reviews, reports and essays. A brilliant popularizer of science, Shokalsky took a keen interest in oceanography and cartography, the spheres that eventually brought him worldwide fame. In a work entitled "Oceanography," Shokalsky introduced the notion of a single world ocean and convincingly proved this singularity. Apart from that, Shokalsky drew and edited a variety of maps of different kinds, including the Complete Geographical Atlas /1905/, studied meteorology and climatology, conducted polar research, and advocated the idea of developing the Northern Sea Route. The world later paid homage to Shokalsky by giving his name to a large number of geographical objects like straits, islands, glaciers, and a warm current in the Barents Sea.