Konstantin Dmitrievich Glinka (23.06.1867 – 02.11.1927) – the first academician-soil scientist, organizer and first Director of V.V. Dokuchaev Soil Science Institute and the first Rector of Voronezh Agricultural Institute named after Emperor Peter I, Professor, full member of the USSR Academy of Sciences

Abstract

Konstantin Dmitrievich Glinka made a major contribution to the development of such areas of soil science as genesis, geography, cartography and mineralogy of soils. He made the first world soil maps (1908, 1915, 1927), the first soil map of the Asian part of Russia (1927, jointly with L.I. Prasolov), classic studies of weathering processes and transformation of primary minerals into secondary, first studies of buried and relic soils, which laid the foundation for paleosoil science. Fundamental, encyclopedic textbook, written by K.D. Glinka “Soil science” went through six editions (1908–1936) and became a basic guide for many generations of soil scientists. The ideas of K.D. Glinka in the genesis of different types of soils, including gray forest soils, podzols, red earths, burozems (brown soils) have not lost their scientific value until the present day. His outstanding scientific, organizational and pedagogical contribution to the development of genetic soil science has earned K.D. Glinka a well-deserved fame as a scientist of world class.