Yakutsk Complex Expeditions of USSR Academy of Sciences and Study of Arctic Regions in Yakutia in 1950s

Abstract

The aim of the article is to reconstruct the history of scientific research in the Arctic regions of Yakutia within the framework of two major research initiatives conducted in the region from 1950 to 1958: the Yakutsk Complex Expedition of the Council for the Study of Productive Forces and the Yakutsk Complex Expedition of the Yakut Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences. The study is primarily based on the analysis of documentary material collected by the author from Moscow and Yakutsk archives, as well as information gleaned from scientific literature related to the subject matter. The work allowed for the identification of the personnel involved in the expeditions, the geography of the conducted research, their main directions and results, as well as the key features. It is noted that the work carried out within the Yakutsk Complex Expedition from 1950 to 1955 in the Arctic region was primarily analytical in nature and based on materials collected in previous periods. The research conducted by participants of the Yakutsk Complex Expedition from 1956 to 1958 focused on accumulating original field material. It was established that the research within this expedition was solely carried out in the interests of diamond mining industry development.