Expedition of the USSR Academy of Sciences to the Vodny Radium Deposit of the Komi ASSR in 1940
The article considers the historical role of the Russian Academy of Sciences in the scientific study of the Arctic and subarctic territories of Russia. The aim of the article is to disclose the historical facts of a unique event: the 1940 expedition of leading scientists of the USSR Academy of Sciences under the leadership of Academician A.E. Fersman to the Ukhta radium deposit in the Komi ASSR. The objectives of the study were to identify the background, the main problems and the results of the expedition; to show the participation of outstanding scientists in the implementation of fundamental knowledge about the "new" substance in the practical plane, in the development of methods of extraction of the matter, in the development of radium production, analysis of forms and results of interaction of the USSR Academy of Sciences with the unique industrial production. This topic has not received proper coverage in scientific literature. Unpublished archival documents of the State Archive of Arkhangelsk Oblast, the Scientific Archive of the Komi Science Centre of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the National Archive of the Komi Republic were identified and used to reach the objectives. The scientific works of the expedition members and of modern researchers were involved. The objectives of the study were reached on the basis of the methods of modern historical science (the principles of histori-cism and scientific objectivity) and general scientific methods (analysis and synthesis, description, construction of analogies). The article highlights a brief history of radium extraction in the settlement Vodny, activities and results of the expedition, the scientific contacts of the academicians with the repressed researchers of radium extraction. The continuity in the actions of Fersman's brigade with those of the brigade of the USSR Academy of Sciences under the leadership of Academician A.P. Karpinsky (1933) was established. In the course of the expedition, the scientists found out that the repressed researchers F.A. Toropov, M. D. Krasheninnikov and others created a new technology, which became a technical revolution in the radium industry. The main conclusion of the article is that in 1940 a group of outstanding geochemists of the country, during an expedition under the leadership of A.E. Fersman, analyzed and evaluated the unique results of research at the radium deposit in Ukhta. The scientists were able to summarize the experience and the results in terms of their effectiveness and applicability. At the same time, new scientific and practical problems were raised in the study and use of radium, in the introduction of innovative technologies, in the creation and improvement of the field-specific industrial enterprise. It has been proved that the expedition of the USSR Academy of Sciences to the Vodny radium deposit in the Komi ASSR in 1940 contributed to the creation of scientific foundations of economic modernization of the European NorthEast of the USSR and was a major event in the history of science.