Kapitsa, Andrei

Born July 9, 1931, in Cambridge, England. Soviet geographer and geomorphologist. Corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1970). Son of P. L. Kapitsa. Member of the CPSU since 1962. Chairman of the Presidium of the Far Eastern Scientific Center of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (since 1970); member of the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (since 1971). Director of the Pacific Institute of Geography of the Far Eastern Scientific Center of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR.

Kapitsa worked at the department of geography of Moscow State University from his graduation there in 1953 until 1970. He became a professor in 1966 and was dean of the department from 1966 to 1970. Kapitsa participated in four Soviet Antarctic expeditions and in the trans-Antarctic crossings from Mirny Station to Pionerskaia (1956), Mirnyi to the south pole (1959–60), and from Vostok Station through the Pole of Inaccessibility to Molo-dezhnaia Station (1963–64). In 1967–69 he led the Soviet Complex Geophysical Expedition of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR to East Africa. His major works have dealt with the dynamics and morphology of the Eastern Antarctic ice cap. Kapitsa was awarded the State Prize of the USSR in 1971 for his participation in the creation of the Atlas of Antarctica; he also received the Order of the Red Banner of Labor.