Samoilov, Iakov Vladimirovich

Born Nov. 23 (Dec. 5), 1870, in Odessa; died Sept. 29, 1925, in Moscow. Soviet minerologist and geologist.

After graduating in 1893 from Novorossiia University in Odessa, Samoilov worked at Moscow University under the direction of V. I. Vernadskii. In 1902 he became head of the department of mineralogy and geology at the Novoaleksandriia Institute of Agriculture and Forestry. In 1906 he was appointed a professor at the Moscow Agricultural Institute (now the K. A. Timiriazev Moscow Agricultural Academy), where he set up a mineralogical museum of agronomic ores. He was a privat-docent at Moscow University from 1907 to 1911 and a professor there from 1917 to 1925.

In 1908, Samoilov organized a commission for the geological investigation of phosphorites in Russia. In 1919 he founded and became the head of the Scientific Institute for Fertilizers (now the la. V. Samoilov Scientific Research Institute of Fertilizers, Insecticides, and Fungicides). His principal works were devoted to the mineralogy of sedimentary rocks, the study of agronomic ores, and biogeochemistry. Samoilov was a pioneer in research on the chemical composition of the present-day seas and of living organisms. His works contributed to the development of lithology as a science.