Chukhrov, Fedor

Born July 2 (15), 1908, in the city of Egor’evsk, Moscow Oblast. Soviet mineralogist and geochemist. Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1970; corresponding member, 1953). Member of the CPSU since 1953.

Chukhrov graduated from the Moscow Geological Prospecting Institute in 1932. From 1936 to 1956 he worked at the Institute of Geological Sciences of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, where he was appointed deputy director in 1950. In 1956 he became director of the Institute of the Geology of Ore Deposits, Petrography, Mineralogy, and Geochemistry of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR.

Chukhrov’s main works deal with the mineralogy of ore deposits and the geochemistry of ore-forming processes. He established the science of natural colloids and developed the principles of the theory of the typomorphism of minerals. He contributed to the development of the mineralogy and geochemistry of the supergene zone: he conducted research on the mineralogy of the oxidation zone of sulfide deposits and studied clay minerals, iron oxides, and sulfur isotopes. He is the editor of the multivolume reference work Minerals, which has been published since 1960 using the crystallochemical classification of minerals that he developed.

Chukhrov received the State Prize of the USSR in 1951. He has also been awarded the Order of Lenin, three other orders, and several medals.

Chukhrovite, a sulfate-fluoride of calcium, aluminum, and rare-earth elements, was named in honor of Chukhrov.