Barsanov, Georgii

Born Dec. 29, 1907, in Saratov. Soviet mineralogist. Doctor of geological and mineralogical sciences (1948); professor and head of the subdepartment of mineralogy of the department of geology at Moscow State University since 1953. Director of the A. E. Fersman Mineralogical Museum of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR since 1953.

Barsanov’s main works are devoted to theoretical mineralogy—the classification of minerals, the physics of minerals, and genetic mineralogy—and to the mineralogy of rare elements—niobium and tantalum. He was awarded three orders. The mineral barsanovite was named after him.