“The Circle of Geography” and the Fate of the Anthropogeographer: To the 150th Anniversary of Veniamin Petrovich Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky
https://doi.org/10.31857/S2587556620050131
Abstract
The article is dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the birth of the prominent Russian geographer Veniamin Petrovich Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky (April 8, 1870–February 10, 1942) and re-designated the key moments of his scientific formation, the most important of which is “Circle of Geography” concept. Semyonov-TyanShansky developed the concept in 1913, and it determined the main milestones of scientist’s evolution (this “Circle” he would like to have written on its tombstone). His unpublished text “About the missing elements in the adopted system of dividing geography into mathematical, physical, economic and political ones” (dated April 21, 1937) is brought in the scientific discourse for the first time. The article formulates the main directions of posthumous perception and high appreciation of the geographical heritage of Semyonov-TyanShansky by his scientific contemporaries and descendants, shows the continuality in relation to him of the theoretical and geographical work of B.B. Rodoman. The necessity of the critical edition of works of Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky, which would include both his main published (“The Region and the Country”), and not published (“Geographical Laws. Experience of the Higher Geography”) works is discussed.
About the Author
P. M. Polian
National Research University Higher School of Economics; Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Federation
Moscow
Russian Federation
Moscow
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Polian P.M. “The Circle of Geography” and the Fate of the Anthropogeographer: To the 150th Anniversary of Veniamin Petrovich Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky. Izvestiya Rossiiskoi Akademii Nauk. Seriya Geograficheskaya. 2020;84(5):786–800. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.31857/S2587556620050131
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