Chirikhin Yuri Dmitrievich 
(21.08.1898–1943)

Russian Arctic hydrograph. 
Born in Kazan. In 1917 he graduated from the Naval Cadet Corps. 
In 1920–1921 Chirikhin participated in the first Soviet polar hydrographic expedition in the eastern sector of the Arctic. After the civil war, it was necessary to establish trade exchange between the western and eastern regions of the Arctic and before the expedition headed by F.A. Mathisen, and then N.I. Eugenov, the task was to survey the mouth of the Lena and ascertain the possibilities of navigation on it. On the basis of two-year field surveys, first on the rowing boats, and then on the Lena and Sonok steamers, the hydrographs conducted an instrumental survey of the Bykovskaya and, partly, of the Trofimovskaya and Olenekskaya canal. Near the Tiksi Bay, near the Sogo River, a deposit of well-burned coal was discovered. Later, Yevgenov, Khmyznikov and Chirikhin composed two atlases of Lena and her delta. In the future, the expedition materials found application when choosing a place and laying the port of Tiksi. 
In 1926, being a member of the expedition of the Polar Commission of the Academy of Sciences, Chirikhin with an assistant examined the Matochkin Shar area. 
In connection with the beginning of the development of navigation in the eastern sector of the Arctic, it became necessary to establish polar hydrometeorological stations on the islands and the coast. At the end of 1926, the Yakut Commission of the USSR Academy of Sciences and the government of Yakutia decided to establish such a station at Cape Shalaurova on the island B. Lyakhovsky. In the summer of 1927, Chirikhin headed a special maritime detachment that, on the schooner "Polar Star", delivered construction materials to the island and some of the equipment necessary for observation. 
In 1928–1929 Chirikhin headed a detachment of the Yakut expedition of the USSR Academy of Sciences, which had as its goal the survey of the Indigirka River and its estuary. On the Mome River, two “Mikhail Stadukhin” and “Alazeya” motorboats were built, as well as boats and a barge that served as housing for the detachment’s personnel during the rafting. 
The detachment began work in June 1929 and did not stop them in the autumn and winter. Apart from moving on boats, only 8,500 km were made on horses and deers. The results of the work were summarized in the compiled by Chirikhin and his assistant M.A. Golovachev and the atlas of the Indigirka River. 
In the 1930s, Chirikhin lived in Yakutsk and worked in the hydrographic department of the Yakutsk Territorial Administration of the  GUSMP. He was arrested in December 1937 in one case with Khmiznikov and accused of transferring I.F. Molodih, allegedly Japanese spy, croc astronomical points of the rivers Moma and Indigirka, as well as in the development of sabotage plans when piloting ships on the Lena. Special meeting Chirikhin condemned to five years in the camps, where he died. 
In February 1960, Chirikhin rehabilitated the military tribunal of the Trans-Baikal Military District. 
Strait in the Kara Sea between the islands Plosky and Oleniy in the skerries of Minin. The name was given by the decision of the Dikson regional executive committee of December 14, 1964.