Kertselli Sergey Vasilievich 
(23.12.1869–05.03.1935)

Veterinarian, pioneer of experienced work in reindeer breeding. 
Born in the town of Bendin, Petrokov province, Kingdom of Poland. After graduation he worked in the veterinary laboratory. 
In 1907, the Bolshezemelskaya tundra once again swept the colossal case of domestic deer. The scale of this phenomenon forced the government to take measures to clarify its causes. In 1908, Kertselli was sent to the Bolshezemelskaya tundra, where he lived and roamed along with Zyryan reindeer herders. Four times he crossed the tundra from south to north and back, having done a total of over 1000 km. The results of his research were reflected in the capital scientific work “On the Bolshezemelskaya tundra with nomads”. 
This trip Kertselli determined his further fate and direction of scientific activity. His life is inextricably linked with the Far North. Already in 1910, he organized the first in Russia station on the study of reindeer herding and deer diseases in Pechora and became its head. 
After the civil war, Kertselli expanded the geographical scope of his research. He traveled to the Kola Peninsula, Kamchatka, the Anadyr Territory and other reindeer regions of the country. Together with R.L. Samoilovich and N.A. Kulik Kertselli became one of the organizers of the Northern Scientific and Industrial Expedition, on the basis of which the Arctic Institute was later organized. He owes his appearance to the Research Institute for Reindeer Herding, of which he remained the supervisor until the end of his life.

Despite his age and state of health, Kerzelly was not limited to desk or laboratory work. In 1931, in spite of his heart disease, he flew to the Taimyr National District to eliminate anthrax epizootics in deer. In 1933, as part of the Pechora brigade of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, he traveled to Pechora, in 1934, he worked at Murman. Only a huge workload in the center did not allow him to carry out his planned wintering trip to Cape Schmidt. Already seriously ill two months before his death, he rushed to go to the Anadyr Territory.

Kertselli, being a recognized expert in the field of reindeer herding, was not limited to this field of activity. Huge erudition, seething energy, broad outlook allowed him to participate in all activities related to the development of the Far North. He was a member of the board of the All-Union Union, the Committee of the North, the Polar Commission of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, the All-Union Geographical Society, the Bureau for the Study of the Productive Forces of the Northern Territory, the Research Association at the Institute of Northern Nations. Until the last days of his life, Kertselli was a scientist consultant at the Arctic Institute. 
He died in Leningrad. He was buried in one of the cemeteries of the Alexander Nevsky Monastery, the grave was not preserved. 
Cape on the northern shore of Sedov Bay on the Kara coast of the northern island of Novaya Zemlya. Named in 1925 by the expedition of the Institute for the Study of the North on the "Elding" schooner headed by R.L. Samoylovich.