Pustovalov Ivan Fedorovich 
(30.10.1904–15.04.1984)

Geologist, researcher of the Novaya Zemlya. 
Born into a peasant family, living in the Luzyansk volost, Nikolsky district, Vologda province. He worked in the household of his father. In 1923, after graduating from school, he entered the geological department of the Physics and Mathematics Faculty of Leningrad State University. He completed his studies in 1929 and was left in graduate school, first at the university, and then after the reorganization of the postgraduate school at the Leningrad Mining institute.

Pustovalov began his research and production activities in 1928 at the Geological Committee of the Supreme Economic Council, continued at the Institute of Groundwater, TsNIGRI, and VSEGEI. On February 1, 1933  by the Leningrad City Committee of the VKP (b), he was sent to work at the Arctic Glavsevmorput Institute, where he worked for a little over a year, but it was this short period of time that allowed Pustovalov to enter the history of the development of the Russian Arctic. He led the  Western Novaya Zemlya expedition VAI, which surveyed the Barents coast of the northern island of Novaya Zemlya. A first-class report on these studies was published by him in the BAI Bulletin for 1936. Several of his articles appeared in the Proceedings of the Arctic Institute and the journal Soviet Arctic: "Geological essay on the west coast of Novaya Zemlya (from Russian Harbor to Inostrantsev Bay)", "On finding oil on the northern tip of Novaya Zemlya", "Is there oil on Novaya Zemlya" and others. Work at the Arctic Institute was interrupted by a call to the Red Army, where he spent about eight months as a Red Army cadet. Pustovalov did not return to the Arctic anymore, working as geologist, senior geologist, senior researcher at TsNIGRI and VSEGEI until July 1941.

In 1937 he defended his thesis, the degree of candidate of geological and mineralogical sciences was awarded to him in 1939.

Practically from the first days of the war  Pustovalov was at the front, but he only managed to win until August 1941. Being wounded in battles on the territory of Estonia, he was captured until April 1945, before being liberated by American troops, roamed various camps and work teams in Estonia, Poland, Germany, France (Alsace-Lorraine).After returning from captivity, Pustovalov avoided reprisals thanks to Andrei Konstantinovich Markov, an associate professor of the Leningrad Mining Institute. During interrogations in the NKVD, Markov confirmed that he and Pustovalov had participated in the battle where Pustovalov was wounded and left on the battlefield.

After the war, Pustovalov worked practically mainly in VSEGEI, during 1950–1957, combining this work with teaching at the Leningrad Mining institute. He retired in 1976 from the position of head of the department of geology and mineral resources of the West.

It is interesting to note that in autobiographies written before 1956, Pustovalov did not mention his work on Novaya Zemlya. Maybe he was afraid that his name would be removed from the archipelago map. In those years, to put it mildly, they did not favor people who had been in German captivity. In general, it was a modest man, not sticking to his merits. The staff of VSEGEI, who had been with him for many years, did not even realize that his name was on the map of the Arctic.

He died in Leningrad. The urn with ashes is buried in the columbarium of the city crematorium. 
The bay in the north of the Pukhovy Bay on the west coast of the southern island of Novaya Zemlya. Named in 1933 by the staff of the West Novaya Zemlya expedition.