Sapozhnikov Vasily Vasilyevich 
(09(21).12.1861–11.08.1924)

Russian botanist and geographer. 
Born in Perm in the family of a teacher of the lower rank of the 2nd grade of the Perm Military Gymnasium. The grandfather came from the peasants of Urzhumsky district of Vyatka province. Mother was from a poor merchant family. The family had eleven children, but most died in early childhood. Only three brothers survived to adulthood. In 1878, the family broke up. My father went to his homeland, where he had been a teacher for some time, and soon died. Mother and children moved to Omsk. 
Since childhood, Sapozhnikov showed a love of nature, travel. From the age of 13, he often went on boat tours of Kama, spending several days in them.These campaigns hardened him, brought up the ability to endure the hardships of travel, developed observation. 
After graduating from the Perm gymnasium in 1880, Sapozhnikov, on the advice of a teacher of history and geography, entered the natural department of the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics at Moscow University and graduated in 1884 with a degree in natural sciences. Among the professors with whom he studied at the university were the zoologist A.P. Bogdanov, physicist A.G. Stoletov, chemist V.V. Markovnikov, physiologist K.A. Timiryazev.Under the leadership of Timiryazev, Sapozhnikov carried out his first scientific research on the geotropism of roots, which was his Ph.D. (thesis) essay and prompted him to engage in photosynthesis. Upon graduation, Sapozhnikov was left to prepare for a professorship. For the sake of earning money, he was forced to teach lessons in natural history at the Aleksandrovsky Commercial School and chemistry at the Alekseevsky Junior School of Infantry, and also to give lectures on plant physiology at Lubyanka women's courses. The number of lessons and lectures reached 38 hours per week. 
In 1890, Sapozhnikov defended his master's thesis on the assimilation of carbohydrates in the leaves of plants. The doctoral dissertation defended in 1894 was also connected with this topic. Assessing these works, Academician N.A. Maximov called him "a prominent scientist and brilliant researcher". 
In 1891-1892 Sapozhnikov got acquainted with Western European science and new teaching methods. He visited Berlin and Leipzig, stayed at the campus of Tübingen, where he worked in the laboratory of Professor G. Fechting. In 1891, Sapozhnikov, together with G. Fechting, and in 1892 independently climbed the glaciers of Switzerland and Northern Italy, which predetermined his interest in glaciology. 
In 1893, Sapozhnikov left work at Moscow University and went on to become a professor at the Department of Botany at the Medical Faculty of Tomsk University. This department he headed the rest of his life for more than 30 years. He also headed the Botanical Garden and the Botanical Cabinet. 
Sapozhnikov was a great teacher, lectures built as a fascinating story about the life of the plant world. He had a strong and pleasant voice (baritone), a natural gift of eloquence, the ability to express any complicated thought in a short and expressive way. For his high pedagogical skills and enthusiasm, he was called "Siberian nightingale" and "Chrysostom". In the course of teaching, Sapozhnikov paid much attention to the demonstration of living exhibits and plants, which even in the bitter cold came from the Botanical Garden to the audience on specially equipped sleighs. He, one of the first in Russia, showed at his lectures hand-made slides, which he painted himself. 
After moving to Siberia, the focus of research on Sapozhnikov shifted toward general and botanical geography, which was due to his desire to explore the natural resources of Siberia. During the years 1895–1923 He completed more than 20 expeditions to Altai, Sayan, Semirechye, Western Mongolia (Mongolian Altai), Zaisan, and Turkish Armenia. First of all, his attention was devoted to the Russian Altai. As a result of four expeditions (1895, 1897, 1898, 1899), the works On Altai, Katun and Its Origins appeared. The first of these works was awarded the IRGO silver medal, and for the second he was awarded the highest gift from the office of His Imperial Majesty and Medal named N.M. Przhevalsky from IRGO. In the high mountainous region of the Altai, in addition to large floristic fees, he opened about 40 new glaciers (previously only two were known). First he climbed the saddle of the main peak of Altai - Belukha, determined the height of her and a number of other peaks. In 1912 they published the guidebook “Paths in the Russian Altai”. Academician P.P. Sushkin said that “V. Sapozhnikova mark a whole epoch in Altai research”. 
According to G.N. Potanin, Sapozhnikov was a rare scholar who "constantly and widely shared the results of his research and through popular lectures and academic and academic works, which, like his travel essays and travel reports, were written in a fascinating form in a simple and accessible language". In total, he published 95 scientific papers. 
Active research activity Sapozhnikov combined with public, popularization. He participated in the work of the Society of Naturalists and Doctors at Tomsk University, was elected as a companion of the chairman and chairman of the board of the company and remained so until the end of his life. At meetings of the society made over 20 reports and reports. He took part in the work of the XII Congress of Russian natural scientists and doctors in Moscow, in 1917 founded the Tomsk branch of the Russian Geographical Society and became its first chairman. Sapozhnikov was one of the active members of the care society about primary education, an ardent popularizer of scientific knowledge, the founder of public lecturing in Siberia. In addition to Tomsk, he also read them in Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Omsk, Barnaul, in Samara and Perm, and taught a course in the philosophy of natural science at the Higher Historical and Philosophical Courses in Tomsk. As rector of Tomsk University, he was a strong supporter of female education in Siberia. 
Social activities Sapozhnikova went far beyond Siberia. He repeatedly participated in the Russian congresses of naturalists and doctors, botanical congresses, by the end of his life he was an honorary member of 11 scientific societies and institutions, including the Russian Botanical Society, the Berlin Society of Geography, and the Russian Geographical Society. In addition, he was a member of the Moscow Society of amateurs of natural science, ethnography and anthropology, the Moscow Society of Naturalists, the Moscow Geographical Society, the State Solontsov Institute in Moscow, the Society for the Study of Siberia. With his assistance, the Irkutsk University was opened and the Siberian Academy of Sciences Institute of Research was established in Tomsk. 
In June – September 1919, together with E.V. Nikitina Sapozhnikov explored the Arctic flora in the lower reaches of the Ob and on the Gulf of Ob. 
The sputtering life of Sapozhnikov was unexpectedly interrupted. In the fall of 1923, he caught a bad cold and, with pneumonia, spent more than a month in the clinic. X-ray in January 1924 showed the presence of a malignant neoplasm in the lung. A few months later he was gone. 
According to the memoirs of contemporaries, Sapozhnikov was a gentle, cheerful, sociable and witty person who knew how to attract people and help them in difficult times. He enjoyed the confidence of the students and often saved them with money. He was very popular among the population of Siberia, especially loved by the indigenous people of Altai. He spoke fluent Altai, loved to dance, have fun, understood theater, music and painting.

He died in Tomsk. 
Cape in the Gulf of Ob. Named in 1919, by the head of the Ob expedition D.F. Kotelnikov.