Shokalsky Julius Mikhailovich 
(05(17).10.1856–26.03.1940)

An outstanding Russian geographer, oceanographer and cartographer, honorary member of the USSR Academy of Sciences since 1939, Honored Scientist of the RSFSR. 
Born in Petersburg. His father was the famous lawyer Mikhail Osipovich Shokalsky, his mother, Ekaterina Yermolaevna Kern, the daughter of A.S. Pushkin Anna Petrovna Kern. His father died when his son was not even five years old, and the family left for Pskov land in the estate of his great aunt, the famous Trigorskoye. 
Up to 12 years old boy received his home education. Barely learned to read, he, in his own words, became the "absorber of books." He especially “absorbed” them after moving in 1867 to his grandmother in Kovno (Kaunas). In the house of A.P. Kern was a vast library. Most of all he liked books about adventures and travels. 
In 1868, the Shokalskys returned to St. Petersburg and settled in the same apartment with the familiar family of the ethnographer I.I. Chopin, a relative of the great composer. Here, little Shokalsky was able to study French, German and English with other children. Communication with Chopin, a full member of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society, further fueled the boy's interest in geography. 
In the formation of high moral qualities, Pushkin's son, Grigory Alexandrovich, had a great influence on Shokalsky, except for his mother, for whom he retained all his life love and gratitude. 
In 1872, Shokalsky graduated from four classes of the gymnasium and entered the Naval School. Theoretical classes at the school were reinforced in the summer by training sailing on sailboats, and last year on a steamboat. School Shokalsky graduated by receiving an award to them. Admiral Nakhimov and the first officer rank of midshipman. 
In subsequent years, he served on the Baltic Sea, in 1880 he graduated from the hydrographic department of the Naval Academy, worked at the Main Physical Observatory and the Main Hydrographic Office, where he headed the Main Maritime Library, was a professor at the Naval Academy in 1910-1930. and Leningrad University in 1925-1940. 
Shokalsky's first scientific papers are connected with practical questions of meteorology and hydrology. He explored Lake Ladoga, the Vychegda and Tavda rivers, led an oceanographic expedition to study the Black Sea in a comprehensive manner. Noting the services of Shokalsky, the Imperial Russian Geographical Society awarded him in 1888 with a small gold medal.

Shokalsky was extremely interested in the problem of studying and mastering the Northern Sea Route. In 1893 he made a report on this topic in the Imperial Russian Geographical Society, in the journal Morskoy Vestnik published an article entitled “Sea Route to Siberia”, in which he described Russian voyages along the Siberian shores, analyzed navigation conditions and made recommendations for their improvement. In subsequent years, Shokalsky also frequently addressed the problems of the North, wrote about R. Piri’s expeditions to Greenland, F. Jackson to Franz Josef Land, reviewed S. Dezhnev’s activities and applied for a renaming of Vostochny Cape to Dezhnev Cape. His last articles on the icebreaker “G. Sedov" and his drift saw the light before the death of Shokalsky. In 1895, he was a delegate to the VI International Geographical Congress, where he gave a presentation on his favorite topic - Russian studies of the Northern Sea Route. 
Great contribution Shokalsky in oceanographic science. In the capital work "Oceanography", he showed a causal relationship between phenomena occurring in the oceans.

Leading the work on drawing up a relief map of Russia, Shokalsky, together with A.A. Tillo developed a methodology for cartometric work and applied it in calculating the surface of the Asian part of Russia and the lengths of the main rivers. He authored a number of general geographic and special maps, he was the editor of many atlases, and carried out extensive scientific and organizational work in the Geodesic Committee of the USSR State Planning Committee, General Directorate of the USSR Hydrometeorological Service, in 1917-1931. headed the Geographical Society of the USSR, participated in the preparations for the II International Polar Year.Shokalsky was a representative of the USSR at many international geographic congresses, was an honorary member of several foreign academies and scientific societies.

He was awarded the Order of St. Stanislav 1 degree, St. Vladimir 3 and 4 degrees, the Belgian Cavalier's Cross, the French Order of the Legion of Honor. 
He was buried in St. Petersburg on the track of the geographers of the Literary bridges of the Volkovsky cemetery: a stele with a bas-relief portrait. 
An island in the Kara Gate between the Novaya Zemlya and the island of Vaigach. The name was approved in 1902 by the Imperial Russian Geographical Society at the suggestion of A.I. Varnek. 
An island in the north of the Ob Bay in the Kara Sea. Identified, but not accurately indicated by the English captain I. Wiggins in 1874. The present name was approved in 1926 by the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee on the recommendation of Komseveroputi. 
Cape on the island of Rykachev near the coast of Khariton Laptev. Named in 1901 by the Russian Polar Expedition.

Glacier on the shore of the Bay Russian Harbor on the west coast of the northern island of Novaya Zemlya. Named in 1913 by G.Ya. Sedov.

Strait between the islands Bolshevik and the October Revolution of the archipelago Severnaya Zemlya. Named by the hydrographic expedition of the Arctic Ocean in 1913.