Rudolf Lazarevich Samoylovich

Rudolf Lazarevich Samoylovich was a Soviet polar explorer, professor, and Doctor of Geographical Sciences. He was born into the family of a Jewish merchant. After finishing gymnasium he enrolled at Novorossiysk University, but because of his involvement in a revolutionary circle he was forced to go to Germany, where he graduated from the Freiberg Mining Academy. Upon his return to Russia he actively participated in the revolutionary movement in southern cities and in Saint Petersburg, after which he spent several years in exile in the Arkhangelsk Governorate. In Arkhangelsk Samoylovich met Vladimir Rusanov and took part in his expedition to the island of Spitsbergen.

After the revolution Samoylovich became one of the initiators and leaders of the Northern Scientific and Commercial Expedition, and later headed the Institute for the Study of the North and worked at the All-Union Arctic Institute. Samoylovich founded and headed the Department of Polar Regions at Leningrad University. He led the rescue expedition on the icebreaker "Krasin" to save the crew of the airship "Italia", as well as numerous other Arctic expeditions aboard various vessels. In 1939 he was arrested and executed. He was posthumously rehabilitated in 1956.