Vasily Dokuchaev

Vasily Vasili'evich Dokuchaev (Russian: Васи́лий Васи́льевич Докуча́ев) (March 1, 1846 in Milyukovo, Smolensk Governorate – November 8, 1903 in Saint Petersburg) was a Russian Geologist and Geographer who is credited with laying the foundations of soil science.

Vasily Vasil'evich Dokuchaev is commonly regarded as the father of Soil science, the study of soils in its natural setting. He developed soil science in Russia, and was, perhaps the first person to make wide geographical investigations of different soil types. His great contribution to science was, figuratively, to "put soils on the map".

He introduced the idea that geographical variations in soil type could be explained in relation not only to geological factors (parent material), but also to climatic and topographic factors, and the time available for pedogenesis (soil formation) to operate. Using these ideas as a basis, he created the first soil classification. His ideas were quickly taken up by a number of soil scientists, including Hans Jenny.

He worked on soil science, and developed a classification scheme describing five factors for soil formation. He arrived at his theory after extensive field studies on Russian soils in 1883. His most famous work is Russian Chernozem (1883). Thanks to Dokuchaev's works a number of Russian soil terms are in the international soil science vocabulary (chernozem, podsol, gley, solonets). A crater on Mars is named in his honor and the Dokuchaev Award, the equivalent of the Nobel Prize in the field of Soil Science, was instituted by the International Union of Soil Sciences.

The scientific basis of soil science as a natural science was established by the classical works of Dokuchaev. Previously, soil had been considered a product of physicochemical transformations of rocks, a dead substrate from which plants derive nutritious mineral elements. Soil and bedrock were in fact equated.

Dokuchaev considers the soil as a natural body having its own genesis and its own history of development, a body with complex and multiform processes taking place within it. The soil is considered as different from bedrock. The latter becomes soil under the influence of a series of soil-formation factors (climate, vegetation, parent material, relief and age). According to him, soil should be called the "daily" or outward horizons of rocks regardless of the type; they are changed naturally by the common effect of water, air and various kinds of living and dead organisms.

• Krasilnikov, N.A. 1958. Soil Microorganisms and Higher Plants

Dokuchaev published in 1869-1901: 285 works, including 61 books and 4 maps.

List of publications (other than in Russian language)

• Dokoutchaief B. 1879. Tchernozème (terre noire) de la Russie d'Europe. St.-Ptb.: Soc. imp. libre économ. 66 p. (C.R. Soc. imp. libre économ. T. 4).
• Inostrantzev A., Schmidt Th., Moeller V., Karpinsky A., Dokoutchaief B. et al. 1882. Rapport de la Sous-commission russe sur l’uniformité de la nomenclature géologique // Congrès géologique international. 2-me session. Bologne. 1881: Compte rendu. Bologne: Fava et Garagnani. P. 529-534.
• Dokoutchaief B. B. 1892. Les steppes russes autrefois et aujurd’hui // Congrès international d'archéologie, préhistorique et d'antroppologie. 11 ses. Moscou. 1892. T. 1. Мoscou: impr. universite, T. 1. P. 197-240; Our Steppes Before and Nowadays. St.-Ptb.: Dept. Agriculture Ministry of Crown Domains for the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago, 1893. 62 p.
• Dokoutchaief B. B. 1892. Notes sur l’étude scientifique du sol en Russie au point de vue de l’agronomie et de la cartographie agricole // Bull. Soc. Belge géol., paleontol., hydrol. 1891/1892. Vol. 4. P. 113-115.
• Dokouchaev V. V. 1893. Notes sur le loess // Bull. Soc. Belge géol., paleontol., hydrol. 1892/1893. Vol. 6. P. 92-101.
• Dokouchaev V. V. Sibirtzev N. M. 1893. Short scientific review of professor Dockuchaev’s and his pupil’s collection of soils, exposed in Chicago in the year 1893. St.-Ptb.: impr. Evdokimov. 40 p.
• Dokoutchaief B. B. 1895. Le Court contenu des Travaux de l’expédition, équipée par Departement forestier sous la direction prof. Dokoutschaeff. St.-Ptb.: impr. Evdokimov. 28 p.
• Docoutschaev V. V. 1897. Collection des sols du professeur Docoutschaev et de ses eleves, exposee au Musee mineralogique de l’Universite a St-Petersbourg: [7 cong. géol. int.]. St.-Ptb.: impr. Evdokimov 17 p.
• Dokoutschaeff В. B. 1900. Collection pédologique: Zones verticales des sols. Zones agricoles. Sols du Caucase. St.-Ptb.: Ministére des finances. 56 p. : сarte.

Translations

• Dokuchaev, V. V. Russian Chernozem (1883) // Israel Program for Scientific Translations Ltd. (for USDA-NSF), S. Monson, Jerusalem, 1967. (Translated from Russian into English by N. Kaner).

• Vtorov I. P. The role of geology in the development of soil science: from Lomonosov to Dokuchaev // 39th INHIGEO Symposium (6-10 Jul. 2014): Аbstracts. Pacific Grove: INHIGEO, 2014. P. 6.