Three Years Beyond the Arctic Circle. Travels for Stone

Academician Alexander Evgenievich Fersman (1883–1945) — a famous Russian naturalist, mineralogist, one of the founders of geochemistry, a full member and vice-president of the Academy of Sciences, a "poet of stone," as defined by Alexei Tolstoy, — stands alongside the most outstanding representatives of world science. The book "Three Years Beyond the Arctic Circle" is dedicated to the study of the Kola Peninsula and the Khibiny mountain range. These three years fell between 1920–1922 — a time when the country was just beginning to cope with the consequences of the Civil War. "To ignite the weary youth" — such was Fersman's goal in preparing this book for publication. For the scientist himself, the Khibiny became a special place, to which he dedicated nearly two decades of his life. The book "Memories of Stone," as A. E. Fersman himself wrote, is "the story of a whole life, the story of a peculiar love for nature, the search for the answers to natural mysteries over almost fifty years." In short essays, the author recounts the searches and origins of various minerals — from those mined by the thousands of tons to historical stones, such as the famous diamond "Shah." The title of the third book included in this edition, — "Travels for Stone" — speaks for itself. The years spent in numerous expeditions and the thousands of kilometers traveled in search of minerals and precious stones are encapsulated in these stories. A. E. Fersman narrates his research and journeys, starting from his youth and ending with the time when he was already a distinguished academician and a world-renowned mineralogist.