Konstantin Glinka

Konstantin Dmitrievich Glinka (1867–1927) was a Russian soil scientist. He was Director of the Agricultural College of Leningrad and Experimental Station, and the first director of the Dokuchaev Soil Science Institute. He authored over 150 works on soil, geography, mineralogy, and geology. He is known for having published the first world soil map in 1906.

Biography Konstantin Glinka was born on June 23 (July 5), 1867 (sometimes indicated on August 1 (Julian calendar)), in the village of Koptevo, Dukhovshchinsky Uyezd, Smolensk province, Russian Empire. He came from a Russian noble family with Polish roots.

His father, the nobleman Dmitry Konstantinovich Glinka, was a respected and progressive figure. He had an estate and was very successful in farming, skills which Glinka's father passed on along his son.

After graduating from St. Petersburg University in 1889 he married Antonina Georgievna Znamenskaya.

Career

In 1876-1885 he studied at the Smolensk classical gymnasium.

In 1885 he entered the Natural Department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of St. Petersburg University.

In 1889 he graduated from the University with a diploma of the 1st degree. At the request of V. V. Dokuchaev, Glinka joined the Mineralogy Department to prepare for a professorship.

In 1889 he began to engage in geological and soil research at the University under the guidance of V. B. Dokuchaev. He worked in the Poltava (1889-1890) and in the expedition of the Forest Department (1892). He organized research in Smolensk, Novgorod (early 1890s), Pskov (1898-1899) and Voronezh (1899, 1913) provinces.thumb Students of A. V. Sovetov and V. V. Dokuchaev, members of the Poltava expedition of V. V. Dokuchaev. K. D. Glinka is seated first on the left in the middle row. Photo was taken in 1892 or 1893

In 1890 he was appointed curator of the mineralogical collection at the University.

From 1890 he conducted practical classes with students of the 1st and 2nd courses in crystallography and crystal optics.

In 1894 K. D. Glinka, on the recommendation of V. V. Dokuchaev, was appointed staff assistant at the New Alexandria Institute of Agriculture and Forestry in Puławy (Poland) as an assistant in the Department of Mineralogy and Geology. K voprosu o lesnykh pochvakh (К вопросу о лесных почвах) (1889) SPb.: tip. t-va Obshchestv. pol'za. Pochvennaya karta Rossiyskoy Imperii (Почвенная карта Российской Империи) (1914) Atlas Aziatskoy Rossii (Атлас Азиатской России). pages 36–37