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The activities of the outstanding scientist and organizer of science, Academician L. S. Berg, one of the Presidents of the Russian Geographical Society (at that time - the Geographical Society of the USSR), have always been aimed at studying geography, biology, and the theory of evolution.

The program "Peaks of Geographical Science: Academician L. S. Berg" is aimed at studying geography, biology, the theory of evolution, the scientific heritage of L. S. Berg, provides for climbing and mountain travel, expanding sports, scientific and cultural ties between Russia, Germany and others countries, sports improvement of program participants. Participating in the project: Munich Geographical Society, Bavarian Academy of Sciences, Foundation. Berg (Bendery), Eco-Tiras Foundation (Chisinau), Faculty of Geography of St. Petersburg University, Federation of Tourism and Mountaineering: Ukraine, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, Russian Federation. During the implementation of the project, dozens of hikes and expeditions will take place, including scientific ones: walking, cycling, water and mountain expeditions, from the Aral Sea, Pamir to Tyrol. It is planned to hold a number of scientific conferences in Munich, Bendery, Moscow, St. Petersburg and Bishkek.

L. S. Berg's comprehensive contributions to the earth and life sciences

The scientific heritage of Lev Semenovich Berg (1876 - 1950) is enormous in its scope and significance. He is an outstanding geographer who has collected extensive materials about the nature of different regions and has entered into the vastness of large generalizations on climatic zonation globe, a synthetic description of landscape zones of the USSR and neighboring countries, author of the excellent textbook “Nature of the USSR”. He can be considered the founder of landscape science. The scientist’s contribution to hydrology, lake science, geomorphology, glaciology, and desert science is irreplaceable.

Berg, the author of the soil theory of loess formation, made a significant contribution to the study of surface sedimentary rocks. In his works Berg also touched upon issues of geology, soil science, and ethnography. In a word, he was a geologist of the greatest caliber, known throughout the world as the creator of modern physical geography. But that's only half of it scientific creativity. L.S. Berg is a major biologist, a classic of world ichthyology, who described the fish fauna of many rivers and lakes, the author of his “system of fish and fish-like creatures, living and fossils.” His major reference and theoretical work “Fishes of Fresh Waters of the USSR and Adjacent Countries”, awarded the Stalin Prize of the first degree in 1951, was expanded and republished several times. In general, fish, their species, taxonomy, ecology are Berg’s lifelong love. Here, when he found himself on a new body of water, a new river, he acted according to the principle: “I came, I saw, I described.” He was interested in other animals, as well as plants: during his endless wanderings, he almost always collected a herbarium.

These works were primarily descriptive in nature. Berg, on the other hand, strove to get to the essence of things in biology. He is the author of works on the theory of evolution, in them he questions a number of Charles Darwin’s provisions, and in 1922 he publishes a deeply innovative work “Nomogenesis, or evolution based on patterns.” Here he argues that the evolution of organisms - both plants and animals - occurs under the influence of internal, “autonomous” causes. and external, “choronomic” reasons, including natural selection, play a role, but a secondary one.

At that time, disagreement with Darwin was considered a kind of sacrilege among biologists, and the scientist was subjected to cruel and sweeping criticism from them. The discovery of DNA and the genetic code, which occurred after Berg's death, showed how much closer he was to the truth than his critics. Berg turned out to be a visionary, and history put everything in its place.

It must be emphasized that in his writings Berg sought to merge geographical and biological phenomena; a shining example Its “landscape zones” serve this purpose. In this regard, one can compare Berg with his friend V.I. Vernadsky. It cannot be said that the first was higher than the second, but it was not lower either. They approached, each in their own way, the merging of living and dead, organic and mineral, Earth and Life into a single system, which is now called the biosphere, although in relation to these two giants of science, the term “noosphere” would be better suited.

Berg's contribution (here too there are similarities with Vernadsky) to the history of science is very significant. This is the subject of many of his articles-essays and major books about the discovery of Kamchatka, the expedition of V. Bering, Russian discoveries in Antarctica, the activities of the Russian Geographical Society, etc. Berg’s role is impressive, as public figure. In 1945-50 he is the president of the All-Union Geographical Society. His popular articles in magazines and newspapers are filigree, including those for children, whom he loved very much and considered it his duty to educate.

How could a person overcome such a huge amount of work? Genius is a sealed secret. Such people appear rarely; it is difficult to understand their ideology and psychology. One can only guess. In the case of L.S. Berg, these are natural inclinations, phenomenal memory, knowledge of several languages, the ability to work with literature, selecting from it what is most necessary, and, finally, incomparable hard work and dedication. Just don’t feel sorry for him: he’s a hard worker, poor, no sleep, no rest... For Berg, constant and intense work is a natural state, idleness is burdensome. We can say about him that a person does not choose his destiny, but finds himself in it.

He also had a heightened sense of nature. It started in childhood, before high school. He was born in 1876 in the city of Bendery, on the banks of the Dniester. As a child, I looked at the river for a long time, sat down with the fishermen, and learned to recognize types of fish. Then he was in Chisinau at a boarding house with a widow, the first student in the class, he mastered languages ​​perfectly - Latin, Greek, German, French, and also Moldavian, although he was not taught. He is perfectly literate in Russian and reads a lot. During the summer holidays in Bendery, again on the river, he begins to collect fish, knows how to dissect them, and studies them scientifically. He graduates from high school with a gold medal, the path to university is open.

But there are obstacles. He is attracted to natural science, his father, a city notary, wants his son to become a lawyer. Leo is categorically against it, his mother and sisters support him, his father, reluctantly, makes concessions. There is a second obstacle. Lev only wants to go to Moscow University, where there are good professors familiar to him from books and, most importantly, a rich zoological museum. But Jews have no access to Moscow - “the Pale of Settlement.” It is necessary to accept Christianity, and Berg goes for it. Drama for the father, we know that. No one writes what this meant for Leo himself. Of course, he was worried, but his youth, desire for science, and probably atheism helped him survive this difficult situation. In September 1894, Berg became a student in the natural sciences department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Moscow University. He listens to lectures by physicist A.G. Stoletov, chemist V.V. Morkovnikov, the already famous K.A. Timiryazev, zoologist M.A. Menzbir, young mineralogist V.I. Vernadsky. He gets a “corner” at the zoo museum and is passionate about fish. In 1897, third-year student Berg published his first scientific work"Collection of fish from the Bessarabian province." During the holidays, probably. looked into Bendery, but not for long, he was attracted by the muse of distant travels, in 1896 he was a member of an expedition to the Indera salt lake at the mouth of the Ural River; in 1898 he studied lakes in the south of the West Siberian Lowland.

This is how interest arose in the science of lakes, their comprehensive study: area, depth, water, its composition, shores, of course, ichthyofauna. Voluntarily or unwittingly, Berg becomes a geographer. This was facilitated by his rapprochement with well-known representative this science, Professor D.N. Anuchin, who, according to Berg, “was interested in absolutely everything - both natural science in the broadest sense of the word, and humanitarian sciences" The sympathy was mutual.

Lakes, rivers, fish are Berg's interests. These are already three sciences - limnology, hydrology, ichthyology, all together - geography and biology. He wants something deep comprehensive knowledge, it needs an object, and it finds it. He leaves for the Urals for four years, receiving the position of “keeper of fisheries in the lower reaches of the Syr Darya on the Aral Sea.” It took a long time to get there: railway Moscow - Tashkent has not happened yet. Imagine this very urban youth with a revolver in his hands, fighting poachers. But that’s how it was, he was strict with them, even unforgiving. The main thing, however. another: to explore a still little-known sea, essentially a lake. It is salty, but the salt is 2.5 times less than in the world's oceans. This means, Berg concludes, that it is geologically young, very transparent, it was not for nothing that ancient authors called it the “blue sea”, there are many islands (about 200), not deep, the shores have a varied structure, deserts stretch around on all sides, precipitation is only 100 mm per year. In the 40s of the 19th century, the shores of the Aral Sea were mapped by surveyor V. Butakov. Comparing these data with his own, Berg proves that the lake’s water area has increased slightly, and this does not confirm the widespread opinion about the drying out of Central Asia. He sends the collected samples of water, coastal rocks, herbarium, and fish preparations to Moscow for identification. He had to first cross the Aral Sea on a sailboat, then on a special yacht. Having summed up his research and literature, in 1908 he published his famous book “The Aral Sea. Experience of a physical-geographical monograph” (580 large format pages), defends it as a doctoral dissertation, bypassing a master’s thesis, which was very rare at that time, but the opinion of the academic council was unanimous.

When studying the Aral Sea, he is distracted by other issues. The Syr Darya feeds the sea with water, we need to examine it and find out its origins. He goes upstream, examining the glaciers of the Pamir-Alai. This is how limnology, hydrology, and glaciology collided for him. He does not forget this science and in 1913 he travels to Tyrol, where he gets acquainted with the Alpine glaciers. Leaving the Aral, he studies other lakes: Balkhash (also establishes its geological youth), Issykkul, later in the Caucasus - Sevan, and then Ladoga lake. All received materials are published without delay. Berg should be considered the founder of limnology, although this term was introduced into science by the Swiss scientist Francois Forel while studying Lake Geneva. Berg goes there and makes peace with this body of water. His coverage of the problem is much wider: in addition to mountain lakes (Sevan, Issykkul), he knows desert lakes very well, especially the Aral and Balkhash. He also became interested in Baikal. The area around the Aral Sea has generated interest in deserts. First, he wrote an article for the magazine “Soil Science” about the Big Barsuki sands north of the lake (1907), and a few years later - a generalizing work “Shapes of Russian Deserts” (1911).

Life circumstances have not been favorable to him for a long time. Constant travel and relocation, unsuccessful marriage. For two years he has been in Kazan as an inspector of fisheries in the Middle Volga. In 1905, he was lucky enough to occupy the position of caretaker of the zoological museum of the Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg and, apart from short-term work in Moscow, forever connects his fate with the city on the Neva. A new family is also taking shape, he marries M.M. Ivanova, she is also an ichthyologist, they live in perfect harmony. from 1916, for 34 years until his death in 1960, he headed the department of physical geography at St. Petersburg University, and also taught a course in climatology. But the main thing is still scientific work. Her special regime has developed: in the morning he is at the zoological museum - ichthyology, in the evening and on weekends in his office at home - geography.

He tirelessly describes the ichthyofauna of various rivers and lakes: the Amur, Volga, rivers of Turkestan and the Caucasus, the Caspian Sea; publishes 4 times, always improving, instructions “for collecting and sending fish collections.” He publishes descriptions of fish from Russia and the USSR several times, adding to them each time. He was the first to point out the uniqueness of the Baikal fauna and published a book about the fish of Europe. He is always in a hurry with publications, believing that new facts will appear the sooner the sooner those already obtained are known. For him, this is a methodological principle, little common to other scientists. This was the case with his fascinating book “Climate and Life”, it was first published in 1922, and again in twice the volume in 1947. It showed how climate changes over geological time influenced the nature of landscapes , Earth and Life, how the phenomenon of bipolarity arose based on the similarity of the fauna of the Arctic and Antarctic. Despite the enormous distance that separates them, similarities in the fauna of the northern parts of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans have also been noted. Yes, it’s impossible to list everything from among those of his discoveries that were global in their essence, but for science had global significance. In ichthyology, or more precisely, in biology in general, during his lifetime he firmly occupied one of the first places.

Over the years, Berg dives deeper into geography. He did not like regional work, I suppose, on the basis that it was of interest to few people. He made an exception for his father’s land: in 1918 he published the book “Bessarabia. A country. People. Economy." It is a fusion of physical geography in the broad sense, ethnography (striking multi-ethnicity) and economics. This masterpiece of writings about Moldova was recently republished with some abbreviations, and a separate essay-commentary should be written about it, because 80 years have passed!

In Berg's geography, there are major problems of an all-Russian scale in fact, and methodologically reaching the level of the World. This happened not only through his books, but also through personal communication with leaders of world science. In 1927, he was an active participant in the International Congress on Limnology in Rome, and a year before that, in the Pacific Congress in Japan. On the way there he ended up in Korea, with unprecedented speed he became acquainted with the rivers and ichthyofauna of this country, and soon published a special work about it. In Tokyo, he is received by the emperor of the “land of the rising sun” himself, and Berg therefore had to purchase and put a top hat on his head. Now it is kept under a special glass cover in the Bendery Museum.

Berg is one of those few who early and deeply understood V.V. Dokuchaev’s ideas about the zoning of nature; he expanded this teaching, gave it scale, concreteness, I would say, multicolor. This began in 1913 with the work “The Experience of Dividing Siberia and Turkestan into Landscape and Morphological Regions.” In it, the dualistic principle of non-coincidence of orographic and zonal features of the territory is applied to this huge and extremely heterogeneous space. According to orography, “14 main parts” were distinguished: mountain ranges, plateaus, lowlands. Such apt names, invented by Berg, as “Turgai table country”, “Kazakh folded country” have firmly entered the scientific vocabulary and scientific everyday life. The landscape division was different; here local combinations of climate, soil, flora and fauna came to the fore. There were also 14 zones and special areas (Kamchatka, Primorye). This division is still preserved, although it has been supplemented with new details. Let us refer to the opinion of the modern prominent geographer I.G. Isachenko: “Zonal physical-geographical (landscape) zoning of the country was first carried out by L.S. Berg.” And further: “L.S. Berg laid the foundation for combining the ideas of the Dokuchaev school with the best traditions of classical geography.”

This was confirmed during the writing of Berg’s synthetic general work “Landscape-geographical zones of the USSR,” published for the first time in 1931, then it was expanded and repeatedly republished not only in Russian, but also in English, French, Chinese, Hungarian, and Ukrainian. This fundamental creation represents, as it were, the final chord of the scientist’s work in the field of geography, just as “Freshwater Fish” - in biology. The question arises why he does not return to the topic of “Nomogenesis”. They assume. that he did not want confrontation, accusations of idealism. Another explanation occurs to me: he was so confident that he was right that he expected recognition from the progress of science.

Berg had so many good friends among scientists that it is impossible to list them. It was occupied by extraordinary and outstanding people. This is how his interest in scientific discoveries scientists and the exploits of pioneers. This is natural: after all, without people there are no ideas. It is tempting to connect these two principles. The scientist’s works on the history of science represent another powerful layer in his work. They are divided into three streams: articles on covering individual historical facts; essays on the activities of major scientists - V.V. Dokuchaev, A.I. Voikov and others and outstanding navigators, discoverers of new lands V. Atlasov, V. Bering and others; solid monographic works about the discovery of Kamchatka and Russian explorations in the Pacific Ocean. He, overwhelmed by a sense of justice and patriotism, convincingly and documentedly proved that Russian sailors M.P. Lazarev and F.F. Belingshausen were the first to discover Antarctica. The language of Berg's historical and geographical works is fascinating, ardent, and they are based on a deep acquaintance with literature and, what is especially important, with ancient archives; studying them required a lot of work. I also had to argue with foreign authors who kept silent about the role of Russian people in expanding knowledge about the seas, oceans, islands and continents.

The ideology of Berg's scientific research was extremely consistent, constantly going towards expansion, to cover ever new phenomena and problems, while also including in them everything he had already achieved previously. He always found a lot without losing anything. This most clearly corresponded to the famous “complementarity principle” of Niels Bohr. I also think that this was due to the special nature of Berg’s memory, as we have already noted, phenomenal: going forward and forward, the scientist did not lose sight of anything. A lucky trait of unique people.

Berg published more than 700 scientific papers during his life. 169 of them were included in the publication published in 1956-1962. a five-volume collection of his works, which numbered 2600 pages or 231 printed sheets, but this is only a little more than a quarter of the countless scientific and literary wealth that remained after him. “The Aral Sea” and a number of his other monographs were not included in this five-volume set. Once again you are amazed at the prolificacy of Berg, the author. Moreover, in his articles and books there is nothing superfluous and very little that is outdated. In different scientific libraries Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, I inquired about the demand for the “five-volume book” and everywhere I received answers that it was in use, and there was a waiting list for some volumes.

I had the desire to portray Berg in this article, a major theorist in the fields of geography, biology, and history of science. But his works had and have lasting practical value: ichthyological - for the regulation and reproduction of fish stocks; geographical - for rational zoning of various directions, primarily agricultural (zonal farming systems), forestry, economic. All his works, including historical and scientific ones, are indispensable as didactic ones when teaching geography, biology and local history in secondary and higher schools.

Grateful descendants do not forget him. More than 60 species of animals and plants are named after Berg in Latin transcription. This ringing name is given to two glaciers in the Pamirs and in the Dzhungar Alatau, a cape on one of the islands of Severnaya Zemlya, and a volcano on the island of Uryup in the Kuril ridge. But there is no prophet in his own country: in his native Bendery there is no street named after him, and yet he should be immortalized in granite.

The word "Berg" means mountain. Yes, it was a veritable Everest of science. I called L.S. Berg “the last encyclopedist of the twentieth century.” I'm sure this is not far from the truth.

I. A. Krupennikov, honorary doctor of geography, honorary member of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova

(article provided by the Organizing Committee
project “Peaks of Geographical Science: Academician Berg”)

Position

about the international project “Peaks of Geographical Science: Academician Berg”, dedicated to the memory of the outstanding Russian traveler and scientist
Lev Semenovich Berg

The famous geographer and biologist, the last scientific encyclopedist of the twentieth century - Lev Semenovich Berg was born in the Moldavian city of Bendery on March 14, 1876. After graduating from the 2nd Chisinau gymnasium in 1894, he entered Moscow University, where already in the 3rd year he published his first scientific work - “Collection of fish from Bessarabia” (gold medal of the Russian Geographical Society). After graduating from Moscow State University in 1898, he held the position of “keeper of fisheries in the lower reaches of the Syr Darya on the Aral Sea.” Lakes, rivers, fish are Berg's interests, and these are three sciences: limnology, hydrology, ichthyology. Already in 1908 he published the book “The Aral Sea. The experience of a physical-geographical monograph” for which he was awarded the title of Doctor of Science and awarded the gold medal of the Russian Geographical Society. Berg then explores the upper reaches of the river. Isfara and glaciers of the Turkestan ridge in the Pamir-Alai. Here he is already a glaciologist, limnologist, hydrologist and mountaineer. He repeats this work in the Alps, visiting Tyrol.

Berg created a new section of geography - the science of the landscape-geographical zones of the Earth as a planet. In his work “Landscape-geographical zones of the USSR” Berg is already a climatologist, geologist, hydrologist, phyto- and zoogeographer.

Berg also made a significant contribution to the history of geographical discoveries. He wrote works about the discovery of Kamchatka, Bering’s expeditions, Russian discoveries in Antarctica, the 100th anniversary of the Russian Geographical Society, etc. Berg is also a major biologist and ichthyologist, his work “Fishes of the Fresh Waters of the USSR and Adjacent countries" was awarded the State Prize. Berg's contribution to the formation of modern views in environmental science is invaluable. Berg is one of the founders of the Geographical Faculty of St. Petersburg University, from 1928 - corresponding member, and from 1946 - full member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, from 1940 to 1950 - President of the Geographical Society of the USSR. The following names are named after L. S. Berg: a volcano on the island of Urup, a peak in the Pamirs, a cape on the island of Severnaya Zemlya, glaciers in the Pamirs and the Dzungarian Alatau. On December 24, 1950, at the 75th year of his life, Lev Semenovich Berg passed away.

The activities of the outstanding Russian scientist and traveler L. S. Berg were focused on uniting all areas of geography into a single science, on the close interpenetration of sciences, on the popularization scientific achievements and travel; he was attracted by major problems of an all-Russian scale, the solution of which reached the world level; he was concerned about the development of scientific and cultural ties between peoples. This project is designed to continue these wonderful traditions.

1. Goals and objectives of the project

The goal of the project is to popularize the scientific heritage, the significance of the personality and activities of Academician L. S. Berg. Expanding scientific, sports and cultural ties between peoples through studying the life, work of L. S. Berg and his legacy. To achieve the goal, it is necessary to solve the following tasks:

2. Project program

Project activities are carried out from 2012 to 2013 and include:

1. Initial period (01.01 - 01.05.2012): organizational events, distribution of Regulations, List of areas for hiking, climbing, expeditions, consultations, coordination of dates for holding public events, etc.
2. Main period (05/01/2012 - 09/01/2013): carrying out hiking, water, cycling, mountain hiking and climbing, expeditions, scientific and practical conferences (Moscow, Bendery, etc.), reports and evenings in memory of Academician L. S. Berg.
3. Final period (01.09 - 15.12.2013): summing up the results of the project, final scientific conference at the Munich Geographical Society.

The project program will be clarified and detailed in the plans of the Organizing Committee

3. Project participants

Project participants can be scientific, sports, environmental, public organizations, sports teams and groups, as well as individuals who are interested in the life and work of Lev Semenovich Berg and who have received a message from the Project Organizing Committee about the acceptance of their application to participate in the project events.

Participants in the sports program carry out their climbs and hikes in accordance with the current rules in the territory where these events are held and are responsible for their own safety.

4. Project management

All project activities are carried out in accordance with these Regulations and are coordinated by the ORGANIZING COMMITTEE, consisting of representatives of organizations that supported this project: Munich Geographical Society, Cultural Center“GOROD” and its travel club (Munich), World Encyclopedia of Travel (Moscow), International Association “Eco-TIRAS” (Chisinau), Foundation named after. L. Berg (Bender), All-German Travelers Association, Moscow Center of the Russian Geographical Society, Russian Club of the Munich Section of Alpinverein, Federation sports tourism and mountaineering in Ukraine, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, etc.

The ORGANIZING COMMITTEE sends to all interested organizations and individuals these Regulations, application forms and information (forms No. 1 and No. 2) for participation in the project, a List of areas through which L. S. Berg’s expeditions took place, provides advice on holding events, choosing routes, their techniques passage and ensuring security, coordinates the timing of their implementation, suggests topics for questions when studying archival or literary materials, if necessary and possible, provides visa support, etc.

5. Project financing

The costs of participation of teams, groups and individuals in project events are borne by the organizations that initiated individual events, incl. and exhibiting teams, sponsors or the participants themselves.

6. Applications

Applications for participation in the project “Peaks of Geographical Science: Academician Berg” are accepted by the Project Organizing Committee from 01/01/2012 using the attached form (see form No. 1). The final form (see form No. 2) is submitted to the Organizing Committee no later than December 15 in the year of the event.

7. Contacts

Organizing Committee of the project “Peaks of Geographical Science: Academician Berg”
Cultural Center GOROD
Hansastr. 181
81373 Munich
Germany
www.kulturzentrum-gorod.de
tel. +49-89-599 18 564
Rakhmil Weinberg: +49-89-7257918
[email protected]
Abram Mosesson: +49-89-5386869

This Regulation is an official invitation to take part in the project “Peaks of Geographical Science: Academician Berg”

Application form for participation in the project

APPLICATION (Form No. 1)

To participate in the project “Peaks of Geographical Science: Academician Berg” from (name of organization, team, group, individuals)

1. Number of participants
2. Last name and first name of the manager
3. Address, telephone, fax, E-mail head
4. Climbing (hiking) area
5. Proposed route
6. Planned time
7. Planned socially beneficial activities, scientific work
8. Is consulting or other assistance from the Organizing Committee required and what kind?
9. The members of the team (group), based on their experience, physical and technical training, correspond to the complexity of the upcoming ascent (hike) in accordance with existing safety requirements
10. Signature of the responsible person
11. Date the document was completed

INFORMATION(Form No. 2)

About participation in the project “Peaks of Geographical Science: Academician Berg” from(name of organization, team, group, individuals)

1. Number assigned by the Organizing Committee
2. Number of participants
3. Last name and first name of the manager
4. Address, telephone, fax, E-mail head
5. Climbing (hiking) area
6. Executed route
7. Climbing (hiking) time
8. Work carried out on the project “Peaks of Geographical Science: Academician Berg” (conferences, lectures, conversations, reports, articles in the media, etc.)
9. Stamp of the organization submitting the application
10. Signature of the responsible person
11. Date the document was completed

List of areas for hiking, mountain, cycling, water travel and ascents of project participants according to the places of expeditions of academician L. S. Berg

1. Moldova (Bessarabia), Dniester river, Dniester estuary
2. Aral Sea region and Syr Darya basin
3. Sands Big Badgers (North of the Aral Sea)
4. Kyrgyzstan, Turkestan ridge (Shchurovsky glacier, sources of the Isfara river)
5. Glacial zone of Tyrol - Ö tztaler Alpen, Stubeier Alpen, Ortler Alpen
6. Lake regions: Baikal, Balkhash, Ladoga, Issyk-Kul
7. Yerevan Highlands region (Caucasus)
8. Areas of salt lakes in Western Siberia (in the Kulundiyskaya steppe, etc.)
9. Cherkasy and Chernigov regions of Ukraine
10. Middle reaches of the Volga River
11. Kokchetav lakes in Northern Kazakhstan

Sports groups project participants, in in accordance with this List, they independently develop hiking or climbing routes that correspond to the level of their sports qualifications, approve them in their ICCs and send an application for participation in the project to the Project Organizing Committee (form No. 1 of the appendix to the Regulations). A report on the completion of a hike or ascent (form No. 2) is submitted to the Organizing Committee no later than October 1, 2013.

By agreement with the Project Organizing Committee, other areas may be approved for expeditions.

Berg Lev Semenovich (1876-1950). Geographer-encyclopedist: physical geographer, limnologist, climatologist and soil scientist, lithologist and geomorphologist, paleogeographer, historian of geography, zoologist, corresponding member. in the biological category of the Department of Physical and Mathematical Sciences since 1928, academician in the Department of Geology - geographical sciences, specialization “zoology, geography” since 1946

Berg Lev Semenovich Born on March 2, 1876 in the city of Bendery (now the Republic of Moldova). Died on December 24, 1950 in Leningrad. Father, Semyon Grigorievich Berg, was a notary by profession. The family had four children (3 daughters and a son). L. S. Berg graduated from the 2nd Chisinau Classical Gymnasium with a gold medal. Higher education received from the natural department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Moscow University, where he entered in 1894 and graduated in 1898. Doctor of Geography and Zoology.
At Moscow University on L. S. Berg greatest influence provided by Dmitry Nikolaevich Anuchin, whom L. S. Berg himself called his unforgettable teacher. In the 3rd and 4th years, D.N. Anuchin taught general physical geography and (optional) courses on the physical geography of Russia and foreign countries, general ethnography, ethnography of Russia, anthropology and history of geosciences. Among the university biology professors whom L. S. Berg valued most highly were P. P. Sushkin and K. A. Timiryazev; the latter taught the course “Anatomy and Physiology of Plants”.
After graduating from the university, from 1899 to 1905, L. S. Berg worked as an employee of the Department of Agriculture, performing duties as a caretaker of fish stocks in the Aral Sea and the Middle Volga. From 1905 to 1913 he was the head of the department of fish, amphibians and reptiles of the Zoological Museum of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. From 1913 to 1917 he worked in Moscow as a professor of ichthyology at the Faculty of Fisheries of the Agricultural Institute (now Timiryazev Academy). After being elected as a professor at the Department of Geography at Petrograd University, he finally moved to Petrograd in 1917. Participates in the creation of the Higher Geographical Courses, and then the Geographical Institute. In 1925, the institute was transformed into the country's first geographical faculty and became part of Leningrad University. L. S. Berg headed the department of physical geography, which he headed until the end of his life. In parallel with his work in geographical organizations, he heads the department of applied ichthyology in State Institute experimental agronomy (1922–1934), laboratory of ichthyology at the Zoological Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1934–1950).
Among the awards: 1st degree diploma from Moscow University and a gold medal for the best thesis(1898), gold medal of P. P. Semenov of the Tian-Shan Russian Geographical Society for work on Aral Sea(1909), Great gold (Konstantinovskaya) medal – highest award Russian Geographical Society (1915), gold medal of the Asian Society of India for work on the ichthyology of Asia (1936), etc. L. S. Berg - laureate of the USSR State Prize (1951), holder of two Orders of the Red Banner of Labor and medals “For the Defense of Leningrad” and “For valiant work in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945.”
In 1909, the monograph “The Aral Sea” was presented as a master’s thesis, for the defense of which he was awarded academic degree Doctor of Geography, in 1934 awarded the academic degree of Doctor of Zoology. L. S. Berg was elected to the position of professor of ichthyology in 1913, and professor of geography in 1916; in 1928 he was elected a corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, and in 1946 - a full member of the USSR Academy of Sciences. From 1948 to 1950, L. S. Berg was the Chairman of the Ichthyological Commission of the USSR Academy of Sciences, he worked as Deputy Chairman of the Ichthyological Commission and the Commission for the Study of the Quaternary Period of the USSR Academy of Sciences. From 1940 to 1950 - President of the Geographical Society of the USSR. In 1934 he was awarded the title of Honored Scientist of the RSFSR. L. S. Berg is an honorary member of many scientific associations: Geographical Societies of the USSR, Poland, Bulgaria, USA, the Moscow Society of Naturalists, the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpentologists, a full member of the Zoological Society of London, etc.; active member of the editorial boards of the journals “Nature”, “Izvestia” and “Notes of the All-Union Geographical Society”, “Izvestia of the State Hydrological Institute”.
The most significant work of L. S. Berg, which was reprinted several times (with a change in name) and translated into German, French and English languages, are “Landscape-geographical zones of the USSR”. The monograph develops the doctrine of geographic zonality as a fundamental geographical law, provides theoretical ideas about the geographical landscape as a true subject of scientific geography, and develops the concept cultural landscape, now in demand by cultural geography. A dynamic approach to the landscape, ideas about landscape changes, and hierarchical developments are still relevant for landscape science. According to N.A. Solntsev, in the book “for the first time, critical issues doctrines of geographical landscape". The main landscape zones of the country are presented from a modern systemic perspective: full descriptions of the nature of each zone are completed with ethnological characteristics of the living peoples of Russia, including issues of interaction between ethnicity and nature.
Fundamental theoretical research, which caused a whole wave of critical works and the need for its constant rethinking, appears the monograph “Nomogenesis, or Evolution based on patterns” (1922). The work acts as critical in relation to the now textbook Darwinian theory natural selection. The originality of the concept of nomogenesis lies in the fact that the author consistently draws a spatial (landscape-geographical) line in the theory of the formation of new forms on Earth. “The geographical landscape has a forced effect on organisms, forcing all individuals to vary in a certain direction, as far as the organization of the species allows,” wrote L. S. Berg. In his opinion, not only living organisms are subject to the law of nomogenesis, but also ethnic groups, languages ​​and other natural phenomena.
The climatological works of L. S. Berg laid the foundations for the creation of geographic climatology, in which climate is considered as an important component of nature and landscape. Using material from Central Asia, he was one of the first to pose and originally solve the problem of desertification, considering natural processes and economic activities in a comprehensive manner.
Among the fundamental limnological and geographical works that laid the foundation for modern lake science: “The Aral Sea. Experience of a physical-geographical monograph" (1908), "The level of the Caspian Sea over historical time" (1934), etc.
L. S. Berg's significant contribution to geomorphology, biogeography and biogeographic zoning, ichthyology, anthropogeography and ethnography, toponymy, history of geography and geographical discoveries.
Social activity. From 1934 to 1939 Deputy of the Oktyabrsky District Council of Workers' Deputies of Leningrad. Being a native of Bessarabia, he is an active member of the Bessarabian community.
The fund (archive) of L. S. Berg is stored in the Archives of the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg.
Major works:
Landscape-geographical zones of the USSR, 1931. (Reprints: 1936, 1937, 1947, 1952; Selected works, vol. 2, 1958); Nomogenesis, or Evolution based on patterns, 1922. (Reprint: Proceedings on the Theory of Evolution, 1922-1930, 1977); Climate and Life, 1922. (Reprint: 1947; Selected Works, vol. 2, 1958); Aral Sea. Experience of a physical-geographical monograph, Stasyulevich, 1908. (Reprint: Selected works, vol. 2, 1958). Essays on the history of Russian geographical discoveries, 1946 (Reprint: Selected works, vol. 1, 1956).
Biographical literature.
On Sat. "Questions of Geography". No. 24, 1951.
In memory of academician L. S. Berg // Sat. works on geography and biology, 1955.
Murzaev E. M. Lev Semenovich Berg (1876-1950), 1983.
Isachenkov V. A., Kvasov D. D. L. S. Berg, 1988.