Editing Pyotr Chikhachyov

{{Short description|Russian naturalist and geologist (1808-1890)}}
[[File:Pjotr Alexandrowitsch Tschichatschow.jpeg|200px|right|border]]

'''Pyotr Alexandrovich Chikhachyov''', last name also spelled '''Chikhachev''' or '''Tchihatchev''' ({{langx|ru|link=no|Пётр Алекса́ндрович Чихачёв}}; 23 December 1808 – 13 October 1890) was a [[Russians|Russian]] [[natural history|naturalist]] and [[geologist]] who was admitted into the [[Russian Academy of Sciences]] in 1876 as an [[honoris causa|honorary member]]. He authored geographical and geological descriptions of the [[Altai Mountains|Altai]], [[Xinjiang]] (1845), and [[Asia Minor]] (1853-1869). One of the Altai mountain ranges is named after him.<!--On materials of his trips the geological maps of [[Apennine_peninsula|Apennines]] were made.-->

==Education==
He was born in the Large [[Gatchina]] palace, the summer residence of the [[dowager empress]] [[Maria Feodorovna (Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg)|Maria Fyodorovna]]. His father was Alexander Petrovich Chikhachyov, a retired colonel of the [[Preobrazhensky regiment]]. Getting home education in [[Tsarskoye Selo]], under the direction of [[Imperial Lyceum|lyceum professors]], Chikhachyov finished his education abroad, attending the lectures of famous geologists and mineralogists, and then worked in Paris. Not a professional scientist, Chikhachyov, with sufficient money and scientific preparation, could completely give himself up to his interest in scientific expeditions and research. These produced essential scientific results, due to the observation of their author and careful treatment of the scientific material collected during expeditions, to which Chikhachyov attracted prominent specialists in different fields.

==Expeditions and research==
Chikhachyov's independent scientific activity began in 1841, when he published geological descriptions of [[Monte Gargano]] in South Italy and the environs of city of [[Nice]]. In 1842, he published a geological description of the southern provinces of the [[Neapolitan kingdom]].
[[File:Karl Brullov 41.jpg|thumb|left|225px|Portrait of Chikhachyov<br /> by [[Karl Bryullov]] (1835)]]
In the same year he took charge of a large expedition to the Altai. He reached the sources of the rivers [[Abakan River|Abakan]], [[Chu River|Chu]], and [[Chulyshman]]. Traveling across the Southern Altai, Chikhachyov reached territories hitherto undiscovered. He investigated also the [[Sayan Mountains]], about which the most fantastic stories were told, not only in Western Europe but also in Russia. In the [[Northern Altai]] he found the richest coal deposits in the world, which he called the [[Kuznetsk Coal Basin]]. He also studied the culture, life, and customs of various nomadic and settled tribes of this region.

In 1845, he published a voluminous work about Altai, entitled ''Voyage scientifique dans l'Altai Oriental et les parties adjacentes de la frontière de Chine'',{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} and presented a report on his [[Siberia]]n explorations and the results of study of the collected material.

Chikhachyov soon began a comprehensive study of [[Asia Minor]], to which he devoted twenty years of his life. After the Altai trip, he became the attaché of the Russian embassy in [[Constantinople]]. He took advantage of his two-year stay there to study [[Turkish language|Turkish]], and then, leaving the diplomatic service, undertook during 1847-1863 a series of expeditions in Asia Minor, during which he made extensive scientific researches and collections. The results were published by Chikhachyov in an enormous work, ''Asie Mineure: Description physique, statistique et archéologique de cette contrée''. This work, embracing the [[geography]], [[geology]], [[climatology]], [[zoology]], [[botany]], and [[paleontology]] of [[Asia Minor]], represents the classic work of Chikhachyov in cooperation with numerous experts on different branches of the [[natural science]]s.

After completing his Asia Minor researches, Chikhachyov ended his great travels and expeditions, having reached old age, but did not stop scientific work. In early 1878, at the age of 71, he visited [[Algeria]] and [[Tunis]], and in 1880 he published a description of his travel under the title ''Espagne, Algérie et Tunisie''. Besides his geographical and natural-historical works, Chikhachyov published a number of political works on the [[Eastern Question]].

==Death==
[[File:Gatchina. Plaque - Petr Chihachov.jpg|thumb|A [[commemorative plaque]] in Gatchina]]

In 1890, he published a few natural-scientific articles under the title ''Etudes de géographie et d'histoire naturelle''. These represent fragments from what Chikhachyov conceived as a large scientific work on the world's deserts which he did not have time to finish, dying in 1890 of [[pneumonia]]. In encouragement of travelers across Asia, Chikhachyov left to the [[French Academy of Sciences]] the sum of 100,000 francs.

==Named in honor==
[[File:Хребет Чихачёва.jpg|thumb|Chikhachyov Range]]

* Chikhachyov Range (Chikhachev Range) - a mountain range in [[Altai Mountains|Altai]] near the border of [[Russia]], [[China]] and [[Kazakhstan]].
* ''[[Centaurea tchihatcheffii]]'' - a flowering plant found in Turkey
* Prix Tchihatcheff (Prix Tchihatchef; Prix Chikhachev) - prize awarded by the French Academy of Sciences (Grigorii Grumm, 1893;<ref>''The Quest for Forbidden Lands: Nikolai Przhevalskii and his Followers on Inner Asian Tracks'' by Alexandre I. Andreyev, Mikhail Baskhanov, Tatyana Yusupova, BRILL, 30 Aug 2018, p. 335.</ref> Lajos Loczy, 1901;<ref>"Chronique." T'oung Pao, Second Series, 2, no. 3 (1901): 207-12. Accessed April 7, 2020. www.jstor.org/stable/4525541.</ref> P.K. Kozlov, 1913;<ref>''The Quest for Forbidden Lands: Nikolai Przhevalskii and his Followers on Inner Asian Tracks'' by Alexandre I. Andreyev, Mikhail Baskhanov, Tatyana Yusupova, BRILL, 30 Aug 2018, p. 236.</ref> Commandant Audemard, 1914;<ref>"Chronique." T'oung Pao, Second Series, 15, no. 3 (1914): 465-68. Accessed April 7, 2020. www.jstor.org/stable/4526425.</ref> [[Aurel Stein]], 1917;<ref>{{Cite journal|date=1916|title=Chronique|journal=T'oung Pao|volume=17|issue=1|pages=632|doi=10.1163/156853216x00247|issn=0082-5433}}</ref> [[Filippo de Filippi]], 1918<ref>"Chronique." T'oung Pao, Second Series, 18, no. 3 (1917): 246. www.jstor.org/stable/4526544</ref>)

==Works==

* 1845  ''Voyage scientifique dans l'Altai oriental et les parties adjacentes de la frontiere de Chine'' (with atlas)
* 1853-69  ''Asie Mineure; description physique, statistique et archeologique de cette contrée'' (4 vols, with 3 atlases)
* 1864  ''Le Bosphore et Constantinople'' (2nd edn, 1877)
* 1878  ''Considérations géologiques sur les îles Océaniques{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}''
* 1880  ''Espagne, Algerie et Tunisie''
* 1890  ''Etudes de géographie et d'histoire naturelle''
{{Botanist|Tchich.|Chikhachyov}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}
;Attribution
*{{EB1911|wstitle=Tchihatcheff, Pierre Alexandrowitsch de|volume=26 }}

==External links==
*[http://www.hrono.ru/biograf/bio_ch/chihachev_pa.html Khronos biography] (in Russian)

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chikhachyov, Pyotr Alexandrovich}}
[[Category:1808 births]]
[[Category:1890 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Gatchina]]
[[Category:People from Tsarskoselsky Uyezd]]
[[Category:18th-century explorers from the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:Geologists from the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:19th-century biologists from the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:19th-century scientists from the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:Honorary members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Members of the French Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Explorers of West Asia]]