Mikhail Somov

Mikhail Mikhailovich Somov (Михаил Михайлович Сомов) (7 April 1908, in Moscow – 30 December 1973, in Leningrad) was a Soviet oceanologist, polar explorer, Doctor of Geographical Sciences (1954).

Mikhail Somov graduated from the Moscow Hydrometeorological Institute in 1937. In 1939, he was appointed senior researcher at the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute. In 1950-1951, Mikhail Somov headed a drift-ice station North Pole-2. In 1955-1957, he became the commander of the first Soviet Antarctic Expedition. Mikhail Somov was also the first Soviet delegate to the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research.

The Somov Sea north of Victoria Land and a glacier in Queen Maud Land (both East Antarctica) bear Mikhail Somov's name, as well as a scientific icebreaker. A minor planet 3334 Somov discovered by Czech astronomer Antonín Mrkos in 1981 is named after him. Somov was a Hero of the Soviet Union.

Awards

 * Hero of the Soviet Union (1951)
 * Three Orders of Lenin
 * Vega medal (from the Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography) (1959)
 * Patron's Gold medal (from the Royal Geographical Society) (1961)