Iosif Grigorev

Born May 28, 1890, in St. Petersburg; died May 14, 1949. Soviet geologist and specialist in the geology of ore deposits. Member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1946; corresponding member, 1939).

Upon graduating from the Petrograd Institute of Mines (1916), Grigor’ev explored the region of Rudnyi Altai. From 1918 he worked in the Geological Committee. In 1921 he began teaching a course in mineragraphy at the Institute of Mines, the first such course in the USSR. From 1929 to 1936 he conducted a course on ore deposits at the Moscow Academy of Mines. From 1933, Grigor’ev worked in the Geological Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and was the institute’s director in 1941–42 and 1947–49. From 1939 to 1941 and from 1942 to 1946 he was vice chairman of the Committee for Geological Affairs of the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR. During the Great Patriotic War he was a member of the Commission for the Mobilization of Natural Resources for the Defense Needs of the Country. He took part in the work of governmental committees on assessment and evaluation of ore deposits in the principal ore-bearing regions of the USSR. Grigor’ev is credited with having originated metallogenetic studies in the USSR. He developed mineragraphic methods of ore studies and was the first to introduce a classification of the structures of ores. Grigor’ev was awarded two orders and various medals.