Leonid Kulik

Infobox Scientist
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birth_date = August 19, 1883
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death_date = April 24, 1942
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nationality = Russian
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field = mineralogy
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known_for = meteorites
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Leonid Alekseyevich Kulik (Russian: Леонид Алексеевич Кулик, August 19, 1883, Tartu–April 24, 1942) was a Russian mineralogist who is noted for his research into meteorites.

He was educated at the Saint Petersburg Forestry Institute and the Kazan University. He served in the Russian military during the Russo-Japanese War, then spent some time in jail for revolutionary political activities. He then served with the Russian military during World War I.

Following the war he became an instructor, teaching mineralogy in Tomsk. In 1920 he was offered a job at the Mineralogical Museum in the city of St. Petersburg.

In 1921Fact|date=November 2007 he led the first Soviet research expedition to investigate the Tunguska event, the largest Impact event in recorded history, which had occurred on June 30, 1908. He made a reconnaissance trip to the region, and interviewed local witnesses. He circled the region where the trees had been felled and became convinced that they were all turned with their roots to the center. However he did not find any meteorite fragments from the impact.

During World War II he again fought for his country, this time in a paramilitary militia. He was captured by the German army and died in a prisoner of war camp of typhus.Fact|date=May 2007

Honors

* Asteroid 2794 Kulik is named for him.
* Kulic crater on the Moon is named for him.

References

External links

* [http://www.unmuseum.org/kulik.htm Virtual Exploration Society: Leonid Kulik ] at www.unmuseum.org