View source for Pyotr Shirshov

{{Short description|Soviet scientist and explorer (1905–1953)}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Pyotr Shirshov
| image              = Пётр Петрович Ширшов 001.png
| caption            = Shirshov in 1946
| native_name        = Пётр Ширшов
| birth_date         = {{OldStyleDate|25 December|1905|12 December}}
| death_date         = 17 February 1953 (aged 47)
| birth_place        = [[Yekaterinoslav]], [[Yekaterinoslav Governorate]], [[Russian Empire]]
| death_place        = [[Moscow]], [[Russian SFSR]], [[Soviet Union]]
| awards             = [[Hero of the Soviet Union]]
}}
'''Pyotr Petrovich Shirshov''' ({{lang-ru|Пётр Петрович Ширшов}}; {{OldStyleDate|25 December|1905|12 December}} {{endash}} 17 February 1953) was a [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] [[oceanographer]], [[Hydrobiology|hydrobiologist]], polar explorer, statesman, academician (1939), the first minister of [[Minmorflot|Ministry of Maritime Fleet of the USSR]] and [[Hero of the Soviet Union]] (1938).

Pyotr Shirshov graduated from the [[Odessa Public Education Institute]] in 1929. In 1929–1932, he was a researcher at the [[Moscow Botanical Garden of Academy of Sciences|Botanical Garden of the Soviet Academy of Sciences]]. In 1932–1936, Pyotr Shirshov was employed as a researcher at the [[Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute|All-Union Arctic Institute]]. He participated in numerous Arctic expeditions, including the ones on icebreakers ''[[Sibiryakov (1909 icebreaker)|Sibiryakov]]'' (1932) and ''[[Chelyuskin steamship|Chelyuskin]]'' and a [[Soviet and Russian manned drifting ice stations|drifting ice station]] ''[[North Pole-1]]'' (1937-1938).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=66677 |title=North Pole Drifting Stations (1930s-1980s) |access-date=2012-01-08 |publisher=[[Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution]] |date=2011-08-17}}</ref> In 1942–1948, Pyotr Shirshov was [[People's Commissar of the Maritime Fleet]], later minister of [[Ministry of Maritime Fleet of the USSR]]. In 1946–1953, he headed the [[Shirshov Institute of Oceanology|Institute of Oceanology of the Soviet Academy of Sciences]], which he had established himself. In 1946–1950, Pyotr Shirshov chaired the Pacific Ocean Science Committee.

Pyotr Shirshov authored numerous works dealing with his research on [[plankton]] in polar regions. He is known to have proven the fallacy of the hypothesis that there is no life in high latitudes of the [[Arctic Ocean]]. Pyotr Shirshov was awarded three [[Orders of Lenin]], four other orders, and several medals.

==Memoria==
A bay in the [[Franz Josef Land]], an underwater range in the [[Bering Sea]], and Shirshov Institute of Oceanology bear Pyotr Shirshov's name.

[[Mount Shirshov]], in the [[Tula Mountains]], [[Enderby Land]], is also named after Shirshov.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{GSEncyclopedia}}
{{Drifting stations NP|state=uncollapsed}}
{{Polar exploration|state=collapsed}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shirshov, Pyotr}}
[[Category:1905 births]]
[[Category:1953 deaths]]

[[Category:Soviet marine biologists]]
[[Category:Full Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Soviet oceanographers]]
[[Category:Heroes of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Explorers of the Arctic]]
[[Category:Soviet polar explorers]]
[[Category:Soviet explorers]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of Lenin]]
[[Category:Ukrainian marine biologists]]
[[Category:Russian scientists]]