Yevgeny Korotkevich Yevgeny Korotkevich Yevgeny Sergeyevich Korotkevich () (1918 – 1 February 1994) was a Soviet scientist and polar explorer, Hero of Socialist Labor, and Doctor of Geographical Sciences. He was one of the leading scientists of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI) in the field of glaciology and geography of polar countries. Yevgeny Korotkevich participated in and headed many Arctic expeditions. In 1947-1955, he was engaged in scientific research on New Siberian Islands, Franz Josef Land, Novaya Zemlya, Severnaya Zemlya, Spitzbergen, Kara Sea islands, Taymyr Peninsula. Since 1955, Korotkevich's scientific and organizational activity was closely associated with the studies of
Arctic Ocean The fervent desire of European merchants for a northern passage, the Northern Sea Route or the Northwest Passage, to "Cathay" (China) caused water to win out, and by 1723 mapmakers such as Johann Homann featured an extensive "Oceanus Septentrionalis" at the northern edge of their charts. The few expeditions to penetrate much beyond the Arctic Circle in this era added only small islands, such as Novaya Zemlya (11th century) and Spitzbergen (1596), though since these were often surrounded by pack-ice, their northern limits were not so clear. The makers of navigational charts, more conservative than some of the more fanciful