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
Novaya Zemlya avalanche that blocked two glacial streams and created a lake in length. Over its history as a nuclear test site, Novaya Zemlya hosted 224 nuclear detonations with a total explosive energy equivalent to 265 megatons of TNT. For comparison, all explosives used in World War II, including the detonations of two US nuclear bombs, amounted to only two megatons. In 1988–1989, "glasnost" helped make the Novaya Zemlya testing activities public knowledge, and in 1990 Greenpeace activists staged a protest at the site. The last nuclear test explosion was in 1990 (also the last for the entire Soviet Union and Russia).