Alexander Petrovich Karpinsky (07.01.1847, Krasnoturinsk, Sverdlovsk region, Russia – 15.07.1936), geologist, social activist. Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus (1928), Academician of the Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1889), Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1925), member of many foreign academies.
Major works in the field of tectonics, paleogeography, paleontology. For the first time, he revealed the main features of the tectonic structure of the Russian Platform, indicated the presence in its structure of a crystalline folded base and sedimentary cover. He compiled summary geological maps of the Urals and the European part of the USSR, which served as the basis for broad practical forecasts for mineral exploration. One of the first to use a microscope for the study of rocks. He proved that trochilisks and forms close to them are not animals (foraminifera), as it was believed, but calcified sporopochki of higher layer plants — harofit. He dealt with issues of classification and nomenclature of rocks, indicated that in the classification of igneous rocks their mineralogical composition and structure should be of primary importance.
Published over 300 scientific papers.
Awarded with Konstantinovskaya Medal of the Russian Geographical Society in 1892. Prize named after J. Cuvier of the French Academy of Sciences in 1922. In 1946, the Academy of Sciences of the USSR established a prize and a gold medal named after A.P. Karpinsky, awarded for outstanding work in the field of geology.