Sternberg L.Y., (1861-1927), ethnographer

Categories / Science. Education/Personalia
STERNBERG Lev (Haim) Yakovlevich (1861-1927, Duderhof now renamed as the settlement of Mozhaysky, Leningrad Region), an ethnographer, corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR in 1924. He studied at the department of natural sciences, the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Petersburg University, in 1881-82. Exiled for his involvement in student disorders, he continued studying at the Law Faculty of Novorossiisky University, Odessa, but did his final exams at Petersburg University in 1902. He founded some circles of Narodnaya Volya in the South of Russia and was exiled to the island of Sakhalin. Serving his exile in 1889-97. He started studying the language and culture of the peoples of the region - Nivkh or Gilyak. He wrote works on peoples of the Far East such as the Nivkh, Nanaj, Oroch and Ayna, as well as early religions and social structures. He was a follower of the evolutionary school. Living in St. Petersburg from 1899, he worked at the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography and became the chairman of the department of evolution and cultural typology in the 1920s. He was a founder of ethnographic education in Russia. He established Advanced Geographical Courses in Petrograd in 1916 where he was in charge of the department of ethnography. The courses were reorganised into the Geographical Institute in 1918 and the department of geography of the Leningrad State University in 1925. He lived at 2 Seventh Line of Vasilievsky Island in 1920s. Buried at the Jewish Cemetery.

References: Гаген-Торн Н. И. Лев Яковлевич Штернберг. М., 1975; Пилсудский Б. О. "Дорогой Лев Яковлевич...": (Письма Л. Я. Штернбергу, 1893-1917 гг.). Южно-Сахалинск, 1996.

A. Y. Chistyakov. Sternberg Lev (Haim) Yakovlevich
7th Line of Vasilievsky Island/Saint Petersburg, city, house 2
Гаген-Торн Н. И. Лев Яковлевич Штернберг. М., 1975
Пилсудский Б. О. "Дорогой Лев Яковлевич...": (Письма Л. Я. Штернбергу, 1893-1917 гг.). Южно-Сахалинск, 1996 State University, St. Petersburg
Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography
Jewish Cemetery