A THOROUGH EDITION ON THE HISTORY OF MINERALOGY IN UKRAINE

Abstract

Data on the history of mineralogical research and knowledge in Ukraine from ancient times to the 90s of the XX century are concentrates in the thorough final work and the prehistory, origin, formation and comprehensive development («golden age») of mineralogy in Ukraine are characterized in varying detail. It is shown that mineralogical researches acquire systemicity from the 50s of the XX century, thanks mainly to the activities of the Lviv Geological and Ukrainian Mineralogical Societie, Lviv University and M. P. Semenenko Institute of Geochemistry, Mineralogy and Ore Formation оf the NAS of Ukraine. The analysis shows that Ukrainian scientists in difficult conditions without their statehood, as part of various metropolises, developed the basic principles of mineralogical science, and therefore it, as soon as geopolitically it became possible, reached its apogee in the «golden age» of mineralogy. It was marked by significant fundamental achievements, which in the complex contributed to the compilation of various geological maps as a basis for the creation of the Geological Survey of Ukraine schemes for the distribution of fields of metallic and non-metallic minerals. The problem of discovering new minerals and publishing a modern monographic compilation of Ukraine,such as the multivolume «Mineralogical Encyclopedia of Ukraine», remains acute. The new modern edition on the history of mineralogy in Ukraine is timely and extremely necessary for specialists in the field of Earth sciences and other fields of science, so it can be used by scientists, teachers, geologists, historians, graduate students and students, as well as the general public community.