Levakovsky, Ivan

Levakovsky, Ivan [Леваковський, Іван; Levakovs'kyj], b 1828 in Saint Petersburg, d 27 March 1893 in Kharkiv. Geologist. He graduated from Kharkiv University (in 1852), lectured there (from 1860), and became its first professor of geology (1864). He helped to organize the Kharkiv Society of Naturalists in 1869 and served as its president until his death. Levakovsky conducted geological research in Ukraine, especially in the Crimea (he outlined the asymmetric structure of the Crimean Mountains) and the southwestern parts of the Donets Basin. He also studied the hydrogeography and soil structure of Ukraine, as well as the geomorphology and tectonics of Right-Bank Ukraine, and wrote the first geology textbook in the Russian Empire (1861–4).

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 3 (1993).]