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Igor Zotikov

Russian glaciologist (1926–2010)

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJun 16, 2026
Entity authorityQ4194098 ↗
Source-derived summary

Igor Alekseevich Zotikov (Russian: Зотиков, Игорь Алексеевич) (March 7, 1926 – August 23, 2010) was a Russian glaciologist, polar explorer and academic. Zotikov was best known for predicting the existence of fresh water lakes under the Antarctic ice sheet, later to be discovered as Lake Vostok. For his efforts a glacier was named after him, Zotikov Glacier.

Early life and education

Zotikov was born on March 7, 1926, in Moscow. In 1949 Zotikov graduated from the Moscow Aviation Institute as an engineer. Although he wanted to be a test pilot, he did not fly due to near-sightedness.

He received his Doctor of Sciences in geology from the Energy Institute Krzhizhanovsky under the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union (Russian Academy of Sciences). Interested in glaciology, he joined the expedition to Antarctica during the International Geophysical Year (IGY) of 1957–1958.

Zotikov wrote his thesis based on the findings from the expedition. The thesis was published in 1963 by the International Association of Hydrological Sciences.

Editorial summary

“Igor Zotikov” enters the record as russian glaciologist (1926–2010). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Igor, Zotikov and Russian can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1926, 2010, 1949, 1957—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1926-03-07. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Igor, Zotikov and Russian.
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“Igor Zotikov” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Igor, Zotikov and Russian provides the most credible route into that argument.

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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4194098. VIAF identifies the subject as 34863835. The Library of Congress control number is n78013974. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1926, 2010, 1949 and 1957.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Igor Zotikov” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.