Vice-Rector Danis Nurgaliev talks about his voyage to the White Continent
His lecture “Antarctica: a Mystery and a Dream” was held at the Milmax Science lecture hall of Bashir Rameev IT Park.
“As a little boy I dreamed of visiting Antarctica. And I fulfilled my dream, although it took a lot of time and effort,” Dr Nurgaliev shared.
He first recalled the discovery of Antarctica in 1820 by the participants of the circumnavigation led by Thaddeus Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev, which included a young scientist from Kazan University, Ivan Simonov, then 25 years old, who later became rector of the university.
“From this journey Ivan Simonov brought a huge number of exhibits, and they are in the museums of Kazan University,” noted the lecturer.
The Vice-Rector added that his desire to go to the distant land became stronger when as a student he visited the expositions in the museums dedicated to Simonov, including his drawings of Antarctic ice.
Talking about the expeditions of Roald Amundsen and Robert Scott, the professor emphasized the dangers faced by those who risked to go to the South Pole.
Now traveling to Antarctica has become more accessible and comfortable. There are even regular flights to this continent. However, the country of ice does not forgive carelessness: the probability of dying there is very high for various reasons: from cold, disease (there are no hospitals), or hunger.
“One of the most important dangers in Antarctica are cracks in the thickness of ice, as you can fall into them. They are poorly visible on the ground,” the scientist informed. It is possible to save a person who has fallen into a crack only if there are several people nearby who know how to act promptly in this situation. That’s why before the expedition the participants underwent a special training on Mount Elbrus.
Danis Nurgaliev was preparing for several years to conquer the land of snow and ice, where he went together with a team of experienced mountaineers and travelers, among them – cosmonaut Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, freerider and conqueror of many eight-thousanders Vitaly Lazo, mountaineering popularizer and guide Ruslan Kolunov, famous meteorite searcher Alexander Pastukhovich from Ural Federal University, as well businessman Andrey Nazarov.
The purpose of the expedition to the region was to search for meteorites and deliver samples of blue ice. During the journey, which had to be ended due to an approaching storm earlier than scheduled, they managed to find one meteorite.
“Why search for meteorites in Antarctica? If a meteorite falls in the forest or in a swamp, you will not find it without special tools, it’s a very difficult task: it’s like looking for a needle in a haystack. And when it falls on the ice of Antarctica, it is much easier to find. Simply put: if there is a black stone on the blue ice, it is a meteorite,” explained Danis Nurgaliev.
Scientists around the world are studying “messengers from space” – some of them older than the Earth – in the hope of finding answers to questions related to the origin of the Solar system and the planets.
Vitaly Lazo made a documentary movie “Antarctica. Message from Space”, currently available online.
At the end of the meeting Dr Nurgaliev advised everyone to travel more, “When we travel, we always discover something new: people or beautiful places. There is nothing more memorable and beautiful in the world than emotions from discoveries – scientific, geographical, or human. So travel! There are a lot of wonderful places on Earth, and life is not that long.”
