From the “Physical-geographical atlas of the world” to the atlas “Nature and resources of the Earth”: Development of Academician I. P. Gerasimov’s ideas in the creation of fundamental world and national atlases

Summary

The article reviews I. P. Gerasimov’s participation in and promotion of world and national atlas projects from the 1950s to the 1990s. It identifies the physical-geographical volume of the Marine Atlas (1953) as his first atlas involvement. The Physical-Geographical Atlas of the World (1964) coordinated approximately 200 scientific and 120 technical contributors across institutions, covering global, continental, and Soviet physical geography. The National Atlas of Cuba (1970), produced through Soviet–Cuban collaboration using existing records and field surveys, expanded socio-geographical coverage and developed arrangements for international atlas teams. European palaeogeographical atlas-monographs combined textual analysis with spatial reconstruction, appearing as maps in 1978 and an expanded edition in 1982. The account also traces Gerasimov’s initiative for the Resources and Environment World Atlas and his support for the World Atlas of Snow and Ice Resources, distinguishing his early involvement from their later publication, and notes projects concerning economic and cultural development, oceans, and Mongolia.