Andrey Kapitsa
| Andrey Kapitsa | |
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| Born | Andrey Petrovich Kapitsa Андрей Петрович Капица 9 July 1931 Cambridge, England |
| Died | 2 August 2011 (aged 80) Moscow, Russia |
| Citizenship | Russia |
| Nationality | Russian |
| Fields | geography |
| Institutions | MSU Faculty of Geography (dean in 1965–1970), RAS |
| Alma mater | MSU Faculty of Geography |
| Known for | discovery of the largest subglacial lake in Antarctica, Lake Vostok |
| Notable awards | USSR State Prize (1971), Dmitry Anuchin Prize (1972), Honorary Scientist of Russia |
Andrey Petrovich Kapitsa (Russian: Андре́й Петро́вич Капи́ца; 9 July 1931 – 2 August 2011) was a Russian geographer and Antarctic explorer, discoverer of Lake Vostok, the largest subglacial lake in Antarctica. He was a member of the Kapitsa family, a scientific dynasty in Russia.
Kapitsa was the first to suggest the existence of Lake Vostok in the region of Vostok Station in Antarctica, based on seismic soundings of the thickness of the Antarctic ice sheet. These measures were obtained during the Soviet Antarctic Expeditions, in four of which Kapitsa participated. The discovery of Lake Vostok was one of the last major geographic discoveries on Earth.
Andrey Kapitsa's father was Nobel Prize-winning physicist Pyotr Kapitsa, and his maternal grandfather was mathematician and naval engineer Aleksey Krylov. Pyotr Kapitsa's sons Sergey and Andrey were born in Cambridge, United Kingdom, where their father was conducting research.
Andrey graduated from Moscow State University, Faculty of Geography, in 1953. He worked in the Laboratory of Experimental Geomorphology at the faculty since.
In 1958 Kapitsa defended his Candidate of Science thesis "Morphology of East Antarctic Ice Sheet" («Морфология ледникового покрова Восточной Антарктиды»), and in 1968 he defended his Doctor of Science thesis "Subglacial relief of Antarctica" («Подлёдный рельеф Антарктиды»). Kapitsa was a participant in four Soviet Antarctic Expeditions between 1955 and 1964.
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