Fedor Adelung

Born 1768; died 1843. Russian historian, linguist, and bibliographer. Corresponding member of the Petersburg Academy of Sciences from 1809.

A Prussian by birth, Adelung moved to Russia in 1794. He was one of the founders of the Moscow Rumiantsev Museum. With A. K. Shtorkh, he compiled The Systematic Review of Literature in Russia During the Five-year Period 1801–1806. (Parts 1 and 2 were published in 1810 and 1811, respectively.) This work marked the beginning of Russian bibliographical statistics. Adelung also compiled a world-renowned bibliography of the Sanskrit language, a bibliography of foreign maps of Russia from 1306 to 1699, and the comprehensive Critical and Literary Review of Travelers in Russia up to 1700 and Their Writings (Russian translation of volumes 1 and 2, St. Petersburg, 1864).