Alexander Pol was born into a noble family of Baltic Germans[2] in Maloaleksandrovka, Verkhnedneprovsky Uyezd, Yekaterinoslav Governorate, Russian Empire (present-day Ukraine).

[2] Pol attended local schools before studying at the Imperial University of Dorpat, where he graduated.

Pol studied the iron ore of Krivoy Rog (present-day Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine) for 15 years and proved its industrial importance.

While studying ore deposits, he also made archeological findings and related them to his interest in ethnography.

In 1881 industrial development began,[3] stimulating the rapid economic growth of Krivoy Rog and, more broadly, of the Yekaterinoslav Governorate of what was then the Russian Empire.