Gennady Olonkin

[1] Gennady Nikitich Olonkin was born in the Arkhangelsk Governorate of the Russian Empire.

Olonkin was the only son among twelve children of a Norwegian mother and a Russian father.

[2] From 1918 to 1925, he was a telegraph and radio operator as well as mechanic on the polar ship Maud, led by Roald Amundsen.

From 1958 he worked in conjunction with an expansion of a LORAN station (NATO) on Jan Mayen.

Both Cape Olonkin and Olonkinbyen on the island of Jan Mayen have been named in his honor.