Gerhard Friedrich Müller

Müller participated in the second Kamchatka expedition, which reported on life and nature of the further (eastern) side of the Ural mountain range.

From 1733 until 1743, nineteen scientists and artists traveled through Siberia to study people, cultures and collected data for the creation of maps.

Müller, who described and categorized clothing, religions and rituals of the Siberian ethnic groups, is considered to be the father of ethnography.

He was one of the first historians to bring out a general account of Russian history based on an extensive examination of the documentary sources.

[1] His accentuation of the role of Scandinavians and Germans in the history of that country – a germ of the so-called Normanist theory – earned him enmity of Mikhail Lomonosov, who had previously supported his work, and dented his Russian career.