September 9] 1871 – 21 April 1939) was a Soviet and Russian geologist and president of the 1937 International Geological Congress in Moscow.

Gubkin was born to a poor farmer's family in the Belgorod area in the South of Russia.

In 1895, aged 24 he moved to Saint Petersburg, but, due to the lack of money, could only enroll to a teachers institute.

During his studies there, and after graduation in 1910, he worked at Maykop, Kuban, Taman and Absheron oil fields.

[1][2] In 1920 Gubkin was appointed to lead a government commission that was tasked to study the origin of the Kursk Magnetic Anomaly.