S. F. Oldenburg’s First Russian Turkestan Expedition (1909–1910)

The expedition was inspired by the outstanding Indologist Sergei Fyodorovich Oldenburg (1863–1934). A graduate of St. Petersburg University (1885), he began teaching at the Faculty of Oriental Languages of the same university in 1889, gaining the title of Professor in 1894. In 1900 he was elected Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, held the posts of the Academy’s Permanent Secretary (1904–29) and of the Director of the Asiatic Museum, later the Institute of Oriental Studies (1916–34).