Portrait of Peter Simon Pallas. Source: saint-petersburg.com

          Peter Simon Pallas, also known as Pierre Simon Pallas, was born in Berlin, Germany, on September 22, 1741. He is remembered for being a successful naturalist in his time who contributed to several fields of science including geology, zoology, botany, minerology, and ethnography. He was offered a position at the St. Petersburg Academy of Science in 1767. Some of his most meaningful research occurred during the Siberian Expedition in 1768 arranged by Catherine the Great, ruler of the Russian Empire. Because of his work was valuable to Catherine the Great, he worked and lived in Russia for the next forty-three years. He was married twice and had one daughter. After his second expedition, when he travelled to Crimea, he decided to move there in 1793 and remained there until 1810. At that time, he returned to Berlin in hopes of finishing his final publications. On September 8, 1811, Peter Simon Pallas died at the age of 69. Many of Pallas’ findings are the direct predecessors of the concepts that are used by modern scientists today.