General Knipovich graduated from the
Saint Petersburg Imperial University in 1886 and went on to defend his master's thesis "Materials for the study of
Ascothoracida" in 1892. He was then elected assistant professor of the
University in 1893. From 1894 until 1921 he worked at the Zoological Museum of the
St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. He then became the Professor of biology and zoology in the First Women's Medical Institute (present-day
Saint Petersburg State Medical University) in 1911, continuing to fill the position until 1930 . He became an Honorary Member of the
Academy of Sciences of the USSR in 1935.
Expeditions Knipovich organised and led the Scientific Murman Expedition from a location on the
Barents Sea Murman Coast between 1898 and 1901, which marked the beginning of systematic study of the region's biological resources. A special modern marine research vessel, the steamship
Saint Andrew, was built for the expedition and in May 1900 Knipovich led an expedition to undertake hydrographic and biological observations along Kola shores from the
Murman Coast to 73°00'N. He then, in Autumn 1901, drew a chart of currents based on the data gathered on water temperature and salinity and identified several warm streams. In 1902 he was the first to draw a conclusion on a relationship between distribution and
migration of commercial fish in the
Barents Sea and warm currents. From the
Saint Andrew and another vessel,
Pomor, hydrographic observations were carried out at over 1,500 stations and biological studies at about 2,000. His other expeditions included some to the
Caspian Sea (1886, 1904, 1912–1913, 1914–1915, 1931–32), the
Baltic Sea (1902) and the
Black Sea (1922–1927). His request to carry out a scientific and fisheries related expedition to the Azov Sea and secure the ship "Besstrashny" was approved by
Lenin personally.
International work and activities Knipovich was extensively involved in international collaboration. In 1901 he attended the Second Conference of the
International Council for the Exploration of the Sea in
Christiania (Oslo, Norway) and was voted one of the vice-presidents of the Council. Between 1926 and 1927 he was a major proponent of German-Soviet cooperation in the studies of the
Barents Sea and was heavily involved in the Polar Commission of the
USSR Academy of Sciences.
Legacy Knipovich authored numerous monographs on hydrology and fisheries in the
Arctic Ocean,
Barents Sea,
Caspian Sea,
Azov Sea, and
Black Sea, as well as a number of studies on the
taxonomy and
ecology of
marine invertebrates (
molluscs and
parasitic barnacles) and on the geological history of the northern seas. ==Honours==