V.V. Dokuchaev Central Museum of Soil was founded in 1902 at Saint Petersburg by Vasilli Vasil'evich Dokuchaev (1846–1903). Commonly regarded as the father of Soil science, Dokuchaev started his extensive collection of soil samples in 1880. The first museum of soil sciences in the world, V.V. Dokuchaev Central Pedological Museum, opened in 1904, a year after his death.