2 Roubles P.P. Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky

Pyotr Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky earned his hyphenated surname by imperial decree in 1906 — a rare honorific granted by Tsar Nicholas II in recognition of his 1856–57 expedition through the Tian Shan range, which no European scientist had previously penetrated. He was 88 years old when the honor was bestowed. The expedition also yielded the first confirmation that the Tian Shan glaciers, not a volcano as Humboldt had theorized, were the range's defining geological feature.

This issue belongs to the Bank of Russia's long-running commemorative series honoring figures in Russian science and geography, struck in relatively small quantities for collector distribution rather than circulation.