Helena Roerich

Helena Ivanovna Roerich (Russian: Елена Ивановна Рерих; née Shaposhnikova (Шапошникова); 12 February [O.S. 31 January] 1879 – 5 October 1955) was a Russian theosophist, writer, and public figure. In the early 20th century, she created, in cooperation with the Teachers of the East, a philosophic teaching of Living Ethics ("Agni Yoga"). She was an organizer and participant of cultural activity in the U.S., conducted under the guidance of her husband, Nicholas Roerich. Along with her husband, she took part in expeditions of hard-to-reach and little-investigated regions of Central Asia. She was an Honorary President-Founder of the Institute of Himalayan Studies "Urusvati" in India and co-author of the idea of the International Treaty for Protection of Artistic and Scientific Institutions and Historical Monuments (Roerich Pact). She translated two volumes of the Secret Doctrine of H. P. Blavatsky, and selected Mahatma's Letters (Cup of the East), from English to Russian.