A. M. Kuzmin (on the occasion of his 80th birthday)
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This anniversary note profiles the career of Aleksei Mikhailovich Kuzmin, senior professor of the Geological Prospecting Faculty at Tomsk Polytechnic Institute, on the occasion of his eightieth birthday in 1971. It summarizes his education, early academic appointments, teaching, and geological investigations in Siberia, including work in the Sayano-Altai region, Gornaya Shoria, and the Darasun gold-ore district. The article emphasizes Kuzmin’s contributions to tectono-stratigraphic study, mineral prospecting, crystal research, scientific training, and public service, noting his publications, supervision of candidates and postgraduate students, and recognition by colleagues and students.
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ANNIVERSARIES AND DATES
A. M. KUZMIN
(ON THE OCCASION OF HIS 80th BIRTHDAY)
In March 1971, the senior professor of the Geological Prospecting Faculty of the Tomsk Polytechnic Institute, Aleksei Mikhailovich Kuzmin, turned 80 years old.
A. M. Kuzmin was born on March 14 (27), 1891, in the town of Simskii Zavod, Ufa Province (now Chelyabinsk Oblast). In 1912 he completed the Ufa Gymnasium and entered the natural-history division of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Kazan University; upon graduating from it in 1918 he was awarded the title of Candidate of Natural Sciences. To obtain this title, A. M. Kuzmin submitted the scientific work “The Upper Iset Granites.”
As one of the best graduates, A. M. Kuzmin was retained at the university as a professor’s stipend-holder (postgraduate student), and in the autumn of 1918 he was transferred to the same position at the Tomsk Technological (now Polytechnic) Institute, to the Department of General Geology and Mineral Resources, which was headed by Professor P. P. Gudkov.
From the first days of his stay in Tomsk, A. M. Kuzmin began teaching—he taught mineralogy at the Higher Women’s Courses. At the same time he worked as a research associate in the Siberian Branch of the Geological Committee, conducting investigations in the Sayano-Altai region. For this region he was the first to develop a tectono-stratigraphic scheme. In particular, he established here the Precambrian, Cambrian, Ordovician, and Silurian.
In 1929 A. M. Kuzmin transferred to the Department of Mineralogy, where he first worked as an instructor and, from 1936, as head of the department. At the same time he continued to study the geology of the mountainous regions of Western Siberia, where, with his participation, deposits of refractories, fluxes, and other useful minerals necessary for the operation of Kuznetskstroy (the Kuznetsk Metallurgical Combine) were identified. In 1929–32, on his initiative, major prospecting work was carried out within Gornaya Shoria. As a result, large deposits of iron ores were discovered, the exploitation of which continues to the present time.
For several years (1936–39) A. M. Kuzmin devoted himself to studying the geology of the Darasun gold-ore district.
In recent years A. M. Kuzmin has been engaged in the study of crystals and has headed the laboratory for growing crystals and the laboratori-
of the geochemistry of gold on a voluntary basis. Under A. M. Kuzmin, 35 Candidates of Sciences have been trained; in addition, he serves as a consultant in the preparation of doctoral dissertations. At present, 5 postgraduate students are working under his supervision; he has published 90 scientific works.
A. M. Kuzmin has been a member of the CPSU since 1959 and is an active public figure. He was elected three times as a deputy of the Tomsk City Soviet. On the day of his jubilee, the students, comrades, and friends of Aleksei Mikhailovich send him heartfelt congratulations and wishes for many years of life, good health, and new creative successes.
A group of staff members of the Geological Prospecting Faculty.