Radiophysical community in Tomsk in the 1910-1960s: institutionalization of the direction and the leaders’ role in the development

The article reconstructs the history of the formation and development of radiophysics on the basis of archival materials, periodicals, memoirs and scientific works of contemporaries. The authors focus on the local radiocommunity that played an important role in the institutionalization of one of the scientific breakthrough direction of the 20^th century in Tomsk. It is noted that the works of the representatives of the school of the science history and higher education in Siberia under the leadership of S.F. Fominikh were significant. The reviews in the jubilee publications were of great importance for the research. The dictionaries made by professors of Tomsk State and Polytechnic Universities played prominent role. It is emphasized that the period of formation of Tomsk radiophysics fell on the 1920s. The first steps of Tomsk radiophysics were extremely practice-oriented with the evident bias to radio engineering. A new scientific direction was appearing under interfacing the research interest of scientists and the enthusiasm of radio amateurs. As one of the priority directions, Tomsk radiophysics was formed after the foundation of the Siberian Physics and Technology Institute (SPhTI). The applied character of searching and scientific works at SPhTI evaluated the leading role of its personnel within the period of 1941-1945 when the institute became the so-called “staff’ of Tomsk scientists’ committee assisting industry, transport and agriculture during the war. It is indicated that the practical needs of national economy particularly of military and industrial complex made it necessary to open electrophysical faculty at Tomsk Polytechnic Institute in 1946. However, Tomsk Polytechnic Institute became the center of training of radio technicians only in 1950 with the opening of the radio engineering faculty. The personnel and students of TPI managed to achieve the cooperation between their scientific and technology radioengineering research and the Academy of Sciences of USSR as well as the Ministry of Defense, thereby strengthening the scientific authority at the all-Union level. It is concluded that by the end of 1950s the community of Tomsk radio technicians was institutionally formed. Progressive development of radiophysics in Tomsk allows to assume that Tomsk by the end of 1950s had become the “regional” leading city within the center and periphery cooperation between scientific-educational complexes. The applied orientation of the radiophysical community was its peculiarity. The motive forces of physics institutionalization were undoubtedly the leaders of the radiophysical community, who managed to develop scientific subject area, actual for their time and to form some scientific traditions.

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