Importance and role of Siberian Physical Technical Institute of Tomsk State University as centre of physical research in 1960s

The article analyzes the development of the Siberian Physical Technical Institute named after academician V.D. Kuznetsov of Tomsk State University in the 1960s. SPTI was included in the process of rapid development of science and technology. During this period in the institute large-scale research in the most promising and relevant areas of science and technology began. Special attention was paid to the development of fundamental and applied research in the field of semiconductor physics and optics and the atmosphere. The paper identifies and analyzes the key factors of successful development of scientific research in SPTI. The Institute has strong and broad scientific, educational and industrial relations with the leading academic and research institutions in the country, making it possible to perform SPTI advanced scientific research, and the results have important theoretical and practical significance, and were in high demand in the industrial and academic institutions throughout the country. The personal factor in the development of research by example of the founders and leaders of scientific schools in the field of semiconductor physics and optics and atmosphere, V.A. Presnov, N.A. Prilezhaeva, V.E. Zuev, and others is disclosed. In the Institute there were created large skilled research teams that carried out studies of fundamental and practical significance. So, in 1963, N.I. Muravyov and his graduate students A.N. Soldatov and V. Shcherbik launched the first laser operating on helium. In the laboratory of semiconductors under the direction of V.A. Presnov research on new semiconductor material - gallium arsenide - was conducted. Thus, even at that time SPTI was a recognized laser centre in the country and a research centre in the field of gallium arsenide. However, the fairly scant financing of SPTI by the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Special Education of the RSFSR raised the issue of further deployment of large-scale research. Due to persistent and skillful organizational efforts of V.E. Zuev and V.A. Presnov and support of the party and state institutions research and development Institute of Semiconductor Devices (1960) and the Institute of Atmospheric Optics of the Siberian Branch of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1968) were organized in Tomsk, which marked the beginning of academic science in Tomsk. On the other hand, the transfer of the key personnel from SPTI had a negative impact on the development of many scientific fields in the institute. The period of intense development of SPTI in the 1960s was followed by the stage of its weakening in late 1960s - early 1970s.

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