Siberian Physical-Technical Institute and its contribution to scientific potential of Siberia in 1920s-1941

The article is devoted to the first scientific researchinstitute in the east of the country in the field of exact and engineering sciences. The author reveals principal causes of establishingthe institute, the purpose and the activity problem, the personnel structure. The author defines the contribution of scientific achievementsof SPhTI to the scientific potential of Siberia. The institute was established due to historical preconditions. The necessity of radicalmodernization of industry and the country's entry to new technological boundaries in the 1920s demanded expansion of the peripheralnetwork of scientific institutions working in the area of physics. Vladimir Dmitrievich Kuznetsov (1887-1963) played a huge rolein the formation and organization of the Siberian Physical-Technical Institute. The idea of establishing a physical-technical institute inTomsk matured in 1925, coinciding in time with plans developed by academician A.F. Ioffe. V.D. Kuznetsov's personal acquaintancewith the leading scientists-physicists of the country became an important factor, which accelerated the process of advancement of thequestion on institute creation in Tomsk. He began correspondence with Leningrad scientists: A.F. Ioffe's academicians, P.P. Lazarev,professor N.N. Semenov, corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Science Ya.I. Frenkel, future academician of the USSR ACand winner of the Stalin award N.N. Davidenkov, professors, future employees of SРhTI, P.S. Tartakovsky and M.I. Usanovich andothers. The author reveals the basic scientific directions of the Siberian Physical-Technical Institute: solid-state physics, physics of electromagneticoscillation and spectroscopy. On the basis of these directions, schools of thought were generated; researches, which broughta considerable contribution to the scientific potential, were conducted. The institute's activity had a close connection between scienceand manufacture, which essentially accelerated practical application of the scientific results. SPhTI dynamically communicated witheconomic and public organizations, rendering daily help to a number of establishments and enterprises of Tomsk (Tomsk ElectromechanicalFactory, Clinics of Tomsk Medical Institute, military organizations, etc.). The significant scientific results reached in SРhTIallowed it to become an authoritative scientific institution at that time. The institute has gradually turned into the centre of science ofdevelopment of physics and physical researches, the centre of preparation of highly skilled personnel and popularisation of physicalknowledge.

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