HISTORY OF ACADEMIC SCIENCE FORMATION IN KAZAKHSTAN AND SCIENTIFIC-ORGANIZATIONAL ACTIVITIES OF S. ASFENDIAROV

Abstract

In the article, based on a wide range of archival sources, the process of academic science formation in Kazakhstan was studied, and the role of S. Asfendiarov in the creation of the first research centers and institutions in the Kazakh Autonomous Soviet Socialist
Republic was considered. Until now, both of these problems, for various reasons, have remained outside the purview of scientists and historians. In national historiography there are no special scientific works devoted to the history of the creation and activity of the first major center of scientific thought of the republic – the Kazakhstan base of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Its opening in July 1932 was preceded by a long and complex organizational work. An important step towards the creation of the academic science in Kazakhstan was the opening of the first higher educational institutions of the country – KazGU, AZVI, KazMI and research institutes at specialized departments, attracting famous scientists from Russia and Ukraine to their work. On the basis of these universities and with involvement of local scientific personnel forces, active assistance of the government of the Kazakh Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and assistance of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, the Kazakhstan base was created, which was entrusted with a comprehensive study of the productive forces, natural resources, history and culture of Kazakhstan. One of the leaders of the work on the creation of the first universities and the Kazakhstan base was Professor S. Asfendiarov. With his active participation, more than a dozen research and educational institutions were opened in Kazakhstan, sectors of history, Kazakh language and literature, geophysics, soil science, botany, zoology, energy, etc. were created at the base structure, post-graduate school was organized, an scientific library was opened. After the reorganization of the Kazakhstan base into the Kazakh branch of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR in 1938, the first specialized research institutes were established based on these sectors, most of which are successfully operating at the present time.