Much attention was paid to the development of fundamental science in the Soviet Union. Talented people with powerful intellect were attracted to this field of activity. Vladimir Zuev headed the world's only research institute of Atmospheric Optics.
Starting conditions
For a long period of time Siberia was considered and used as a place of exile for criminals to hard labor. And only in Soviet times, scientific centers and industrial enterprises began to be intensively created on this territory. Tomsk, an old Russian city, has long been considered a forge of qualified personnel. The local university trained specialists who, having received their education, dispersed throughout the territory from the Urals to the Pacific Ocean.
Vladimir Evseevich Zuev was born on January 29, 1925 in an ordinary Soviet family. Parents at that time lived in the taiga village of Malye Goly in the north-east of the Irkutsk region. My father worked in a procurement office. The mother was engaged in housekeeping. The main activity of the local population was fishing. Mushrooms and berries were collected in the taiga. They fished for furs and meat. In every house there was a hunting weapon, and the children knew how to handle it.
The child was prepared from an early age for an independent life in harsh climatic conditions. The future academician knew how to do all the housework. Chop wood. Draw water from the well. Fix the fence. Sew boots. Harness the horse, and go to a remote area for hay. He knew the habits of game animals and birds. He knew how to get both hazel grouse, and wood grouse, and hare, and red deer. Vladimir studied well at school. His favorite subjects were mathematics and physics.
In 1942, Zuev graduated from high school and went to work as a miner at a gold mine. Six months later, he was drafted into the army and sent to the war zone. Vladimir served in the artillery unit. After brief training, he was appointed chief computer officer at the division headquarters. In the summer of 1945, the artillery regiment took part in an offensive operation in the Manchurian direction. For accurate calculations and the issuance of instructions to the target, the soldier Zuev received a commendation from the command. After demobilization in 1946, Vladimir Evseevich left for Tomsk.
Scientific activity
Zuev passed the entrance exams the first time, and he was enrolled in the physics department of the famous Tomsk University. An active and purposeful student from the first year began to engage in research work. It so happened that Vladimir had to work as a laboratory assistant at the Department of Optics and Spectrographic Analysis. The observant student quickly grasped the essence of the experiments being carried out and made some interesting suggestions. Already in his third year, Zuev published an article on the methods of spectral analysis of minerals in a scientific journal.
In 1951, Vladimir Zuev defended his thesis and entered graduate school. According to the regulations in force in those years, three years later, after successfully defending his thesis, he received the title of candidate of physical and mathematical sciences. Over the next fifteen years, he was engaged in scientific activities within the walls of the Siberian Institute of Physics and Technology. During that period, the confrontation between the USSR and the United States sharply escalated. Competition fully extended to the field of scientific research.
To uncover the secrets of nature and to penetrate into the essence of processes, a scientist needs a variety of tools. One of these tools is the laser. This optoelectronic device was created by Soviet scientists. However, like any measuring device, it must have certain technical characteristics. In 1969, Vladimir Evseevich Zuev was instructed to form the Department of Optoelectronic Devices at Tomsk University. The department began to train specialized specialists. At the same time, the foundations were laid for the Institute of Atmospheric Optics under the auspices of the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
Essays on personal life
Scientific creativity requires not only intellectual resources, but also intuition. The Institute of Atmospheric Optics has concentrated a powerful organizational and technical potential within its walls. The specialists who were invited to the institute were given complete freedom in generating ideas and setting up experiments. Director Zuev managed to identify promising areas of research, attract engineers and theorists, and systematically monitor the state of affairs of foreign competitors. As a result of an integrated approach, the goals set by the party and the government were achieved.
In 1975, the director of the Institute of Atmospheric Optics, Vladimir Evseevich Zuev, was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor. At the end of 1981 he was accepted as a full member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Of course, behind this man was a large team of like-minded people, enthusiastic people who first of all thought about the Motherland, and then about themselves. Through the efforts of Zuev, the International Research Center for Environmental Physics and Ecology was formed in Tomsk. Foreign colleagues were sincerely surprised at such a turn of scientific research “in the depths of Siberian ores”.
Everything is known about the personal life of the Academician and the organizer of Siberian Science. Vladimir Evseevich didn’t make a secret of this topic, but he also didn’t like to put “underwear” on public display. Zuev got married as a student. The husband and wife studied at the same university, but at different faculties. They have lived a long and meaningful life. Everyone contributed to the development of their hometown. The couple raised and raised three children. Two daughters and a son.
