Viktor SHOLPO, Dr. Sc. (Geol. & Mineral.), Joint Institute of Physics of the Earth, Russian Academy of Sciences The close of this century and of this millennium makes us stop and ponder, cast up a balance. An emotional occasion, yes. We in this country are living through a crucial stage of our history, its turning point. Gone is the Soviet Union. But Russia has endured in the travails of the recent past, she is born anew. Looking back, we wish we could draw lessons from our tragic past and recover whatever good it had. We must remember-remember our illustrious scientists and scholars who have left a rich intellectual legacy to us-and not only in science for that matter. We can benefit from their spiritual and ethical heritage as well, consonant as it is with the intellectual and spiritual quests within our scientific community and far beyond... A few books of reminiscences-just off the press- come pat. Here are some of these new publications by and about outstanding Russian scholars and scientists: a collection of reminiscences- Vladimir Vladimirovich Beloussov (Joint Institute of Physics of the Earth, Universitdt Book House, 1999); a book of reminiscences on the birth centennial of D.S. Korzhinsky- Classic of 20th Century Petrology (Nauchny Mir Publishers, 1999); Academician Yu. Pushcharovsky's book of reminiscences- Among Geologists (GEOS Publishers, 1999)... A year before, in 1998, another collection of this kind saw print- Georgi Alexandrovich Gamburtsev: Reminiscences, Essays, Articles (Joint Institute of Physics of the Earth, 1998); and in 1997, Academician Ye. Khanin published his memoirs (From a Geologist's Reminiscences, GEOS Publishers, 1997). These and other books shed light on trends and events in the 20th century earth sciences; they portray the vivid images of men and women wedded to geology and related disciplines. Leafing through all these memoirs and reminiscences, you plunge into the fitful atmosphere of that time, with all its ups and pag ... Читать далее