Today is the 85th birthday anniversary of one of the greatest Soviet geologists, the discoverer of oil in Siberia, Farman Salmanov. The Surgut History Museum held an open day at the memorial complex of geologists-explorers named after him.
"Celebrations dedicated to the anniversary is a significant event for the entire region. Farman Salmanov worked in the Tyumen region for forty years. He is known not only for his geological works and discoveries, but as a man who took care of the development of the Tyumen region," the deputy governor of the Tyumen region, Yevgeny Zabolotny, said.
The acting Consul General of Azerbaijan to Russia, Ilgar Iskenderov, in turn, noted that his republic cherishes the memory of Farman Salmanov. "Farman Salmanov is a legend. He is not just a representative of our people. He is a founder of traditions of friendship, peace and harmony among all Soviet people. It is a very pleasant thing that today Tyumen is holding such celebrations dedicated to his birthday," Vsluh.ru cited Iskenderov as saying.
Farman Salmanov was born on July 28, 1931 in the village of Morul in the Shamkir region of Azerbaijan. He received his degree in engineer-geology at the Geological Faculty of the Azerbaijani Industrial Institute as an engineer-geologist in 1954 and was sent to explore oil in Kuzbass. He worked as the head of the Plotnikovskaya and Gryaznenskaya expeditions in the Kemerovo and Novosibirsk Regions in 1955-1957. As he mentioned in one of his interviews, when he realized that it is pointless to look for oil in Kuzbass, he and his colleagues secretly left and started exploration works near Surgut. Oil was discovered in Megion on March 21, 1961. Later, the Ust-Balyk, Salymskoe, Pravdinskoye, Mamontovskoye oil fields were discovered. Salmanov was appointed the head of Glavtyumengeologia in 1978 and the first Deputy Minister of geology of the USSR from 1987 to 1991.
In 1966 Farman Salmanov was awarded the title of the Hero of Socialist Labor, in 1991 he became a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Salmanov was awarded the Order of Lenin, the Labour Red Banner Order, the October Revolution Order, he was also a laureate of the Lenin Prize.
'The risk strategy' three-part film, based on the life of the famous geologist was released in 1978.
Salmanov died on March 31, 2007. He was buried at the Vagankovskoye Cemetery in Moscow.
