History

The Institute of Physicochemical and Biological Problems of Soil Science of the Russian Academy of Sciences has a complicated history. The origins of the Institute go back to the second half of the 1960s. The Academy of Sciences has always needed fundamental soil science, since the object of research itself - soil - is a natural body necessary for human survival. Similar studies were carried out at the USSR Academy of Sciences by the V.V. Dokuchaev Soil Institute.

However, under the pressure of opportunistic and political circumstances and the voluntaristic decisions of N.S. Khrushchev, the Dokuchaev Soil Institute was transferred from the USSR Academy of Sciences to the All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences in 1963, which caused irreparable damage to the development of soil science as a fundamental science.

In 1967-68, in connection with the adoption of large national economic programs by the USSR Government, the country's leadership entrusted the USSR Academy of Sciences with solving fundamental problems associated with the rise of the country's agriculture. Among the most important problems were named agrochemistry and soil science. The return of the Dokuchaev Soil Institute to the USSR Academy of Sciences turned out to be impossible, and as a result, the Academy of Sciences was forced to revive soil science in its system. In 1967, the organization of the Institute was undertaken by Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences Viktor Abramovich Kovda, who demonstrated enormous energy, will, and persistence in resolving the issue of organizing the Institute of Agrochemistry and Soil Science in the USSR Academy of Sciences system. The issue was about restoring the status of soil science to the rank of academic science.

V.A. Kovda is an outstanding modern soil scientist and a world-class scientific and public figure, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Professor, Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences.
V.A. Kovda began his scientific career at the V.V. Dokuchaev Soil Institute. The more than 35-year period of V.A. Kovda's activity at the V.V. Dokuchaev Soil Institute (1931-1966) was unusually fruitful. At the same time, for many years he headed the Department of Soil Science at Moscow State University.
Viktor Abramovich held the post of Director of the Institute for nine years (1971-1980), in 1980 he transferred to the post of Head of the Laboratory of Soil Resources and Soil Genesis.
From 1988 until the end of his life, Viktor Abramovich was an adviser to the Directorate of the Institute.

On the initiative of V.A. Kovda, the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences adopted a resolution in April 1967 "On the development of research work in the field of agrochemistry and soil science".
In January 1968, in pursuance of the Resolution of the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences of April 26, 1967, by order of the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences, the Department of Soil Science, Agrochemistry and Complex Soil Reclamation was organized as part of the Institute of Biochemistry and Physiology of Microorganisms (IBFM) of the USSR Academy of Sciences. The management of the Department was entrusted to Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences V.A. Kovda. Thus, the basis for the future Institute of Agrochemistry and Soil Science of the USSR Academy of Sciences was created. At the time of the Institute's establishment (Resolution of the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences dated October 29, 1970), the Department already employed 65 people, including 2 Corresponding Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences (V.A. Kovda and A.V. Sokolov), 3 Doctors of Science, and 20 Candidates of Science. Professors O.V. Makeev, A.V. Peterburgsky, and E.V. Lobova were invited to work at the Institute, and they made a great contribution to the formation and implementation of the scientific program of the Institute of Agrochemistry and Soil Science.

Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences A.V. Sokolov is a leading scientist, an agricultural chemist, a student and follower of the founder of agricultural chemistry, Academician D.N. Pryanishnikov. A.V. Sokolov, together with V.A. Kovda, proposed a research program on agricultural chemistry problems for the newly created Institute of Agrochemistry and Soil Science. He organized and was the first head of the Department of Agrochemical Problems of the Institute.
The most outstanding works of A.V. Sokolov are devoted to the agricultural chemistry of phosphorus. His fundamental concept of the behavior of phosphates in soils remains relevant to this day. A.V. Sokolov closely collaborated with technologists and chemists of the Research Institute for Fertilizers and Insectofungicides of the USSR Ministry of Health Industry (NIIUIF) on the production of new forms of phosphorus fertilizers.
At the V.V. Dokuchaev Soil Institute, A.V. Sokolov headed the Department of Agrochemistry.
For several years, A.V. Sokolov was the Chairman of the Scientific Council on Problems of Agrochemistry and Fertilizers of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
Under the editorship of A.V. Sokolov, the multi-volume series "Agrochemical Characteristics of Soils of the USSR" was published, which is a unique reference publication on the agrochemical properties of soils and the effectiveness of fertilizers for all agricultural regions of the republics of the former USSR.

O. V. Makeev, together with V. A. Kovda, actively participated in the process of reviving soil science as a fundamental academic science.
O. V. Makeev formulated the concept of a new scientific discipline – cryopedology and gathered around himself an interdepartmental and interdisciplinary team of researchers capable of ensuring a high level of scientific research in this area of ​​natural science that is important for our country.
O. V. Makeev passed the baton of cryopedology to young scientists who, with his support and participation, organized a soil cryology laboratory in 1989, which is still successfully operating and is one of the most promising laboratories of the Institute.

E.V. Lobova belongs to the brilliant galaxy of the second generation of students of the founder of soil science – V.V. Dokuchaev.
For almost forty years she worked at the V.V. Dokuchaev Soil Institute and more than 15 years at the Institute of Agrochemistry and Soil Science. Since 1971, E.V. Lobova headed the laboratory of soil cartography and geography. Her active joint work with V.A. Kovda on the accounting of soil resources and problems of soil reclamation was reflected in thematic collections "Arid soils, their genesis, geochemistry and use" (1977), "Features of sandy soils and their use" (1979), "Nature, soils and problems of development of the Ustyurt desert" (1984). By the same period of scientific activity of E.V. Lobova is credited with the publication in 1975 of the Soil Map of the World (1:10000000). This is a major achievement in Russian and world geography and soil cartography.

A. V. Peterburgsky is one of the most talented and consistent students of D. N. Pryanishnikov. Since 1971, A. V. Peterburgsky has been the head of the laboratory of the balance of nutrients in agriculture. He has made an invaluable contribution to the study of the cycle and balance of nutrients. His monographs "The Cycle and Balance of Nutrients in Agriculture" (1979) and "Agrochemistry and Success in Modern Agriculture" (1989) have become a classification in the rational use of fertilizers for agricultural crops.

The Institute considered the problems of soil science and agrochemistry from the biosphere standpoint. It was at the Institute of Agrochemistry and Soil Science that research on environmental protection from pesticide and fertilizer residues began. These studies were based on a positive biogeochemical approach to studying the cycles of the main biophilic elements, metals and xenobiotics. These works were carried out in our country. The Institute is related to the publication of works on the cycle and balance of nutrients. Much attention was paid to the study of the most deficient nutrients - nitrogen and phosphorus. These studies concerned the negative consequences of intensive use of chemicals for the environment.
It is impossible not to mention the studies of permafrost soils, the result of which are unique materials on biogeochemical and permafrost soils, on permafrost soil formation, the carbon cycle and paleo-microbiological composition.
Problems of penetration and mathematics, mathematical models of soil process development. This was a formulated complex mathematical model that can be used for soil and ground, arid and semi-arid studies. The proposed mathematical models of the physicochemical phases of the soil, based on the use of thermodynamic equations and equilibrium constants of the main needs in the soil. A mathematical model of the physicochemical equilibrium in the soil has been developed, allowing for the calculation of changes in the mineralization of groundwater and the composition of soil solutions during melioration. Indicators of the need to take into account the heterogeneity of the pore space when analyzing the processes of the aquatic environment and salts in the soil. Using the methods of dimensional theory, experimental dependencies are generalized,
In 1982, the Institute of Agrochemistry and Soil Science was merged with the Institute of Photosynthesis into the Institute of Soil Science and Photosynthesis of the USSR Academy of Sciences (IPSP USSR Academy of Sciences).
The director of the combined Institute from 1982 to 1988 was Professor Mikhail Sergeevich Kuznetsov.

M.S. Kuznetsov is a well-known scientist - soil scientist, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Academician of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, Honored Worker of Higher Education of the Russian Federation, Honored Professor of Moscow University.
M.S. Kuznetsov is a leading specialist in the field of soil protection from erosion.
His works are devoted to the development of the theory of anti-erosion resistance of soils, models of erosion processes, research based on the forecasting and prevention of soil erosion, in particular, the development of soil-protective farming systems and methods for their design. They use models of soil erosion during rain, snowfall, furrow irrigation and rainfall, soil-protective irrigation technologies for gray and black soils, recommendations for preventing secondary soil exposure to radionuclides, a method for determining permissible losses in soil during erosion and regulatory requirements for soils (reflections) flow rate.

A new direction of the Institute's work was formulated - management of soil fertility and plant productivity based on regulation of energy efficiency and mass exchange in the soil-plant-atmosphere system. The goal of the research is to improve, rationally use and protect soils, provided that high sustainable productivity is achieved by disclosing methods for studying agrocenoses and their modeling.
In 1988, the Institute of Soil Science and Photosynthesis of the USSR Academy of Sciences was headed by Professor Valentin Ilyich Kefeli, a plant physiologist by profession.

V.I. Kefeli graduated from the Faculty of Soil Science and Agrochemistry of the Moscow Agricultural Academy named after K.A. Timiryazev

In 1974, at the Institute of Physiology of the USSR Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Natural and Synthetic Research of Plant Growth at the same Institute.

V.I. Kefeli is a specialist in the field of plant physiology. His works are devoted to the mechanism of plant growth, as well as the study of natural and synthetic regulators of plant growth.

The Institute began scientific development of theoretical problems of "plant - soil", for the solution of which soil covers in the biosphere should be created and function, where the soil is the main component of the biosphere and the object of human economic activity. In May 1996, Academician Vladimir Anatolyevich Shuvalov was elected Director of the Institute of Soil Science and Photosynthesis of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

V.A. Shuvalov is an academician and a leading Russian scientist in the field of photosynthesis. They formulated the fundamental principles and universality underlying the process of solar energy conversion in photosynthetic organisms, studied by the interaction of photoactive chlorophyll pigments of the photosynthetic apparatus and the constructed model of their spatial arrangement. He developed a method of ultrafast (femtosecond) spectroscopy (with a time resolution of 2 * 10–14 sec) and genetic engineering methods of targeted mutagenesis using the primary stages of photosynthesis and the obtained priority data obtained in the world literature on the detailed mechanism of the initial stage transformations. and spare light energy in this process. Currently, V.A. Shuvalov heads the Institute of Fundamental Problems of Biology of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

In 1998, the Institute of Soil Science and Photosynthesis of the Russian Academy of Sciences was renamed the Institute of Fundamental Problems of Biology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and later the soil science department of this institute was selected as an independent institute - the Institute of Physicochemical and Biological Problems of Soil Science of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IPCBS RAS). From 1999 to June 2015, the director of the Institute was Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Professor, Doctor of Biological Sciences Valery Nikolaevich Kudeyarov, who currently works as the scientific director of the Institute.

V.N. Kudeyarov is a well-known scientist in the field of studying the nitrogen and carbon cycles, who made a great contribution to the study of mineralization-immobilization processes in the soil, in the study of methods of nitrogen regime of soils, effective optimal methods of applying fertilizers and carbon balance.
V.N. Kudeyarov was the first to establish over time the dynamic fixed ammonium in various buds, its availability to plants and microorganisms. V.N. Kudeyarov made a significant contribution to the study of the mineralization-immobilization cycle of nitrogen in the soil, the study of the carbon cycle. It was established that carbon dioxide emissions in the country constitute soil respiration, exceeding industrial emissions of CO2 by almost 8 times. For the first time, the estimated balance of biogenic CO2 throughout Russia.
For outstanding contribution to the development of problems of agrochemistry, Kudeyarov V.N. was awarded the Prize of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 2005. D.N.Pryanishnikova.

From June 2015 to the present, the Institute has been headed by Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Biological Sciences Andrey Olegovich Alekseev.

A.O. Alekseev is a specialist in mineralogy and geophysical methods of soil research. His main scientific tasks are related to the study of biogeochemical processes of transformation of mineral and organic substances in open ecosystems, including soils of various geological and historical epochs. He has developed an original comprehensive approach to the study of paleosols using methods and approaches of soil science, mineralogy, environmental magnetism, geochemistry, and microbiology. This allows obtaining fundamentally new information about soil evolution, climate dynamics, and paleoecological conditions in general. In recent years, he has been actively studying pre-Quaternary fossil soils, primarily Carboniferous and Devonian paleosols.