INRTU celebrated the 75th anniversary of Irkutsk Geophysical School

INRTU celebrated the 75th anniversary of the Irkutsk Geophysical School. The celebration united students, graduates, employees of the polytechnic and partner companies. The program of the festive event included reports on the history and achievements of geophysical engineers, excursions, exhibitions of books and equipment.Rector of INRTU Mikhail Korniakov addressed congratulations to the staff of the Siberian School of Geosciences (SSG), which continues and multiplies the traditions of Irkutsk geophysicists. As a gift, SSG was assigned one of the Technopark classrooms with a mass spectrometer for the development of scientific directions.

“Teachers, students and graduates of the Irkutsk Geophysical School have been exploring subsurface resources for the development of the domestic industry all these years. The Siberian School of Geosciences has taken on the responsible task of rapidly changing the industry of ore exploration, approaches to personnel training, creating unique technologies. Our colleagues boldly declared themselves during the selection period for participation in the Priority 2030 Program with the strategic project i.GeoDesign. We are glad that INRTU geophysicists have a well-deserved authority in the professional community,” said Mikhail Korniakov.

According to SSG Scientific Director Alexander Parshin, geophysicists have always been distinguished by their ability to work closely with industry, steadily recruit students and graduate professionals. The Engineering Corps, established in 1949, formed the foundation for the current Siberian School of Geosciences.

“Technological solutions significant for the industry - from unmanned geophysics to accelerated inversion - were developed in Irkutsk. People from other regions of the country come to the Siberian School of Geosciences, and young researchers from abroad choose the postgraduate program. Such interest is explained by the fact that our team uses modern, including author's, equipment to discover deposits. The Siberian School of Geosciences systematically completes a cycle of developments that solve the issue of technological leadership in the exploration of Russia's subsoil to enter the international market,” emphasized Alexander Parshin, speaking about the present and future of SSG.

Professor Alexander Dmitriev made a report on the 75-year history of training mining engineers-geophysicists at the polytechnic. The guests read excerpts from documents, including orders of the Ministry of Higher Education of the USSR, studied archive photos reflecting the scientific and industrial life of Irkutsk geophysicists, moments of students. Alexander Georgievich called 2010-2024 the years of reforms and transformations. In the first seven years the Department of Geological Exploration Technologies was functioning. From 2011 to 2023, specialists were trained at the Institute of Subsoil Use, in 2017-2022 there was the Department of Applied Geology, Geophysics and Geoinformation Systems.

The report “Some achievements of the Irkutsk electrospecting school” was presented by Igor Seminskiy, senior researcher of ISTP SB RAS. Evgeny Goncharov told about the influence of the teachers of the department on his formation as a specialist. The video for the event was prepared by SIGMA-GEO, a partner company of INRTU under the direction of Yuri Agafonov. He presented the Siberian School of Geosciences with a certificate for 500 thousand rubles to replenish the endowment fund.

Andrei Vakhromeev, Professor of the Oil and Gas Department of INRTU, spoke about the merits of his family, including his father Geliy Sergeevich, an outstanding representative of the Irkutsk geophysical school. The annual All-Russian scientific-practical seminar “Modern methods of prospecting, exploration and protection of subsurface resources” is named after the talented specialist.

The program was completed by excursions to the A.V. Sidorov Mineralogical Museum, exhibitions of geophysical equipment in the lobby and books in the Scientific and Technical Library of INRTU.

The anniversary was supported by the ethnic percussion studio “Ethnobit” under the direction of Natalia Vlasevskaya.