Kola Science Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences - is an integrated scientific Institution in the Euro-Arctic region that pursues fundamental researches over the features of the globe`s high- latitude area and forms the scientific basis to assess a resource potential, and works out a rational strategy in the Arctic development.

The Centre was originated from the Khibinskaya mountain station (1930) of the USSR Academy of Sciences. As the range of tasks became wider and an analytical and experimental potential was being developed, the Station was successively transformed into the Kola base of the USSR Academy of Sciences (AS) (1934), Kola Branch of the USSR AS (1949), Kola Science Centre (KSC) of the USSR AS (1988). In 1992, when the Russian Academy of Sciences was set up, the KSC was included into it as a regional science centre. At present, the KSC RAS comprises 10 research Institutes and a great complex of auxiliary subdivisions and experimental testing grounds throughout a vast area between Spitsbergen and Franz Josef Land, in the north, to Amderma, in the east, and Tedino and Plisetsk, in the south. Since 1961, the base academic facilities (named as an "Academic town") and the Presidium of the KSC RAS have been in Apatity, the Murmansk region. By 1991, the total number of the employees working in the KSC RAS was as high as 3600 people but, during the period of 1992-1998, the staff has become twice as less, and by the 70-th anniversary, it has been stabilized, amounting 1900 people. There are 654 research associates in the KSC`s staff now. Among them there are four academicians, 80 professors and Doctors of Sciences, more than 300 Candidates of Sciences.

For many centuries, the Murman area (the Kola peninsula and all the northern seas washing it) was an uninhabited outlying district of the Russian empire: 3-5 thousand people lived there. They were occupied with reindeer-breeding, hunting and fishering, with seasonal fishing-out amounting 160 th.tons. The mineral resources of the region were used periodically: in the XIII-th century, muscovite mica was mined to be used in windows like the to-day`s windows-glass, and in the south coast, from 1733 to 1742, about 100 poods (1 pood = 16.38 kg) of silver were mined out, from which the first Russian silver rubles were minted. The scientific research of the region`s natural resources was started only in the late XIX-th century. The first investigation results obtained by Yevgraph Fedorov, Dmitry Belyankin, Alexander Polkanov, the members of the Russian Academy of Sciences, have shown that the region possesses a significant ore potential.

At its full extent, this unique scale of mineral resources was evaluated only in the period from 1920 to 1930, and the primary role was played therewith by the Council on the Study of the productive forces of the USSR AS and the Northern research-trade expedition (NRTE) VSNKh. The research programme was outlined in spring of 1920 when two outstanding geologists came to the Murman region as members of the Government commission - academician A.P.Karpinsky, President of the RAS and Honourable Chairman of the NRTE, and academician A.Ye.Fersman, a member of the Scientific Council of the NRTE. In August, 1920, A.Ye.Fersman came back to the Khibiny area with the first academic expedition that was composed of geologists B.M.Korpletsky, E.M.Bonshtedt, Ye.Ye.Kostylyova, A.H.Labuntsov. In 1921, first blocks of apatite ore were found in the Vudjavr valley, and in 1923, "aðatite ðlacers" were found on the Rasvumchorr plateau. The Khibiny apatite properties were first described by N.N.Gutkova, and a possible use of nepheline in glass-making was substantiated by Professor P.A.Zemyatchinsky. In 1926, A.N.Labuntsov discovered the first great primary deposit, named as the Kukisvumchorr, and later some other deposits - the Yukspor, Rasvumchorr - were found. The years of those geological discoveries, made in the Khibiny, were named later by A.Ye.Fersman as the "Khibinskaya epopee". In 1927, a special commission, attached to the USSR AS, was established to study the productive forces of the Kola peninsula. According to the then geologistsÒ assessment, the hypothetical ore reserves were of a fantastic, for that time, level, exceeding 2 billion tons. In August, 1929, the first exploratory well was drilled and a trial batch of apatite nepheline ores was mined out, and, in November, 1929, a government decision on the establishment of the mining trust "Apatit", first in this region, was adopted, and that was the date of the beginning of building the town of Khibinogorsk, the town for miners (renamed later, in 1934, as the town of Kirovsk).

"Out of all emotional experience of the past, among various sceneries and economical activity patterns it was the “Hibiny” complex that produced the greatest impression on me. This scientific epic work for almost 20 years seized my train of thought and took possession of all my essence, tampered my will and gave me food for thought and hopes. It was persistence, perseverance and hard work on the Hibiny that made this wonderful land bear fruits and disclose its richness". A.Ye. Fersman

As this uninhabited subarctic region was being developed, the necessity was realized of setting up a stationary science Institution whose role would consist in making a comprehensive study of natural conditions and in making a search for ways of rational use of both ore potential and biological, soil, and power resources.On the initiative of A.Ye.Fersman, the Khibiny mountain station of the USSR AS was opened on July 19, 1930, being located near apatite mines that were constructed at that time. Officially, this Station became one of the scientific Institutions of the Academy of Sciences on October 2, 1930, by a decision of the General Meeting of the Academy of Sciences. This decision was approved by the Central Executive Committee of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on October 18, 1930. These are three memorable dates from which the Kola Science Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences starts its history.

Academician A.Ye.Fersman was the first head of the Station, named later as the Kola base of the USSR AS, managing for fifteen years running.A pleiad of Soviet geologists, geochemists and mineralogists was attracted by him to work in the Kola peninsula. As many as 30 academic teams were exploring the remoted areas of the peninsula annually. So, the period from 1927 to 1937 has become a decade of great discoveries: 1927 - the commercial zirconium (eudialyte) ore reserves of the Lovozerskiye tundry massif were-substantiated by Ye.Ye.Kostyleva;1928 - rare-metal alkaline granite and abrasive garnet deposits were discovered in the Keivy by O.A.Vorobyova, B.M.Kupletsky, and cyanite schists - by academician A.A.Grigoriev; 1929 - mica deposits are discovered in the Kandalaksha (Ionsky) area by B.M.Kupletsky; 1930 - A.Ye.Fersman discovers sulphide copper-nickel ores in the Moncha-tundra massif; A.A.Grigoriev discovers great diatomite deposits in the Lovozersky massif; N.N.Gutkova discovers primary lovchorrite deposits in the Khibiny massif; 1934 - O.A.Vorobyova discovers commercial loparite ore reserves in the Lovozersky massif; 1935 - B.M.Kupletsky discovers titanium-magnetite and perovskite ore deposits in the Afrikanda massif. This incomplete list of "applied" results of academic researches should be increased by some discoveries made by field geologists: 1932 - D.V.Shifrin and N.S.Zontov discovered iron ores in the Priimandrovsky area; 1933 - A.M.Koshits discovered a magnetite deposit in the Yono-Kovdorskoye area; 1935 - V.A.Afanasiev discovers an olivinite deposit in the Khabozersky massif; 1937 - L.A.Kosoi discovers a muscovite mica deposit in the Strelninsky area; 1936-1939 - P.V.Sokolov substantiates the presence of gigantic commercial reserves of cyanite ores in the Bolshye Keivy massif.A fundamental monograph "Useful minerals of the Kola Peninsula" (1941) by A.Ye.Fersman has reviewed the "decade of discoveries", showing the outlooks of the development of a high-capacity mining-and- metallurgical complex in the region.By the time the book had appeared, the apatite, cooper, nickel, mica, and dolomite deposits were in operation; the towns of Kirovsk and Monchegorsk had been built; the "Apatit" ore- dressing plant supplied most supperphosphate plants with a raw materials; the "Severonikel" integrated works produced over 90% nickel for the defense industry. These giant industrial plants could be considered, however, as the initial stage of the industrial development of a small share of the regionÒs resource potential that was outlined by the great seer.

		The research strategy of the Kola base of the USSR AS was being formed under the great influence of academician V.I.Vernadsky, a teacher and tutor of A.Ye.Fersman, who intensively developed, during those years, a teaching on the noosphere. The essence of the noosphere is a notion of the ecological imperative as an obligatory requirement for co-existence of technosphere and biosphere, of industrial centres and nature.
Following this conception, the Academy of Sciences has foreseen the setting up of the Department for Geocoenosis Researches in the structure of the Kola base, setting up, the first in the world, high latitudinal Polar-Alpine Botanical Garden near the town of Kirovsk. Under the leadership of Professor N.A.Avrorin, a system of reference testing grounds was formed for long-term monitoring on the change in the subarctic biocoenosis under the accelerated urbanization of the region. So started were the experiments on introduction of plants in the Arctic. The practical importance of botanical researches was clearly shown in the title of one of the first monographs written by the researchers of the Botanical Garden at the Great Patriotic warÒs eve - "What trees and shrubs are to be planted in towns and settlements of the Murmansk region and northern areas of the Karelian-Finland SSR" (Avrorin, 1941).

In the war years, most employees of the Kola base went to the front; some employees were evacuated to the Komi ASSR where they studied the industrial potential of the Republic in order to use it for the defence needs. Some employees of the Botanical Garden stayed in the near-front Kirovsk to preserve the collection funds of plants and render the assistance to military units and hospitals with herbs, vitamin and food plants. About 200 kinds of local and introduced plants, as vitamin and sugar raw materials, have been studied, simple methods of processing local berries have been developed to produce juices, syrups, jams, with no sugar added and maximum vitamin C preserved. B.A.Mishkin has worked out methods of different concentrates preparation. N.N.Diachkov and A.L.Kursanov (academicians, in the future) have implemented a glucose treacle and pure glucose method from tundra lichens using a special device made jointly with the "Apatit" Trust. Inspite of all the difficulties, all the collection plants had been preserved, and the studies were resumed during the after-war years. The work, which the Garden was employed on during the war years, was similar to a battle task. So, as it was successfully fulfilled, many, engaged in it, were rewarded. N.A.Avrorin, head of the Garden, was decorated with Order of the Red Star and some medals.

In 1945, after A.Ye.Fersman had died, the Kola base of the USSR AS was headed by academician D.S.Belyankin, an outstanding pertrographer. Under his guidance, geological, mineralogical, geochemical and chemical-and-technological studies, biological, soil-science and zoological studies were being continued (A.A.Chumakov, S.S.Kurbatov, Ya.G.Goroshchenko, B.N.Melentiev, S.A.Kasparova, I.P.Savvatimsky, N.P.Belov et al.). Later, studies in the field of hydraulic power engineering were started (P.A.Kuznetsov, S.V.Grigoriev). During that period, a great number of studies, suspended because of the war, on industrial exploitation of iron ore deposits in the Kovdor and Olenegorsk areas and on assessment of the resource potential of the north-western area of the Murmansk region, were completed.First soil-and-vegetation maps of the Murmansk region were compilated, enabling to allocate areas, in the vicinity of industrial areas, suitable for agriculture development.Taking into account the extension of problems to study and that most investigations were to be carried out by its own staff, the Kola base was transformed into the Kola Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences (KFAN) in 1949.

Academician A.Ye.Fersman	Academician D.S.Belyankin	Academician À.V.Sidorenko	Dr. E.K.Koslov	Corr. Member G.I.Gorbunov	Academician V.Ò.Kalinnikov

From 1952 to 1961, the KFAN was managed by A.V.Sidorenko, a corresponding-member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He was one of the brightest representatives of the Soviet geological school, being elected, after having worked in the Kola peninsula, an academician, vice-president of the USSR AS. Later, he managed the Ministry of Geology of the USSR. The discovery of the greatest in the world mica deposits in the Murmansk region is connected with his name, for which he was rewarded with the Lenin prize in 1965.Thanks to his great talent for organization and indomitable energy, an integrated system of scientific Institutions has been set up, allowing to carry out an integrated study of natural resources, make up effective technologies to use resources and, on this basis, develop the programmes for economic development of the region. These were - the Geological Institute (1951), Institute of Chemistry and Technology of Rare Elements and Mineral Raw Materials (1958), Mining-and-Metallurgical Institute (1961) that was later renamed as Mining Institute (1973), Department for Economic Investigations (1965).In 1953, the Murmansk Marine Biological station, situated in the settlement of Dalny Zelentsy, was included into the KFAN, and, in 1958, it got a status of a research Institute. In 1960, on the basis of the stations of the Institute of the Terrestrial Magnetism, Ionosphere, and Radiowave Propagation of the USSR AS (IZMIRAN), the Polar Geophysical Institute was formed and included into the KFAN. A great contribution was made into the formation of new scientific directions and development of scientific Institutions by G.I.Gorbunov, Ye.K.Kozlov, M.D.Fugzan, I.V.Bel`kov, O.S.Ignatiev, V.I.Belokoskov, I.A.Turchaninov, A.I.Arsentiev, N.A.Voronkov, S.I.Isaev, O.M.Raspopov, T.A.Kozupeyeva, G.N.Andreyev, V.I.Gerasimovsky, P.M.Kamshilov, I.B.Tokin, M.K.Mazurov, V.A.Fedoseyev, A.P.Panin and others.

		The previous working base in small wooden houses in the settlement of Kukisvumchorr (the Apatitovaya Gora from Saami) was too tight and did not meet the needs of a new "canstellation" of academic Institutes. So, according to the intention of A.B.Sidorenko, a set of modern laboratory buildings, named as Academic Town, was built not far from the railway station Apatity. The Seismological Station (1960) and Geological Institute(1961) were the first to give house-warmings in stone houses of the town of Novy (New) (named later as Apatity in 1966). After A.V.Sidorenko, the future development of Academic Town has become a concern of his comrades-in-arms, well-known explorers of ore deposits in the region - Ye.K.Kozlov, Dr.Sc. (Geology-Mineralogy), who was Chairman of the Presidium of the Kola Branch of the Academy of Sciences from 1961 to 1971, and G.I.Gorbunov, a corr.-member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, who headed the Presidium of the Kola Branch of the Academy of Sciences from 1971 to 1985.
E.K.Koslov , I.V.Bel`kov, G.I.Gorbunov, A.V. Sidorenko
The laboratory building of the Institute of Chemistry and Technology of Rare Elements and Mineral Raw Materials was put into operation in 1967; the building of the Polar Geophysical Institute was built in 1970; the Building for pilot tests and model plants used for the development of ore beneficiation technologies and ore concentrate processing by hydrometallurgical methods, was built in 1973, the Mining InstituteÒs laboratory building built in 1973.To ensure the activities of the Institutes and comfortable living conditions for the staff under the specific arctic conditions, some engineering and technical, information and social-consumer infrastructures were set up that included experimental production technical services, dwelling-public services, kindergartens, sanitation and medical-prophylactic establishments. Strengthening the scientific potential of the Murmansk region was highly assessed by the government: according to the decision of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of April 20, 1967, the Kola Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences named after S.M.Kirov was decorated with Order of Lenin. At the 50-th anniversary of the KFAN (1980), 30 research associates were rewarded with orders and medals of the USSR, and 57 research associates were rewarded with Diplomas of Honour and with medals of the Exhibition of Economic Achievements of the USSR (VDNKha). On November 25, 1980, a monument to A.Ye.Fersman, the founder of the Kola Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences, was erected in the centre of Apatity. .

In connection with the 50-th anniversary of the KBr of the AS received governmental awards

Strengthening the material base favoured making researches. A school created by A.V.Sidorenko in the Geological Institute developed a new research direction such as the Precambrian exogenic geology; a notion of the preglacial weathering crusts presence in the Fennoscandia was substantiated; under the guidance of I.V.Bel`kov, an honourary scientist of the RSFSR, the principles of the analysis of the Precambrian magmatism formation were further developed; the dating methods and methods of correlation of the most ancient rock associations were improved; an active contribution made by deep-seated hydrocarbon and helium flows to the formation of cristalline rocks composing the upper layers of the EarthÒs crust was revealed; under the leadership of A.A.Zhamaletdinov, Dr. Sci. (Geol.-Min.) and academician Ye.P.Velikhov, the geophysicists of the Geological Institute, in co-operation with the Institute of Atomic Energy (IAE) named after I.V.Kurchatov, carried out the greatest in the world experiments "Khibiny" and "Volga" on the depth probing of the Earth`s crust.