On January 27, 2021, Professor, Doctor of Technical Sciences, a world-renowned scientist, Academician of the International Higher Education Academy of Sciences (IHEAS) Yurii Sklyarov would have turned 90 (January 27, 1931 – June 19, 2014).
Yurii Sklyarov was born on January 27, 1931 in the village of Zolotarevka, Georgievsky district, Stavropol Territory. At the age of 14, he already started working at a water pumping station, then as an assistant to a combine operator, an assistant to an accountant. Already in his school years, he developed interests in astronomy and radio engineering. This was facilitated by the fact that in the small library of my father there were books on this topic.
In 1948 he graduated from high school and in the same year entered the Faculty of Physics of the Saratov State University named after N.G. Chernyshevsky. In 1953 he graduated with honors from training in the specialty "Astronomy".
“Yuri Andreevich talked a lot about why he chose Saratov University for admission. Arriving in Saratov, he was surprised by the city: green shady alleys, wide Volga, beautiful buildings of the university campus. He especially remembered a police officer in a snow-white uniform, who showed him the way to the university. The city greeted him warmly. It turned out that at that moment Saratov University was the closest to his home in the North Caucasus, where one could get an education in astronomy. This circumstance brought Yuri Andreevich closer to the dream of studying distant space. So the stars came together, and Yuri Andreevich linked his life with our university ", his student M.Yu. Chervyakov, Head of the Department of Meteorology and Climatology, SSU.
Yuri Andreyevich has repeatedly said how lucky he was to have good people. One of them was Pavel Vasilievich Vyushkov, a prominent specialist, head of the Department of Astronomy at SSU. He had a tremendous influence on Yu.A. Sklyarov, invited him to study the bolometric pyrheliometer - developed by P.V. Vyushkov of the original method and device for absolute measurements of solar radiation. As it turned out, it was a lifelong choice.
Later, in 1954, P.V. Vyushkov sends Yu.A. Sklyarov to the city of Leningrad to the Main Geophysical Observatory named after A.I. Voeikov (GGO) to the outstanding designer of actinometric equipment Yuri Dmitrievich Yanishevsky. He supported work on the creation of a bolometric pyrheliometer. Since that time, for 36 years (until the death of Yu.D. Yanishevsky) Yu.A. Sklyarov was closely associated with the MGO and the Yanishevsky family, which he wrote about in his memoirs.
By 1955, Yu.A. Sklyarov has already published 5 scientific works and the book "Phenomena of Nature, Superstition and Science". This year, he is sent to work as the chairman of a collective farm in the Bezymyansky district of the Saratov region, without interrupting his scientific activities. In 1958, Yuri Andreevich was awarded the Order of the Badge of Honor.
Working in a collective farm
By 1960, he had prepared a major work on the theory of the pyrheliometer, published in Proceedings of the MGO and then separately translated into English and published in the USA. From 1961 to 1969 Yu.A. Sklyarov worked at the Saratov Pedagogical Institute consecutively as an assistant, senior teacher, dean of the physics faculty, vice-rector for academic affairs of the institute. Yuri Andreevich combined his years of work at the institute with public activities as a member of the regional committee of the trade union of workers of higher education, deputy chairman of the regional organization of the Knowledge Society. While working in the Knowledge Society, Yuri Andreevich published hundreds of popular science articles in the local press, and constantly lectured on radio and television.
At one of the TV-shows
In 1965, Yu.A. Sklyarov defended his Ph.D. thesis on "Bolometric pyrheliometer as a reference device for absolute measurements of direct solar radiation". The academic degree of candidate of physical and mathematical sciences was awarded by the decision of the Council of the GGO A.I. Voeikov in 1965.
Since 1969 Yu.A. Sklyarov was elected by competition to the post of associate professor of the Department of Theoretical Physics at SSU. The whole further life of Yuri Andreevich was associated with the Saratov University. Since 1981 Yu.A. Sklyarov is the chief designer of satellite measuring equipment. In 1984 Yu.A. Sklyarov, after successfully defending his doctoral dissertation on the topic "Physical foundations of precision absolute measurements and ensuring the uniformity of measurements of the energy illumination of solar radiation fluxes," was awarded the degree of Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, and in the same year he was elected Head of the Department of Meteorology and Climatology of SSU, which led the rest of his life. Under his scientific supervision, 3 doctoral and 11 master's theses were defended.
“The first acquaintance with Yuri Andreevich happened when I came to get a job at the Department of Meteorology and Climatology. Of course, I knew Yuri Andreyevich before that. He taught us astronomy and meteorology.
On our first working day, we met at the department (it was located in the 2nd building of SSU). He came to the pulpit and asked: "Can you type on a typewriter?" While I was thinking whether I could or not (of course, I knew how to do this), he had already sat down and started typing. Then we repeatedly faced at work. And then a year later he called me to his place and offered to become an assistant of the department and teach. I was very glad that he offered it to me. At this time, I did not even think that soon fate would decide so that Yuri Andreevich would become my scientific advisor.
He helped me a lot, explained how everything should be. I always shared my memories. He always talked about his loved ones. When it came time to defend my thesis, I didn't even expect that he would go with me. It was a tremendous support! I knew that he was there, that he was here, he would help and support. Then we more than once remembered the defense and laughed. I am very grateful to fate that I had the opportunity to work and communicate with him! " – Natalia Semyonova, Associate Professor of the Department of Meteorology and Climatology, shared her memories.
In 1986 Yu.A. Sklyarov was awarded the academic title of professor at the Department of Meteorology and Climatology. During his teaching career, Yu.A. Sklyarov taught astronomy at the Faculty of Physics, Geography and Chemistry.
Yuri Andreevich possessed an amazing capacity for work and the ability to focus on the main problems, constantly setting himself more and more new tasks in the field of his scientific interests.
Yurii Sklyarov in his study
Yu.A. Sklyarov did a lot of scientific and organizational work. He was elected to the International Radiation Commission, for many years he worked in the Radiation Commission at the USSR Academy of Sciences, was a member of the Head Council for Astronomy. In 1995-1999 he worked as the first vice-rector of SSU, adviser to the rector. Since 1995 he was the chairman of the SSU award committee.
In 2001, Yuri Andreevich agrees to be the chairman of the Council of Veterans of SSU - a public organization of war, labor, armed forces, pensioners, which numbers more than 1000 people. It was under Yuri Andreevich that the veteran association was formed organizationally, established itself and organically fit into the overall structure of the university. Thanks to his skilful leadership and respectful attitude towards each member of the Council, Yuri Andreevich has formed a team of like-minded people. He supported the real initiatives of the members of the presidium, giving advice on how to hold this or that event, he himself was a direct participant in many.
“On the initiative of Yuri Andreevich, SSU veterans began to receive financial aid and incentives for significant dates. He tried to congratulate the anniversaries personally, finding the necessary, warm words to everyone, he was especially attentive to the participants in the Great Patriotic War. He was a kind and warm-hearted man, as well as a loyal and attentive comrade and friend, ”says S.N. Lapina, member of the Council of Veterans of SSU, Associate Professor of the Department of Meteorology and Climatology.
In 2007, the activities of the research team headed by Yu.A. Sklyarov, received a license from the Federal Space Agency. Thus, thanks to Yu.A. Sklyarov, SSU named after N.G. Chernyshevsky officially became one of the organizations conducting research in outer space.
In September 2009, and then in August 2014, as part of the equipment of the heliogeophysical complex onboard the satellites Meteor-M No. 1 and No. 2, radiometers of the new generation IKOR-M were launched into orbit, the chief designer of which was Yu.A. Sklyarov. Their direct purpose is to measure the outgoing short-wave radiation of the Earth, which makes it possible to determine the albedo and absorbed solar radiation. A huge amount of scientific information was obtained, which continues to be analyzed by the students of Yu.A. Sklyarov. The results of the work are regularly reported at conferences of the all-Russian and international level.
Sputnik devices IKOR-M and Satellite-2M
Yu.A. Sklyarov personally and in co-authorship published 12 monographs and books, including abroad, more than 270 scientific works. Received 14 patents and inventor's certificates. The monograph “Pyrheliometrics” was published in Russian and English, and the work “Radiation balance of the Earth. Introduction to the problem” became one of the last major works of Yu.A. Sklyarov. Many of his scientific and educational-methodical publications are still used in the educational process at the geographical faculty of SSU in the preparation of future meteorologists.
A few highly-cited Yurii Sklyarov’s monographies
For his professional activity Yu.A. Sklyarov was awarded various awards and titles. Yuri Andreevich was an honorary worker of higher professional education of the Russian Federation, an honorary worker of science and technology of the Russian Federation, an honorary professor of Saratov University, since 1994 - an academician of the international academy of sciences of the Higher School. He was awarded two Orders of the Badge of Honor, the first of which he received while working as chairman of a collective farm - a thirty-thousand man. He was awarded the Order of Lomonosov by the Russian Committee for Public Awards. For the creation of equipment for space research he was awarded a medal named after S.P. Queen, gold and silver medals of the Exhibition of Economic Achievements, the sign "Inventor of the USSR". He has received numerous awards from industry, regional and city authorities.
“More than six years have passed since the death of Yuri Andreevich Sklyarov. However, the years, as expected, do not erase the memories of this extraordinary person. He was a real Russian man: handsome, well-knit, impudent in science and life. He was an excellent scientist: "needleworker" and theorist. I remember meetings with him - always special for me with their semantic content and ultimate effectiveness. He was able to see and solve problems of graduate students and his colleagues. I remember how he helped with the final editing of the author's abstract of my Ph.D. thesis, how he showed genuine interest in writing my doctoral work. He was a physicist and lyricist, engineer and organizer, an encyclopedist and a corrosive narrow specialist. He was a man of the Renaissance ... ”, - recalls the Dean of the Faculty of Geography, Professor V.Z. Makarov.
Yu.A. Sklyarov was a versatile person. He loved traveling, fishing, loved to garden at his own dacha, wrote poetry. He published two collections of poetry. Yuri Andreevich devoted a lot of time and effort to popular science activities in the Saratov Planetarium. Scientist and teacher, he took part in the design of the dome over the building, as well as in its construction. Over the years of his work in the "Knowledge" society in the building of the planetarium, Yuri Andreevich read an uncounted number of lectures.
At the popular scientific lection on astronomy
In 2015, the Saratov Planetarium was named after Yuri Andreevich Sklyarov. On October 16, 2015, the opening ceremony of a memorial plaque in honor of Yu.A. Sklyarov. Since 2017, the name of Yu. Sklyarova began to be worn by auditorium No. 30 of the Faculty of Geography of the IV academic building of SSU.
In the year of the 90th anniversary of the birth of Yuri Andreevich, the university will host a personal online exhibition of his scientific works and literary works, the exhibition “Yu.A. Sklyarov - a man in a system of cosmic coordinates ” with exhibits of his first copies of scientific equipment, photographs and archival documents. A conference of employees of the Faculty of Geography and an expanded meeting of the Academic Council of the Faculty of Geography are planned, dedicated to the memory of Yu.A. Sklyarov.
