Rusakov, Mikhail

Rusakov, Mikhail Petrovich 

Born Nov. 8 (20), 1892, in the city of Iukhnov, in what is now Kaluga Oblast; died Oct. 24, 1963, in Moscow. Soviet geologist. Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Kazakh SSR (1946); Honored Worker in Science and Technology of the Kazakh SSR (1945).

After graduating from the St. Petersburg Institute of Mines in 1921, Rusakov worked in the Ural-Siberian Department of the Geological Committee and then in the geology department of the Kazakh Branch of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. His main works were devoted to the study of the ore deposits and geology of Kazakhstan. Rusakov is associated with the discovery of various mineral deposits, among them Kounradskii (copper), Semizbugy (corundum and andalusite), Karagaily (lead and barite), and Kairakty (asbestos, barite, and complex metal ores). The mineral rusakovite, a hydrous ferrovanadate with the chemical formula Fe₅[VO₄]₂(OH)₉•3H₂O, was named in honor of Rusakov.

Rusakov was awarded three orders and also various medals.

REFERENCES

“Mikhail Petrovich Rusakov” (obituary). Izv. AN KazSSR: Seriia geologicheskikh nauk, 1963, fasc. 6.
“70-letie akademika AN KazSSR M. P. Rusakova.” Vestn. AN Kaz. SSR, 1962, no. 12, pp. 75–76.