To the 90th Anniversary of Sergey Borisovich Lavrov

May 26 was the 90th birthday anniversary of Sergey Borisovich Lavrov, President of the Russian Geographical Society in 1995-2000, an outstanding scientist, teacher and public figure (1928-2000).  

Sergey Borisovich was born in 1928 in a family of philologists. His life was connected with Leningrad, later St. Petersburg, University, where he went from a student to professor and Department Head. In 1968 he became a Doctor of geographical sciences, and in 1970 - a professor. In 1976-1997 Sergey Lavrov headed the Department of Economic and Social Geography of Leningrad State University. In 1988-1991 he was elected Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on national policy and interethnic relations. At the anniversary Congress of the Russian Geographical Society in 1995, Sergey Borisovich was elected President of the Russian Geographical Society. 

The creative career of one of the leading experts in theoretical and practical problems of socio-economic and political geography and geopolitics went hand in hand with the development of the national geographical science.  Lavrov continued to develop the traditions of the Leningrad scientific and pedagogical school of economic and social geography. In the last years, he identified areas of environmental policy of geographical knowledge, defined scientific foundations for social ecology, and developed conceptual foundations of political geography and geopolitics.

In the late 1980s the scientist’s research interests were focused on the territory of the USSR. There was a need to identify the causes and consequences of the breakup of the former Union and emergence of ethnic conflicts.

In 1995, Lavrov organized a meeting of the main developers of Russia's regional strategy with the participation of the Analytical Center of the President of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Ethnic Affairs of the Russian Federation and State Duma deputies. The meeting took place in the Russian Geographical Society.

Sergey Lavrov also initiated the organization of all-Russian scientific conferences "Geopolitical and economic problems of Russia" (1994) and "Natural and historical specifics of Russia and Russian geopolitical concepts" (1999).

At the initiative of Sergei Borisovich the books of the multi-volume series "Soviet geography "(Geographical society of the USSR)” started to be published. He was a member of the editorial board and author of the 7-volume edition of “Geography of the world ocean" (1978-1987), as well as a member of the editorial board of such magazines as Post Soviet Geography (USA), Geojournal (Germany).

In parallel with his scientific work Sergey Lavrov was prolific in writing school and university textbooks on geography.

In total, he published more than 220 monographs, articles, brochures and reviews. The works had been repeatedly published in Austria, Bulgaria, Great Britain, Hungary, Germany, America, Japan and other countries.

For a long time Sergey Lavrov headed a specialized council for the defense of doctoral dissertations on economic, social and political geography, was a member of the expert council of the VAK of the USSR. As a supervisor, he had trained more than fifty candidates and doctors of sciences; many of his students are now heads of departments and research teams in Russia and the CIS countries.

An important milestone in Sergey Borisovich Lavrov ‘s life was a long-term friendship with Lev Nikolayevich Gumilev, the author of the original concept of ethnogenesis. After Gumilev’s death, Lavrov devoted considerable effort to publish his works. A capital work about the life and work of Lev Gumilev, published shortly before the death of Sergei Borisovich, gave the scientist a real joy and allowed to feel the life its full again.