New information plaque opened at Mikhail Nuzhin bust near the Main Building

Several executives and alumni gathered near the bust on 18 October to honor former rector.

Among the attendees were President of KFU Riyaz Minzaripov, Deputy of the State Council and ex-Rector (2002 – 2010) Myakzyum Salakhov, ex-Mayor of Kazan Kamil Iskhakov, General Director of Kulon JSC Albert Fakhrutdinov, Director of KFU’s Institute of Social and Philosophical Sciences Mikhail Shchelkunov, and others.

Mikhail Nuzhin (1914 – 1983) served as rector for a record 25 years in 1954 – 1979. On the plaque, several of his notable achievements are mentioned in three languages – Russian, Tatar, and English. In particular, the Soviet Union’s first department of relativity theory and gravity (1960), computing center (1970), faculty of computational mathematics and cybernetics (1978). Huge construction projects were undertaken, including buildings of the Faculty of Physics (1973), the Karachaevo-Cherkessia Observatory (1976), the 2nd Building (1978), and the Lobachevsky Library (1981).

Riyaz Minzaripov reminded that the bust was installed in 2004 with support from Kamil Iskhakov to celebrate the University’s 200th anniversary. This year, Albert Fakhrutdinov provided funds to beautify the small public garden and the bust itself by mounting a plaque.

Mr Iskhakov noted, “When we were students, we didn’t even know what a great man was Mikhail Nuzhin.” He said that he met Nuzhin many times and always admired him as a person and as a scholar.