The personal archives of Academician Vladimir Leontievich Komarov (1869-1945) are in the custody of Archives of RAS. Personal archives of V. L. Komarov (Fund 277) represent 6 inventories containing 2525 files on 33241 sheets of archive documents.

The information resource “Komarov’ s archives” has been developed in Department of Insurance Documentary Fund of Archives of RAS and represents a database describing one of the sections of users fund on microfiches of Archives of RAS – personal archives of Vladimir Leontievich Komarov. The supplement has been developed for navigation and search of the materials for specialists concerned. Such fields as “file number”, “name of file”, “material type”, and “dates of document issue” serve as a guide to a variety of documents and assist in finding sections of interest and ordering copies of documents from fund keepers.

At present about 80 % of all documents of the archives have been digitized and accessible to users. It amounts to 33241 pages. The total volume of available information is 8.47 Gb.

The work on digitizing of the archives has been continuing and the resource will be supplemented. The work on creation of the information resource “Komarov’s archive” has been developed in the Department of Insurance Documentary Fund of the RAS Archives together with the Institute of Problems of Information Science of the RAS.

Vladimir Leontievich Komarov

President of the USSR Academy of Sciences, deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Academician Vladimir Leontievich Komarov was born on October 13 (October 1, old style) 1869 in City of Petersburg in the family of a military man.

In 1890 Vladimir Leontievich left the VI gymnasium in Petersburg and entered the Natural History Department at Physical and Mathematical Faculty of Petersburg University and graduated from the University with Diploma of the 1st degree in 1894. On graduation from the University V.L. Komarov made the decision to specialize in Botany but he also felt intentness about other disciplines. In his student years Vladimir Leontievich studied Charles Darwin’s works and took a keen interest in P.F. Lesgaft’s lectures on Human Anatomy.

In 1894 Vladimir Leontievich graduated from Petersburg University. In February 1902 V.L. Komarov defended his thesis for the Master’s degree in Botany.
In February 1911 Vladimir Leontievich defended the thesis for the scientific degree of Doctor of Botany at the Moscow University. The theme of his dissertation was “Introduction to flora of China and Mongolia”. In 1914 V. Komarov was elected a Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences.
In 1920 V.L. Komarov was elected a Full Member of the Academy of Sciences. In 1930 V.L. Komarov was elected Vice-President of the Academy of Sciences. On December 29, 1936 V.L. Komarov was elected President of the USSR Academy of Sciences at the General Meeting of the Academy of Sciences.

V.L. Komarov started his work as botanist-florist. At least three countries in Eastern Asia are indebted to him for comprehensive and skilful study of their vegetation: the Far East, Mongolia and Kamchatka. But V.L. Komarov’s scientific interests were not only within the scope of botanical science. Being an outstanding and original botanist-geographer he made a number of exhaustive descriptions of vegetation in eastern countries and except for the mentioned regions he described of vegetation of Sayany and Western Baikal region, later of Siberia and a vast territory of the Yakut SSR. He founded the doctrine of meridional zoning of flora and vegetative cover. The studies in geography were not alien to him, too. The results of such investigations were “Barometric leveling of Unguz”, “A trip to Tunkin krai” and especially, “A travel throughout Kamchatka”.

V.L. Komarov was a prominent historian of science, mainly, of botany. He wrote a series of original works about the founders of the science of plants: C. Linnaeus, J.-B.Lamarck, K.A. Timiryazev etc.

V. L. Komarov was an outstanding Russian adherent of the Darwinian theory applying it in his practical routine work and teaching a great many of scientists to put it into practice. We should also mention V.L. Komarov’s doctrine of phylogenetic series resulted in a remarkable work “Flora of the USSR” due to energy and persistency of V.L. Komarov.

During his semi-centennial scientific and pedagogical work V.L. Komarov was one of the most active “forgers of specialists in botany”.

In the course of his 15-year activity as Vice-President and President of the USSR AS V.L. Komarov with his great erudition and comprehension of a wide range of scientific disciplines was a remarkable organizer of the Soviet science. His feverish activity in establishing scientific centers in outlying districts of the Soviet Union, organization of the USSR Academy of Sciences branches, in foundation of National Academies of Sciences in the Soviet Republics cannot be overestimated. This activity as well as his work during the Great Patriotic War characterized him as an ardent patriot of the Soviet country. V.L. Komarov was not an armchair scientist attached to metropolitan museums, libraries and archives, he was a great citizen, traveler and organizer of science in the farthest corners of the USSR.