Published on: 2026-06-11
Source: Novosibirsk State University –
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Solemn opening of the exhibition “Science will save humanity,” dedicated to the anniversary of an outstanding scientist and organizer of science, the third rector of NGU (1978–1980), Doctor of Chemical Sciences, professor, academicianValentina Afanasyevicha Koptyuga(June 9, 1931—January 10, 1997), took place at Novosibirsk State University on the eve of the 95th anniversary of his birth.
A prospect in Akademgorodok, where a bust of the scientist is installed, was named after Valentin Koptyug. The list of his achievements is extensive: full member of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1979), corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1968), Doctor of Chemical Sciences (1965), professor (1968), director of the N.N. Vorozhtsov Institute of Organic Chemistry of the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1987–1997), chairman of the Siberian Branch, vice-president of the USSR Academy of Sciences — Siberian Branch (1980–1997), honorary resident of Novosibirsk (1996). For 30 years, Valentin Koptyug carried out extensive work on preparing scientific personnel at NSU, was head of the Department of Organic Chemistry of the Faculty of Natural Sciences at NSU (1966–1993).
More than 30 photographs are presented in the exhibition display, capturing different periods of the scientist’s life, as well as his personal belongings: documents from his desk, notebooks, sheets written in small, neat handwriting, press-paper and a writing set made from natural stone, and a large number of slides — which Valentin Afanasyevich used as visual aids during his lectures and presentations to the scientific community.In a separate showcase — gifts received on the 50th anniversary: a large souvenir key from the SO AN USSR motor depot team, a toy mouse in a scientist’s gown from the FMSh alumni, a commemorative medal from NETI. These items were donated to the NGU History Museum by the academician’s family and are being exhibited for the first time at this exhibition.
—Particular attention is deserved by the numerous notebooks of Valentin Afanasyevich. And his son presented them to us as a gift.Igor Valentinovich Koptyug. Every day the scientist wrote down his schedule by the hour, and now thanks to these records we can reconstruct many events from his life. On the page of one of the notebooks his business trip to Saxon Switzerland is detailed, with a list of events he was supposed to attend, lectures he planned to give, and a hand-drawn map of the route to the destination. As relatives tell it, Valentin Afanasyevich had many notebooks. At each conference, for every report, he made his notes, carefully recording in neat handwriting everything he considered especially important.For him, secondary matters practically did not exist; he treated everything very seriously and scrupulously. These notebooks represent a very valuable material for researchers. I hope that someday history students of our Humanities Institute or biochemistry students studying organic chemistry will decide to develop a research topic dedicated to Valentin Afanasyevich. For them, these notes will be the most valuable source of previously unknown information about his activities., — said the head of the Museum of History of NSULidiya Vorobtsova.
Igor Koptyug recalled that his father, during a business trip abroad to get acquainted with landmarks, did not attend any, preferring meetings with workers, presentations to the scientific community, and addressing important organizational, professional, and official issues. But there were rare exceptions. At the exhibition, there is a photograph from India, where the scientist is captured on an elephant.However, most of the photographs are portraits of the scientist, relating to various periods of his life — from school years to the peak of his career, as well as fragments of his everyday life — work meetings, conferences, presentations, brief moments of leisure among friends, relatives, and close ones. Among them is a photo with the scientist’s mother, Nadezhda Vasilyevna. Due to tragic circumstances, she raised two sons alone — the father of the future scientist, Afanasy Yakovlevich, was repressed and shot in 1938. The war years were especially difficult — the family ended up evacuated in Samarkand.The older brother of the future scientist Vladimir left for the front from there and died in 1944. Nadezhda Vasilyevna and her younger son were left alone.
In the school year, Valentin Koptyug wrote in his essay “Pages of Childhood and Youth”: “I had a friend who was one year older than me. He was passionate about geology, and I spent quite a lot of time with him roaming over the mountains near Samarkand — we rode bicycles there, set up a tent, camped, and collected various minerals. He first enrolled in the Uzbek State University, and when I finished school and he was in his first year, he persuaded me to study geology in Moscow. I agreed, and we had already bought the tickets. On the last day he said: ‘And I, you know, won’t go.’ I, of course, imagined how I would go alone, but nevertheless, I went.”I had some support that gave me courage: I graduated from school with a gold medal, so I thought everything would be fine. At the exhibition, there is a school photo of Valentin Koptyug and a copy of the order awarding him the gold medal for successfully completing secondary school.
Valentin Afanasyevich had a special close relationship with his mother. They could not live far from each other. Their joint photo became a real decoration of the exhibition display, as well as his photo within the family circle. Despite his tremendous workload and tight work schedule, continuous series of meetings and business appointments, he tried to carve out at least a little time for communication with his wife Irina Fedorovna Mikhailova and their children. Photos protect the memory of these rare but touching moments.
Many photos are accompanied by lines from the memories of Valentin Afanasyevich, written by his colleagues and close people. The exposition presents photographs from the archives of the NGU History Museum, the family archive of the academician’s relatives, and the book “Epoca Koptyuga,” published by the SCO RAS publishing house in 2001.
At the solemn opening ceremony of the exhibition, the rector of NGSU, a corresponding member of the RAS, and a graduate of the Faculty of Natural Sciences of NGSU were presentDmitry Pyshny, rector of NGU 2012-2026, academician of the RASMikhail Fedoruk, son of Valentin Afanasyevich Koptug, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, head of the laboratory of magnetic resonance microtomography, head of the scientific direction of the Institute “International Tomographic Center” of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of SciencesIgor Koptyug, as well as students of the academy, students, and teachers of NGU.
—I was not personally acquainted with Valentin Afanasyevich, but starting my scientific career as a student of NGU at the Institute of Biochemistry and Fundamental Medicine of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, I heard a lot about him, and his scientific initiatives were very respected and fascinating. It was precisely he who became one of the founders of the field “Informatics in Organic Chemistry” in our country. At that time, this was a completely innovative undertaking, which also involved the development of computer technology.Scientists gained the ability to use, albeit imperfect by modern standards, computers to calculate complex organic reactions and compile databases. At that time, this was a genuine innovation. Valentin Afanasyevich Koptyug was an extraordinary scientist and organizer — he and his colleagues managed, during the difficult period of the USSR’s collapse, to maintain Siberian science at a decent level, stop the outflow of scientists abroad, and preserve the leading positions of science in Akademgorodok and the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences., — said Dmitry Pyshny.
Mikhail Fedoruk shared memories that during the period when Valentin Koptyug was rector, he was a student of the Physics Faculty at NSU. He recalled the rector’s visits to the NSU dormitory, where Mikhail Petrovich lived during his student years. Valentin Afanasyevich was interested in everything happening at NSU and tried to keep everything under control down to the smallest details, and the living conditions of students were no exception.
—Valentin Koptyug’s systematic approach was evident in everything, and he did this very strongly. According to V. A. Mindolin, he differed from the previous rector of Spartak Belyaev, who focused on amateur activities and self-organization. However, Spartak Timofeevich did not see another successor for the rector’s position, treated Valentin Afanasievich with great warmth, and characterized him as an absolutely university person. Of course, he was the third rector, headed NGU for only 2 years, in March 1980 he was appointed Chairman of the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences, and until December, he held these two responsible positions simultaneously.Despite this, he managed to give a start to new important initiatives that were continued in the following years. One of them was the introduction of computers into the educational process and the creation of a laboratory “Computers in the Educational Process,” which he personally supervised, not trusting it to anyone else. Valentin Afanasyevich also did a lot to strengthen the prestige of the NSSU at the state level, and in 1979 our university was awarded the name of the Lenin Komsomol. It was precisely under Valentin Koptyug that a planning and financial department was created at the NSSU, and at the level of social payments and social support, the NSSU at that time ranked among the best Moscow universities., — said Mikhail Fedoruk.
Igor Koptyug noted that from an early age he was aware that his father had achieved very high stature in science and a high position in the scientific community. Unfortunately, there was little time to communicate, but many bright moments were imprinted in memory.
—Almost always, father would come home from work late in the evening, have dinner, and then continue working. Nonetheless, there were moments when we spent time together. The whole family would go mushroom picking (father was an avid and lucky mushroom picker), we liked to ride together on a motorboat on the Obskoye reservoir, drove to the Karakansky forest by car, set up a tent, and relaxed in nature. But in the last years of his life, father had no time left for rest., — shared his recollections Igor Koptyug.
Igor Valentinovich recalled how he entered the Physics Faculty of NGU together with his classmates from school No. 130. Despite thorough preparation, they were unable to handle this test well — perhaps due to nervousness, they decided on too few problems and each received a grade of three. Valentin Afanasyevich, having learned about this, was very upset, took all the conditions of the problems from his son, went through them himself, made sure that the problems his son managed to solve were solved correctly, and calmed down. Igor Valentinovich passed the subsequent exams with “excellent” and was admitted to NGU.
—Despite his positions and regalia, my father was a very modest man, and in many situations, he, as it seems to me, was shy about using the privileges that were available to him. He did a lot at home himself — he could fix a water tap, electrical wiring, anything. He loved to tinker with something with his own hands. In Akademgorodok, scientists who could independently repair houses were jokingly called “SOAnts”., — said Igor Koptyug.
The organizational capabilities of the father Igor Valentinovich are connected with his high self-organization. The notebooks presented at the exhibition are only a small part of his records. Valentin Koptyug always wrote by hand, he did not use either a computer or a typewriter. Both in the office and at home on the shelf, rack, and in the cabinet, there were many neatly labeled folders, which contained materials sorted by topics. Valentin Afanasyevich could not stand disorder and tried to systematize everything that was important for work.
—My father did not use a computer, but at the same time he was well aware of the importance of computer science and the informational component in chemistry and science as a whole. This always somewhat surprised me. Perhaps he simply considered it irrational to spend time mastering a computer, but nevertheless he understood the importance of computerization in information processing, processing spectroscopic data, and very actively promoted this direction at all levels, starting from his own institute and ending with the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, of which he was president for two years., — clarified Igor Koptyug.
Igor Valentinovich said that his father’s teacher, academician Nikolai Nikolaevich Vorozhtsov, believed that Valentin Koptyug should be left for science. That he absolutely must not be burdened with organizational affairs, because he has to achieve a lot exactly in science. And Igor Valentinovich agrees with this.
—I think the father made a lot in science, but of course, he would have done much more if he really had not been occupied with organizational issues. But it seems to me that him becoming the rector of NSU, then the Chairman of the SB RAS, probably had a very big meaning in the end. It was the hardest time, especially the late 80s – 90s, when his task was, essentially, to save the SB RAS, to give the institute staff the opportunity to survive and continue working. In the last period of his life, I remember him as endlessly tired, devastated to the limit, but nevertheless, he understood that this work needed to be done, and he did it to the end.He left too early — he was only 65 years old, but what he managed to accomplish is invaluable, — said Igor Koptyug.
His memories of Valentin Afanasyevich were shared by his student, Candidate of Chemical Sciences Lyudmila Ostashevskaya, and the head of the Komsomol organization of the National Mining University during his rectorship, Viktor Laskin. They remembered him as a person demanding of himself and those around him, but understanding and responsive, always willing to delve into any problem and come to help in a difficult situation.
The exhibition “Science Will Save Humanity” will be open until June 30. It is located in the rectorate building (1 Pirogov St.), 2nd floor, in the alumni gallery.
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