Professor S. P. Popov: unknown pages of biography

Aspects of scientific, organizational and pedagogical activity in the Crimea of the pupil, colleague and friend of academician V. I. Vernadsky, a major mineralogist, geochemist, Professor Sergei Platonovich Popov (1872–1964), have been restored. The main source for reconstructing the historical daily life of the professor in the conditions of the Crimean province were his letters to Academician V. I. Vernadsky. The analysis of the texts made it possible to identify the lines of intellectual tension «province – center» and show the wide range of S. P. Popov’s communication in the 20-30s. The corpus of documents from the State Archive of the Russian Federation, the Russian State Archive of Economics, and the State Archive of the Republic of Crimea are being introduced into scientific circulation, which made it possible to reveal stories about Popov’s work in Simferopol. The activity of the geologist at the head of the Crimean Research Institute, which he saw as a continuation of the work of the Commission for the Study of Natural Productive Forces of the Crimea established by V. I. Vernadsky, is revealed. The scientist’s activity is shown on the background of socio-economic transformations taking place in the country and in its separate region.