Earth Physics, Institute of

(full name, O. Iu. Shmidt Institute of Earth Physics of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR). The Institute of Earth Physics was one of the three institutes formed in 1956 from the Geophysics Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR; the other two were the Institute of Applied Geophysics and the Institute of the Physics of the Atmosphere. The Geophysics Institute itself was founded in 1947 by the merging of the Seismological Institute, transferred from Leningrad in 1934, and the Institute of Theoretical Geophysics, founded in Moscow in 1937 by the Academician O. Iu. Shmidt.

The Institute of Earth Physics is the leading scientific institution devoted to the geological and geophysical study of the internal structure, origin, and development of the earth and other planets and the investigation of geotectonic processes and the thermal regime of the earth. The institute conducts research in seismology, gravimetry, and electromagnetic and marine geophysics. The seismological studies include earthquake prediction and the investigation of seismic zoning and the seismic effects of large explosions. Research in gravimetry is largely devoted to the study of contemporary movements of the earth’s crust and the geomagnetic field and paleomagnetism and to the development of gravimetric equipment. Other research involves the development of the theoretical foundations for methods of extracting and dressing minerals.

The institute was awarded the Order of Lenin in 1971.