Georgii Dmitrievich Afanasev

Born Mar. 4 (17), 1906, in Novorossiisk. Soviet geologist and petrographer; corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (AN SSSR) since 1953. Member of the CPSU since 1948.

Afanas’ev graduated from Leningrad University in 1930. He was senior scientific research worker at the Institute of Geology of the AN SSSR from 1937 to 1956 and has held the same position at the Institute of the Geology of Ore Deposits, Petrography, Mineralogy, and Geochemistry of the AN SSSR since 1956. He was scientific secretary of the Geology and Geography Division of the AN SSSR from 1949 to 1953 and has been deputy chief scientific secretary of the Presidium of the AN SSSR since 1958. His main research has been on the petrology and genesis of sedimentary and igneous rocks, the petrography and geochemistry of ancient formations, the absolute age of geological formations, and the nature of the lower part of the earth’s crust and the upper mantle. He has been awarded the Order of Lenin and three other orders, as well as medals.