A.Zh. Mashanov (1906—1997): biography pages and scientific and pedagogical activity

The article analyses individual pages of Akzhan Zhaksybekovich Mashanov’s biography as well as his research and pedagogical activity. He was born in village No. 1 of the Karkaraly district of the Berkala volost; in 1924, as an excellent student, he entered the Karkaraly Pedagogical College, and later in 1934, the Kazakh Mining and Metallurgical Institute. A.Zh. Mashanov is one of the founders of geomechanics in the Soviet Union, the founder of Kazakh science fiction. He was one of the first Kazakh engineers-mine surveyors who had the degree of doctor of geological and mineralogical sciences. A.Zh. Mashanov developed and practically applied a new method for studying the structure of ore fields, which was subsequently applied in studying the structure of the vast majority of mineral deposits and the geological structure of individual regions. On the basis of archival documents and memoirs of students, many of which are introduced into scientific circulation for the first time, the authors consider the scientific and pedagogical activity of A.Zh. Mashanov, his great contribution to the development of a new scientific direction in mining, i.e., geomechanics. An extensive research outlook, knowledge of the Arabic language allowed A.Zh. Mashanov to open the great scholar Abu Nasyr Al-Farabi to the world community. A.Zh. Mashanov in his works was able to prove that the main primary source of science in Kazakhstan were the works of Al-Farabi. He created a scientific school of engineers-mine surveyors of Kazakhstan.