About Georgy Dmitrievich Ovchinnikov

Georgy Dmitrievich Ovchinnikov was born on December 9, 1903 in the village of Presnovka, Presnovsky (now Zhambyl) district in the family of a poor peasant. Georgy Dmitrievich has been an extraordinary person since childhood. He had a phenomenal memory. This is evidenced by this fact. In 1917 An elementary school opens in Presnovka, for admission to which it was required to pass entrance exams. Georgy asks his father for permission to leave his job and continue his education. Father made a condition: I don't have any money, but if you enroll in the second year, I will teach you. Polycarp, Luba, and then Mikhail (other younger children) also need to study.

Georgу passes the entrance exam and begins training immediately from the second year. In 1921, he entered the Petropavlovsk Pedagogical College, from which he graduated in 1925. After graduation, he was in charge of the Presnov school of peasant youth.

Georgy Dmitrievich was a purposeful person, he never stopped at what he had achieved. In 1931, he was already a student at Leningrad State University, after graduating from which, as he showed abilities for scientific work, he was left in graduate school. But from the second year of graduate school, Georgy Dmitrievich is called up to the ranks of the Red Army, he participates in battles with the White Finns, where he is seriously wounded, as a result of which he is demobilized. After returning to graduate school, he successfully defended his thesis for the degree of Candidate of Geographical Sciences in 1941 and was appointed acting director of the Leningrad Geographical and Economic Research Institute. But the war prevented him from working at this institute.

In December 1941, in a serious condition, he was evacuated from besieged Leningrad to Presnovka, where, after recovering, he worked as a school teacher, then as head of the propaganda and agitation department of the Presnovka district party committee.

In March 1944, he was appointed deputy director, then director of the Petropavlovsk Teachers' Institute. And from 1955 to 1967 he was the head of the Department of Physical Geography of the Pedagogical Institute. He was a wonderful soul man, with a big heart, a rich mind, modesty and efficiency. As a teacher and researcher, he enjoyed great respect and authority among students and teachers, as well as among residents of the region. He did a lot of public work. As a competent party propagandist and lecturer, for a number of years he was chairman of the board of the regional organization and a member of the board of the republican society "Knowledge".

His services to the Motherland were awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor and medals of the USSR, honorary certificates of union, republican and regional bodies.

Georgy Dmitrievich was a great worker, a tireless scientist. He has written a number of scientific papers based on personal research and observations of natural features of Northern Kazakhstan, primarily on the problems of surface structure and lake systems.

At the same time, Georgy Dmitrievich was a very positive, attentive person. He treated the students kindly. Repeatedly provided them with assistance, not only with advice, but also financially.

The time was hard and also there were amazing people, such as Georgy Dmitrievich. Our whole family of Ovchinnikovs was drawn to him. I tried to look up to him. Nine of our close relatives graduated from pedagogical universities and became teachers. A whole dynasty of Ovchinnikovs has worked and continues to work in this area. Georgy Dmitrievich remained a tireless worker all his life, a faithful son of our Fatherland.

G.F. Ovchinnikov

The life of Georgy Dmitrievich Ovchinnikov is the path of an honest worker, a modest man, a sensitive comrade and a tireless scientist. He made a significant contribution to the development of the Petropavlovsk Pedagogical Institute (PPI).

The formation of geographical education and geographical research in Northern Kazakhstan has a 77-year history and is synchronous with the emergence and development of the North Kazakhstan State University named after M.Kozybayev. The Department of Geography is one of three, formed in 1937, which is the year of the university's formation.

G.D. Ovchinnikov is deservedly the founder of the North Kazakhstan geographical school, well-known in the scientific world. They were given a high bar of goals and tasks facing the staff of teachers and students of geography, which the department has been trying to keep for decades. He was an excellent organizer, as evidenced by his many years of work from a student of a rural cooperative to the director of a teacher's institute. So, after graduating from Presnovsky primary school, he worked in the parish committee of the RCP (b) as a technical worker, and from September 1922 to May 1925 he studied at the Petropavlovsk Pedagogical College, after which he was appointed head of the Presnov school of peasant youth, where he worked for 6 years. In 1931, he studied at Leningrad University, and from the second year of postgraduate studies, he served in the ranks of the Soviet Army and participated as a company commander in the Finnish War of 1939-1940, where he was wounded twice. In September 1940, he was demobilized, returned to graduate school, wrote his PhD thesis and defended it on June 30, 1941. During the Great Patriotic War, he was not conscripted into the army due to disability from wounds received during the Finnish War.

On July 1, 1941, Georgy Dmitrievich was appointed to work at the Geographical and Economic Scientific Research Institute (GESRI), part of the Leningrad University system, as acting director. But on December 17, 1941, in a serious condition, he was evacuated from Leningrad to the North Kazakhstan region, where his family was located. It was assumed that after his recovery he would come to the city of Yelabuga, where the university was to be evacuated. But the university was evacuated to Saratov, and he didn't know about it, and while he was looking for it, establishing a connection, he had to get a job.

Until the end of June 1942, Georgy Dmitrievich taught physics at a secondary school, then headed the party room and the department of agitation and propaganda of the RККP (b)К.

From March 3, 1944, he was appointed Deputy Director for the educational and scientific part of the Petropavlovsk Teachers' Institute, and from 1953 to 1954 he held the position of director of the Teachers' Institute.

From 1954 to 1967 he was the head of the Department of Physical Geography. Georgy Dmitrievich had a great influence on the development of scientific directions of the department and faculty related to the study of salty and bitter lakes, the relief of the Ishim steppe, circuses and cars of the Khibiny tundra, etc. He led complex expeditions to study lakes, relief and other physical and geographical conditions of Northern Kazakhstan. G.D. Ovchinnikov planned to compile a monograph "Lakes of the North Kazakhstan Region", which would form the basis of his doctoral dissertation.

Ovchinnikov G.D. joined the Komsomol in 1922, became a party candidate in 1927, and a party member in 1939. He had no penalties along the party and administrative lines.

In 1970, Georgy Dmitrievich Ovchinnikov died suddenly. His selfless work was marked by high government awards: the medal "For Valiant Labor in the Great Patriotic War" and the Order of the Red Banner of Labor. His name is listed in the "Book of Honor" of the regional party committee and the regional executive committee.

The bright memory of brilliant scientist, teacher will forever remain in the hearts of his students and followers.

M. M. Taizhanova, Professor of NKSU,

graduate of 1980