The P.P.Shirshov Institute of Oceanology is the oldest and the largest Russian research center in the field of oceanology. The main objectives of the Institute lie in a complex study of the World Ocean and the Russian seas based on the idea of entirety of physical, chemical, biological and geological processes observed in them, laying scientific foundations for forecasting the Earth’s climate variability, rational use of marine resources and safeguarding ecological security in the interests of stable development of mankind. The Institute was established by a resolution of the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences in 1946 on the basis of the Laboratory of Oceanology set up in 1941. P.P.Shirshov became the Institute’s first Director. Together with P.P.Shirshov, the well-known scientists like L.A.Zenkevich, V.G.Bogorov, S.V.Bruyevich, A.D.Dobrovolsky, P.L.Bezrukov, I.D.Papanin, V.B.Shtockman and others took an active part in the formation of the new scientific center. Today, the P.P.Shirshov Institute of Oceanology is an ensemble of 1,400 employees numbering 107 doctors of sciences and 291 candidates of sciences of various disciplines. Among the members of the Institute’s staff there are 4 Academicians and 2 Corresponding Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The P.P.Shirshov Institute affiliates the Atlantic Department in Kaliningrad, the Southern Department in Gelendjik, a branch in St.-Petersburg, the North-Western Department in Arkhangelsk and the Caspian branch in Astrakhan.
