Vlasov, Kuzma

Born Nov. 1 (14), 1905, in the village of Nikolaevka, now in Riazan’ Oblast; died Sept. 29, 1964, in Moscow. Soviet geochemist. Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1953). Member of the CPSU from 1939.

Vlasov graduated from the K. A. Timiriazev Moscow Agricultural Academy in 1931. From 1932 to 1952 he worked at the Institute of Geological Sciences of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. He founded and was director of the Laboratory of Mineralogy and Geochemistry of Rare Elements (since 1956, the Institute of Mineralogy, Geochemistry, and Crystal Chemistry of Rare Elements of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR). Continuing Academician A. E. Fersman’s studies of the principal pegmatite regions of the USSR, Vlasov revealed the basic factors of the formation of rare-metal granite pegmatites and worked out their texturalparagenetic classification. On the basis of the Lovozero massif, he discovered new regularities in the distribution of rare elements in alkaline rocks and pegmatites and also their role as geochemical indicators. Vlasov and the group he headed were awarded the State Prize of the USSR in 1967 for the monograph Geochemistry, Mineralogy, and Genetic Types of the Sites of Origin of Rare Elements (vols. 1-3, 1964-66), of which Vlasov was editor in chief. The monograph generalized the empirical material on the geochemistry and mineralogy of 35 rare elements. Vlasov was awarded two orders and various medals. The mineral vlasovite, a silicate of zircon (Na₂Zr[Si₄O₁₁]), has been named in his honor.