Saratov, University of

(full name, N. G. Chernyshevskii University of Saratov), one of the oldest universities in Russia, founded in 1909. It was named in honor of N. G. Chernyshevskii in 1921.

The University of Saratov has (1975) departments of mechanics and mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, philology, history, geology, and geography. There are also evening, correspondence, and graduate divisions and a preparatory division for certain categories of entering students. In addition, there are 60 subdepartments, three scientific research institutes, (mechanics and physics, geology, and chemistry), a computer center, a botanical garden, a station for the observation of artificial earth satellites, a research library (2.5 million volumes), and a publishing house. In the 1974–75 academic year, the university had 9,500 students and 2,100 teachers and research workers, including 55 professors and doctors of sciences and 440 do-cents and candidates of sciences.

Scholars and scientists who have been associated with the University of Saratov include the academicians A. A. Bogomolets, S. I. Spasokukotskii, A. N. Bakulev, N. I. Vavilov, V. M. Zhirmunskii, N. A. Maksimov, and A. M. Pankratova. Other scholars and scientists associated with the university include the corresponding members of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR V. V. Golubev and V. V. Chelintsev, the member of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR S. R. Mirotvortsev, and professors P. V. Golubkov, R. V. Mertslin, B. A. Mozharovskii, V. F. Piotrovskii, A. P. Skaftymov, and S. S. Khokhlov. The university has published collections of scholarly and scientific works since 1941. Since its founding, the university has trained approximately 38,000 specialists. The University of Saratov was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor in 1959.