Article

Valery Pavlovich Androsov (12.09.1950 - 09.05.2021)

русская версия

DOI https://doi.org/10.31696/2618-7043-2021-4-2-339-341
Authors
Magazine
Sections Personalia in Memoriam
Pages 339 - 341
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On May 9, 2021, passed away our dear friend and colleague Professor Valery Androsov. He initiated the periodical Orientalistica and was its first editor-in-chief.

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Valery Pavlovich Androsov (12.09.1950 – 09.05.2021)

On May 9, 2021, passed away our dear friend and colleague Professor Valery Androsov. He initiated the periodical Orientalistica and was its first editor-in-chief.

The impressive list of titles and honours of the late Professor Androsov can be easily found on the Orientalistica’s website. However, this list would not in full reflect both the great personality of our deceased friend as well as his profound knowledge and great academic abilities.

Everybody, who was fortunate to personally know Professor Androsov either as a colleague or a teacher or read his books and articles would record his outstanding blend of knowledge and devotion to the field of Oriental Studies, in particular, to the culture and history of the Indian Subcontinent.

Professor Androsov joined the Institute of Oriental Studies of the then Soviet Academy of Sciences shortly after he graduated from the Moscow State University. He started his career as a Junior Research Fellow in the Department of History and Culture of the Ancient East, which he subsequently had been running until his eventual and well-deserved progression to the position of Director of the Institute of Oriental Studies. As his colleagues, we were always amazed by his tireless energy, desire to personally participate in many projects of the Department and equally his incredible willingness to help.

As a scholar of an international rank, he was very much concerned that his Russian-speaking colleagues, especially those working on the classical heritage of the East did not have a sufficiently designated place to publish their research results and share their knowledge. Their works on ancient or medieval history, philosophy, literature of the East were otherwise scattered among publications, which deal with subjects of modern history and economics. This is how the idea of Orientalistica took its final shape. The title of the journal itself was found in course of discussions initiated again by Professor Androsov with his friends and colleagues. Eventually, the Orientalistica project united those who sincerely believed in how important it is for scholars to have a designated forum to discuss various topics, which pertain to the culture and history of the Ancient and Medieval East.

Still, the way from the concept and general design of the periodical to the actual hard-copy journal supported by a team of editors, editorial board and authors who regularly contribute to the periodical was long and often not easy. Without Professor Androsov’s energy, his ability to unite like-minded people in the Russian Federation around a common idea as well as invite contributors from other countries, such as Azerbaijan, Belorussia, Great Britain, Hungary, Israel, Mongolia, the United States of America, France, Czech Republic, Switzerland, etc., the periodical would not come to its fruition. The motto of the journal Ad Orientem! was also coined by him. He wrote: “We are not going to borrow or transfer anything from East to West or vice versa. Our task as scholars would be to study each culture and tradition in its entirety and therefore to widen the horizons of our knowledge and to pass and transfer it on to others by creating highclass research papers, textbooks and giving talks”.

The Orientalistica continues to follow this direction. We, the members of the Editorial Board, will remain always grateful to our first editor-in-chief, the founder of the periodical, dear colleague, friend and teacher.

For citations: Редакционная с. Валерий Павлович Андросов (12.09.1950 - 09.05.2021). Ориенталистика. 2021; т. 4, 2: 339-341