P rominent t ajik f igures of the

Ma'ruf Bobojon

See Bobojonov, Ma'ruf.

Marupov, Rahim

Tajik physicist Rahim Marupov was born in Uroteppa on November

27, 1936.

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Iraj Bashiri

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

170

Marupov graduated from the Tajikistan State University in 1959.

From 1961 to 1963, he was a graduate student at the Academy of Sci-

ences of Belarus. Thereafter, he was a Senior Scientific Worker (1964-

66) and the Acting Director of the scientific affairs of the Faculty of

Physics and Technology of the Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan

(1966-86). He received his doctorate degree in technology in 1984. In

1986, he became the Director of the Spectroscopy Laboratory of the

same institute.

Marupov's research deals with the physical structure of different

polymers and the spectroscopy of cotton yarn. His contributions include

Spektroskopia khlopa (Spectroscopy of Cotton, Moscow, 1976) and

Spektroskopia voloknoobrazyushchikh polimerov (Spectroscopy of

Mahin-nakh Polymers, Dushanbe, 1977).

Marupov is the recipient of the Red Banner of Courage and the 100

th

Anniversary of the Birth of Lenin Prize.

Masov, Rahim

Tajik historian Rahim Masovich Masov was born into a farming

family in the village of Mdekharv of Vanj, Badakhshan, on September

1, 1939. He grew up in Vanj, and received his early education at an in-

ternational school there. He joined the CPSU in 1976.

Masov graduated from Tajikistan State University with a degree in

history in 1961. In the same year he became a Senior Lecturer at the In-

stitute of History and Archaeology and Anthropology of the Academy

of Sciences of Tajikistan. Masov defended his doctorate dissertation at

the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union

in 1967, and his post-doctorate dissertation at the same institution in

1980. In 1988, he became Director of the Institute of History, Archae-

ology and Ethnography, of the Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan.

Masov's research has opened new vistas in understanding Tajik his-

tory, especially with regard to historiography and proper use of source

materials. He has especially paved the way for the study of Tajik history

during the Soviet period. Today, he is the historian par excellence for

contemporary Tajik history. Three works by Masov have contributed

immensely to our understanding of the history of the Tajiks in recent

decades. Their importance lies in the fact that they probe the less clear

aspects of Soviet involvement in Tajik affairs, and document processes

that thus far had been safeguarded in Soviet archives. He is the Chief

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