Along with the famous fellow countrymen who glorified their names Zhytomyr, geologists and mineralogists occupy a leading place. Not only the scientific world knows the names of Gottfried Ossovskyi and Stepan Belskyi, academician Pavlo Tutkovskyi. An incomparably large contribution to the study of the geological structure of all Volhynia and the former Soviet Union brought Borys Havrusevych – Zhytomyr citizen, whose name, unfortunately, not so well-known to the general public

On December 21, 2018, 110th anniversary of the birth of a prominent Ukrainian scientist, a geochemist, was born in Zhytomyr in the family of a teacher of the Mariinsky Women’s Gymnasium.
The father of Borys Havrusevych – Alexander, taught music and singing, came from the family of the priest Pochaev monastery, graduated from theological academy. He fell in love with his student and after she had finished her studies she married her. Named her Dominic, she was a simple kind of Oleksiienkiv from the village of Osnyky Chernyakhiv district, beautiful, with noble manners. Unexpectedly for everyone after marriage, Oleksandr Havrusevych left teaching, received a priest’s post and served in the Mykhailivska Church in Zhytomyr.
The Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 broke the established diet of the family. The father of Alexander three times arrested the NKVD, but each time they were released in the absence of guilt before the new government, until the 1932 Komsomol activists wrote a statement to the GPU (later this organization will be known as the KGB) asking them to protect their parents from the religious influence of the priest. According to the sentence of the so-called triple court, priest Havrusevych was sent to exile to the north, where he died of exhausting labor and illness.
The life of the future scientist to change the state system was calm in a well-off and secured family. Thank God, bad times have passed him: in 1917, Boris barely turned nine years old. At the end of the school, an 18-year-old capable boy invited Stepan Belsky to work at the Central Volyn Museum – a professor at Zhytomyr, head of the Department of Crystallography, Mineralogy and Geology at the Institute of Popular Education (today is the old school building number 35). Here he was greatly influenced by the geological department, initiated by Pavlo Tutkovskyi.
The professor was an old friend of the priest Oleksandr, the father of Borys, and in every way contributed to the development of the interests of the young worker, attracted him to a geological expedition that conducted intelligence in Volyn. It was an event that determined the future life of a future scientist. Soon he entered Volyn Industrial College in Zhytomyr. During scientific practice, especially interested and persistent, I was able to get to the Radiological (radiological) expedition of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, where he met with the recognized authoritative geologist Fersman.
An obsessive student writes a letter to Volodymyr Vernadskyi himself, an academician, founder of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, director of the “Radiina” Institute, in which he explains his enthusiasm for geology, the work of a scientist and asks him to send him a book, Essays on Geochemistry, for he himself has no means to acquire it.
After graduating from the technical school, Gavrusevich is sent to work at the Ukrainian branch of the State Geological Committee, founded in 1882 for systematic and comprehensive study of the subsoil, where he performed the task of studying the ore of the volcanic arrays of Volyn.
The work of a young geologist was so successful that Academician Fersman invited him to the position of research fellow of the Tien Shan expedition of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Inspired by trust and hopes, Borys goes to Central Asia. The achievements in the work of Havrusevych were so prominent that in 1930 a geologist who had no higher education was invited to enter postgraduate studies at the Institute of Mineralogy and Geochemistry. Scientific supervisor Havrusevych became Oleksandr Fersman. Then Borys was 21 years old. Studying at postgraduate study, he conducts research on minerals and pegmatites of Ukraine.
In 1931, for the first time in Ukraine in Zhytomyr region, pegmatites began to be developed for the purpose of extraction of topaz in the villages of Pysarivka and Vyshniakivka. At the same time the question arose about the creation of the first collection of minerals and rocks, which was initiated by the initiative of Havrusevych and his colleague Amberger. In the future, she gave a boost to the museum.
After Oleksandr Fersman became known for the opening of the expedition, a unique collection, and the discovery of jewelry topazes, he wrote in a scientific article: “… what previously formed the pride and prerogative of the Urals now is in large numbers in Volyn.” Specialists-geologists gave Volyn the name “Urals in miniature”.
In the study of the geology of the Urals, Ukrainian scientist Havrusevych has done a great deal. The leadership of the Ural Branch of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR appointed a talented researcher to head the Baikal Geological Expedition. At the same time, as a leading specialist in the study of pegmatites, he becomes a consultant to the Pamir expedition.
Taking into account the successful work and achievements of Gavrusevich, in 1935 academician Vernadsky recommended that the qualification commission of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR assign him a candidate of sciences with the right to hold the position of doctor of sciences. In 1936, the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences granted Borys Oleksandrovych a Ph.D. degree in geology and mineralogy without defending a dissertation for numerous works in the field of geology.
At the age of 28, Havrusevych became a professor, head of the department at Sverdlovsk University, the most authoritative expert in the field of mineralogy and geology of pegmatites.
From the first months of the Second World War, Havrusevych is appointed consultant and scientific director of industrial institutions important for the military.
In the postwar years Professor Havrusevych headed the Department of Geochemistry, becoming dean of the Geological Faculty of the Kyiv University. He was recognized as the best geologist-diagnostician. He works fruitfully with Zhytomyr geological exploration expedition. With his participation, a collection of pegmatite minerals was restored, on the basis of which in 1951 a museum was created in the city of Khoroshev (former Volodar-Volynsk). Today it is a museum of precious and decorative stones, one of the most famous in Ukraine and the world.
Visitors to the museum, a professor at the University of the United States James Garvin, wrote in the review book: “The fairy-tale museum has nothing to do with my experience. Incredibly interesting and enriching my visit. ”
Borys Havrusevych died in March 1965 in Kiev. Buried on the main alley of Baiko Cemetery.

Serhii Sobchuk
Member of the National Union of Local History of Ukraine
Anna Sobchuk, co-author
Translated by Aliona Matushevich