Mintimer Shaimiev meets with Rashid Syunyaev

Tatarstan’s State Counselor Mintimer Shaimiev has met with a prominent astrophysicist, academician Rashid Syunyaev.

On September 4-7, Rashid Syunyaev took part in the international conference “X-ray sky: from stars and black holes to cosmology” that was organized by his initiative.

At the beginning of the conversation he thanked Mintimer Shaimiev for invitation. “I was eager to see you and wish success in your great mission on restoration of historical and cultural monuments in Bolgar and Sviyazhsk,” he said. Rashid Syunyaev noted that he heard a lot about the project from his son and grandson who visited Bolgar two weeks ago and were very impressed especially by the White Mosque. He also said that he is going to visit ancient Bolgar to see the mosque and other unique monuments.

Mintimer Shaimiev told about the history of construction of the White Mosque noting that its white color means purity of deeds and thoughts. He also informed Rashid Syunyaev about restoration works being performed in Bolgar and Sviyazhsk, shared his impressions about recent trip to the Altai region and the Republic of Altai.

Mintimer Shaimiev and Rashid Syunyaev discussed urgent problems in the sphere of preservation of historical and cultural heritage, the role of science and scientific research in revival of spiritual and material heritage.

President of Academy of sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan Akhmet Mazgarov took part in the meeting.

Reference: Rashid Alievich Syunyaev is the academician of the Russian Academy of sciences, chief research scientist at the Institute of space research of the Russian Academy of sciences, Director of the Institute of astrophysics of the Max Planck Society (Germany), honorable academician of Academy of sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan. For his unique scientific research he was given many prestigious international awards, including Crafoord Prize in astronomy of the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences, Russell awards (the highest distinction of the American Astronomical Society), King Faisal International Prize (physics), and Kyoto Prize. In 2012 he was awarded with Benjamin Franklin Medal in physics for fundamental contribution to understanding the early Universe and properties of black holes.