Feofan Davitaia

Feofan Farneevich Davitaia ( 2 (15) September 1911, in village Eki, now Senaki Municipality, Georgia – 29 July 1979, in Tbilisi, Georgia) was a Georgian geographer, climatologist and agrometeorologist. doctor of agricultural sciences, academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Georgian SSR (1960), Honored Scientist of the Georgian SSR (1966). Became a member of the CPSU in 1939. Davitaia was professor of the universities of Leningrad (1950–1951) and Moscow (1955–1961). In Moscow, for several years he also delivered lectures at the Courses for the improvement of professional skill at the Central Board of Hydrometeorological Service, USSR Council of Ministers. From 1963, Davitaia continued educational work at Tbilisi State University, directing a large number of postgraduates who successfully developed his ideas in their research.

For 15 years, Davitaia was a member of the Scientific and Technological Council of the USSR Ministry of Agriculture; he took an active part in the work of the State Commission for the strain testing of agricultural crops on the territory of our vast country. He participated in the preparation of the many-volume fundamental edition "Ampelography of the USSR".

Biography Feofan Davitaia was born on 15 September 1911 in the mountainous village of Eki, Tskhakaia district, Georgia, where he went to elementary school. From 1909 Davitaia's father worked in Poti as a stevedore. Later his large family also moved to Poti. As a result of processing the materials of long-term meteorological observations Davitaia wrote a scientific monograph, "Climatic Resources of Cuba", which was published (jointly with I. I. Trusov) in Spanish (Havana, 1965). A somewhat modified version of that monograph was published in Tbilisi in Russian (1966). This book was highly appraised in a number of published reviews, including one in the United States. To mark this important event in the scientific life of the Republic of Cuba, in 1965 the Cuban Academy of Sciences conferred on Davitaia the title of cofounder of the Institute of Geography in Havana, presenting him with a diploma. Davitaia’s Scientific missions abroad were combined with geographical excursion-expeditions. Among them particularly fruitful in the scientific respect were his travels in Brazil, Cuba, the United States, Ireland, and the PRC. The results of those travels were used in developing the climatic criteria for the identification.

In 1967-1968, at the invitation of the University of Wisconsin, Davitaia delivered a course of lectures on contemporary problems of climatology and agrometeorology for the postgraduates and professors of the Department of Geography. During his stay in the USA Davitaia published papers in American scientific journals; his monograph, "Methods of Agricultural Assessment of Climate", was published in the same period. At the 1976 International Congress in Moscow Davitaia was again elected to this high post. At that Congress he directed the work of the section of climatology, hydrology, glaciology, and oceanography. At the XIV Geographical Congress of Czechoslovakia (1978) Davitaia read a paper on the topic "Present-day Problems of Geography". At that Congress he was elected an honorary member of the Czechoslovak Geographical Society.

Davitaia’s scientific and public activities were a model of selfless service of his fatherland. His scientific investigations had a considerable influence on the development of Soviet geography, climatology, agricultural meteorology and a number of other sciences.