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

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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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