Vasily Vasilievich Radlov

Vasily Vasilievich RADLOV (January 5, 1837 — May 12, 1918) represents a new peak in Russian Turkology. He was born and studied in Berlin. Among his university professors was the orientalist Wilhelm Schott (1802—1880), who published a scientific article on the history of the Kyrgyz in 1864.

From 1858 until the end of his life, V.V. Radlov lived and worked in Russia. In 1861—1862 and 1868—1869, he traveled through Northern Kyrgyzstan and Southeastern Kazakhstan. His works: "Samples of Folk Literature of Turkic Tribes," "From Siberia," "A Dictionary of Turkic Dialects," and others encompass, in addition to Turkological materials, rich Kyrgyz studies information. V.V. Radlov recorded and published excerpts from the epic "Manas" and other folklore monuments of the Turks.

The name V.V. Radlov is also associated with the publication of the work of Jusup Balasaguni "Kutadgu Bilig" (11th century) and the deciphering of about a dozen letters of the Orkhon-Yenisei script (alongside the Danish scholar Wilhelm Ludwig Thomsen (1842—1927), who was the first to find the key to reading the Orkhon inscriptions in November 1893). Thus, V.V. Radlov also made a significant contribution to the restoration of the historical memory of the pre-Islamic written culture of the Kyrgyz and their historical neighbors.