Born on November 19, 1900 in Kazan, Mikhail Lavrentyev was one of the main organizers and the first Chairman of the Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences (in his time Siberian Division of the USSR Academy of Sciences) from 1957 to 1975, Hero of Socialist Labour, Lenin and USSR State Prizes Winner, holder of Lomonosov Gold Medal, member of several foreign Academies, honorable citizen of Novosibirsk. As a member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Lavrentyev undertook the idea of establishing a new science center in the eastern Russia, which resulted in erecting a "science town" Akademgorodok in the vicinity of Novosibirsk.