Vasily V. Shuleikin was endowed with an amazing scientific intuition. One of the peculiarities characteristic of his scientific work was the development of new interes- ting, in terms of theory, and important, in terms of practical implications, directions in geophysics. He put forward ingenious scientific hypotheses, which formed the groundwork for the study of natural phenomena. Incidentally, in doing this Shuleikin focused on gaining insight into the mechanism of the phenomenon, on the basis of which a physical theory of the process under study was generated. Shuleikin passed some of his ideas over to his students.

Laboratory experiments and in situ tests required original facilities, and novel instrumentation was a primary component of the research. He designed himself a circular channel, the so-called Storm Basin, which was constructed in Katsiveli in 1953 and where a series of major experiments on the kinematics and dynamics of wind waves and drift currents were conducted. The data collected were used as the basis for developing the theory of sea roughness.

On Shuleikin's initiative, the R/Vs Yu~y Shokalsky and Mikhail Lomonosov were built for the Marine Hydrophysical Institute, making possible open sea investigations.

Vasily V. Shuleikin paid special attention to various sciences related to physics, namely, the theory of climate, physical chemistry, technical and biological physics, marine aerology, the dynamics of suspended particles and alluvia, etc.

He considered nature not only as an object that we are expected to explore, but also, as a teacher conveying to us its wisdom. This applied specifically to the study of the mechanism responsible for the travel of marine organisms and birds.

In 1963, when the Marine Hydrological Institute was passed over to the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences and moved to Sevastopol, Vasily V. Shuleikin established in Katsiveli a department for the study of thermal electrical and magnetic phenomena occurring in the sea. Concurrently, he continued to deliver lectures on the physics of the sea at Moscow University. During that period of his life, he mainly concentrated on the investigation of the earth's magnetic fields; electrical and magnetic fields at large depths; and the generation, evolution, and decaying of tropical hurricanes and major waves produced by the latter. In 1978 (1 year prior to his death), he published a monograph about the origin of tropical hurricanes.

During his life, V.V. Shuleikin published about 250 important papers. This heri- tage today allows us to cope with the most important scientific heritage.

S. G. BOGUSLAVSKY