Background
Sergey Rufovich Smirnov was born on October 15, 1909 in Buturlinovka, Voronezh, Russian Federation.
Sergey Rufovich Smirnov was born on October 15, 1909 in Buturlinovka, Voronezh, Russian Federation.
Sergey Rufovich graduated from the pedagogical college, the African sector of the philological faculty of Leningrad State University (now Saint Petersburg State University) (1939).
Sergey Rufovich Smirnov worked as a teacher in the Far East, in Siberia, Kazakhstan (1928-1934). Senior researcher at the Institute of Ethnography of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1945-1959). One of the founders of the Institute of Africa, in which he headed the history sector (since 1959). He took part in work on generalizing works: "Peoples of Africa" (Moscow, 1954), "Recent History of Africa" (Moscow, 1964, 1968).