Shirshov"s Institute of Oceanology RAS is the oldest and largest Russian research center in the field of oceanology. The main task of the IOR is the comprehensive study of the World Ocean and the seas of Russia on the basis of the idea of the unity of the physical, chemical, biological and geological processes occurring in them, the creation of scientific bases for predicting the variability of the Earth's climate, the rational use of marine resources and ensuring environmental safety for the sustainable development of mankind.
The Institute was organized by the decision of the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences in 1946 on the basis of the Laboratory of Oceanology that existed since 1941. The first director of the Institute of Oceanology was P.Shirshov. Together with him, the well-known scientists LA Zenkevich, VG Bogorov, SV Bruevich, AD Dobrovolsky, PL Bezrukov, ID Papanin took an active part in the creation and formation of the new scientific center. , V.B. Shtokman and others.
IORAN today is a team of 1,215 employees, among them 105 doctors of sciences and 261 candidates of sciences of various specialties. Now the Institute has 2 full members of the RAS, 4 corresponding members of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
The Institute has in its composition the Atlantic Branch (Kaliningrad), the South Branch (Gelendzhik), the branch in St. Petersburg, the North-West Branch (Arkhangelsk), and the Caspian Branch (Astrakhan)