The Far East Geological Institute was established in 1959 within the Far Eastern Branch of the Siberian Division of the USSR Academy of Sciences. The Institute’s birth was a result of the development course taken by the Russian geology and had a great importance for the Russian Far East’s mineral resources economy.

An immense contribution in organizing and developing the Institute, in defining its main research areas was made by Ekaterina Aleksandrovna Radkevich, the Institute’s first director, a Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, and a Hero of Socialist Labor. In this she was aided by a brilliant research team of the FEGI’s first generation: Academician A.A. Marakushev, Doctors of Sciences N.P. Vasilkovsky, I.N. Govorov, M.N. Gramm, S.S. Zimin, P.V. Markevich, P.G. Nedashkovsky, A.M. Smirnov, L.N. Khetchikov, S.A. Shcheka, V.I. Shuldiner. That was exactly when the democratic spirit, enthusiasm for work and high work ability were formed and since then distinguish FEGI from other geological organizations being its calling card.

Initially the Institute aimed a major task comprising different areas of geology and metallogeny of the richest Pacific ore belt. FEGI began works in different areas of the Russian Far East and in the neighboring PRC and DPRK. On the initiative of E.A. Radkevich the Institute’s employees commenced to systematically study the Far Eastern seas’ shelf and gathered a vast collection of igneous and sedimentary rocks of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. That was also the time of forming and strengthening close relations between FEGI and the production organizations.

Throughout its history the Institute has been headed by renowned scientists, including Academicians V.G. Moiseenko and A.D. Shcheglov, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences I.Ya. Nekrasov, Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences V.G. Khomich, Academician A.I. Khanchuk. At present FEGI FEB RAS is headed by the Candidate of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences I.A. Aleksandrov.

Nowadays FEGI FEB RAS is a research institution combining the best traditions of the Russian geological school and modern top-level technologies that is ready to solve geological issues of the Russian Far East.

The Institute holds a powerful Analytical Center (MAC - Multiple Access Center) possessing a wide range of modern scientific equipment. Some techniques used in MAC have no analogs in Russia and even in the world.

The main goal of the Far East Geological Institute FEB RAS is to organize and carry out fundamental and applied scientific research in the field of geology and metallogeny of East Asia and adjoining Pacific basin area. The Institute’s basic scientific activities fall into the following research areas: geology, lithosphere dynamics, magmatism and metamorphism of the continent–ocean transition zone; metallogeny of typical geodynamic environments; environmental geology, interaction between the atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere in modern geoecological systems of the Pacific region.

FEGI FEB RAS has the leading role in the Far East in the field of Earth Sciences. The Institute actively promotes the international and in-Russian cooperation, carries out research within the frame of long-term international agreements with Japan, China, Vietnam and several European countries. Its employees are heads of international and interdisciplinary projects; they participate in the implementation of the interstate programs of geological exploration in Asia-Pacific countries. Many of the FEGI FEB RAS employees are members of international geological organizations and scientific journals’ editorial boards. The Institute organizes a number of international and All-Russian scientific conferences. A great number of publications in co-authorship with foreign scientists and specialists from Russian organizations is indicative of the Institute’s employees’ high involvement in scientific collaboration.

FEGI’s workers take part in the training of the personnel needed for the geological sciences in the Far Eastern Federal District; they lecture in universities and hold career guidance meetings with the youth. FEGI FEB RAS successfully runs postgraduate studies which represent the third level of higher education for the field of study 05.06.01 «Earth Sciences». It also comprises a specialized council for the defense of doctoral and candidate theses Д 005.006.01 in the following fields of study: 25.00.01 “General and Regional Geology”, 25.00.04 “Petrology and Volcanology, 25.00.11 “Geology and Minerals Prospecting”.

Data obtained at the Far East Geological Institute FEB RAS show the high level of scientific research and are significant for both Russian and World Science as well as for the socioeconomic development of the Far East.