5 years ago Leonid Potapov, 95, famous researcher of the Siberian folks, passed away in a small village within the Leningrad region. It went unnoticed by public at large as since perestroika Potapov, Lenin and Stalin State Prizes winner, had been considered a scientist of old party school. 2005 is also the year of Potapov's 100th anniverasary which was celebrated neither in Altai, where he was born, nor in Tuva where he has been researching for 11 years. Taken away all that party 'element' from his scientific works his contribution to the ethnographic study of the Siberian folks is really huge. He has been investigating the traditional beliefs of the Siberian peoples. He wrote chapters 'Shors', 'Tuvans', 'Khakassians' in the multivolume work 'Peoples of Siberia', in its turn, part of the 'Peoples of the World'. His work on the Altai shamanism finished in 1991 was highly estimated by the American Foundation for Shamanic Stidies which awarded Potapov in 1993 with a special prize.
In 1996 he was awarded in Hungary with the Gold medal by the Permanent International Altaistic Conference for his researches on Siberian folks.