President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev has signed a decree defining the implementation of renewable energy sources as one of the important directions of state policy. The document states, "Increasing energy efficiency in the economy and social sphere, wide implementation of energy-saving technologies and renewable energy sources should become one of the relevant directions of state policy at the present stage." The President set a task to increase the share of renewable energy sources in the total electricity generation to 25% by 2030. Such ambitious goals are possible thanks to state support and the knowledge accumulated by Uzbek scientists. Uzbekistan has rich experience in scientific research on the use of solar energy. A pleiad of Uzbek scientists who worked on issues of heliotechnology and whose names are known to specialists around the world lived and worked in Uzbekistan.

The founder of heliotechnology science in Uzbekistan is considered to be academician Giyas Yakubovich Umarov, a native of Tashkent. His merits were eloquently described by Professor Daniel Alpert from the USA, who chaired the International Symposium on Energy held in Davos (Switzerland) in August 1990 (according to the story of the symposium participant Professor Sultan Suleymanov, November 2015): "In Tashkent, there was an outstanding scientist, Professor Giyas Umarov. He conducted huge and invaluable research in the field of using solar energy. In the mid-60s, Giyas Umarov organized the international journal "Heliotechnology," in which he published his scientific works and ideas. This journal was the only one in the world and provided scientific information on the use of solar energy. His research was 50-60 years ahead of its time, and now we see how his bold ideas are being realized. Therefore, we all consider him our mentor." Now Professor Sultan Suleymanov from Tashkent will present a report on "One MegaWatt Solar Furnace."

In 1972, Professor Giyas Umarov initiated the construction of the Large Solar Furnace in Uzbekistan. Deputy Chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers, Chairman of the State Committee for Science and Technology of the USSR, Academician V.A. Kirillin, visited Tashkent several times to address this issue. In 1975, G. Ya. Umarov delivered a report on this issue at the Military-Industrial Complex (MIC) under the chairmanship of the Minister of Defense of the USSR, member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee D.F. Ustinov. According to Academician R.A. Zakhihov's account: "The speech at the MIC was on December 25, Giyas Yakubovich's birthday. After the report was approved, we were told that we urgently needed to contact the leadership of the republic. Giyas Yakubovich and I went to the representation of Uzbekistan, where the plenipotentiary contacted the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Uzbekistan Central Committee Sh.R. Rashidov, who in turn turned to the Chairman of the State Planning Committee of the USSR N.K. Baybakov. As a result, we agreed to include the construction of the Large Solar Furnace (LSF) in the plan for the following year. According to the recommendations of the MIC, the CPSU Central Committee and the USSR Council of Ministers adopted a resolution on the construction of the LSF in the Tashkent region. As the driver, together with my father, R.A. Zakhihov, A. Alimov, and other members of the team, I repeatedly went to select a site for the construction of the LSF. The Large Solar Furnace was built in 1987 under the leadership of Azimov S.A.

In the fall of 1946, Giyas Yakubovich Umarov traveled to Leningrad to enter graduate school and study nuclear energy. At that time, nuclear issues were strictly classified, and Giyas Yakubovich was refused admission due to a lack of clearance, with a recommendation to return to Tashkent. Leaving the building of Leningrad University, where he attended a popular science lecture on nuclear physics, Giyas Yakubovich suddenly saw academician S.I. Vavilov coming down the stairs. Vavilov had been elected President of the Academy of Sciences, but still remained Chairman of the Leningrad branch and spent some of his time in Leningrad. Vavilov walked towards the university, and Giyas Yakubovich followed him and wanted to address him, but in his excitement forgot Vavilov's name and patronymic. After a while, Vavilov stopped, turned around and asked, "Do you want to tell me something, young man?" - "Yes, Comrade Vavilov!" was the answer. Sergei Ivanovich returned to his office and together they called the director of the Radium Institute, academician V.G. Khlopin, and offered him to test the applicant. The director tasked Giyas Yakubovich with developing an instrument for registering elementary particles. Two weeks later, V.G. Khlopin came to the laboratory to check the progress. According to Giyas Yakubovich's account, the instrument did not work during the test, although it had been functioning the day before, as confirmed by the laboratory supervisor. Drenched in sweat, Giyas thought he had failed the task. However, the director patted the young scientist on the shoulder and said it was called the Visit Effect and that he was accepted as a graduate student.

Giyas Yakubovich Umarov was the first candidate of sciences in nuclear physics in Uzbekistan. In 1949, he successfully defended his dissertation at Moscow State University. The day before the defense, a pre-defense was held at the laboratory of academician L.D. Landau. During a scientific dispute between Gias Umarov and Lev Landau, differences arose over the mass of the neutrino. Umarov suggested that the mass of the neutrino could not be greater than 1/50-1/100 of the electron mass, while it had previously been thought that the mass of the neutrino was 0.3-0.8 of the electron mass. The discussion continued until lunchtime in the laboratory, after which Landau invited Umarov to his home, where they continued to discuss the scientific problem until evening, leaning on a couch. In the evening, L.D. Landau wrote a positive review, but noted that "the dissertator remained with his opinion, and the opponent with his." The next day, the Scientific Council of Moscow State University, consisting of 43 members, unanimously voted to award Giyas Umarov the scientific degree of Candidate of Physical and Mathematical Sciences. During the defense of the dissertation, a curious incident occurred: 10 minutes after the start of the presentation, Umarov noticed that the members of the Scientific Council were talking among themselves and not listening to him. He interrupted his presentation, and the chairman asked him if he had finished his speech. Umarov replied that he had not, but he could see that he was not being listened to. The chairman called for silence, and Umarov continued his presentation, after which all members of the council listened attentively until the end.

The link to the results of Giyas Umarov's neutrino mass research was mentioned in the fundamental article "Neutrino Mass in Particle Physics and Early Universe Cosmology," written by the distinguished scientists: academicians Ya.B. Zeldovich and M.Yu. Khlopov, who are laureates of the Lenin Prize and four Stalin Prizes. The article was published in the journal "Uspekhi Fizicheskikh Nauk" in September 1981. The authors consider the development of physics as exemplified by the evolution of knowledge about neutrino mass and refer to the results of research by 12 scientists, including 11 Nobel laureates and the young candidate of sciences, Giyas Umarov. Frederick Reines (1918-1998) was an American physicist who experimentally detected neutrinos in 1956, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1995. Giyas Umarov was also an experimental physicist and published his work on neutrino mass in 1949, where he likely described an experiment with neutrinos. It would be useful if our nuclear physicists studied the works of Reines and Umarov on this issue and wrote a generalized article.

Giyas Umarov left a significant legacy in the field of nuclear energy. In 1957, he organized a group of young scientists from Uzbekistan at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) in Dubna and developed a beta-spectrograph on a permanent magnet, on which he obtained many unique results in the field of spectral analysis of unstable nuclei. His group became a pioneer of many experimental methods and concepts of research, which gave rise to similar research centers in other countries. The result of the research was the monograph "Beta-Spectrographs with Permanent Magnets," written by G. Ya. Umarov and co-authors. In 1958, Giyas Umarov organized a plasma laboratory at his alma mater, the Physico-Technical Institute in Tashkent, under the direction of academician I.V. Kurchatov. He worked on issues of controlled thermonuclear reaction, and Igor Vasilyevich Kurchatov personally sent two wagons of equipment for plasma research, which were assembled at the Physico-Technical Institute. Under G. Ya. Umarov's gidence, A. Alimov and V. Trukhov, defended their candidate dissertations based on research on these installations.

Since 1963, Giyas Yakubovich Umarov fully shifted his focus to heliotechnology. While at the Institute of Physics and Technology (FTI), he organized the Helio Department, consisting of four laboratories and a design bureau, as he was always interested in the problem of finding and developing sources of energy. As early as 1954, at the All-Union Conference on the Use of Solar Energy, which discussed schemes for creating solar power plants, Giyas Yakubovich proposed the now widely known tower-type solar power plant scheme with a heliostat field. The need to build solar power plants in Uzbekistan did not leave G.Y. Umarov in peace. At his initiative, in 1981, an on-site meeting of the section on the thermodynamic method of converting solar energy was convened in Tashkent under the Scientific Council of the State Committee for Science and Technology of the USSR. The meeting approved solar-fuel power plants (SFPP) based on unbalanced gas fields as a promising option. The Ministry of Energy of the USSR was responsible for preparing the feasibility study for the construction of a large SFPP in Uzbekistan (Gazli).

Professor G.Y. Umarov paid special attention to the effective use of solar energy in agriculture. Under his leadership, work was carried out on solar drying of agricultural products, pulsed irradiation of cotton and other crops for increased yield and early ripening, and solar desalination. Work was also carried out on the use of photo-destructive polymeric films for mulching cotton crops. The professor was the initiator of the widespread planting of cotton on ridge-profiled beds. Together with the rector of the Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Melioration of Agriculture, Professor S.P. Pulatov, devices were developed for creating such beds and for covering cotton crops with photo-destructive film. Long-term tests of these methods and devices at the farm of the Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Melioration of Agriculture proved their effectiveness. In 1988, Giyas Yakubovich proposed a device for selecting heated water for irrigation from the upper lens of reservoirs, while in the technologies used at the time, water was taken from lower layers where the temperature was 15-20 degrees lower. This device received a patent. Such water selection reduces the vegetative period and ultimately significantly increases yields.

He was interested in the history of natural sciences, including suzani - an ancient textile with hand embroidery, which was passed down from generation to generation in Uzbek families. Suzanis are embroidered by young brides and show discs of the sun, planets, and moon; they are called "falak," which means "sky". In particular, in the suzani from the Umarov family relic, there was an ornament with a large sun in the center and several smaller discs with spiral patterns around it, placed on "orbits". Legend has it that the first "sun and moon" Suzani was made by the bride of one of Mirzo Ulugbek's students. The bride saw a diagram of the solar system in her beloved's cabinet and used the drawing in her embroidery with the sun in the center and the rotation of the planets represented by spirals. In 1973, the world celebrated the anniversaries of two outstanding scientists: the 1000th anniversary of Abu Rayhan Al-Biruni and the 500th anniversary of Nicolaus Copernicus. This inspired Giyas Yakubovich Umarov to study the works of Biruni and Copernicus from the perspective of modern science. In 1973, he published a book called "Biruni, Copernicus, and Modern Science," which was translated into English and published in the United States in 2001 under the title "At the Crossroads of the Millennium."

Giyas Yakubovich Umarov devoted most of his career to teaching at universities in Tashkent, as well as to raising and training highly qualified scientific personnel and specialists. Under his scientific guidance, 54 doctoral and candidate dissertations were defended. He is the author of  4 monographs, 6 popular science books, has published over 250 scientific articles, and received 31 copyright certificates.

One of Giyas Yakubovich's merits was the organization of the first Heliopolygon at the Physical-Technical Institute of the Uzbek SSR in the early 1960s. 

Delegations from all over the world and the USSR came to visit and learn about heliotechnical devices, earning Tashkent the nickname "Mecca of Heliotechnicians".  Dozens of graduate students from Uzbekistan, the USSR, and foreign countries conducted their research on the use of solar energy at this site. Later, Giyas Yakubovich's students organized similar polygons in Bukhara by Prof. B. Ochilov and in Karshi by Prof. A. Vardiashvili. At the initiative of Giyas Yakubovich, in the mid-1970s, the first plant for the production of helio-installations was built in the Karaul-Bazar of the Bukhara region, the first in the USSR.

In the last years of his life, Professor G.Ya. Umarov actively participated in the rescue of the Aral Sea, one of the largest environmental disasters on the planet. He addressed the leadership of the USSR, including M.S. Gorbachev, and was a member of the Committee for the Restoration of the Aral Sea, proposing ways to solve this problem.

Professor G.Ya. Umarov was also a member of the Scientific Council of the USSR Academy of Sciences on the comprehensive problem of "Exploring new ways of using solar energy", a member of the Scientific Council of the State Committee for Science and Technology of the USSR on energy issues, a member of the bureau of the Central Scientific and Technical Society of the Ministry of Energy of the USSR, chairman of the Problem Council on heliotechnics of the Academy of Sciences of the Uzbek SSR, and a member of the specialized council on the defense of doctoral dissertations at the Scientific Production Association "SUN» of the Turkmen SSR.

Giyas Yakubovich was at the forefront of the creation of the All-Union journal "Heliotechnika" and was its deputy chief editor. This journal is still being reissued in the United States. Giyas Yakubovich remained intellectually active until the last day of his life and wrote an article on methods of maintaining stable plasma equilibrium in a tokamak. He was simply a man who dreamed of using the power of plasma and the Sun to improve people's lives. This dream was the essence of Giyas Umarov and his legacy, which will continue with his followers.

Giyas Yakubovich was awarded the Order of Honor, the Medal "For Distinguished Labor", and numerous honorary diplomas. Anatoly Ershov was a friend of Giyas Yakubovich for many years and often conversed with him. In 1996, he wrote a book about him, which was published in Moscow, reissued in the USA at 2001. It is now being reissued in Uzbek and dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the birth of Giyas Yakubovich Umarov. This outstanding scientist, innovative experimenter, and respected individual will live on in the hearts and minds of his descendants, friends, colleagues, and students.

Academician, Professor R.A. Zakhidov and

Honorary Academician of the International Academy of Cosmonautics named after K.E. Tsiolkovsky, Professor G.G. Umarov