On 18 February 2004, Mikhail Ivanovich Pudovkin, Professor of the Physical Faculty, Head of the Laboratory of the Magnetospheric Physics of the St. Petersburg University, suddenly died from a heart attack. It happened during a scientific seminar where he was actively involved in discussion on the ring current of the Earth.

M. I. Pudovkin was born on 22 May 1933 in the small town of Pargolovo in the St. Petersburg region in a large family. He graduated from the physical faculty of the Leningrad University and began postgraduate studies. A year later he was included into the second Soviet Antarctic Expedition and participated in the foundation of a new Soviet station Pionerskaya deep within the Antarctic continent. The results of the observations in the Antarctic led M. I. Pudovkin to a series of important discoveries in space physics. Together with other scientists he contributed to the formation of a new branch of space science: physics of space plasma. Soon M. I. Pudovkin made a series of important contributions to this field of science including development of the physical model of the solar wind interaction with the terrestrial magnetosphere, studies of magnetospheric substorms, development of methods of forecasting the magnetosphere state on the basis of observations of the solar magnetic fields, and study of mechanisms of the impact of solar activity on the state of the lower atmosphere and climate.

M. I. Pudovkin was a distinguished specialist in all these fields and was widely known among the specialists in space physics and aeronomy.

M. I. Pudovkin founded a well-known scientific school. His former students and postgraduates became well-known specialists in various branches of atmospheric and magnetospheric physics. Among their achievements are modern sophisticated models of the magnetosphere, methods of geomagnetic activity forecast, and mechanisms of solar activity impact on weather and climate. M. I. Pudovkin was a brilliant lecturer and had a rare talent as a real teacher. He was supervisor of about 50 postgraduate students. Seven of his former students received doctorate of science degrees.

M. I. Pudovkin was actively involved in scientific organizational work. He was a member of the Editorial office of several national and international scientific journals, actively participated in various scientific bodies like COSPAR, IUGG, SCOSTEP, and others. M. I. Pudovkin actively participated in the work of our journal, being an Associated Editor of IJGA. All his colleagues will remember Mikhail Pudovkin and greatly miss him as a brilliant scientist and a good man.