The Vivid Fate of the first Kalmyk Anthropologist. The 85th Anniversary of Danara Ovshinovna Ashilova
The article is devoted to the 85th anniversary of Danara Ashilova, the first Kalmyk anthropologist. Her childhood years were very hard, there were three children in the family, the eldest, Danara, turned 7 when the war started, then the Kalmyks were deported to Siberia. However, the Ashilovs survived, the children managed to get education. Danara had always dreamed of becoming a scientist. After graduating from the Osh Pedagogical Institute and completing her postgraduate studies at the Institute of Ethnography of the USSR Academy of Sciences in Moscow, she successfully defended her thesis entitled “The Anthropological Composition of the Kalmyk People”. The unique life and legacy of Danara Ashilova were completely dedicated to studying the anthropology of ethnic groups of Kalmyks, processes of constitution and consolidation of the Kalmyk people. Her scientific works have contributed greatly to the development of anthropology of the peoples of Russia.