The historical background to the compilation of this book can be traced back to 1907. In September and October of that year, S.S. Neustruyev and A.I. Bekonov initiated systematic soil-geographical investigations within the territory of Kazakhstan. Following the route of the planned Turkestan-Siberian Railway, they conducted soil surveys from Semipalatinsk to Verny (present-day Almaty), marking the formal beginning of modern soil science in the country. Over the following years, large numbers of researchers continuously devoted themselves to investigations of Kazakhstan's soil cover, accumulating extensive field data and laying a solid foundation for the subsequent development of the discipline. As the editors note in the preface, the history of soil science is not merely a collection of personal biographies; more importantly, it involves tracing the evolution of ideas, hypotheses, theories, and research methods. Therefore, the book is not simply a record of individual lives. Through the experiences of researchers, it seeks to reconstruct the entire process through which the scientific ideas, research directions, and theoretical paradigms of Kazakh soil science emerged and evolved. The volume includes not only front-line soil researchers but also organizers and administrators of soil survey programs. It records both individual scholarly contributions and the major scientific works that these individuals led or helped produce, thereby presenting a comprehensive picture of the human resources behind the development of the discipline. The development of soil science in Kazakhstan has been marked by significant fluctuations and has been deeply influenced by the socioeconomic and political environments of both the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. As a result, the pace of disciplinary development was uneven. The field reached its peak during the 1970s and early 1980s. During this period, the fourteen-volume series Soils of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic was published, numerous monographs on soil science appeared, a national soil map of Kazakhstan at a scale of 1:2,500,000 was compiled and printed, and large-scale integrated studies of soil processes were carried out nationwide. At that time, the Institute of Soil Science of the Academy of Sciences of the Kazakh SSR was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor. Many researchers received medals from the Exhibition of Achievements of the National Economy of the USSR, while a research team led by Academician V.M. Borovsky won the State Prize of the Kazakh SSR. These achievements represented the historical peak of soil research in Kazakhstan during the Soviet period. However, from the 1990s through the early twenty-first century, the collapse of the Soviet Union dealt a severe blow to soil science. Funding for basic research was drastically reduced, university soil science departments were abolished or merged with other disciplines, and the Ministry of Education and Science of Kazakhstan eliminated the independent specialization of “Soil Science,” forcibly incorporating it into the field of “Agrochemistry.” As a consequence, the influx of young researchers declined, and the chain of intergenerational scientific succession was disrupted. At the administrative level, a number of questionable decisions were also made. The government once planned to relocate the Soil Institute to the village of Shortandy in Akmola Region. The decision was ultimately revoked only after sustained resistance from the institute’s leadership and the broader academic community, although the institution had already expended considerable time and effort in the process. In addition, the institutional affiliation of the research organization changed repeatedly. The Institute of Soil Science of the Academy of Sciences of the Kazakh SSR, established in 1945, was reorganized in 2003 into a branch of the U.U. Uspanov Soil Research Institute and placed under the A.I. Baraev Agricultural Production Association of the Ministry of Agriculture of Kazakhstan. In October 2006, it was reorganized once again as the state subsidiary enterprise known as the U.U. Uspanov Research Center for Soil Science and Agrochemistry under the Ministry of Agriculture of Kazakhstan. These frequent changes in institutional names and administrative affiliations created numerous obstacles to the stable development of the discipline. Such practical difficulties also became an important motivation for the compilation and publication of this book. As no comparable biographical reference work had previously existed in Kazakhstan, the editorial team collected and integrated published literature and archival materials from both Russia and Kazakhstan. They also made extensive use of primary sources, including scholars’ own publications and private correspondence, in an effort to reconstruct the research trajectories of individual soil scientists as accurately as possible. At the same time, they openly acknowledge that limitations in available historical sources may have resulted in omissions or inaccuracies and express the hope that future scholars will supplement and refine this work. The book combines historical retrospection with contemporary realities. It recounts the pioneering stages of soil exploration during the late Russian imperial period and the various phases of the Soviet era, while also documenting the challenges faced by Kazakh soil science after independence. In doing so, it presents the diverse research landscape of the discipline. The editors hope that this biographical handbook will encourage greater appreciation of the history of domestic soil science, provide a useful reference for contemporary soil researchers, inspire a new generation of scholars, and help restore the former academic prestige of soil science in Kazakhstan. The entire work is dedicated to the centennial commemoration of soil science in Kazakhstan. It serves both as a tribute to generations of soil researchers and as a valuable primary source for future studies on the history of soil science in Central Asia.