Back in the early 1950s, the scientists of Kazakhstan understood necessity of developing fundamental and applied scientific research in the area of nuclear physics and the use of atomic energy in the national economy. The President of the Academy of Sciences of the Kazakh SSR, Academician Kanysh Imantayevich Satpayev wrote in his address to the Council of Ministers of the USSR and the CPSU Central Committee: "The huge expansion of productive forces in Kazakhstan requires appropriate strengthening of science in Kazakhstan and introduction of the latest achievements of nuclear physics in all parts of the industry, agriculture, and health care".
The initiative of Kanysh Imantayevich was supported by Igor Vasilievich Kurchatov and many well-known physicists of Kazakhstan. Their proposals were supported by the Governments of the USSR and the Kazakh SSR. Presidium of the Academy of Sciences of the Kazakh SSR issued the Decree No. 14/4 of July 25, 1957, on establishment of the Institute of Nuclear Physics on the basis of the Physical-Technical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Kazakh SSR.
By the same Decree, Zh.S. Takibayev was appointed as acting Director of the Institute of Nuclear Physics. The decision of the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences of Kazakh SSR № 49 of June 12, 1958 G.D. Latyshev was appointed as the Director, who worked in this position until 1965.
Work on establishment of the Institute of Nuclear Physics was started with determination of its structure. There were proponents among members of the Academy of Sciences of the Kazakh SSR who advocated inclusion laboratories from the Department of Biological Sciences, the Department of Earth Sciences and other Departments in the Institute’s structure. However, the decision was taken that the Institute of Nuclear Physics should have a strictly physical profile. As a result, the structure comprised:
✓ Reactor Physics Sector, which included Neutron Physics Laboratory, Radiochemical Laboratory and Reactor Maintenance Department;
✓ High-Energy Physics Sector with High-energy Particles Laboratory and Cosmic Rays Laboratory;
✓ Nuclear Physics Sector with Laboratories specializing in Nuclear Reactions, Radioactive Radiations, Nuclear Spectroscopy and Nuclear Resonance, and Cyclotron Maintenance Department;
✓ Theoretical Physics Sector with Department of Theoretical Physics and Computational Laboratory;
✓ Sector of Technical Physics, which consisted of Electronics and Automatics Laboratory, Spectral Analysis Laboratory, Cryogenics Laboratory, and Experimental Instrumentation Laboratory;
✓ Applied Nuclear Physics Sector, which was planned to develop the use of nuclear physics methods in medicine, metallurgy and mining.
With the development of the Institute of Nuclear Physics, its structure has kept changing: sectors were replaced by departments and Centers, new laboratories were opened and old ones were transformed.
