Draft:Svetlin Kiradzhiev

Svetlin Kiradzhiev
Born	(1930-02-05)February 5, 1930 Berkovitsa ,Kingdom of Bulgaria
Died	December 20, 2016(2016-12-20) (aged 86)
Alma mater	Sofia University 22 "Georgi Stoykov Rakovski" SU
Occupation	Professor

Svetlin Kiradzhiev (5 February 1930 – 20 December 2016) was a Bulgarian geographer, university teacher, and associate professor.

Biography

He was born in Berkovitsa. In 1947, he graduated from the Second Sofia Boys' High School, and in 1951, he studied geography at Sofia University. From 1952 to 1967, he worked as a geography teacher in Sofia and was a basic teacher at Sofia University and the Pedagogical Institute at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. In 1967, he joined a competition as a research assistant at the Institute of Geography of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Works on the problems of the population and settlements in Bulgaria. He is interested in internal migration movements and in various aspects of urbanization. In 1971, he specialized in Germany. In 1984, he defended his doctoral dissertation on the topic "Географски особености на миграцията на населението в Република България," and in 1987, he obtained his habilitation and became a senior research associate II degree. In 1996–2004, he was an associate professor in the Department of Geography at Shumen University and a part-time associate professor at Southwestern University in Blagoevgrad.

Scientific publications

He published four scientific-methodical manuals for teachers and collaborated on methodical and pedagogical magazines and newspapers. He is the author of about 45 scientific articles and studies and participated in reports at all scientific congresses of geographers in Bulgaria after 1968.

He also participated in the compilation of the "Атлас на НРБ" (1973, co-author of 4 maps), "Природният и икономически потенциал на планините в България" (1990, section "Състояние и перспективи за развитие на населените места"), as well as in the "Атлас на София и Софийска агломерация" (1993) and "Енциклопедия на България" (published by BAS in 7 volumes).

In 1993, his monograph "География на видни българи" was published, in which he researched the birthplaces of 500 Bulgarians, as well as academicians (from 1869 to 1969) and professors at Sofia University (from 1888 to 1938), which are published in separate articles. He wrote a series of articles and books about Sofia: "Sofia, as it was 1878–1943" (2001), "Sofia: 125 Years of the Capital (1979–2004)" (2006), and "Sofia, as it was 1944–1989" (2010). .  He is the author of the books "Български градове" (2008) and "Български села" (2009).

Svetlin Kiradzhiev is the author of a book about the life and scientific work of academician Anastas Beshkov (1988) and of biographical and creative essays about Prof. Guncho Gunchev, Prof. Lyubomir Dinev, Lyuben Melnishki, Prof. Mityo Pechevski, Prof. Ivan Batakliev, Prof. Tyanko Yordanov, Associate Professor Vladimir Popov, and others.

In 1998, he published the book "Хронологията в развитието на географските науки в България,"  published by the Bulgarian Geographical Society on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Geography major at Sofia University.

Svetlin Kiradzhiev is the author or co-author of a number of science books about Bulgaria and the world: 

• "Сливен" (1963);„Из Западните *"Родопи” (1967);
• „Извън Пиринския край” (1977);
• „Горнотракийска низина” (1990);
• „География на България” (1997);
• Велико Търново (2007)
• "Рим" (1971; 1983);
• "Париж“ (1980);
• "Лондон" (1981);
• "Гърция" (1982);
• "Италия" (1985);
• Срещи с градове (1988)
• "Япония" (1994 г., в изд.);
• „Енциклопедичен географски речник на България” (1999);
• "Енциклопедия География на света“ (2001; 2010).

He is a member of the Teaching and Methodological Council at the Ministry of Public Education and participates in the compilation of geography curricula. For a long time, he cooperated with the Institute of Cartography in the production of educational geographical maps and atlases. He is the author of a dozen scripts for educational films for the Nauchnopopulari Filmi film studio.