Nikola Bonev headed the chair of Astronomy in Sofia University for over 40 years. He wrote first textbooks on Astronomy, Theoretical Astronomy and Astrophysics. His textbooks have been republished many times up to now. His studies on Lunar and Mars craters were highest graded from astronomers. He proposed that the big craters have volcanic origins and smaller ones – meteoric origins. These scientific results are widely accepted in science and can be read in every contemporary textbook in Astronomy.

       Except scientific and teaching activities, Bonev developed enormous public and organizational activities. He was chairman of the Astronomy Department and Director of the Astronomical Observatory in Sofia University for over 40 years. He wasdirector of the Astronomycal Institute of BAS for 24 years. He initiated creation the National Astronomical Observatory inRozhen mauntain, the largest observatory in South – Eastern Europe and something that Bulgarian Science can be proud of.

Address:
GEORGI NADJAKOV INSTITUTE OF SOLID STATE PHYSICS
Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
72 Tsarigradsko chaussee blvd.
BG-1784 Sofia, Bulgaria
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Fax: +359 2 975 36 32
E-mail: gkamish@issp.bas.bg
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