Today marks 85 years from the day of birth of the famous Russian ethnographer and tuvinologist Sevyan Vainshtein (1926 - 2008). He was born in Moscow in the family of professor of philosophy Izrail Yakovlevich Vainshtein, who was the head of a department of the Moscow Aviation Institute. According to his son's reminiscences, he was a romantic, who deeply believed in the ideals of the Revolution. He defended it as a member of the First Horse Army during the years of the Civil War. Sevyan Izrailevich's mother came to the Soviet Union from Riga. She was enthusiastic about the idea of building a new world, taught German language, and wrote poems.