Kanysh Satpayev was born on April 12, 1899 in the family of an educated nomad (he could read, write, knew the Arabic language and Surahs of the Koran by heart). From birth, Kanysh Satpayev bore a different name – Gabdul-Gani.
In the Russian-Kazakh school in the first grade he was enrolled in the Russian language Kanysh and under this name he became known throughout the world. Satpaev entered the teacher’s seminary after leaving school, then to the mining department of the Tomsk Technological Institute.
From his youth, Satpayev strove for knowledge, was interested in everything new and was engaged in self-education. Satpayev compiled a textbook of algebra, collected works of folk art, studied stone sculptures, architectural monuments and cave paintings, and was interested in archeology.
In one of the halls of the Hermitage there is a plate with the inscription Timur, discovered by a future archaeologist near the Ulytau ridge on the slope of Mount Altynshok. Satpayev was also interested in the humanities. In 1927, in Moscow, he published the book “Er-Edige”, which is a monument to the oral folk art of Kazakhstan.
Under his leadership and initiative, work began on the publication of a multi-volume history of Kazakhstan and the collected works of Ch. Valikhanov. The special merits of the academician include the discovery of the Nizatas and Dzhezdy manganese ore deposits, which provided the needs for the ferrous metallurgy of the plants of the Urals and Siberia during the Great Patriotic War