In connection with the centenary of K.Ya. Kondratyev, the academician of the USSR and RAS, the article examines the scientific path of the outstanding geophysicist, the man who, being a student of the Physics Department of LSU, became an ordinary participant in the second world war and after severe injuries, finished his studies, worked his way from the assistant to the University rector, becoming a scientist whose works were highly appreciated in the world scientific community and are still in demand today. K.Ya. Kondratyev was one of the first to use remote sensing methods of the Earth and atmosphere from manned spaceships, his contribution to the implementation of both national and international research complex experiments, to the consideration of the problems of modern climate change, global ecology and the development of the strategy of global EcoDynamics being great. K.Ya Kondratyev was awarded the State prize of the USSR, was a co-author of scientific discovery "the Phenomenon of vertically-ray structures of day radiation of the upper atmosphere of the Earth”, listed in the State register of discoveries of the USSR under No. 106 with priority from May 19, 1971, was a winner of the Honorary award and was awarded the Grand gold medal of the World Meteorological Organization. He was awarded the Simons Gold medal of the Royal meteorological society of Great Britain. K.Ya Kondratyev was elected an Honorary member of the American Meteorological Society (USA), Royal Meteorological Society (UK), Academy of Natural Sciences "Leopoldina" (Germany), foreign member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (USA), member of the International Academy of Astronautics, an honorary doctor of the universities of Lille (France, Budapest (Hungary), Athens (Greece). For many years he has an editor of the "Earth Research from Space" journal, a member of the editorial boards of "Optics of atmosphere and ocean" and "Izvestiya of the Russian geographical society" journals, a member of the editorial boards of foreign journals of "Meteorology and Atmospheric Physics" (Austria), "Idojaras" (Hungary), "II Nuovo Cimento C", "Italy", "Atmosfera" (Mexico), "Energy and Environment" (UK). His scientific and literary heritage consists of 120 monographs and more than 1,500 scientific articles published in the leading scientific journals in Russia and abroad