The article is devoted to academic work of V.N. Kudryavtsev (1923–2014), an outstanding legal researcher, academician, state and public figure, whose centenary is celebrated this year. His name is primarily associated with criminal law and criminology though the range of his professional interests was much wider. He fulfilled researches in theory and sociology of law, criminal politics, legal cybernetics, legal political science, and legal conflictology. His academic works were always dedicated to pressing and insufficiently studied issues of legal science and the promising directions that still retain their potential for the future. V.N. Kudryavtsev significantly enhanced the doctrine of criminal law and elaborated the theoretical aspects of the objective side of crime and created as a result the general theory of crime qualification. He also addressed the subjects of criminalization/decriminalization of socially dangerous acts and modeling of criminal law norms. He was one of the first to recognize the potential of using cybernetics in legal practice and showed the possibilities of computer programming in application of legal rules. V.N. Kudryavtsev’s contribution to the revival and development of Russian criminology and creation of its scientific foundation is invaluable. In studies dealing with causes of crime and genesis of individual criminal behavior he also addressed one of the fundamental issues of sciences about humans i.e. the ratio of biological and social in human development. V.N. Kudryavtsev first headed the State Institute for the Study of Causes and Development of Crime Prevention Measures, and afterwards the Institute of State and Law of the Academy of Sciences, where he contributed to development of new areas of legal research and introduction of sociological and mathematical methods. Later, as vice-president of the Academy of Sciences, he supervised the work of academic social sciences institutes. V.N. Kudryavtsev’s legacy is extensive and diverse and, unfortunately, not fully appreciated by modern scholars. To pay tribute to his memory and to remind the basic, most fundamental and absolutely up-to-date academic ideas of V.N. Kudryavtsev, that was the purpose of the authors of this article.