Nikolai Drozdov - Soviet and Russian zoologist, professor, TV presenter. ******************************************************* ******************************* Nikolai Nikolaevich Drozdov was born on June 20, 1937 in Moscow, in the family of a famous chemist. His father also had excellent knowledge of Latin and several other languages, was fond of paleontology, astronomy, botany, and history. In the appropriate atmosphere, Nikolai also grew up. While still at school, on the advice of his father, he summer vacation worked as a herdsman at a stud farm near Moscow. After school, he entered the Faculty of Biology of Moscow State University, but two years later he dropped out - he wanted independence, so he began to work. In a clothing factory, starting as an apprentice, in two years he "grew" to a master in tailoring men's outerwear. But then he returned to Moscow State University and in 1963 he graduated with honors from the Faculty of Geography, in 1964-1966 he studied there in graduate school, in 1968 he defended his candidate's, and in 2000 - his doctoral dissertation on biogeography. In parallel with his studies, Drozdov has been working as a researcher at the Department of Biogeography since 1966, since 1979 as an associate professor, and since 2000 as a professor, being today one of the most respected scientists and teachers of Moscow State University. He teaches ecology, ornithology, nature conservation, biogeography of the world, constantly delivers lectures, including abroad.

But Nikolai Nikolayevich is best known as the host of the weekly popular TV show "In the Animal World", where he has been participating since 1968. He started as a speaker (with the presenter A. Zguridi) and scientific consultant films about animals, and since 1977 he has become an author and presenter. The guests of the Drozdov program were such famous scientists and travelers as: Jacques-Yves Cousteau, Thor Heyerdahl, Peter Scott, Gerald Darrell, Frederic Rossif, Heinz Silman ... In 1995, the program "In the Animal World" was awarded the TEFI award as the best educational program. Also, Nikolai Nikolaevich repeatedly participated in numerous scientific expeditions, both across the territory of our country and around the world. In 1971-1972, he traveled around Australia, traveled around many areas of it, published a book about this trip, "Flight of the Boomerang", which was reprinted several times. In 1979 he climbed the top of Elbrus. He visited the North Pole three times and dived into the hole there, twice descended to the bottom of Lake Baikal in a bathyscaphe, made two world travel on scientific ships, and hundreds more expeditions, thousands of meetings ... In 2003 and 2004, Drozdov took part in the reality show "The Last Hero", having lived both times for more than a month on uninhabited islands archipelagos of Bocas del Toro and Los Perlos (Panama).

Nikolai Nikolayevich is also known as the author of more than 200 scientific and popular science articles, about 30 books, textbooks and teaching aids. He is also the author and co-author of many films about nature and animals, the largest of which is the 6-episode television film The Kingdom of the Russian Bear, produced in collaboration with the BBC Natural History Department. The film had big success in many European countries, the USA and Australia. Drozdov was repeatedly invited to the jury of film festivals of popular science films about animals and nature in Great Britain and Italy. Member of the International Explorers Club, Russian Geographical Society, Russian Ecological Academy (REA), Russian Academy of Natural Sciences (RANS), New York Academy of Sciences, Russian Television Academy, international academies patronage, Social Sciences, Culture and Arts, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the ICF "Patrons of the Century" - Drozdov was awarded the Order of Friendship, Honor, "For Merit to the Fatherland" IV degree, St. Macarius, Metropolitan of Moscow II degree, the Golden Panda award (it is also called the Green Oscar ”), the Kalinga Prize for the popularization of science, the UNESCO A. Einstein medal and other awards. He is included in the honor roll of leading environmentalists and conservationists. environment all countries of the world "Global-500" UNEP. Drozdov is a consultant to the UN Secretary General on ecology, a member of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation and a member of the IUCN National Parks Commission, where he still works. Nikolai Nikolaevich is married. His wife, Tatyana Petrovna, works as a biology teacher at the Moscow Palace of Children and youth creativity. Their daughters are Nadezhda and Elena. In his free time from work and travel, Drozdov likes to work with living creatures. Among his favorites are snakes, tarantulas, phalanxes, scorpions. He is fond of horse riding, skiing, swimming in the hole, studying yoga. Likes to perform old Russian folk songs, romances and modern popular songs in Russian and foreign languages. In the 1990s, he even released a video for a song for the In the World of Animals program, and in 2005, a CD with his favorite songs. Nikolai Nikolaevich is sure that it is "kindness that will save the world."

FROM ancient times people accumulated experience in the use of natural resources, among which important role various animals played. By extracting them, they gradually learned the life and structure of animals. The beginning of zoology as a science was laid by the famous ancient Greek scientist and philosopher Aristotle (4th century BC). In his works "The History of Animals", "On the Parts of Animals", "On the Origin of Animals", etc., he gave a description of 452 different animals known at that time. Aristotle made a significant contribution to the study of the structure of animals, considering their body parts in relationship.

The campaigns of the Romans in distant countries greatly enriched science with knowledge about the animals of North Africa, Asia Minor and Europe. The ancient Roman scientist Pliny the Elder (23-79 AD) in his multi-volume Natural History gave a description of all the animals known at that time.

In the era of feudalism, when Europe was divided into many small possessions of feudal lords, and the religion that dominated society hampered the development of science, the study of animals experienced a period of prolonged stagnation.

The great Renaissance (XV-XVI centuries) was the time of a new flourishing of science. The travels of the great explorers of that time - Columbus, Marco Polo, Magellan and many others - greatly enriched the knowledge of mankind about the animal world of different continents.

accumulated towards the end of the sixteenth century. extensive material on fauna various parts Earth demanded their systematization and generalization. Of such generalizing zoological works, the multi-volume summary of the Swiss scientist K-Hesper (1516 - 1565) "History of Animals" is of the greatest value - a genuine encyclopedia for that time of data on the animal world.

In the 17th century a microscope was created, which opened up to zoologists a vast and wonderful world the smallest animals and allowed to start studying the finest structures organs of multicellular animals. Of the first zoological studies using a microscope, we should first of all note the work of the Dutch naturalist A. Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723), who published a 4-volume work "The Secrets of Nature, discovered with a microscope." He discovered ciliates, described erythrocytes, muscle tissue of higher animals, and much more. The Italian scientist M. Malyshgi (1628-1694) described capillaries in circulatory system vertebrates, made chain discoveries in the field of the microscopic structure of the excretory organs and integuments of various animals.

In physiology, M. Servet (1511-1543) and especially W. Harvey (1578-1657), who described the blood circulation in humans, did a lot. In the XVII-XVIII centuries. modern animal taxonomy and paleontology were born. The name of J. Cuvier (1769-1832) is associated with the development of the principle of correlation, according to which all parts and organs of the animal body are inextricably linked with each other, and a change in one of them entails a change in the rest of the organs of the body (Aristotle wrote about this in general terms earlier ). This position is used by paleontologists, restoring the whole animal on the basis of its remains found in the petrified state. Among the most important works of J. Cuvier, we note the “Kingdom of the Animals” in 5 volumes, “The Iconography of the Animal Kingdom” with 450 tables and 6200 drawings, many of which are used in modern scientific and educational literature, "Discourses on the upheavals on the surface of the globe and the changes they have produced", "Research on fossil bones" (first edition in 4 volumes, fourth in 10 volumes). In "Reasoning ..." the theory of catastrophes, the distribution of fossils in the layers of the Earth, and at the same time the refusal to recognize the change of fauna as a result of evolution are set forth.

19th century marked by the approval of the idea of ​​the evolution of the organic world, the gradual development of all living nature from more simple forms to more complex ones. The development of the idea of ​​evolution was also facilitated by the creation in the 30s years XIX in. theory of the cellular structure of animals and plants (T. Schwapn, M. Schleidep), which laid the foundation for the idea of ​​the unity of the animal and plant worlds.

Great merit in the development of the ideas of animal evolution belongs to the famous French naturalist J. Lamarck (1744-1829). He developed and improved the taxonomy of animals proposed by K. Linnaeus, did great job for the study of invertebrates. But the work of Lamarck "Philosophy of Zoology" (1809) is especially valuable, in which he opposes the metaphysical views of most biologists of that time about the immutability of animal species and sets out the first holistic theory of the evolution of living nature. Lamarck argued that all plants and animals are constantly changing and transforming into new forms under the influence of external conditions and the internal desire for improvement inherent in every organism. K - A. Timiryazev considered Lamarck's main work "Philosophy of Zoology" a work in which for the first time the question of the origin of organisms is discussed not in passing, but with all the necessary breadth of coverage, fully armed with the scientific knowledge of that time. But, having created the theory of evolution of the animal world, Lamarck gave an erroneous interpretation of the cause of this process.

The ideas of evolution in biology finally won after the publication by Charles Darwin (1809-1882) of his main work “The Origin of Species by natural selection, or the preservation of favored breeds in the struggle for life" (1859). In this remarkable work, Charles Darwin not only proved the existence of the variability of species and the evolution of the entire organic world, but also revealed the causes of this process. He explained the expediency of the organization and fitness of living beings as the result of long-term natural or artificial selection - the most important factor in evolution. Darwin's theory of evolution was highly appreciated by V. I. Lenin, who pointed out that Darwin was the first to put biology on a completely scientific basis, establishing the variability of species and the continuity between them.

The importance of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution of the organic world for natural science and, in particular, for zoology is enormous: a scientific materialistic explanation was given to the structure and phenomena of animal life. There is no branch of zoological knowledge in which the approval of the evolutionary doctrine would not cause fundamental changes in the views of scientists. The victory of the theory of evolution in biology served as a powerful stimulus to the development of all branches of zoology.

The rapid development of zoological research in late XIX in. and especially in the 20th century. was closely associated with the growth of animal husbandry, fishing and hunting, and other branches of agriculture that use zoological data. The development of zoological science has largely contributed to the growth and improvement of agriculture and the protection of human health. Accumulation of huge actual material and theoretical constructions, about animals and their lives, led to the division of zoology in the 19th century. and the beginning of the 20th century. on a number of branches - zoology has become a complex science.

In our country, zoology has a long and glorious history. Even in the first Russian books (“Russian Truth”, etc.) there are references to many animals that lived in Ancient Russia. But zoological research was widely developed in Russia in the 18th century, when the Academy of Sciences organized a series of distant expeditions to study the nature of various regions of the country. Academician P. Pallas (1741-1811) traveled to the Volga region, Siberia, Kazakhstan and the Urals, S. Steller (1709-1746) - to Far East, S. Gmelin (1745-1774) - to the south European Russia, I. Guldenshtedt (1745-1781) - to the Caucasus, I. Lepekhin (1740-1802) - to the central and northern regions of the country. They collected large zoological collections and made many observations of the animals of the areas they visited. On the basis of these materials, P. Pallas created the fundamental work "Russian-Asian Zoography", in which he gave a description of all vertebrate animals of the Russian fauna known at that time.

The study of the animal world of Russia continued in the first half of the 19th century, when many scientists made a number of long journeys to various remote regions of the country. Particularly fruitful was the three-year trip of Academician A.F. Middendorf (1815-1894), who traveled almost all of Siberia and, in the full sense of the word, “scientifically discovered” it for natural scientists.

Of great importance for the development of Russian zoological science were the works of Professor of Moscow University K - Rulye (1814 - 1858), in which he developed the ideas of the unity of the animal organism and the environment, sought to show that changes in living conditions cause changes in animals. K. Roulier opposed the metaphysical views of Jean-Cuvier and other scientists who defended the theory of the immutability of species.

N. A. Severtsov (1827-1885), a student of K. Roulier, created a number of remarkable works on ecology and zoogeography. In them, he always emphasized the need to study animals in connection with their habitat. At the risk of his life, N. A. Severtsov entered the mountains and deserts Central Asia and gave" detailed description fauna of this wonderful country.

A great contribution to zoological science was made by the outstanding Russian researcher Academician K - M. Baer (1792-1876). He is deservedly considered one of the founders of the science of animal development - embryology. Great value for the development of fishing had expeditions K - M. Baer to the Caspian and Azov Seas.

Russian zoological science began to develop especially rapidly in the second half of the 19th century. after the publication by Ch. Darwin of the theory of evolution of organic nature. Leading scientists of Russia - botanist K. A. Timiryazev (1843-1920), zoologists A. O. Kovalevsky (1840-1901), I. I. Mechnikov (1845-1916), V. O. Kovalevsky (1842-1883) and others - not only popularized and disseminated the teachings of Darwin, but also enriched it with their research.

In the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries expeditionary study of the fauna of our country and neighboring territories continued. Such are the expeditions of N. M. Przhevalsky (1839-1888) and his students to Central Asia, N. M. Kiipovich (1862-1939) along the seas of Russia. These trips greatly enriched the knowledge about the fauna of Russia.

ABSTRACT ON ZOOLOGY ON THE TOPIC:

"Outstanding Scientists"

Novosibirsk city

Plan

1. Krasheninnikov Stepan Petrovich (1713-1755)

2. Pallas Peter Simon (1741-1811)

3. Ruler Carl (1814-1858)

4. Przhevalsky Nikolai Mikhailovich (1839-1888)

5. Kovalevsky Alexander Onufrievich (1840-1901)

6. Kovalevsky Vladimir Onufrievich (1842-1883)

7. Menzbir Mikhail Alexandrovich (1855-1935)

8. Severtsov Alexey Nikolaevich (1866-1936)

9. Sushkin Petr Petrovich (1868-1928)

10. Ognev Sergey Ivanovich (1886-1951)

11. Zenkevich Lev Alexandrovich (1889-1970)

12. Serebrovsky Alexander Sergeevich (1892-1933)

13. Geptner Vladimir Georgievich (1901-1975)

Krasheninnikov Stepan Petrovich

Krasheninnikov Stepan Petrovich (10/18/1713-02/12/1755) - the first Russian academic geographer, member of the Second Kamchatka Expedition, explorer of the Kamchatka Peninsula.

Born in Moscow in the family of a soldier. In 1724-1732 he studied at the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy (Moscow), then in the philosophy class of the Academy of Sciences and Arts (St. Petersburg). In 1733 he was enrolled as a "student student" in the Academic Detachment of the Second Kamchatka expedition and left for Okhotsk. Here he conducted hydrometeorological research, studied ichthyology, compiled a dictionary of the "Lamut language". On October 4, 1737, on the ship "Fortuna" he left Okhotsk for Kamchatka, where he was engaged in research for 4 years, having made many expeditions around the peninsula. In four years, he crossed the peninsula in different directions: he walked, rode sleds, rafted down rivers, climbed mountains. He conducted comprehensive research as a geologist and geographer, as a botanist and zoologist, as a historian and ethnographer, as a meteorologist and linguist. Krasheninnikov conducted a comprehensive study of Kamchatka in the field of natural sciences (geography, geology, seismology, volcanology), was the first Russian to study tsunamis, made meteorological observations, paid much attention to the ethnography of local peoples (Itelmens, Koryaks, Ainu), compiled aboriginal dictionaries, collected folklore of the inhabitants of Kamchatka . In Nizhne-Kamchatsk, Verkhne-Kamchatsk, Bolsheretsk on archives and inquiries local residents restored the history of the region. He studied the flora and fauna of Kamchatka, and the ichthyology of rivers and adjacent sea waters. In February 1743, with his young wife Stepanida Tsibulskaya (from Yakutsk), he returned to St. Petersburg. Since 1748 he was the rector academic university and the gymnasium attached to it. On the basis of the collected material, he wrote the books "Description of the Kamchatka people", "On the conquest of the Kamchatka land" (1751), the capital work "Description of the land of Kamchatka" (1756) with the application of two maps. This was the first thorough work on Kamchatka. In 1745, Krasheninnikov was elected an adjunct of the Academy of Sciences, and in 1750 he was appointed professor (academician) of natural history and botany. In 1751 he completed his book Description of the Land of Kamchatka, but the author never managed to see it printed. February 25, 1755 Krasheninnikov died, and his book was published in 1756.

His work was the first in Russian and world scientific literature a study about Kamchatka, devoted to its geography, natural history, description of the life and languages ​​of local peoples. "Description of the land of Kamchatka", which has not lost its scientific value for more than 200 years, is an example of a comprehensive regional description of a little-explored territory, an example of the Russian literary language of that time. S.P. died. Krasheninnikov in St. Petersburg. In 1989, his name was given to the Kamchatka regional library. 10 named after Krasheninnikov geographical objects, including in Kamchatka - a peninsula, a bay, a mountain, an island; on the island of Karaginsky - a cape, on the island of Paramushir - a bay, a cape, near it - an underwater valley; on Novaya Zemlya - a peninsula and a cape, in Antarctica - a mountain.

Pallas Petr Simon

In 1767, the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences elected Pallas as its full member. Despite his incomplete 27 years, Pallas already had the glory of a brilliant biologist behind him, blazing new trails in the taxonomy of animals. He devoted more than 40 years of his scientific life to the new Motherland.

First big deal Pallas was an expedition to Eastern Russia and Siberia. From 1768-1774 the scientist explored central Russia, the regions of the Lower Volga region, the Caspian lowland, the Middle and Southern Urals, crossed Siberia, visited Baikal, Transbaikalia, Altai.

Pallas had a hard time enduring the hardships of the journey. Several times he suffered from dysentery, suffered from chronic colitis, rheumatism, and his eyes were constantly inflamed. The 33-year-old scientist returned to St. Petersburg completely exhausted and gray-haired.

Thanks to Pallas, zoology was enriched with new methods of research related to ecology and ethology.

For six expedition years, unique material has been collected on zoology, botany, paleontology, geology, physical geography, economics, history, ethnography, culture and life of the peoples of Russia.

Peter Simon proposed a structure diagram Ural mountains, in 1777 for the first time compiled a topographical scheme of Siberia. The collected material about the flora and fauna of these territories, the scientist outlined in the work "Travel to different provinces of the Russian Empire."

Pallas described more than 250 species of animals that lived on the territory of Russia, additionally reporting on the distribution, seasonal and geographical variability, migrations, nutrition, and behavior of the animals he described. Pallas often expressed ideas about the physical and geographical factors of their settlement, so he can be considered one of the founders of zoogeography.

In the 1780s, he worked hard on the preparation of a general code of plants in Russia. Due to lack of funds, only two editions of this extensive work "Flora of Russia", 1784 and 1788, containing descriptions of about 300 plant species and amazing illustrations, were published.

At the same time, Pallas published articles on geography, paleontology, ethnography, a two-volume work on history was published. Mongolian people. On behalf of Catherine II, Pallas published comparative dictionary all languages ​​and dialects of Russia.

In 1793-1794, Pallas undertook his second great journey, this time through the southern provinces of Russia. He explored the Crimea. The collections collected during this trip formed the basis of the collections of the academic cabinet of curiosities, and part of them ended up in the University of Berlin.

The works of Pallas provide detailed information about the climate, rivers, soils, flora and fauna of the Crimean peninsula, contain descriptions of many historical sites(Mangupa, Ai - Todora, Ayu - Daga, Sudaka, etc.). The scientist initiated the laying of the Nikitsky Botanical Garden, vineyards and orchards in the Sudak and Solnechnaya valleys, founded the Salgirka park in Simferopol. In honor of the scientist-geographer, one of the species of the Crimean pine was named the Pallas pine.

In 1797, Pallas's work "List of wild plants of the Crimea" was published. The author for the first time brilliantly described the vegetation cover of the Crimean peninsula, compiled an exhaustive list of wild plants of 969 species for that time.

The scientist initiated the laying of the Nikitsky Botanical Garden, vineyards and orchards in the Sudak and Solnechnaya valleys, founded the Salgirka park in Simferopol. In honor of the scientist-geographer, one of the species of the Crimean pine was named the Pallas pine.

In 1797, Pallas's work "List of wild plants of the Crimea" was published. The author for the first time brilliantly described the vegetation cover of the Crimean peninsula, compiled an exhaustive list of wild plants of 969 species for that time. In 1810 he returned to Berlin, where he died on September 8, 1811.

Ruler Carl

Ruler Karl (1814-1858) - Russian zoologist and doctor of medicine - was born on April 8 (20), 1814 in Nizhny Novgorod, Russian Empire.

In 1829, Roulier entered the Moscow Department of the Medical and Surgical Academy, from which he graduated on August 18, 1833 with silver medal and received the title of doctor. On August 6, 1836, he was approved as a tutor (assistant) under G. I. Fischer von Waldheim. Roulier worked with Fischer for one year. In September 1837, Fischer retired, and the Department of Natural History passed to Professor I.O. Shikhovsky, and Roulier was appointed adjunct professor. By this time, he had already received a doctorate in medicine. She was awarded to him for his dissertation on bleeding in general and hemorrhoidal in particular.

On March 5, 1838, the Council of the Academy instructed Roulier independent reading course of zoology and mineralogy. At the same time, he was entrusted with the management of the zoological and mineralogical rooms of the Academy, the exhibits of which Roulier widely used for demonstration at his lectures. Even before that - on July 13, 1837 - Roulier was appointed curator of the Natural History Museum of Moscow University. On November 18, 1837, he was elected a full member of the Moscow Society of Naturalists. On September 20, 1838, Roulier was elected second secretary of this society. On July 13, 1840, in connection with the relocation of I.O. Shikhovsky in St. Petersburg, Rulye was elected the first secretary of the Moscow Society of Naturalists and stayed with him until 1851.

At the same time, Roulier began a great deal of work on the study of the history of zoology in Russia. Roulier's work did not see the light of the day, but with the help of processing a huge amount of factual zoological material, Roulier was able to quickly understand the main directions of contemporary zoological science and understand the prospects for its development.

On February 28, 1840, the Council of Moscow University invited Roulier to take the chair of zoology that had been vacated after the death of Professor A. L. Lovetsky. In 1842 he was elected extraordinary, and in 1850 ordinary professor.

In the article "Doubts in Zoology as a Science" (1842), Roulier showed that the main direction of contemporary zoology - systematics - does not have reliable scientific principles classification that “where there should be the strictest laws, pure arbitrariness guides” and, consequently, many ideas prevailing in zoology are completely untenable. Accepting the idea of ​​the evolution of organisms, Roulier believed that the evidence for it, put forward by Lamarck, Geoffroy and others, was insufficient.

Roulier believed that numerous observations and "historical evidence" - data from geology and paleontology - are needed to prove the variability of species. Until 1849, Roulier intensively conducted field geological and paleontological studies and studied in detail all the most interesting outcrops of the Moscow region basin.

The study of geology and fossil organisms increasingly convinced Roulier of the historical development earth's surface and life on it, in the presence of the relationship between natural phenomena and the materiality of the causes that determine the development of the organic world. His classic work "On the Animals of the Moscow Province" and many others were essentially devoted to the proof of this.

Roulier developed the idea that the evolution of the earth's surface was accompanied by the evolution of the organic world, that changes caused successive successive changes in organic forms.

Roulier called the path that the researcher of the organic world must take the comparative-historical method of research. He was deeply convinced of the historical development of nature and the organic world, of the obligatory unity of the organism and the conditions of existence.

Roulier's essential contribution to the development of the theory of evolution was that he included interaction between organisms in the concept of environment.

Roulier was the first Russian biologist who began developing the problems of zoopsychology as a special branch of biology and pointed out the need to create "comparative psychology". He proved the dependence of the mental activity of animals, their instincts and way of life on the conditions of existence in which this species has been throughout history. Roulier was the first to approach the problems of zoopsychology as an integral part of animal ecology.

Roulier opposed the consideration of the instincts and mental activity of animals as phenomena that are not amenable to scientific explanation. “Either there is no instinct, or there is a sense in it”, - this is how he formulated his approach to the study of instincts, which he understood as reactions developed by a species throughout its history to certain environmental influences.

In 1854, Roulier founded and until his death (1858) edited the journal "Bulletin of Natural Sciences".

PRzhevalsky Nikolai Mikhailovich

Przhevalsky Nikolai Mikhailovich (March 31, 1839 - November 20, 1888) - scientist, geographer, traveler, explorer Central Asia, honorary member Petersburg Academy of Sciences from 1878, major general from 1886.

Born in the village of Kimborovo, Smolensk province in noble family. I have dreamed of traveling since childhood. His father, Mikhail Kuzmich, served in the Russian army. His initial teacher was his uncle P. A. Karetnikov, a passionate hunter who instilled in him this passion and, along with it, a love for nature and wandering.

In 1855 he graduated from the Smolensk gymnasium. At the end of the course at the Smolensk gymnasium, Przhevalsky decided in Moscow as a non-commissioned officer in the Ryazan infantry regiment; having received an officer's rank, he moved to the Polotsk regiment, then entered the General Staff Academy. At the height of the Sevastopol defense, he entered the army as a volunteer, but he did not have to fight. After 5 years of the unloved Przhevalsky N.M. military service was refused to transfer him to the Amur for research work.

In 1861 he entered the Academy of the General Staff, where he completed his first geographical work"Military Geographical Review of the Amur Territory", for which the Russian Geographical Society elected him as a member.

In 1863 he graduated from the academic course and went as a volunteer to Poland to suppress the uprising. He served in Warsaw as a teacher of history and geography at the cadet school, where he was seriously engaged in self-education, preparing to become a professional researcher of little-studied countries.

In 1866 he was appointed to Eastern Siberia. He made a number of expeditions to the Ussuri region (1867-1869), as well as in 1870-10-1885 to Mongolia, Tibet and China. Surveyed more than 30 thousand km. the path he traveled, discovered unknown mountain ranges and lakes, a wild camel, a Tibetan bear, a wild horse named after him. He told about his travels in books, giving a vivid description of Central Asia: its flora, fauna, climate, peoples who lived in it; collected unique collections, becoming a universally recognized classic of geographical science.

The result of the first trip was the book "Journey in the Ussuri Territory" and rich collections for the geographical society. For the first time he described the nature of many regions of Asia, lakes and mountain ranges unknown to Europeans; collected collections of plants and animals, described a wild camel, a wild horse (Przewalski's horse), etc.

He died of typhoid fever (11/20/1888), preparing to make his fifth expedition to Central Asia. A number of geographical objects, species of animals and plants are named after him. In 1892, a monument to Przhevalsky N.M. was opened in St. Petersburg. sculptors Schroeder I.N. and Runeberg R.A.

ToOvalevsky Alexander Onufrievich

Kovalevsky Alexander Onufrievich (1840-1901) - a famous Russian scientist, was born on November 19, 1840 in the estate of Vorkovo, Dinaburg district Vitebsk province. Alexander Onufrievich entered the Corps of Railway Engineers, but soon left it and entered the natural science department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of St. Petersburg University. In 1960, Kovalevsky left for Germany, where he soon began scientific work in the laboratory of the famous chemist Bunsen. Carried away by zoology, Alexander Onufrievich began to study histology and microscopy techniques with Professor F. Leydig. Returning to St. Petersburg, in 1863 Kovalevsky passed the university exams and received a PhD in natural sciences for his work on the anatomy of the sea cockroach.

In 1864, the scientist again went abroad. On the coast mediterranean sea A.O. Kovalevsky conducted a study of the larval development of ascidians, which showed a similar development with the lancelet larva. The zoologist studied the structure of intestinal-breathers, observed the embryonic development of ctenophores, bryozoans, phoronids, and echinoderms.

In 1865, Kovalevsky defended his master's thesis: "The history of the development of the lancelet - Amphioxus lanceolatus", two years later a doctorate degree for his dissertation: "On the development of Phoronis." Having completed a number of comparative embryological studies, Kovalevsky formulated his provisions on full compliance germ layers in vertebrates and invertebrates, drawing evolutionary conclusions from this position. For his work on the development of worms and arthropods (1871), the scientist was awarded the Baer Prize of the Academy of Sciences.

Alexander Onufrievich was successively professor of zoology at the Kazan and Kiev universities. In Kyiv, he took an active part in the organization of the Society of Naturalists, and published his works in its publications. In 1870-73, the scientist made scientific expeditions to the Red Sea and Algeria, where, studying the biology of the development of brachiopods, he established their similarity in embryogenesis with bryozoans and annelids. It became clear that Brachiopoda could not be combined with molluscs. Later, brachiopods were identified as a separate type.

In 1874, I.I. Mechnikov persuaded Kovalevsky to transfer to the Novorossiysk (Odessa) University. The scientist often traveled abroad, in Villafranca, a town near Nice, in 1886, with the participation of Kovalevsky, a Russian zoological station was organized, in our time it is run by the University of Paris. His article "Observation of the development of Coelencerata" (1873) was published, where the author cited data on the development of hydroid polyps and jellyfish, scyphomedusa and coral polyps.

In Odessa, Kovalevsky continued his embryological observations and began comparative physiological studies of the excretory organs of invertebrates. Kovalevsky A.O., applying the teachings of Mechnikov to explain the processes of dissolution of the larval organs and pupae of flies, showed that the larval organs are destroyed and eaten by the blood cells of the pupa, and special accumulations of cells (imaginal rudiments) remain intact and subsequently give the organs of an adult insect.

After being elected an ordinary academician of the Imperial Academy of Sciences in 1890, A.O. Kovalevsky moved to St. Petersburg, where in 1891 he took the chair of histology at St. Petersburg University. On the Black Sea coast, the scientist founded the Sevastopol Zoological Station, and for a long time was its director.

Since 1897, Kovalevsky was one of the editors of the Department of Biological Sciences in the 82-volume " encyclopedic dictionary» Brockhaus - Efron.

AT last years In his life, he studied a lot of leeches, exploring their anatomical structure, physiological features and lifestyle.

Alexander Onufrievich Kovalevsky died after a cerebral hemorrhage on November 22, 1901 in St. Petersburg.

Kovalevsky Vladimir Onufrievich

Kovalevsky Vladimir Onufrievich (1842-1883) - Russian paleontologist was born on August 12, 1842 in the village of Shustyanka, Vitebsk province. Since 1851 V.O. Kovalevsky studied at the private boarding school V.F. Megina in Petersburg. In March 1855 he entered the sixth grade of the School of Law, from which he graduated in 1861. Fascinated by natural science after his brother (the famous embryologist Alexander Kovalevsky), Vladimir Kovalevsky earned a living by translating books on natural science.

In 1861 he left for Germany, then to England, where at first he continued to study law. At the beginning of 1863, V.O. Kovalevsky went to Poland, where, together with P.I. Jacobi participated in Polish uprising. Returning to St. Petersburg at the end of the year, Kovalevsky met I.M. Sechenov and Dr. P.I. Lateral. Soon V.O. Kovalevsky abandoned the profession of a lawyer, and, again taking up translations, he finally became interested in the natural sciences.

In the autumn of 1868, V.O. Kovalevsky married Sofya Vasilievna Korvin-Krukovskaya, who later became an outstanding mathematician. Family circumstances forced the spouses to leave Russia for Germany: only there Sophia could enter the university.

In 1870, having moved with difficulty to London because of the Franco-Prussian War, the Kovalevskys settled near the British Museum. The scientist started in-depth study geology in all its directions. He spent a lot of time in the museum library, engaged in the taxonomy of mollusks, fish, and reptiles. Using the works of Cuvier, Owen, and Blainville, using the skeletons available in the Anatomical Museum and the dental system, Vladimir Onufrievich studied mammals.

One of critical tasks paleontology V.O. Kovalevsky considered the clarification family relations in the animal world. He traced phylogenetic series, considering them to be the best evidence for evolution. IN. Kovalevsky made the first attempt to build a pedigree of ungulates based on the principles of Charles Darwin's theory. His classic monograph “On Anchiteria and the Paleontological History of Horses” (1873) is devoted to this issue.

In his works, the scientist posed and correctly resolved such problems as monophyly and polyphyly in evolution, the divergence of signs (principles of divergence and adaptive radiation). He was concerned with the problem of the relationship between progress and specialization, the role of leaps in the development of the organic world, factors and patterns of extinction of organisms, changes in organs due to function change, the problem of correlations (ratios) in the development of organs, and some other laws of the evolutionary process. V. O. Kovalevsky became a pioneer of the paleoecological trend in paleontology.

Despite the fact that V.O. Kovalevsky to the study of paleontological material, based on the theory of Darwin, was fresh and new, world fame came to the scientist only after his death: V.O. Kovalevsky was recognized as the founder of evolutionary paleontology, a new stage in the development of this science.

In November 1874, V.O. Kovalevsky successfully passed the exams for a master's degree at the St.

On December 22, 1874, the St. Petersburg Mineralogical Society awarded V.O. Kovalevsky for his work on Entelodon Gelocus and his dissertation on Anchiteria.

Vladimir Onufrievich established a number of regularities in the evolution of ungulates. Of particular importance is the discovery by Kovalevsky in 1875 of the Law of adaptive and non-adaptive changes. The ecological distribution of almost all living organisms is subject to this law: the relative expediency of the structure of an organism is developed in connection with certain changes in the environment as a result of natural selection.

In 1875, due to the worsening financial position, the paleontologist had to resume publishing work and, at the insistence of his wife, begin a number of commercial cases, in particular, the construction of tenement houses and baths. In 1883, after a serious illness, he died.

Menzbir Mikhail Alexandrovich

Menzbir Mikhail Alexandrovich (1855-1935) - was born on October 4, 1855 in Tula, Russian Empire, into a poor noble family. His father was in the military; when Mikhail Alexandrovich was 11 years old, he lost his mother, who died of tuberculosis. After graduating from the Tula gymnasium in 1874 with a silver medal, Menzbir entered Moscow University in the natural department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics. His teachers were Yakov Andreevich Borzenkov (1825-1883) and Sergey Aleksandrovich Usov (1827-1886), students of K.F. Ruler (1814-1858).

Mikhail Alexandrovich graduated from the university in 1878, was left to prepare for a professorship at the Department of Zoology in the laboratory of Ya.A. Borzenkov. Menzbier's first scientific work, "The Ornithological Fauna of the Tula Province" (1879), was devoted to faunistics and zoogeography.

In 1879, having met N.A. Severtsov, Mikhail Alexandrovich began to work on his master's thesis "Ornithological Geography of European Russia", successfully defending it in 1882.

After defending the dissertation M.A. Menzbier undertook an obligatory foreign business trip to Europe. The scientist was engaged not only in zoogeography, but also in the comparative anatomy of vertebrates and invertebrates.

To work on his monograph, he collected material on birds of prey, got acquainted with the setting of the museum business, studied evolutionary problems, investigated and described many new subspecies and forms of diurnal predators. Despite the long period of rejection of the “triple taxonomy” and critical statements about it, Mikhail Alexandrovich was one of the first in our country to switch to the use of the triple (subspecies) nomenclature and later supported the interest in the new taxonomy among his students, zoologists B.M. Zhitkova, S.I. Ogneva, N.A. Bobrinsky, G.P. Dementieva.

Returning to Moscow University in 1884, M.A. Menzbier took up the post of assistant professor and began teaching activities. Mikhail Aleksandrovich was a brilliant lecturer; he taught lecture courses on zoology, comparative anatomy, and zoogeography.

At the age of 31, Mikhail Alexandrovich became one of the youngest professors of zoology in the history of Moscow University, he was approved as a professor at the Department of Comparative Anatomy and Zoology.

The principles of morphological and taxonomic analysis laid down in Mikhail Alexandrovich's doctoral dissertation "Comparative osteology of penguins in application to the main divisions of the class of birds" (1885) were later brilliantly developed by one of his talented students - P.P. Sushkin.

In 1914 M.A. Menzbier made a number of fundamental amendments and additions to the zonal zoning schemes proposed by N.A. Severtsov, zoogeographic schemes of A. Wallace, completing his study "Zoological sites of the Turkestan region and the probable origin of the fauna of the latter."

In the two-volume book “Birds of Russia”, for the first time, a synthesis of all knowledge on the systematics, distribution and biology of birds in our country was carried out. This monograph contains modern principles and traditions of taxonomy, zoogeography and ecology.

In 1911, in protest against the arbitrariness of the authorities, along with other professors and teachers, Menzbier left the university. After the revolution, the scientist returned and became its first rector (1917-1919). In 1896 he was elected a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences, in 1927 he became an honorary member, and in 1929 a full member of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Also M.A. Menzbir was elected an honorary member of the Moscow Society of Naturalists, and for many years was its president.

In 1930 M.A. Menzbir having done a great trip abroad, headed the Zoogeographic Laboratory of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR established for him.

However, in 1932, Mikhail Alexandrovich was bedridden by a serious illness, and on October 10, 1935 he died.

Severtsov Alexey Nikolaevich

Severtsov Aleksey Nikolaevich (1866-1936) - Russian evolutionist, author of studies on comparative anatomy of vertebrates. Created the theory of morphophysiological and biological progress and regression. In 1889 he graduated from Moscow University, in 1890 he received from the university gold medal. In 1896, he brilliantly defended his doctoral dissertation on the topic "Metamerism of the Head of the Electric Stingray". He was a professor at Yuryevsky (1898-1902), Kyiv (1902-1911) and Moscow (1911-1930) universities. In 1930 he organized and headed the Laboratory of Evolutionary Morphology and Ecology of Animals (now the A.N. Severtsov Institute for Problems of Ecology and Evolution).

Main Scientific research A.N. Severtsov are devoted to evolutionary morphology, the establishment of the laws of the evolutionary process, and the problems of ontogenesis. Each theoretical judgment of A.N. Severtsov is a generalization arising from specific long-term studies of his own and studies of his students. He devoted a lot of time to the study of head metamerism and the origin of the limbs of vertebrates, the evolution of lower vertebrates. As a result, he created the theory of the origin of the five-fingered limb and paired fins in vertebrates, which is now generally accepted in world science.

Based on the analysis of the morphological patterns of evolution, A.N. Severtsov created two theories: the morphobiological theory of the paths of evolution and the theory of phylembryogenesis. Developing the first theory, A.N. Severtsov came to the conclusion that there are only two main directions of the evolutionary process: biological progress and biological regression. He established four main directions of biological progress: aromorphosis, idioadaptation, cenogenesis, general degeneration. His teaching about the types of phylogenetic changes in organs and functions, about phylogenetic correlations, made a significant contribution to the largest general biological problem of the relationship between form and function in the process of evolution. He gave a detailed classification of the ways of phylogenetic changes in organs, proved that the only cause of phylogenetic changes is changes in the environment.

For 26 years, developing the significance of the role of embryonic changes in the evolutionary process, A.N. Severtsov created a coherent theory of phylembryogenesis, which in a new way highlighted the problem of the relationship between ontogenesis and phylogenesis. This theory develops the position on the possibility of hereditary changes at any stage of ontogenesis and their influence on the structure of descendants.

His ideas and works A.N. Severtsov developed until his death, that is, until 1936.

Sushkin Petr Petrovich

Sushkin Petr Petrovich (1868--1928) - a prominent Russian zoologist. Widely known as an ornithologist, zoogeographer, anatomist and paleontologist.

Born in Tula in a merchant family on January 27 (February 8), 1868. He received his secondary education at the Tula classical gymnasium, after which in 1885 he entered the natural department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Moscow University.

Sushkin's brilliant abilities set him apart from the students early on. Professor M. A. Menzbir (also from Tula), from whom he studied ornithology and comparative anatomy of vertebrates, immediately appreciated the observation and other important qualities of the student and did his best to help him.

In 1892, Sushkin's first scientific work "Birds of the Tula Province" was published.

After graduating from the university in 1889 with a gold medal, Sushkin was left at the department to prepare for a professorship. In 1904 he successfully defended his doctoral dissertation.

Conducted a lot of teaching work at Moscow and other universities. Students appreciated the extremely high level of his teaching.

P.P. Sushkin advanced early into the ranks of major zoologists and earned recognition at home and abroad. He was not only a theoretician, but also a first-class field naturalist, continued his activities as a field researcher and traveler until his old age and personally explored the fauna of vast territory from Smolensk and Tula provinces to Altai. The result of the trip was numerous observations and rich collections.

In 1921, Sushkin headed the ornithological department of the Zoological Institute of the Academy of Sciences. In 1922, he began work at the Geological Museum of the Academy of Sciences and was able to do a lot for the development of paleontological research.

In 1923 P.P. Sushkin was elected a full member of the USSR Academy of Sciences. His scientific heritage includes 103 works.

P.P. Sushkin died suddenly of pneumonia on September 17, 1928. He was buried in St. Petersburg at the Smolensk cemetery.

Ognev Sergey Ivanovich

Ognev Sergey Ivanovich (11/5/1886-12/20/1951) - Soviet zoologist, Honored Scientist of the RSFSR (1947). Outstanding spine zoologist, head of the Moscow school of theriology in 1930-1940. Comes from a family of hereditary Moscow intelligentsia. He graduated from Moscow University in 1910, left at the Department of Zoology (with which at that time the Zoological Museum was a single entity) as an assistant to prof. G.A. Kozhevnikov.

He read a number of courses at the department, in 1926 he received the title of associate professor, in 1928 - the title of professor, in 1935 - doctor of science.

All of it professional activity was associated with scientific gathering and the study of theriological collections. He was one of the first in Russia to collect serial materials on small mammals.

Already in 1910, on the basis of these collections, his first solid monograph "Mammals of the Moscow Province" was published, which laid the foundations for the fauna-ecological research direction of both Ognev himself and his students. S.I. Ognev traveled a lot around the country in order to study local theriofauna. Since the mid 1920s. he began to collect his personal collection of small mammals, which later became one of the largest collections of its kind in Russia and was acquired by the Zoological Museum of Moscow State University.

The main work of his entire life was a multi-volume summary of the fauna and ecology of mammals in Russia and adjacent territories: the first two volumes were called “The Animals of Eastern Europe and North Asia", the next five -" Animals of the USSR and adjacent countries.

In addition, S.I. Ognev, being the head of the Department of Zoology at Moscow State University, published a number of textbooks, including the fundamental work "Vertebrate Zoology". The main works are also on the taxonomy and faunistics of mammals; works on the fauna of birds, the history of zoology, biogeography, evolution of animals. Conducted field research in Central Russia, in the Caucasus, the Urals, in Semirechye and Turkmenistan.

Described a number of new species of mammals, paid much attention to the conservation of nature. The founder of the Moscow school of theriologists - specialists in mammals, among them: S.S. Turov, V.G. Geptner, A.N. Formozov, N.A. Bobrinsky, A.G. Tomilin and others. State Prize of the USSR (1942, 1951). He was awarded the Order of Lenin and medals. He died after a serious illness in 1951.

Zenkevich Lev Aleksandrovich

Lev Alexandrovich Zenkevich (1889-1970) - was born in the city of Tsarev, Astrakhan province of the Russian Empire, in the family of a veterinarian. In 1916 he graduated from the natural department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Moscow University. After graduation, he was left at the university to prepare for a professorship. From 1930 until his death, he headed the Department of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy of Invertebrates at Moscow University.

The whole life of L.A. Zenkevich was devoted to the study of marine biology. He was one of the founders of the first oceanographic institution in our country - the Floating Marine Scientific Institute. He took direct participation in the construction and equipment of Perseus, the pioneer of our research fleet, and then led complex expeditions on it to the Barents, Bely, and then to Kara seas. While working in the Barents Sea, for the first time on the scale of the whole sea, he applied quantitative methods for studying the benthic fauna.

In the 30s, the attention of L.A. Zenkevich is attracted by our southern seas and, first of all, by the Caspian Sea, which is exceptionally rich in valuable sturgeon fish. Studies of the benthic fauna of the Northern Caspian, which showed its relative poverty, are cited by L.A. Zenkevich to the search for ways to increase the biological productivity of this sea. Together with Ya.A. Birshtein, he developed a project for the acclimatization in the Caspian Sea of ​​valuable food invertebrates from Sea of ​​Azov which has been successfully implemented.

In the years Patriotic War, who interrupted expeditionary research on the seas, L.A. Zenkevich is engaged in experimental and theoretical development problems of evolution motor system animals.

His scientific background is great. He has published more than 300 scientific articles in magazines and collections, over 10 monographs and textbooks, a lot of popular articles and correspondence. He acted as editor of seven volumes of Proceedings of the Institute of Oceanology and a number of thematic collections scientific articles. His work covers wide circle questions on anatomy, taxonomy and ecology of aquatic organisms, biocenology and productivity marine fauna and flora, their quantitative distribution and biogeography. In recent years, he paid special attention to the problems of studying the deep-sea fauna and its origin in connection with the problem of the antiquity of the ocean as aquatic environment. Theoretical works related to the development of ideas about the biological structure of the ocean and about oceanic ecosystems are singled out. From applied research, it should be noted works on the use of biological and mineral resources oceans and seas, forecasts on the prospects for the development of fisheries, the development of mariculture, and much more. Exceptional value has his monograph "Biology of the Seas of the USSR", which in 1965 was awarded the Lenin Prize. Being a zoologist high class, L.A. Zenkevich acted as a pioneer in the field of broad comprehensive studies of marine fauna. He significantly expanded the concept of biological productivity of a reservoir, introduced quantitative method in the study of fish nutrition, which caused literally scientific revolution in marine biological research. Developing the theoretical problems of oceanology, he proceeded from the concept of the ocean as a single whole, where the physical, chemical, biological processes occurring in it are interconnected and interdependent. His concept of the biological structure of the ocean became methodological basis long-term biological research of the Institute of Oceanology in the World Ocean. Years of life of L.A. Zenkevich fell on a difficult period in the history of our country. He headed the department for 40 years (from 1930 to 1970) and one can imagine how incredibly difficult it was to keep the department and not lose face either during the years of Stalinist repressions or during the rampant Lysenkoism! All my life L.A. Zenkevich devoted himself to science, he worked for his country and for world science. His scientific and organizational activities are extensive. He was the founder and permanent president since 1952 of the All-Union Hydrobiological Society, the organizer of the Interdepartmental Oceanographic Commission under the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences since 1951, the vice-president of the Moscow Society of Nature Testers since 1956, the founder and editor-in-chief of the journal "Oceanology" since 1961, a member of the editorial board many other scientific journals, including foreign ones. His merits in science were awarded the Orders of Lenin, the Red Banner of Labor, the medal "For Valiant Labor", the Lomonosov Prize of Moscow State University (1954), the Gold Medal. F.P. Litke of the Geographical Society of the USSR (1956), the Gold Medal of Prince Albert I of Monaco - the highest award of the French Oceanographic Institute (1959). He was the recognized head of Russian oceanology, an outstanding biologist, the founder of an extensive school of Russian marine biologists, the largest organizer of research on the World Ocean, a scientist of exceptional breadth and versatility, a Man with capital letter. The marginal underwater swell bordering the Kuril-Kamchatka Trench in pacific ocean and studied in the expeditions of the "Vityaz", was named after him.

In the post-war years, with the advent of the new research vessel Vityaz, a new stage began in the study of the biology of the World Ocean, in which L.A. Zenkevich has a leading role. He led a complex multi-year oceanographic expedition of the Institute of Oceanology of the USSR Academy of Sciences, which covered almost the entire World Ocean with research. He became the initiator, organizer and participant of deep-sea research of oceanic fauna, in particular in the area of ​​the Kuril-Kamchatka depression, where depths of 9.5 km were explored.

L.A. Zenkevich was an excellent lecturer and teacher. He laid the foundations of the system of zoological education in our country, which is still in operation.

FROMerebrovsky Alexander Sergeevich

Serebrovsky Alexander Sergeevich (1892-1933) - was born in Tula, Russian Empire in 1892. Serebrovsky belonged to the group of those biologists who had an enormous influence on the development of genetics and breeding in the USSR. Research work A.S. Serebrovsky began in the first years after the Great October Socialist Revolution and continued until his very premature death. In addition to 120 published works, about 30 unpublished works remain in his scientific archive, including several major monographs.

Circle of interests of A.S. Serebrovsky as a researcher was very broad - from questions of general biology and evolutionary doctrine, to specific questions of selection certain types farm animals.

At the same time, he was a very strong analyst and mathematician. Serebrovsky's mathematical warehouse of thought was revealed even in his first works, for example, in the article "Experiment statistical analysis sex" (1921). "Polygons with foci and their significance for biometrics" (1925), etc.

Having begun the development of the genetics of domestic chicken, he inevitably faced the need to develop a theory of genetic analysis, those issues that are now included in the so-called mathematical or statistical genetics. There were very few works in this area at that time, and A. S. Serebrovsky had to go largely on his own, original paths. The results of AS Serebrovsky's long work on the development of the theory of genetic analysis are reported in the monograph "Genetic Analysis".

In 1928, the theory of the indivisibility of the gene underwent its first limitation. Immediately after the discovery of the mutagenic effect of X-rays, they were used in many laboratories around the world to obtain mutations. In the laboratory of Serebrovsky, evidence was obtained that the gene is not an indivisible genetic structure, but is a region of the chromosome, separate sections which can mutate independently of each other. This phenomenon was called Serebrovsky stepped allelomorphism.

Having developed a system that allows one to quantify the result of each mutation, Serebrovsky, Dubinin and other authors at the same time revealed the phenomenon of adding one mutant gene to another. In this case, the disturbed function of one gene was corrected by the normal function of another. The second gene, in turn, could be defective in another region, normal in the first gene. This phenomenon was subsequently rediscovered in microorganisms and was called complementation.

In the 30s, A.S. Serebrovsky promoted the ideas of the so-called genogeography, developed its methods, and himself conducted several genogeographic studies. Unfortunately, these methods are now forgotten.

Serebrovsky was engaged in one of the main methods for studying the effectiveness of natural selection, the analysis of complex protective devices (body shape, color, behavior, etc.). The presence of such adaptations testified that their evolution could not be explained either by the direct influence of the environment, or by the exercise or non-exercise of organs, nor reduced to a single mutation. It could not be understood only on the basis of the recognition of the complex relationship between predators and their prey, in which the former play the role of culling the latter. Brilliant analysis of these relationships was given by Serebrovsky in 1929 in the article "Experience in the Qualitative Characterization of the Evolutionary Process".

Geptner Vladimir Georgievich

Geptner Vladimir Georgievich (06/22/1901-07/05/1975) - June 22, 1901 in Moscow, in a Russified German family. His father was an accountant. After graduating from high school in 1919, he immediately entered the natural department of the Physics and Mathematics Faculty of Moscow University. Since 1925 - in graduate school at famous figures conservation professors GA. Kozhevnikov and S.I. Ogneva. Since 1929, he has been working at the Zoological Museum of Moscow State University, participating in expeditions in Central Asia. From 1934 - until the end of his days - Professor of the Department of Vertebrate Zoology of Moscow State University.

Since 1938, Vladimir Georgievich became the deputy chairman of the section for the protection of mammals of the VOOP, and since 1943 - its chairman. From 1938 to 1955 - a member of the presidium of this only environmental public organization in the USSR at that time. From 1952 to 1964 -- Member of the Commission on Reserves (Nature Conservation) of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. In the 1960s and 1970s, he participated in the scientific and technical councils of the RSFSR Chief Hunting and the USSR Ministry of Agriculture Glavpriroda, was a member of the IUCN.

The sphere of his interests in environmental protection is the protection of mammals and conservation work. As chairman of the Mammal Conservation Section, he did a lot for the protection of bison, saiga, muskrat, spotted deer, polar bear, sable, and walrus.

It was thanks to his support that the zoologist L. Kaplanov managed to do so much in protecting the Amur tiger. Geptner headed the Soviet commission for the restoration of the bison. On the initiative of V.G. Geptner in the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve, a bison nursery was created, and work began on the restoration of the bison.

In August 1946, together with V. Makarov, G. Dementiev and other members of the Presidium of the VOOP, he prepared a memorandum on the needs of nature protection to the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR, participated in the meeting Russian Council Ministers, as a result of which the first post-war resolution of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR “On the protection of nature on the territory of the RSFSR” was adopted. He edited the two-volume book “Reserves of the USSR” (1951).

Professor Geptner has done an unusually great amount for conservation work. He is one of the few who defended the reserves from reduction in 1951 and 1961. In April 1954, he signed a collective letter of scientists addressed to G. Malenkov with a request to restore closed nature reserves, and in April 1957 he published in Izvestia, together with other biologists, a rather bold article “In defense of nature reserves” for those times.

Vladimir Georgievich is one of the main developers of the “Prospective Plan for the Geographical Network of Reserves of the USSR”, which was prepared by a commission led by Academician E.M. Lavrenko in 1957 and promoted the creation of other reserves in the USSR. Geptner is one of the organizers and participants of the All-Union environmental conferences at the MOIP in 1954, 1957 and 1958.

It is impossible not to note the honesty, decency and integrity with which V.G. Geptner to the protection of nature. When in August 1951 the All-Russian Society for Conservation of Nature was in danger of being disbanded, together with other VOOP activists, he went to see Bessonov, Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR, and convinced him not to close the Society.

In January 1952, after numerous complaints and slanderous statements, the enemies succeeded in removing the head of the VOOP, V.N. Makarov. Many friends and colleagues recoiled from him. But not Geptner, who defended V.N. Makarova: “Not only V.N. is to blame. Makarov - even though we offered him to resign, but this is wrong. Everyone knows the activities of Makarov, the name of V.N. Makarova will enter...........

Aristotle
(384-322 BC). Ancient Greek philosopher and scientist. Plato's student. Educator of Alexander the Great. Founded in 335 BC. e. Lyceum (Lyceum). Lived mainly in Athens. Creator of formal logic and zoology.
Described 520 species of animals and created the first classification: 1. animals with blood - these are mammals, birds, amphibians and reptiles, cetaceans, fish; 2. animals without blood - Cephalopods, crustaceans, echinoderms and shellfish, insects.
Main works: "The History of Animals", "The Origin of Animals", "On the Parts of Animals".

Carl Linnaeus
(1707-1778) Swedish physician, naturalist, academician, author of the classification of flora and fauna. Born in the family of a priest. In 1729 he met W. Celsius, who played an important role in the development of Linnaeus as a botanist. He worked as a doctor, teacher, chairman of the Royal Academy of Sciences, professor at Uppsala University. In 1750 he became rector of the university. In 1761 he received the status of a nobleman.
The main work is "The System of Nature". He divided animals into 6 classes: mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, insects and worms.

Louis Buffon
(1707-1788) Born in the family of a parliamentary councilor in Dijon. Received a good education. Traveled a lot. At the end of his life he was ordained an earl. He studied mineralogy, geology, botany and zoology.
In his work "Theory of the Earth" (1749) he put forward the hypothesis of the formation of the globe as a fragment torn off from the Sun.
The Natural History of Animals (36 volumes, 1749-1983) deals with mammals, most of fish. In it, he described many species of animals and put forward a position on the unity of the plant and animal world. He expressed progressive ideas about the variability of species under the influence of environmental conditions (climate, nutrition, etc.).

Georges Cuvier
(1769-1832) French zoologist, reformer of comparative anatomy, paleontology and taxonomy of animals, foreign honorary member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1802). Born in the family of an officer. Introduced the concept of type in zoology. He established the principle of "correlation of organs", on the basis of which he reconstructed the structure of extinct animals. He did not recognize the variability of species. He put forward the theory of catastrophes.
After graduation, he worked as a home teacher, taught at the Sorbonne, was elected a member French Academy, Peer of France.
In animals, he distinguished 4 types of structure: vertebrates, articulated, soft-bodied and radiant. The main work is “The Animal Kingdom” (3 volumes), where the anatomical structure of animals was described in detail.

Henri Blainville (1777-1850) French zoologist and anatomist, foreign corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1840). Professor of anatomy and zoology at the University of Paris (1812), professor at the Museum of Natural History (1830), successor to J. Cuvier in the department of comparative anatomy (1832).
The main works on the taxonomy of animals. Introduced the term "type". He finally separated the group of amphibians from reptiles, divided mammals into avian (single-pass), bi-uterine (marsupial) and mono-uterine (placental).

Etienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire
(1772-1844) French zoologist, evolutionist, one of the predecessors of Charles Darwin. He developed the doctrine of the unity of the structural plan of all animals, which he explained by the commonality of their origin; asserted the slowness and gradual continuity of changes in nature. Studied the taxonomy of mammals. He laid the foundation for experimental teratology (the study of deformities and developmental anomalies) and the doctrine of the acclimatization of animals.

Jean Baptiste Lamarck
(1744-1828) French naturalist, creator of the first integral theory of evolution. Founder of zoopsychology. Introduced the term "biology". Founder of invertebrate paleontology. He divided the animal kingdom into vertebrates and invertebrates. Accepted spontaneous generation. He believed that the animal kingdom developed from two starting points: worms and ciliates.
Born into an impoverished noble family. During Seven Years' War served in the army. Before the revolution, he worked as a herbarium keeper in the Royal Garden, after that he was in charge of the zoological department.
Major works: "Flora of France" (3 volumes, 1778), "System of Invertebrates" (1801), "Philosophy of Zoology" (1809), "Natural History of Invertebrates" (7 volumes, 1815-1822).
In 1818 Lamarck went blind. He died in poverty.

Scientists who studied animals in Russia

Karl Maksimovich Baer (1792-1876) Naturalist, founder of embryology, one of the founders of the Russian Geographical Society, academician of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. Born in Estonia. He worked in Austria and Germany (1829-30) and from 1834 in Russia. Opened the egg in mammals, described the blastula stage; studied chick embryogenesis. Established the similarity of the embryos of higher and lower animals.
He was of noble origin. Studied medicine. Then he became interested in science, began to teach.
Explored Novaya Zemlya, the Caspian Sea.
Main work: "History of the development of animals" (1828).

Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov
(1845 – 1916)
Russian and French biologist (zoologist, embryologist, immunologist, physiologist and pathologist). One of the founders of evolutionary embryology, the discoverer of phagocytosis, the creator of the comparative pathology of inflammation, the phagocytic theory of immunity, the founder of scientific gerontology.
Parents - landowners of the Kharkov province. He graduated from Kharkov University (1864), specialized in Germany and Italy. He defended his master's (1867) and doctoral (1868) dissertations at St. Petersburg University. University professor in Odessa (1870-1882). In 1887 he moved to Paris. Honorary member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1902). Winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1908).

Konstantin Ivanovich Skryabin (1878-1972) Russian biologist, founder of helminthology, academician, Hero of Socialist Labor, laureate of the Lenin and Stalin Prizes.
He worked as a veterinarian in Central Asia, then in St. Petersburg, Novocherkassk, Moscow.
Research area - morphology, biology, phylogeny, taxonomy, ecology, epizootology and epidemiology of helminthiases.
He led over 300 expeditions. Developed the complex recreational activities in medicine and veterinary medicine.

Lev Alexandrovich Zenkevich
(1889 – 1970)
An outstanding Russian oceanologist, zoologist and hydrobiologist, creator of domestic biological oceanology, full member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, laureate of the State Prize, honorary member of the Geographical Society.
Born in the city of Tsarev, Astrakhan province, in the family of a veterinarian. Graduated from the Orenburg classical gymnasium, Moscow State University. Since 1948 he has been the head of the laboratory of benthos at the Institute of Oceanology. From 1930 to 1970 Head of the Department of Invertebrate Zoology, Moscow State University. He was awarded many orders and medals.
Author of many works on oceanology.

Mercury Sergeevich Gilyarov
(1912-1985) Russian zoologist, creator of soil zoology, academician of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1974). The main works on the evolution of arthropods, zoological methods of soil diagnostics, the role of invertebrates in soil formation, the laws of natural selection.
three State Prizes USSR, awarded several orders and medals.

Ivanov Artemy Vasilievich
(1906-1992) Russian zoologist, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1991; Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences since 1981). The main works on the morphology, embryology and evolution of invertebrates (mollusks, worms, etc.). Discovered and explored new type animals - pogonofor, established new class flatworms- udonellid. Laureate Lenin Prize (1961).

Nikolai Nikolaevich Plavilshchikov (1892 - 1962) Russian zoologist, popularizer of science, entomologist, the world's largest specialist in the systematics and faunistics of longhorn beetles, professor.
Worked at the Zoological Museum of Moscow State University. Wrote several non-fiction books.
The most significant work is the compilation of several volumes of the Fauna of the USSR.

Stepan Petrovich Krasheninnikov
(1711 - 1755) Russian botanist, ethnographer, geographer, zoologist, traveler, explorer of Siberia and Kamchatka.
Born in Moscow in a poor family of a soldier. However, he was able to get a good education. He became the first Russian professor of natural history and botany at the Academy of Sciences (1750). Rector of the University of the Academy of Sciences and inspector of the Academic Gymnasium (1750).
He spent several years on an expedition to Siberia and Kamchatka. The book "Description of the Land of Kamchatka" was published after his death.

Georg Wilhelm Steller
1709 – 1746
German naturalist, associate professor of natural history and botany. He worked under a contract at the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. Physician, geologist and naturalist of the Second Kamchatka Expedition V. Bering (1737-1742). The first European explorer of the nature of Kamchatka and the northwestern part of America.
Considered the first white man to set foot in Alaska.

Johann Georg Gmelin
(1709 – 1755)
German naturalist in the Russian service, doctor, botanist, ethnographer, traveler, explorer of Siberia and the Urals, associate professor of chemistry and natural history of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, professor, full member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences.
Naturalist of the academic detachment of the I Academic Expedition (1733-1743) - the Second Kamchatka Expedition.
Based on the results of research in Siberia, the books “Flora of Siberia” (1747-1769) were published in 4 volumes in Russian, where 1178 species of plants growing in Siberia are described, and “Journey through Siberia” in 4 volumes in German.
Academician and honorary member of the Stockholm Academy of Sciences.

Ivan Ivanovich Lepekhin
(1740 –1802)
Russian traveler, naturalist and lexicographer. Academician of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1771).
Studied at academic gymnasium, then studied medicine at the University of Strasbourg (he graduated in 1767 with a doctorate in medicine). Returning to St. Petersburg, he was appointed an adjunct, and from 1771 an academician in natural sciences.
Participated in many scientific expeditions in the Urals, the Volga region, Western Siberia, the Russian North, the western Russian provinces of Russia, etc.

Peter Simon Pallas
(1741-1811) German and Russian encyclopedic scientist, naturalist, geographer and traveler. He became famous for scientific expeditions across Russia in the second half of the 18th century, made a significant contribution to the world and Russian science- biology, geography, geology, philology and ethnography.
Born in Berlin in the family of a doctor. He studied at the universities of Halle, Götting, Leiden University. In 1767 he arrived in Russia to work as an adjunct of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. He led an expedition to the Volga region, the Urals, Western Siberia, Altai, Baikal and Transbaikalia and other regions. Unique material was collected on zoology, botany, paleontology, geology, physical geography, economics, history, ethnography, culture and everyday life of the peoples of Russia.
Pallas discovered and described many new animal species (425 bird species, 240 fish species, 151 mammal species, 21 helminth species, etc.)

Nikolai Mikhailovich Przhevalsky
(1839 - 1888) Russian traveler and naturalist. Undertook several expeditions to Central Asia. In 1878 he was elected an honorary member of the Academy of Sciences. Major General.
Born in the Smolensk region in the family of a retired lieutenant. After graduating from high school, he went into military service.
He made several expeditions to the Ussuri region and Central Asia. He discovered new types of animals: wild camel, Przewalski's horse, Tibetan bear, etc., and also collected huge zoological and botanical collections.
In 1888, during an expedition, he contracted typhoid fever and died.

Nikolai Mikhailovich Knipovich
(1862 –1939)
Russian zoologist, corresponding member (1927) and honorary member (1935) of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Studied at Saint Petersburg University. Studied fauna and physical geography seas. Led an expedition to the Murmansk coast.

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Russian biologists contributed huge contribution to world science. In this article we will talk about the main names that every person who is interested in the animal and plant world should know. Russian biologists, whose biographies and achievements you will get acquainted with, inspire the younger generation to study this interesting science.

Ivan Petrovich Pavlov

This man in Soviet times needed no introduction. However, now not everyone can say that Pavlov Ivan Petrovich (years of life - 1849-1936) created the doctrine of higher nervous activity. In addition, he wrote a number of works on the physiology of digestion and circulation. He was the first Russian scientist to receive Nobel Prize for achievements in the field of the mechanisms of digestion.

Experiments on dogs

Many remember his experiments on dogs. Countless cartoons and anecdotes have been created on this topic both in our country and abroad. Every time they talk about instincts, they remember Pavlov's dog.

Pavlov Ivan Petrovich already in 1890 began to experiment on these animals. He used surgical techniques to bring out the ends of the dog's esophagus. When the animal began to eat, food did not enter the stomach, but the gastric juice from the created fistula still stood out.

Alexander Leonidovich Vereshchaka

Modern Russian biologists show great promise. In particular, A.L. Vereshchak, who owns many achievements. He was born in Khimki on July 16, 1965. Vereshchaka is a Russian oceanologist, professor, doctor of biological sciences, and also a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

In 1987 he completed his studies at Moscow State University, at the Faculty of Biology. In 1990, the scientist became a doctor, in 1999 - a professor at MIIGAik, and since 2007 he has headed a laboratory belonging to the Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, located in Moscow.

Vereshchaka Alexander Leonidovich is a specialist in oceanology and geoecology. He owns about 100 scientific works. Its main achievements are associated with the use modern methods in the field of oceanology and geoecology, such as deep-sea manned submersibles "Mir" (more than 20 dives, 11 expeditions).

Vereshchak is the creator of the hydrothermal system model (three-dimensional). He developed the concept of a boundary ecosystem (benthopegial), inhabited by a specific fauna and associated with the bottom layer. In collaboration with colleagues from other countries, he created a methodology for determining the role of marine nano- and microbiota (prokaryotes, archaea and eukaryotes) using modern achievements molecular genetics. He owns the discovery and description of two families of shrimp, as well as more than 50 species and genera of crustaceans.

Rozenberg Gennady Samuilovich

The scientist was born in Ufa in 1949. He began his career as an engineer, but soon became the head of a laboratory located at the Institute of Biology of the Bashkir branch of the Academy of Sciences. Gennady Samuilovich Rozenberg moved to Tolyatti in 1987, where he worked as a chief researcher at the Institute of Ecology of the Volga Basin. In 1991, the scientist headed this institute.

He owns the development of methods for analyzing the dynamics and structure of ecosystems. He also created a system for analyzing the ecology of large regions.

Ilyin Yury Viktorovich

This scientist was born in Asbest on December 21, 1941. He is a molecular biologist, and since 1992 an academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences. His achievements are great, so the scientist is worthy of a more detailed story about him.

Yuri Viktorovich Ilyin specializes in molecular genetics and molecular biology. In 1976, the scientist cloned dispersed mobile genes, which are eukaryotic genes of a new type. The significance of this discovery was very great. These were the first mobile genes found in animals. Thereafter scientist started study the mobile elements of eukaryotes. He created a theory about the role of dispersed mobile genes in evolution, mutagenesis and carcinogenesis.

Zinaida Sergeevna Donets

Russia is not only men. We should also talk about such a scientist as Zinaida Sergeevna Donets. She is a Doctor of Science, Professor of Zoology and Ecology at Yaroslavl State University.

Of course, there are other biologists of our country worthy of attention. We talked only about the largest researchers and achievements that are useful to remember.