Russian biologists and their discoveries

Russian biologists have made a great contribution to world science. In this article we will tell you about the main names that every person who is interested in animals and plants needs to know. Russian biologists, whose biographies and achievements you will become acquainted with, inspire the younger generation to study this interesting science.

Ivan Petrovich Pavlov

This person did not need a presentation during the Soviet era. 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 series of works on the physiology of digestion and circulation. He was the first Russian scientist to receive the Nobel Prize for achievements in the field of digestive mechanisms.

Experiments on dogs

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

Pavlov Ivan Petrovich already in 1890 began to engage in experiments on these animals. He used surgical methods to bring out the ends of the esophagus of dogs. When the animal started to eat, food did not get into the stomach, but the gastric juice from the created fistula still stood out.

Over time Pavlov's experiments became more complicated. He taught the dogs to respond in a certain way to external stimuli, in particular to the bell of the bell, which warned of fast feeding. Thanks to this, the animal developed a conditioned reflex: immediately after the bell, food appears. Still not seeing food, the dogs began to secrete gastric juice from the fistula.

Feature of the Pavlov technique

The peculiarity of Pavlov's method was that he associated physiological activity with mental processes. The results of many studies confirmed the existence of this connection. Pavlov's works, describing the mechanism by which digestion takes place, became the impetus for the emergence of a new direction in science-the physiology of higher nervous activity. Ivan Petrovich devoted more than 35 years of his life to this area.

Origin, training

The future scientist was born in Ryazan on September 14, 1849. His ancestors on the maternal and paternal lines were priests, dedicated their lives to the Russian Orthodox Church. Pavlov graduated from the Ryazan spiritual school in 1864, after which he entered the seminary of the same city, which he later spoke with great warmth. When he was in his final year, he read Sechenov's work "Reflexes of the brain." He turned his further life.

Pavlov's achievements

His first work he published in 1923, and in 1926 the Soviet government built a Biological Station near Leningrad. Here Pavlov began his research in the field of nervous activity and genetics of behavior of higher monkeys (anthropoids). In addition, he worked in psychiatric clinics.

It should be noted that Pavlova in the field of cognition of the work of the brain has almost the greatest contribution in the history. Using scientific methods of this scientist allowed science to understand a lot about mental illnesses, as well as to outline the ways of their treatment. The academician, having the support of the government of the USSR, had access to the resources necessary for research. This allowed him to make revolutionary discoveries.

Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov

Great Russian biologists with a world-wide name are Ivan Petrovich Pavlov and Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov. We have already told about the first one. Let's acquaint the reader with the second one.

Mechnikov Ilya Ilyich (years of life - 1845-1916) - a famous Russian microbiologist, as well as a pathologist. In 1908 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology (with P. Erlich). This prestigious award Mechnikov received for achievements in the field of the nature of immunity.

The future scientist was born in a village near Kharkov, May 3, 1845. In 1864 Mechnikov Ilya Ilyich graduated from Kharkov University, after which he trained at the departments of universities in Munich, Göttingen and Gisen. Mechnikov also traveled to Italy, where he studied embryology. In 1868 he defended his doctoral dissertation. From 1870 to 1882 the scientist worked in Odessa. Here, at Novorossiysk University, he was a professor of zoology. The scientist successfully combined teaching work with scientific work. In 1886 together with N.F. Gamaleia he organized a bacteriological station, the first in Russia. The scientist moved to Paris in 1887, and a year later, at the invitation of L. Pasteur, began working at his institute, where he headed the laboratory. Since 1905, Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov was deputy director of this educational institution.

The first works of Ilya Ilyich were written on the theme of invertebrate zoology (coelenterates and sponges), as well as evolutionary embryology. He owns the theory of phagocytelles (the origin of multicellular organisms). The scientist discovered the phenomenon of phagocytosis, which is the absorption of living cells and particles by unicellular organisms or phagocytes - special cells, which include, for example, certain types of leukocytes. Based on this theory, Mechnikov developed another - a comparative pathology of inflammation.

There are many works written by Ilya Ilich on bacteriology. He put experiments on himself, as a result of which he proved that the cholera vibrio is the causative agent of Asian cholera. Ilya Ilyich died on July 2, 1916 in Paris.

What other Russian biological scientists deserve attention? We suggest to get acquainted with one of them.

Alexander Onufrievich Kovalevsky

This is another great Russian scientist, whose name can not be ignored. Kovalevsky was a zoologist, he worked in the Imperial Academy of Sciences as an ordinary academician.

Born Kovalevsky Alexander Onufrievich in 1840, November 19. He received primary education at home, and then continued his education in the corps of railway engineers. Alexander Onufrievich left there in 1859 and entered the St. Petersburg University (Department of Natural Sciences). In the period from 1860 to 1862 Kovalevsky studied with Bronn, Carius and Bunsen in Heidelberg, and then at Leydig, Quenstet, Lushka and Mole in Tübingen.

In 1862, Kovalevsky Alexander Onufrievich graduated from St. Petersburg University, followed by the defense of a master's and doctoral dissertation. In 1868, Kovalevsky became a professor of zoology. At this time he worked at the Kazan University.

By the period from 1870 to 1873, a trip to Algeria and the Red Sea for a scientific purpose. In 1890, after another overseas trip, he was elected a member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, and also received the title of ordinary academician. In 1891, he took the chair of histology in his native Petersburg University.

Most of the work of this scientist is devoted to embryology, especially invertebrates. The investigations carried out by him in the 1860s have opened embryonic layers in these organisms. Kovalevsky's research in recent years has focused on the definition of phagocytic and excretory organs in invertebrates.

Nikolai Ivanovich Vavilov

This man belongs to the doctrine of the immunity of plants, as well as their origin from world centers. Vavilov Nikolai Ivanovich discovered the law on hereditary changes in organisms and on homological series. This man made a great contribution to the study of biological species. He created the most impressive collection of seeds of various cultivated plants in the world. This is another scientist whose name glorified our country.

The origin of Vavilov

Vavilov Nikolai Ivanovich was born in Moscow on November 25, 1887 in the family of a merchant of the second guild and public figure Vavilov Ivan Ilyich. This man was a peasant. Before the revolution of 1917, he worked as director of the firm "Udalov and Vavilov", which was engaged in the manufacture. Postnikova Alexandra Mikhailovna, the scientist's mother, was from the family of the artist-carver. In total, Ivan Ilyich's family had 7 children, but three of them died as a child.

Study and teaching activities

Primary education, Nikolai Ivanovich received a commercial school, and then began to study at the Moscow Agricultural Institute. He finished it in 1911, after which he remained at the Institute at the Department of Private Agriculture. Vavilov in 1917 began to give lectures at the University of Saratov, and from 1921 he worked in Petrograd. All-Union Institute of Plant Production, Nikolai Ivanovich headed until 1940. Drawing on the studies carried out in 1919-20, he described all the cultivated plants of the Volga and Zavolzhye.

Vavilov Expeditions

Nikolai Vavilov, 20 years (from 1920 to 1940) led expeditions to study the vegetation of Central Asia, the Mediterranean, etc. He visited one of them in 1924 in Afghanistan. The materials obtained allowed the scientist to determine the origin and distribution of cultivated plants. This greatly facilitated the further work of botanists and breeders. The collection of plants collected by the researcher includes more than 300 thousand samples. It is stored in the VIR.

last years of life

Vavilov in 1926 received Lenin's award for his work on the immunity, the origin of cultural plant species, as well as the law of homologous series discovered by him. He received a number of awards and several medals. However, a campaign was launched against the scientist, unleashed by his student T.D. Lysenko and supported by party ideologists. It was directed against research in the field of genetics. In 1940, as a result of this, Vavilov's academic activity was terminated. He was accused of wrecking and arrested. The great scientist was prepared for a difficult fate in recent years. He died in prison in Saratov from hunger in 1943.

Rehabilitation of a scientist

11 months the investigation against him continued. During this time, Vavilov was summoned more than 400 times for interrogation. After the death, Nikolai Ivanovich was refused even in a separate grave. He was buried with other prisoners. Vavilov in 1955 was rehabilitated, all charges of activities directed against the revolution were lifted. His name was finally restored at the Academy of Sciences of the USSR.

Alexander Leonidovich Vereshchaka

Modern Russian biologists are very promising. In particular, A.L. Vereshchaka, which has many achievements. He was born in Khimki on July 16, 1965. Vereshchaka is a Russian oceanologist, professor, doctor of biological sciences, and also corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

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

Vereshchaka Alexander Leonidovich is an expert in the field of oceanology and geoecology. He owns about 100 scientific works. Its main achievements are related to the application of modern methods in the field of oceanology and geoecology, such as the deep-water inhabited vehicles "Mir" (more than 20 dives, 11 expeditions).

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

Rosenberg Gennady Samuilovich

The scientist was born in Ufa in 1949. He began his career as an engineer, but soon began to manage a laboratory located at the Institute of Biology of the Bashkir branch of the Academy of Sciences. Gennady Samuilovich Rosenberg moved to Togliatti in 1987, where he worked as a senior research fellow 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 and an academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences. His achievements are great, so the scientist deserves a more detailed account of 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 in animals that were found. After this, the scientist began to study the mobile elements of eukaryotes. He created a theory about the role of dispersed mobile genes in evolution, mutagenesis and carcinogenesis.

Zinaida Sergeevna Donetsk

The great biologists of Russia are not only men. It is necessary to tell about such a scientist as Zinaida Sergeevna Donetsk. She is Doctor of Science, Professor of Zoology and Ecology of Yaroslavl State University.

In 1953, Zinaida Z. Donetsk graduated from the Kiev State University, after a while defended her Ph.D. and doctoral thesis. Since 1978 she works at the Yaroslavl State University. Zinaida Sergeevna worked on the study of the ecology and fauna of fish parasites in the Volga basin. She owns more than 100 publications in various scientific journals.

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