Nikolai Vavilov
Encyclopedia
Nikolai Ivanovich Vavilov ( – January 26, 1943) was a prominent Russian and Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
botanist and geneticist
Geneticist
A geneticist is a biologist who studies genetics, the science of genes, heredity, and variation of organisms. A geneticist can be employed as a researcher or lecturer. Some geneticists perform experiments and analyze data to interpret the inheritance of skills. A geneticist is also a Consultant or...
best known for having identified the centres of origin of cultivated plants. He devoted his life to the study and improvement of wheat
Wheat
Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
, corn
Maize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
, and other cereal crops that sustain the global population.
Biography
Vavilov was born into a merchant family in Moscow, the older brother of renowned physicist Sergey Ivanovich VavilovSergey Ivanovich Vavilov
Sergey Ivanovich Vavilov -Biography:Vavilov founded the Soviet school of physical optics, known by his works in luminescence. In 1934 he co-discovered the Vavilov-Cherenkov effect, a discovery for which Pavel Cherenkov was awarded a Nobel Prize in Physics in 1958...
. "The son of a Moscow merchant who'd grown up in a poor rural village plagued by recurring crop failures and food rationing, Vavilov was obsessed from an early age with ending famine in both his native Russia and the world." He graduated from the Moscow Agricultural Institute in 1910 with a dissertation on snail
Snail
Snail is a common name applied to most of the members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled shells in the adult stage. When the word is used in its most general sense, it includes sea snails, land snails and freshwater snails. The word snail without any qualifier is however more often...
s as pests. From 1911 to 1912, he worked at the Bureau for Applied Botany and at the Bureau of Mycology
Mycology
Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungi, including their genetic and biochemical properties, their taxonomy and their use to humans as a source for tinder, medicinals , food and entheogens, as well as their dangers, such as poisoning or...
and Phytopathology
Phytopathology
Plant pathology is the scientific study of plant diseases caused by pathogens and environmental conditions . Organisms that cause infectious disease include fungi, oomycetes, bacteria, viruses, viroids, virus-like organisms, phytoplasmas, protozoa, nematodes and parasitic plants...
. From 1913 to 1914 he travelled in Europe and studied plant immunity
Immunity (medical)
Immunity is a biological term that describes a state of having sufficient biological defenses to avoid infection, disease, or other unwanted biological invasion. Immunity involves both specific and non-specific components. The non-specific components act either as barriers or as eliminators of wide...
, in collaboration with the British biologist William Bateson
William Bateson
William Bateson was an English geneticist and a Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge...
, who founded the science of genetics
Genetics
Genetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of genes, heredity, and variation in living organisms....
.
From 1924 to 1935 he was the director of the All-Union Institute of Agricultural Sciences at Leningrad.
While developing his theory on the centres of origin of cultivated plants, Vavilov organized a series of botanical-agronomic expeditions, collected seeds from every corner of the globe, and created in Leningrad
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
the world's largest collection of plant seeds. This seedbank
Seedbank
A seedbank stores seeds as a source for planting in case seed reserves elsewhere are destroyed. It is a type of gene bank. The seeds stored may be food crops, or those of rare species to protect biodiversity. The reasons for storing seeds may be varied...
was diligently preserved even throughout the 28-month Siege of Leningrad
Siege of Leningrad
The Siege of Leningrad, also known as the Leningrad Blockade was a prolonged military operation resulting from the failure of the German Army Group North to capture Leningrad, now known as Saint Petersburg, in the Eastern Front theatre of World War II. It started on 8 September 1941, when the last...
, despite starvation; one of Nikolai's assistants starved to death surrounded by edible seeds. "Hitler's army had already closed in on St. Petersburg (then Leningrad)- a desperate city that had lost more than 700,000 people to hunger and disease. The Soviets had ordered to save of art in the Hermitage
Hermitage
Hermitage may refer to:*Hermitage , hermit's dwelling place, a place of relaxing retreat*4758 Hermitage, asteroid-Grapes:* Syrah in Australia* Cinsaut or Cinsault in South Africa and parts of Europe* Marsanne...
, Russian battle swimmers prevented terrorist attack convinced that Hitler had his sights set on the museum. They had done all, however, to safeguard the 400,000 seeds, roots, and fruits stored in the world's largest seed bank. So a group of scientists at the Vavilov Institute boxed up a cross section of seeds, moved them to the basement, and took shifts protecting them. Historical documents later revealed that Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
had, in fact, established a commando unit to seize the seed bank, perhaps hoping to one day control the world's food supply. Although suffering from hunger, the seeds' caretakers refused to eat what they saw as their country's future. Indeed, by the end of the siege in the spring of 1944, nine of the institute's self-appointed seed guardians had died of starvation."
Vavilov also formulated the law of homologous series in variation.
He was a member of the USSR Central Executive Committee, President of All-Union Geographical Society and a recipient of the Lenin Prize
Lenin Prize
The Lenin Prize was one of the most prestigious awards of the USSR, presented to individuals for accomplishments relating to science, literature, arts, architecture, and technology. It was created on June 23, 1925 and was awarded until 1934. During the period from 1935 to 1956, the Lenin Prize was...
. During most of his career Vavilov was assisted by his deputy Georgy Balabajev.
Vavilov repeatedly criticised the non-Mendelian concepts of Trofim Lysenko
Trofim Lysenko
Trofim Denisovich Lysenko was a Soviet agronomist of Ukrainian origin, who was director of Soviet biology under Joseph Stalin. Lysenko rejected Mendelian genetics in favor of the hybridization theories of Russian horticulturist Ivan Vladimirovich Michurin, and adopted them into a powerful...
. As a result, Vavilov was arrested on August 6, 1940 and died of malnutrition in a prison in 1943.
According to Cohen, by 1940, Vavilov had accumulated a collection of 200,000 plant seeds from the Soviet Union and from abroad. The collection was seized by a German SS squad in 1943 and partially transferred to the SS
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
Institute for Plant Genetics, which had been established at the Lannach Castle near Graz
Graz
The more recent population figures do not give the whole picture as only people with principal residence status are counted and people with secondary residence status are not. Most of the people with secondary residence status in Graz are students...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
. However, the Germans could only take samples stored within the territories occupied by the German armies, mainly in Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
and Crimea
Crimea
Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...
. The main gene bank in Leningrad
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
was not affected. The leader of the German squad was Heinz Brücher
Heinz Brücher
Heinz Brücher was a member of special science unit SS Ahnenerbe , PhD in botany....
, an SS officer who was also a plant genetics expert.
Today, the N.I. Vavilov Institute of Plant Industry
Institute of Plant Industry
The Institute of Plant Industry, Vavilov Institute of Plant Industry or All-Russian Research Institute of Plant Industry , as it is officially called, is a research institute of plant genetics, located in Saint Petersburg, Russia.-History:...
in St. Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
still maintains one of the world's largest collections of plant genetic material. The Institute began as the Bureau of Applied Botany in 1894, and was reorganized in 1924 into the All-Union Research Institute of Applied Botany and New Crops, and in 1930 into the Research Institute of Plant Industry. Vavilov was the head of the institute from 1921 to 1940. In 1968 the institute was renamed after him in time for its 75th anniversary.
A minor planet
Minor planet
An asteroid group or minor-planet group is a population of minor planets that have a share broadly similar orbits. Members are generally unrelated to each other, unlike in an asteroid family, which often results from the break-up of a single asteroid...
, 2862 Vavilov
2862 Vavilov
2862 Vavilov is a main-belt asteroid discovered on May 15, 1977 by N. Chernykh at Nauchnyj.- External links :*...
, discovered in 1977 by Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
astronomer Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh
Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh
Nikolay Stepanovich Chernykh was a Soviet and Russian astronomer.Chernykh was born in the city of Usman' in Voronezh Oblast...
is named after him and his brother Sergey Ivanovich Vavilov
Sergey Ivanovich Vavilov
Sergey Ivanovich Vavilov -Biography:Vavilov founded the Soviet school of physical optics, known by his works in luminescence. In 1934 he co-discovered the Vavilov-Cherenkov effect, a discovery for which Pavel Cherenkov was awarded a Nobel Prize in Physics in 1958...
. The crater Vavilov
Vavilov (crater)
Vavilov is a prominent impact crater that is located to the west of the walled plain Hertzsprung. It is located on the far side of the Moon and cannot be viewed directly from the Earth. About a crater diameter to the northwest is the smaller Chaucer, and farther to the southwest is Sechenov.This is...
on the Far side of the Moon
Far side of the Moon
The far side of the Moon is the lunar hemisphere that is permanently turned away, and is not visible from the surface of the Earth. The far hemisphere was first photographed by the Soviet Luna 3 probe in 1959, and was first directly observed by human eyes when the Apollo 8 mission orbited the Moon...
is also named after him and his brother. The story of the researchers at the Vavilov Institute during the Siege of Leningrad was fictionalized by novelist Elise Blackwell
Elise Blackwell
Elise Blackwell is an American novelist, born in Austin, Texas and raised primarily in southern Louisiana. She studied creative writing at Louisiana State University before entering the MFA Program of the University of California, Irvine...
in her 2003 novel Hunger. That novel was the inspiration for the Decemberists
The Decemberists
The Decemberists are an indie folk rock band from Portland, Oregon, United States, fronted by singer/songwriter Colin Meloy. The other members of the band are Chris Funk , Jenny Conlee , Nate Query , and John Moen .The band's...
' song "When The War Came" in the 2006 album The Crane Wife
The Crane Wife
The Crane Wife is an album by The Decemberists, released in 2006. It was produced by Tucker Martine and Chris Walla, and is the band's first album on the Capitol Records label. The album was inspired by a Japanese folk tale, and centers on two song cycles, The Crane Wife and The Island, the latter...
, which also depicts the Institute during the siege and mentions Vavilov by name.
Timeline
- 1887 - born November 25, in Moscow.
- 1911 - graduated from the Moscow Agricultural InstituteRussian State Agricultural UniversityMoscow Agricultural Academy named after K.A. Timiryazev is one of the oldest agrarian educational institution in Russia. It was founded on December 3, 1865....
. - 1917-1921 - professor of the agronomyAgronomyAgronomy is the science and technology of producing and using plants for food, fuel, feed, fiber, and reclamation. Agronomy encompasses work in the areas of plant genetics, plant physiology, meteorology, and soil science. Agronomy is the application of a combination of sciences like biology,...
department of the Saratov University. - 1919 - theory of the immunity for plants.
- 1920 - formulation of the law of homology series in genetical mutability.
- mid 1920s - Vavilov befriends the young peasant Trofim Lysenko and begins taking him to scientific meetings
- 1921(-1940) - chairman of the applied botanics and selection section in Petrograd, which in 1924 was reorganized into the All-Union Institute of Applied Botanics and New Crops and in 1930, into the All-Union Institute of Plant Cultivation, with Vavilov being director until August, 1940.
- 1924 - Vladimir Lenin dies and is replaced by Josef Stalin - a turning point in Vavilov's life
- 1926 - Lenin Award.
- 1930—1940 - head of the genetics laboratory in Moscow, later reorganized into the Institute of Genetics of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
- 1931—1940 - President of the All-Union Geographical Society.
- Late 1930s - Lysenko, who has conceived a hatred for genetics is put in charge of all of Soviet agriculture
- 1940 - arrested for allegedly wrecking Soviet agriculture; delivered more than a hundred hours of lectures on science while in prison
- 1943 - died imprisoned and suffering from dystrophia (faulty nutrition of muscles, leading to paralysis), in the SaratovSaratov-Modern Saratov:The Saratov region is highly industrialized, due in part to the rich in natural and industrial resources of the area. The region is also one of the more important and largest cultural and scientific centres in Russia...
prison.
The USSR Academy of Sciences established the Vavilov Award (1965) and the Vavilov Medal (1968).
Works
- Земледельческий Афганистан. (1929) (Agricultural AfghanistanAfghanistanAfghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
) - Селекция как наука. (1934) (Selection as science)
- Закон гомологических рядов в наследственной изменчивости. (1935) (The law of homology series in genetical mutability)
- Учение о происхождении культурных растений после Дарвина. (1940) (The theory of origins of cultivated plants after DarwinCharles DarwinCharles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
)
Works in English
- The Origin, Variation, Immunity and Breeding of Cultivated Plants (translated by K. Starr Chester). 1951. Chronica Botanica 13:1–366
- Origin and Geography of Cultivated Plants (translated by Doris LöveDoris LöveDoris Benta Maria Löve, née Wahlén was a Swedish systematic botanist, particularly active in the Arctic.Doris Löve was born in Kristianstad, Sweden. She studied botany at Lund University from 1937. She married her fellow student and colleague, the Icelander Áskell Löve. She received her PhD in...
). 1992. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. ISBN 0-521-40427-4 - Five Continents (translated by Doris LöveDoris LöveDoris Benta Maria Löve, née Wahlén was a Swedish systematic botanist, particularly active in the Arctic.Doris Löve was born in Kristianstad, Sweden. She studied botany at Lund University from 1937. She married her fellow student and colleague, the Icelander Áskell Löve. She received her PhD in...
). 1997. IPGRI, Rome; VIR, St. Petersburg ISBN 92-9043-302-7 - The Murder of Nikolai Vavilov: The Story of Stalin's Persecution of One of the Greatest Scientists of the Twentieth Century, by Peter Pringle. 2008. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-7432-6498-3
See also
- VASKhNILVASKhNILVASKhNIL was the All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences of the Soviet Union...
(the All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences of the Soviet Union) - All- Russia Institute of Plant IndustryInstitute of Plant IndustryThe Institute of Plant Industry, Vavilov Institute of Plant Industry or All-Russian Research Institute of Plant Industry , as it is officially called, is a research institute of plant genetics, located in Saint Petersburg, Russia.-History:...
- Vavilovian mimicryVavilovian mimicryVavilovian mimicry is a form of mimicry in plants where a weed comes to share one or more characteristics with a domesticated plant through generations of artificial selection. It is named after Nikolai Vavilov, a prominent Russian plant geneticist who identified the centres of origin of...
- Vavilov Center
- The Murder of Nikolai Vavilov: The Story of Stalin's Persecution of One of the Great Scientists of the Twentieth Century , Peter Pringle. 2008.
Further reading
- Where Our Food Comes From: Retracing Nikolay Vavilov's Quest to End Famine by Gary Paul NabhanGary Paul NabhanGary Paul Nabhan is an agricultural ecologist, ethnobotanist, and writer whose work has focused primarily on the plants and cultures of the desert Southwest. He is considered a pioneer in the local food movement and the heirloom seed saving movement....
2008 ISBN 9781597263993 - Reznik, S. and Y. Vavilov 1997 "The Russian Scientist Nicolay Vavilov" (preface to English translation of:) Vavilov, N. I. Five Continents. IPGRI: Rome, Italy.
- Cohen, Barry Mendel 1980 Nikolai Ivanovich Vavilov: His Life and Work. Ph.D.: University of Texas at Austin.
External links
- The Murder of Nikolai Vavilov. The Story of Stalin's Persecution of One of the Great Scientists of the Twentieth Century. By Peter Pringle
- Science Saturday: Science Under Stalin; Peter Pringle’s “The Murder of Nikolai Vavilov”. Nikolai Vavilov: the Indiana Jones of crop diversity
- Vavilov, Centers of Origin, Spread of Crops
- Vavilov Centre for Plant Industry
- Theoretical Basis of our Researshes(sic)