Abstract: Nikolai Ivanovich Vavilov biography. Nikolai Ivanovich Vavilov - interesting facts from the life of a scientist

Vavilov Nikolay Ivanovich Vavilov Nikolay Ivanovich

(1887-1943), biologist, geneticist, founder of the modern doctrine of the biological foundations of selection and the doctrine of the centers of origin of cultivated plants, academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1929), academician (1929) and first president (1929-1935) of VASKhNIL, academician of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences ( 1929). Brother of S.I. Vavilov. He organized botanical and agronomic expeditions to the countries of the Mediterranean, northern Africa, North and South America, and established ancient centers of the formation of cultivated plants on their territory. He collected the world's largest collection of seeds of cultivated plants and laid the foundations for state variety testing of field crops. He substantiated the doctrine of plant immunity (1919), discovered the law of homological series in the hereditary variability of organisms (1920). Initiator of the creation of a number of research institutions. He courageously defended genetics in the fight against the “teachings” of T. D. Lysenko. Member of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, Central Executive Committee of the USSR. President of the All-Union Geographical Society (1931-1940). Prize named after V. I. Lenin (1926). Unreasonably repressed (1940), died in a prison hospital.

VAVILOV Nikolay Ivanovich

VAVILOV Nikolai Ivanovich (1887-1943), Russian geneticist, plant breeder, geographer, creator of the doctrine of the biological foundations of selection and centers of origin and diversity of cultivated plants, academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences and the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences (1929), academician and first president (1929-1935) of VASKHNIL . Brother of S. I. Vavilov (cm. VAVILOV Sergei Ivanovich). Organized botanical and agronomic expeditions to Mediterranean countries, North Africa, North and South America, established on their territory ancient centers of origin and diversity of cultivated plants. He collected the world's largest collection of seeds of cultivated plants, laid the foundations for state variety testing of field crops. Substantiated the doctrine of plant immunity, discovered the law of homological series (cm. HOMOLOGICAL SERIES LAW) in the hereditary variability of organisms (1920).
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Author of the concept of the Linnaean species as a system (1930). Initiator of the creation of many research institutions. Member of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR (1926-1935), President of the All-Union Geographical Society (1931-1940). Prize named after V. I. Lenin (1926). In August 1940 he was arrested, accused of counter-revolutionary sabotage activities and in July 1941 sentenced to death, which was commuted in 1942 to 20 years' imprisonment. He died in a Saratov prison hospital and was posthumously rehabilitated in 1955.
VAVILOV Nikolai Ivanovich, Russian geneticist, plant breeder, geographer. Author of the law of homological series in the hereditary variability of organisms, the doctrine of the biological foundations of selection and the centers of origin and diversity of cultivated plants.
Family. Years of study (cm. Father, Ivan Ilyich VAVILOV Ivan Ilyich)
, was born in 1863 in the village of Ivashkovo, Volokolamsk district, Moscow province, into a peasant family and, thanks to his extraordinary abilities, became a major businessman. In 1918 he emigrated to Bulgaria, in 1928, with the help of his eldest son Nikolai, he returned to Russia, and soon died.
Mother, Alexandra Mikhailovna, née Postnikova, was the daughter of an engraver at the Prokhorov Manufactory.
In 1906, after graduating from the Moscow Commercial School, Vavilov entered the Moscow Agricultural Institute (formerly Petrovskaya, now Timiryazevskaya Agricultural Academy), from which he graduated in 1911.
Beginning of scientific activity. Business trip abroad Vavilov, while still a student, began to engage in scientific work. In 1908 he conducted geographical and botanical research in the North Caucasus and Transcaucasia. On the occasion of Darwin’s 100th anniversary, he gave a report “Darwinism and Experimental Morphology” (1909), and in 1910 he published thesis (cm.“Naked slugs (snails) damaging fields and vegetable gardens in the Moscow province,” for which he received a prize from the Moscow Polytechnic Museum. After graduation, he was left by D. N. Pryanishnikov PRYANISHNIKOV Dmitry Nikolaevich)
In 1913 he was sent to England, France and Germany to complete his education. Vavilov spent most of his business trip, interrupted in 1914 by the outbreak of World War I, in England, listening to lectures at the University of Cambridge and conducting experimental work on plant immunity in Merton, near London, under the leadership of William Bateson. (cm. BATSON William), one of the founders of genetics. Vavilov considered Bateson his teacher. In England, he also spent several months in genetic laboratories, in particular with the famous geneticist R. Punnett. Returning to Moscow, he continued his work on plant immunity at the breeding station of the Moscow Agricultural Institute.
Vavilov in Saratov. The law of homological series in hereditary variability
In 1917, Vavilov was elected professor of the agronomic faculty of Saratov University, which soon became the Saratov Agricultural Institute, where Nikolai Ivanovich became head of the department of private agriculture and selection. In Saratov, Vavilov launched field research on a number of crops and completed work on the monograph “Plant Immunity to Infectious Diseases,” published in 1919, in which he summarized his research previously carried out in Moscow and England.
The Vavilov school of researchers, botanists, plant growers, geneticists and breeders began to be created in Saratov. There, Vavilov organized and conducted an expedition to survey the species and varietal composition of field crops in the South-East of the European part of the RSFSR - the Volga and Trans-Volga regions. The results of the expedition were presented in the monograph “Field Cultures of the Southeast,” published in 1922.
At the All-Russian Breeding Congress in Saratov (1920), Vavilov made a presentation on “The Law of Homologous Series in Hereditary Variation.” According to this law, genetically similar plant species are characterized by parallel and identical series of characters; Close genera and even families also show identity in the ranks of hereditary variability. The law revealed an important pattern of evolution: similar hereditary changes occur in closely related species and genera. Using this law, based on a number of signs and properties of one species or genus, one can predict the presence of similar forms in another species or genus. The law of homologous series makes it easier for breeders to find new initial forms for crossing and selection.
Botanical and agronomic expeditions of Vavilov. Theory of centers of origin and diversity of cultivated plants
Vavilov organized and conducted his first expeditions to Persia (Iran) and Turkestan, Mountainous Tajikistan (Pamir), where he repeatedly risked his life and collected previously unknown forms of wheat, barley, and rye in hard-to-reach places (1916). Here he first became interested in the problem of the origin of cultivated plants.
In 1921-1922, Vavilov became acquainted with the agriculture of vast regions of the USA and Canada. In 1924, Vavilov made a very difficult expedition to Afghanistan, which lasted five months, studying cultivated plants in detail and collecting a large amount of general geographical material.
For this expedition, the Geographical Society of the USSR awarded Vavilov a gold medal named after. Przhevalsky (“for geographical feat”). The results of the expedition are summarized in the book “Agricultural Afghanistan” (1929).
In 1926-1927, Vavilov organized and conducted a long expedition to the Mediterranean countries: Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, Syria, Palestine, Transjordan, Greece, the islands of Crete and Cyprus, Italy (including Sicily and Sardinia), Spain and Portugal, Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea.
In 1929, Vavilov made an expedition to Western China (Xinjiang), Japan, Korea, and the island of Formosa (Taiwan).
In 1930 - in North America(USA) and Canada, Central America, Mexico.
In 1932-1933 - to Guatemala, Cuba, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, Uruguay, Trinidad, Puerto Rico.
Soviet expeditions, with his participation and/or leadership, discovered new types of wild and cultivated potatoes that were resistant to diseases, which was effectively used by breeders in the USSR and other countries. In these countries, Vavilov also conducted important research on the history of world agriculture.
As a result of studying the species and varieties of plants collected in Europe, Asia, Africa, North, Central and South America, Vavilov established the centers of formation, or centers of origin and diversity of cultivated plants. These centers are often called centers of genetic diversity or Vavilov centers. The work “Centers of Origin of Cultivated Plants” was first published in 1926.
According to Vavilov, cultural flora arose and was formed in relatively few centers, usually located in mountainous areas. Vavilov identified seven primary centers:
1. South Asian tropical center (tropical India, Indochina, South China and the islands of Southeast Asia), which gave humanity rice, sugar cane, Asian varieties of cotton, cucumbers, lemon, orange, a large number of other tropical fruit and vegetable crops.
2. East Asian center (Central and Eastern China, Taiwan Island, Korea, Japan). The homeland of soybeans, millet, tea bush, many vegetable and fruit crops.
3. South-West Asian center (Asia Minor, Iran, Afghanistan, middle Asia, North-West India), from where came soft wheat, rye, legumes, melon, apple, pomegranate, figs, grapes, and many other fruits.
4. The Mediterranean center is the birthplace of several types of wheat, oats, olives, many vegetable and fodder crops, such as cabbage, beets, carrots, garlic and onions, and radishes.
5. Abyssinian, or Ethiopian, center - distinguished by the variety of forms of wheat and barley, the birthplace of the coffee tree, sorghum, etc.
6. Central American center (Southern Mexico, Central America, West Indies Islands), which produced corn, beans, upland cotton (long-fiber), vegetable peppers, cocoa, etc.
7. Andean center ( mountainous areas South America) is the birthplace of potatoes, tobacco, tomatoes, rubber trees and others.
The theory of centers of origin of cultivated plants helped Vavilov and his collaborators assemble the world's largest collection of seeds of cultivated plants, numbering 250 thousand samples by 1940 (36 thousand samples of wheat, 10,022 of corn, 23,636 of grain legumes, etc.). Using the collection, breeders have developed over 450 varieties of agricultural plants. The world collection of seeds of cultivated plants, collected by Vavilov, his collaborators and followers, serves the cause of preserving genetic resources on the globe useful plants.
Scientific-organizational and social activity N. I. Vavilova
Vavilov was a major organizer Soviet science. Under his leadership (from 1920), a relatively small scientific institution - the Bureau of Applied Botany - was transformed in 1924 into the All-Union Institute of Applied Botany and New Crops, and in 1930 into a large scientific center - the All-Union Institute of Plant Growing (VIR), which had thirteen large departments and experimental stations in different parts of the USSR. VIR, which Vavilov headed until August 1940, was a scientific center for developing the theory of plant breeding of world significance.
On the initiative of Vavilov, as the first president of VASKhNIL (from 1929 to 1935, and then vice-president until his arrest), a number of research institutions were organized: the Institute of Grain Farming of the South-East of the European Part of the USSR, institutes of fruit growing, vegetable growing, subtropical crops , corn, potatoes, cotton, flax, oilseeds and others. On the basis of the genetic laboratory, which he led since 1930, Vavilov organized the Institute of Genetics of the USSR Academy of Sciences and was its director (until 1940).
Vavilov was a member of the Central Executive Committee from 1926 to 1935 (cm. CENTRAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE) USSR and All-Russian Central Executive Committee (cm. ALL-RUSSIAN CENTRAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE)(All-Russian Executive Committee). He took Active participation in the organization of the All-Union Agricultural Exhibitions of 1923 and 1939. From 1931 to 1940 (before his arrest) Vavilov was president of the All-Union Geographical Society.
Vavilov was elected vice-president of the VI International Genetic Congress in the USA in 1932 and honorary president of the VII International Genetic Congress in Great Britain in 1939.
The appearance of a scientist and a person
According to many scientists who knew Vavilov, the most characteristic and most memorable thing about his appearance was his enormous charm. Nobel laureate, geneticist G. Meller (cm. MELLER Herman Joseph) recalled: “Everyone who knew Nikolai Ivanovich was inspired by his inexhaustible cheerfulness, generosity and charming nature, versatility of interests and energy. This bright, attractive and sociable personality seemed to infuse into those around her her passion for tireless work, achievements and joyful cooperation. I didn’t know anyone else who would develop events on such a gigantic scale, develop them further and further and at the same time delve into all the details so carefully.”
Vavilov had phenomenal performance and memory, the ability to work in any conditions, and usually slept no more than 4-5 hours a day. Vavilov never went on vacation. Rest for him was a change of occupation. “We must hurry,” he said. As a scientist, he had a natural ability for theoretical thinking and broad generalizations.
Vavilov possessed rare organizational abilities, strong will, endurance and courage, which were clearly demonstrated in his travels through remote areas of the globe. He was a widely educated man, spoke several European languages and some Asian ones. During his travels, he was interested not only in the agricultural culture of peoples, but also in their way of life, customs and art.
Being a patriot and in the highest sense a citizen of his country, Vavilov was a staunch supporter and active promoter of international scientific cooperation, collaboration scientists from all countries of the world for the benefit of humanity.
Vavilov and Lysenko
In the early thirties, Vavilov warmly supported the work of the young agronomist T. D. Lysenko (cm. LYSENKO Trofim Denisovich) according to the so-called vernalization: the transformation of winter crops into spring crops by pre-sowing exposure to low positive temperatures on the seeds. Vavilov hoped that the vernalization method could be effectively applied in breeding, which would make it possible to more fully use the world collection of useful plants of VIR for breeding, through hybridization, highly productive cultivated plants that are resistant to diseases, drought and cold.
In 1934, Vavilov recommended Lysenko as a corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Lysenko impressed the Soviet leaders led by Stalin with his “national” origins, his promise to as soon as possible to increase the yield of grain crops, and also by the fact that he declared at the congress of collective farmers-shock workers in 1935 that there are pests in science.
In 1936 and 1939, discussions took place on issues of genetics and selection, in which Lysenko and his supporters attacked scientists led by Vavilov and Koltsov (cm. KOLTSOV Nikolai Konstantinovich), who shared the basic principles of classical genetics. Lysenko's group rejected genetics as a science and denied the existence of genes as material carriers of heredity. At the end of the thirties, the Lysenkoites, relying on the support of Stalin, Molotov and other Soviet leaders, began to crack down on their ideological opponents, Vavilov and his associates who worked at VIR and the Institute of Genetics in Moscow.
A torrent of slander falls on Vavilov, his main achievements are discredited. Having become president of VASKHNIL in 1938, Lysenko interfered with the normal work of VIR - he sought to cut its budget, replace members of the academic council with his supporters, and change the leadership of the institute. In 1938, the Soviet government, under the influence of Lysenko, canceled the International Genetic Congress in the USSR, of which Vavilov was to become president.
Vavilov, right up to his arrest, continued to courageously defend his scientific views and the work program of the institutes he headed.
In 1939, he sharply criticized Lysenko’s anti-scientific views at a meeting of the Leningrad regional bureau of the section scientific works nicknames At the end of his speech, Vavilov said: “We will go to the stake, we will burn, but we will not give up our convictions.”
Arrest. Consequence. Sentence to death. Death in Saratov prison
In 1940, Vavilov was appointed head of the Complex (agrobotanical) expedition of the USSR People's Commissariat of Agriculture to the western regions of the Ukrainian and Byelorussian SSR. On August 6, 1940, Vavilov was arrested in the foothills of the Carpathians, near the city of Chernivtsi. The arrest warrant was signed “retroactively”; on August 7, he was imprisoned in the internal NKVD prison in Moscow (on Lubyanka). The arrest warrant accused Vavilov as one of the leaders of the counter-revolutionary Labor Peasant Party (which in reality never existed), sabotage in the VIR system, espionage, “the fight against the theories and works of Lysenko, Tsitsin (cm. Tsitsin Nikolay Vasilievich) and Michurin."
During the investigation, which lasted 11 months, Vavilov endured 236 interrogations, which often took place at night and often lasted for seven or more hours.
On July 9, 1941, Vavilov was sentenced to death at the “trial” of the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR, which took place within a few minutes. At the trial they were told that “the accusation is based on fables, false facts and slander, which were in no way confirmed by the investigation.” His petition for pardon to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR was rejected. On July 26, he was transferred to Butyrka prison to carry out the sentence. On the morning of October 15, an employee of Beria visited him and promised that Vavilov would be allowed to live and given him a job in his specialty. In connection with the German offensive on Moscow, he was transported to Saratov on October 16-29, placed in the 3rd building of prison No. 1 in Saratov, where he spent a year and 3 months in the most difficult conditions (death row).
By decision of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on June 23, 1942, execution by pardon was replaced by 20 years of imprisonment in forced labor camps. From hunger, Sergei Ivanovich fell ill with dystrophy and died, extremely exhausted in the prison hospital on January 26, 1943. He was apparently buried in a common grave in the Saratov cemetery.
During the investigation, in the internal prison of the NKVD, when Vavilov had the opportunity to receive paper and pencil, he wrote a large book “The History of World Agriculture”, the manuscript of which was destroyed “as having no value” along with big amount other scientific materials seized during searches at the apartment and in the institutes where he worked.
On August 20, 1955, Vavilov was posthumously rehabilitated. In 1965 the prize was established. N.I. Vavilov, in 1967 his name was given to VIR, in 1968 a gold medal named after Vavilov was established, awarded for outstanding scientific work and discoveries in the field of agriculture.
During his lifetime, Nikolai Ivanovich was elected a member and honorary member of many foreign academies, including the Royal Society of London (1942), Scottish (1937), Indian (1937), Argentine Academies, corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of Halle (1929; Germany) and the Czechoslovak Academy (1936), honorary member of the American Botanical Society. Linnean Society in London, English Horticultural Society, etc.

encyclopedic Dictionary . 2009 .

See what “Vavilov Nikolai Ivanovich” is in other dictionaries:

Nikolai Vavilov in 1933. Date of birth: November 13 (25), 1887 (18871125) Place of birth ... Wikipedia

Soviet geneticist, plant breeder, geographer, creator of the modern scientific foundations of selection, the doctrine of the world centers of origin of cultivated plants, their geographical distribution; one of the first… … Great Soviet Encyclopedia

Vavilov Nikolay Ivanovich- (18871943), geneticist, plant breeder, one of the organizers of biological and agricultural science in the USSR, compare public figure, academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1929), academician of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences (1929), president (192935) and vice president (193540 )… … Encyclopedic reference book "St. Petersburg"

- (1887 1943) Russian biologist, geneticist, founder of the modern doctrine of the biological foundations of selection and the doctrine of the centers of origin of cultivated plants, academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1929), academician (1929) and first President (1929 35) of the VASKhNIL, ... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

- (1887 1943), geneticist, plant breeder, one of the organizers of biological and agricultural science in the USSR, public figure, academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1929), academician of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences (1929), president (1929 35) and vice president (1935 40) of VASKhNIL . Brother … St. Petersburg (encyclopedia)

From 1906 to 1917, N. Vavilov, an outstanding scientist, the founder of new scientific directions in botany, plant growing, breeding, and genetics, studied and worked at our academy. He made a number of theoretical generalizations that have received worldwide recognition: the law of homological series of hereditary variability, the doctrine of the centers of origin of cultivated plants, the ecological-geographical principle of intraspecific taxonomy, the doctrine of plant immunity and the theory of introduction. It is very difficult to briefly talk about the life of such an outstanding person as Vavilov. Let's try to highlight the main milestones of his biography.

Nikolai Ivanovich Vavilov was born on November 25, 1887 in Moscow. After graduating from the Moscow Commercial School, he entered the Moscow Agricultural Institute, and in 1913-1914 interned at leading plant growing and genetic institutions in Western Europe. His famous expeditions began in 1916.

Many of his journeys were truly heroic. For the expedition to Afghanistan, Vavilov received the Przhevalsky gold medal “For Geographical Feat.” During his travels, he was helped by his knowledge of about 20 foreign languages and the ability to easily find mutual language with different people.

Vavilov's trips abroad ceased in the mid-thirties at the behest of Stalin. At a meeting with a group of scientists, Joseph Vissarionovich said that Russian scientists should think not about foreign trips, but about the harvest. Nikolai Ivanovich could no longer travel abroad.

The result of all Vavilov’s expeditions was one of the scientist’s main discoveries - the establishment of the main centers of origin of cultivated plants, which were also the centers of ancient civilizations.

Another of his most important theoretical generalizations was the law of homological series of hereditary variability. Nikolai Vavilov made a report about it in 1920 in Saratov at the third All-Russian Congress of Breeders.

The scientist derived a formula for this law: L 1 * (a+ b+ c+…) , where L 1 – species radical, a characteristic common to all forms of Linneon (large species), distinguishing it from related species, and a, b , s, ... - varying characters that can be identical in different linneons.

In 1923, Vavilov was elected a corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences and director of the Institute of Experimental Agronomy; in 1924, the scientist headed the All-Union Institute of Plant Growing; he set a difficult task for his employees: to collect all cultivated cultivated plants and their wild varieties, to learn how to grow and store their seeds . In 1929, he was elected a full member of the Academy of Sciences, organized the VASKhNIL (Lenin Academy of Agricultural Sciences), and became a laureate of the Lenin Prize. In 1930, Nikolai Ivanovich headed the first in the country academic institution in genetics - a laboratory, which three years later became the Institute of Genetics of the USSR Academy of Sciences. He was also elected as a foreign member of the Royal Society of London, the Czechoslovak, Scottish, Indian, and German Academies of Sciences, the Linnean Society in London, and the American Botanical Society. Accordingly, in the thirties, the greatness of the scientist was obvious, which is why he became the object of cruel persecution and unworthy criticism from Lysenko, Present and their like-minded people. Nikolai Ivanovich responded to this disrespect with a courageous defense of the foundations of science. He could not be defeated, and he died in the fight for the truth.

At the insistence of Lysenko, on August 6, 1940, Vavilov was arrested. He was charged with sabotage and espionage. On July 9, 1941, the trial of the scientist took place. He was sentenced to capital punishment - execution; later the sentence was “commuted” - now the scientist faced 20 years of hard labor. In prison, Vavilov wrote a book about the history of agriculture, the manuscript of which, unfortunately, has not survived to this day.

When German troops approached Moscow, Nikolai Ivanovich, along with other prisoners, was transferred from Butyrskaya prison to Saratovskaya.

On January 26, 1943, at the age of 55, Vavilov died of exhaustion in a prison hospital, but for several years his fate was unknown to his relatives and work colleagues. It was only in 1970 that a modest monument appeared at the site of his supposed burial.

The scientist, who provided the country with millions of tons of grain thanks to his works and discoveries, who created a theoretical basis for researchers around the world, died in prison from hunger. This is the tragic paradox of the fate of this wonderful man.

The following literature was used in preparing the article :

1.N.P.Dubinin “Genetics. Pages of history", Chisinau, "Shtiintsa", 1990.

2.I.A.Zakharov “Brief essays on the history of genetics”, Moscow, “Bioinformservis”, 1999

3. Magazine “Science and Life”, Moscow, publishing house “Pravda”,

No. 2/1979, B. Mednikov “The law of homological series in our days”, p.32

Krasnova Maria

N.I. Vavilov is a brilliant scientist of the 20th century. Vavilov distinguished himself as a geographer, evolutionist and plant protection specialist. It is noteworthy that all his scientific interests were interconnected. He was the first to see the possibility and vital necessity of studying cultivated plants from the point of view of genetics, evolution and geography. He is responsible for a number of discoveries that have not exhausted their relevance to this day.

Vavilov dreamed eradicate food shortages in the world. His plan was to use the new science of genetics to propagate and increase the yield of crop plants that could grow anywhere, in any climate; in sandy deserts and frozen tundras. He called it "a mission for all mankind." Vavilov is recognized as the main geographer of the modern plant. The scientist formulated very important postulates in the field of genetics, wrote more than ten books and carried out enormous work on organizing the system of agricultural institutions in the USSR.

Biography facts

Nikolai Ivanovich Vavilov was born on November 13, 1887 in Moscow in the family of a wealthy merchant Ivan Ilyich Vavilov and his wife Alexandra Mikhailovna Postnikova. I.I. Vavilov wanted his children to continue his business and become businessmen, but all the children became generally recognized specialists, each in their own field of activity.

There were seven children in the Vavilov family, but three of them passed away in childhood. N.I. Vavilov had two sisters and a brother. Nikolai Vavilov’s sisters Alexandra and Lydia received medical education. Lydia died suddenly in 1913, having contracted smallpox during the expedition. His younger brother Sergei Ivanovich Vavilov became a famous physicist.

At the insistence of their father, brothers Nikolai and Sergei were educated in Moscow Commercial School. After studying at the school, he was going to enroll in the Imperial Moscow University, but he did not want to spend a year studying Latin, which was mandatory for admission, and in 1906 he was enrolled in the Moscow Agricultural Institute (MSHI). During his student years, he diligently studied the cycle of botanical and plant growing disciplines, and established himself as an enterprising and diligent student.

After completing the 2nd course, in 1908, Vavilov with a small group made his first trip to the Caucasus. From this trip he brought about 160 herbarium sheets.

In 1913-1914 N.I. Vavilov worked in the best laboratories in Great Britain, France and Germany. He also intended to visit North America, but in 1914 the first World War, which interfered with the planned plan. Particularly significant were his studies with William Betson at the John Innes Horticultural Institute. In 1922, a series of his works were published in England, including “The Law of Homologous Series in Hereditary Variation.”

N.I. Vavilov traveled to more than 64 foreign countries, learned about 15 languages, collected a collection of seeds, numbering 250,000 seed samples. He visited countries and was not afraid of dangerous situations, which he found himself in quite often. He made his first trip to Asia in 1916. In 1917, N.I. Vavilov was elected as a professor at the Department of Private Agriculture and Selection at the Voronezh Agricultural Institute and at the Faculty of Agronomy at Saratov University. He chose Saratov, where he worked as a teacher at the university.

During the time spent in Saratov, he published three fundamental works, one of them was the theory of centers of origin of cultivated plants.

Taking into account the significance and promise of the research done, Nikolai Vavilov was appointed corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences and director State Institute experimental agronomy in 1923. In 1926 - he became a laureate of the V.I. Lenin Prize

In 1940, Vavilov was arrested for criticizing the concepts of the Soviet biologist Trofim Lysenko, who enjoyed the support of Stalin. In 1941, Vavilov was sentenced to death, but in 1942 it was changed to twenty years of "corrective labor" in KGB camps. It seems that Vavilov never knew about the commutation of his sentence. On January 26, 1943, he died in prison from starvation and was buried in a common grave.

Facts from personal life

N.I. Vavilov was married twice. First wife, daughter of a merchant Ekaterina Sakharova. She was not a beauty, but she had a brilliant mind, which is what attracted Nikolai Vavilov to her. Their marriage took place in 1912. Catherine was a caring and understanding wife, she assisted Nikolai in every possible way: she supported him on a long trip abroad, she also knew several foreign languages and helped him with translations. In 1918, a son, Oleg, was born into their family. But soon after the birth of their son family life collapsed, Nikolai Vavilov went to Saratov, and his wife remained in Moscow with her son.

A year later, my husband got an apartment, Ekaterina came to Samara. But by that time, Vavilov was infatuated with his student Elena Barulina. After this, Nikolai led for some time double life, but in 1926 he was officially divorced. Catherine later suffered a difficult fate; her son died in 1946 in Dombay. She never remarried and lived completely alone until 1963.

The marriage to Elena Barulina took place shortly after his divorce from Katya. Two years later, their son Yuri was born.

N.I. Vavilov was an atheist
Since 1934, Stalin forbade Vavilov to travel abroad
During the investigation, Vavilov was summoned for questioning about 400 times, the total interrogation time was 1,700 hours. It is also known that monstrous torture was used against Vavilov.
While in prison, N. Vavilov wrote a book about agriculture, which after his death was burned along with the rest of his things.
Sergei Vavilov received an “incognito” note every year on his brother’s birthday with the words: “Cain, where is your brother Abel?” These notes brought indescribable mental suffering to Sergei Ivanovich: in those terrible years he provided assistance not only to his brother’s family, but also to other persecuted people.

Nikolai Ivanovich Vavilov- an outstanding Soviet scientist. His contribution to science, especially to biology, systematics and geography of cultivated plants, is generally recognized not only in the Soviet Union, but also abroad.

A Darwinian biologist, the creator of the scientific foundations of selection and the doctrine of the origin of cultivated plants, he is at the same time one of the largest geographers and naturalists. He collected tens of thousands of samples and established the migration routes of plants cultivated by humans, and deeply studied the history of agricultural culture.

It is difficult to name another biologist who would possess such a huge amount of factual scientific material as N.I. Vavilov possessed. Gifted with an exceptional ability for theoretical generalizations, he created theories that have firmly entered the treasury of world science.

In his activities, the scientist always followed an original path and through his own prism examined not only what he had obtained, but also previously known facts. All scientific works of N. I. Vavilov, including small works, are distinguished by originality and determine a decisive turn in our scientific ideas and research methods.

N.I. Vavilov’s early research on plant immunity to fungal diseases allowed the then very young scientist to create an original theory of the physiological immunity of plants to infectious diseases. He also used the physiological immunity of plants to substantiate the genetic grouping of all types of wheat known at that time. He was interested in issues of immunity throughout his entire scientific career and returned to them more than once in his research. But already at an early stage of his work, these studies were completed with a major monograph “Plant Immunity to Infectious Diseases” (1919).

Another small work by N. I. Vavilov, “On the Origin of Cultivated Rye” (1917), gave a completely new interpretation of the history of the introduction of a widely used cereal into culture. In this work, the scientist not only illuminated the stages of the evolution of weedy field rye into cultivated rye, but also revealed a previously unknown path of origin of many other cultivated plants. He showed that new young crops often arise from field plants that infest ancient agricultural crops. In this work, N.I. Vavilov first drew attention to southwestern Asia as the center of formation of rye, and laid the foundation for his subsequent research into establishing the centers of origin of cultivated plants.

Scientists and plant growing practitioners also highly value the work of N. I. Vavilov “Field Crops of the South-East”, published in 1922. It contains an interesting analysis of the composition of field crops in the arid zone, characteristics of the features of agriculture in the Southeast, and reveals the prospects for its development. This work was a model for numerous similar works by other authors on individual zones of the Soviet Union and foreign countries.

An in-depth study of the intraspecific system of cultivated plants, a detailed analysis of the racial composition of numerous Linnaean species enabled N.I. Vavilov to establish that, despite the enormous diversity of forms, the hereditary variability of their characters is subject to a certain pattern. There is no chaos in the evolutionary development of the organic world; everything happens according to the strict laws of nature. N.I. Vavilov made an attempt to reveal these laws in his outstanding work “The Law of Homologous Series in Hereditary Variation” (1920). This was essentially further creative development Charles Darwin's teachings on the origin of species. Many scientists regard the importance of the law of homological series in biology in the same way as periodic table elements of D.I. Mendeleev in chemistry.

The law of homological series in hereditary variability first of all establishes the basis for the systematics of the huge diversity of plant forms with which the organic world, allows the breeder to get a clear idea of the place of each, even small, systematic unit in the plant world and judge the possible diversity of the source material for selection, shows him the paths and directions of breeding work.

At one time, the law of homological series was criticized. Some scientists pointed out that this law limits the evolution of living things flora frozen strict boundaries. However, it should be said that N.I. Vavilov never denied the possibility of evolution of the series of hereditary variability themselves. His great merit is that he discovered one of those laws that determine evolutionary development plants, and showed the effect of this law on extensive and carefully studied material.

The doctrine of the centers of origin of cultivated plants and the geographical patterns in the distribution of their hereditary characteristics was of great importance for world science. Subsequently, research work in this area began to be carried out in the light of Vavilov’s teachings.

Exploring the geographical distribution of varieties and races of cultivated plants, as well as the centers of ancient agricultural culture, N. I. Vavilov discovered and described many plant forms and took a new approach to solving the problem of the origin of cultivated plants. Instead of the previous chaotic idea of the historical stages of the development of agricultural crops, the scientist in his classic work “Centers of Origin of Cultivated Plants” for the first time painted a strict picture of the regular concentration of a huge wealth of forms of cultivated plants in a few primary centers. The diversity of plant forms is of exceptional importance when selecting source material for breeding.

The existence of centers for the formation of cultivated plants has been convincingly confirmed by numerous Soviet expeditions organized by N. I. Vavilov. He visited and examined the cultural flora in the countries of South-West, South and Southeast Asia, in the countries of Africa, and Southern Europe adjacent to Mediterranean Sea, in almost all countries of Central and South America. He carefully examined various parts of the Soviet Union, from the southern to the northernmost.

These expeditions made it possible to collect huge number samples of plants and seeds and create at the All-Union Institute of Plant Growing a fund of plant forms that is exceptional in richness and diversity, which is still widely used by Soviet breeding. Based on this material, large monographs on the cultural flora of Afghanistan, Mexico, South and Central America, Abyssinia (Ethiopia), Central Asia and etc.

Speaking about the outstanding theoretical research of N. I. Vavilov, one cannot pass over in silence his work “Linnaean View as a System”. This is a small volume, but deep in thought, at first glance a purely botanical work, especially important for biology in general and for the taxonomy of cultivated plants in particular. Only based on the Linnaean concept of a species as a complex system can one find an appropriate place for the numerous forms that make up the species.

N.I. Vavilov developed the scientific foundations of selection: the problem of source material, the theory of plant introduction and the botanical and geographical foundations of selection, selection methods for drought resistance and immunity to fungal diseases. He showed the importance of distant interspecific and intergeneric hybridization. His works on selection have not lost their scientific and practical significance to this day.

N. I. Vavilov also wrote remarkable works on the history of agriculture, the origins of which he saw not in wide valleys large rivers, and on the rugged terrain of mountainous regions, numerous works on the study of individual cultivated plants, among which special mention should be made of the in-depth analysis of the genetic nature of winter and spring wheat, botanical and geographical considerations on the possibility of promoting the crop winter wheat to new regions of the USSR, scientific foundations of wheat breeding, work on remote hybridization and phylogeny of wheat, etc.

N.I. Vavilov was called a “plant hunter,” and he, indeed, hunted for them passionately, all his life, looking for places where the greatest diversity and richness of plant forms accumulated. But he did not hunt at random, but according to a specific plan, drawn up in accordance with his theories of the centers of origin of cultivated plants and the geographical pattern of their distribution. Nikolai Ivanovich Vavilov was tireless traveler. He traveled to four continents and was only in Australia, which gave almost nothing to agriculture.

N.I. Vavilov in his works expressed many valuable considerations about the development of agriculture in the northern regions of the Soviet Union, about the development of wet and dry subtropics and the introduction of new plants into these areas, about the development of mountain agriculture, for which he generalized the world experience of agricultural development of the highlands, on the development of agriculture in a number of regions of the Soviet Union. He paid a lot of attention to the problem of increasing agricultural yields.

Public and statesman of great scope, Nikolai Ivanovich clearly saw the prospect of the socialist reorganization of his homeland and devoted all his energy and knowledge to this great cause.

N. I. Vavilov published more than 300 scientific studies. His scientific works are well known and popular among a wide range of agricultural workers. However, not everyone knows what a gigantic amount of work he did to arrive at his simple, clear scientific generalizations and coherent theories. Not everyone knows how many extensive and profound studies were carried out by N. I. Vavilov in order to lift the veils of many secrets of nature and reveal new objective patterns of development of the organic world.

Many monographs and articles will be written on his scientific discoveries. The life of Nikolai Ivanovich is a vivid example of selfless love for the Motherland and selfless work.

Academician of VASKHNIL N. A. Maysuryan

IN last years V journalistic literature two contradictory myths from the field of the history of biological science in the USSR are actively promoted. One of these myths smears academician Lysenko with mud, turning him into an ignorant scoundrel and villain. The other exalts Academician N.I. Vavilov, making him a super-great genius of all times and peoples. I will try to take an objective look at Vavilov, based on the information available on the Internet.

Nikolai Ivanovich Vavilov was born on November 25, 1887 in Moscow, in the family of a commercial and industrial figure. He graduated from a commercial school, and then from the Moscow Agricultural Institute (later the Moscow Agricultural Academy named after K. A. Timiryazev). For his student scientific work “Field slugs, pests of fields and vegetable gardens” he was awarded the Moscow Polytechnic Museum Prize. Vavilov was retained in the magistracy at the Department of Private Agriculture. In 1913-1914 N.I. Vavilov worked for the famous geneticist V. Batson (England). Then he worked for some time in Cambridge, then in France and Germany.

In 1917, Vavilov was elected professor and head of the department of private agriculture and selection of the Higher Agricultural Courses (Saratov), which was later transformed into an agricultural institute. In 1920, Vavilov was already working in Petrograd. In 1920, Vavilov was appointed head of the Bureau of Applied Botany. Under his leadership, a relatively small scientific institution - the Bureau of Applied Botany - was transformed in 1921 into the Department of Applied Botany and Selection, and in 1924 into the All-Union Institute of Applied Botany and New Crops (VIPBiNK). In 1930, this institute was transformed into the All-Union Institute of Plant Growing (VIR), which Vavilov led until August 1940.

In 1929, Vavilov was elected a full member of the USSR Academy of Sciences and at the same time an academician of the All-Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, and was appointed president of the All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences named after V.I. Lenin (VASKhNIL), organized on the basis of the State Institute of Experimental Agronomy, and then VIR.

Before the war, Vavilov held many paid positions. He is an academician of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR and the All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and the president (1929-1935) and vice-president (1935-1940) of the All-Union Geographical Society (1931-1940), founder (1920) and permanent director of the All-Union until his arrest Institute of Plant Growing (1930-1940), director of the Institute of Genetics of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1930-1940; the institute moved to Moscow in 1934), member of the Expeditionary Commission of the USSR Academy of Sciences, member of the board of the People's Commissariat of Agriculture of the USSR, member of the presidium of the All-Union Association of Oriental Studies. In 1926-1935, a member of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, in 1927-1929 - a member of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee.

LOVER OF SCIENTIFIC TOURISM

PROTOCOL of the interrogation of the arrested Vavilov Nikolai Ivanovich dated August 21, 1940. The interrogation began at 13.00. 30 min.

Question: Which countries have you visited abroad?

Answer: In the period from 1913 to 1933, I was on scientific trips to the following countries: England, France, Germany, Iran, USA, Holland, Sweden, Denmark, Afghanistan, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Syria, Palestine, Transjordan, Abyssinia, Eritrea, Spain, Italy, Greece, French Somalia, Western China, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Guatemala, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil and Cuba.

As you can see, Vavilov skated for the state. account for Europe, made acquaintances, bought books. To put it simply: he lived for his own pleasure and, apparently, quite well. For example, in 1921-1922, the years of famine in the Volga region, Vavilov became acquainted with the agriculture of vast regions of the USA and Canada. And in 1926 - 1927. N. I. Vavilov traveled through the Mediterranean countries - Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Transjordan, Greece, Italy, the islands of Sicily, Sardinia, Crete, Cyprus, Southern France, Spain, Portugal. Through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea, he sailed to French Somalia, and from there to Ethiopia (Abyssinia) and Eritrea. A good route to world resorts, isn’t it?

You have to be able to do this - in 15 years, be able to visit 110 botanical and agronomic expeditions around the world? That is, 7 or more expeditions per year. How is it possible to travel 6 months a year and be the director of two research institutes, with a staff of 5,000 people, and also supervise several laboratories? Editor of voluminous works. Who edited them? By the way, the myth is constantly being circulated that Vavilov was then deprived of his directorship. No. He remained the director of the All-Union Institute of Plant Growing and the Research Institute of Genetics, located in different cities, at a distance of 600 km from each other. Only after Vavilov’s arrest in 1940 was Lysenko appointed director of the Institute of Genetics.

Some believe that the Vavilovs were brilliant scientists, decades ahead of world science. It is easier to judge this from Vavilov’s published scientific works (http://vigg.ru/istorija-instituta/muzei-ni-vavilova/vavliov-bibliography/). The list shows that Vavilov very rarely published original articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals. He mainly wrote prefaces, articles in collections of scientific works, which in the USSR were called mass graves, articles in ordinary newspapers, articles in memory of scientists and reports at conferences.

VAVILOV AND PLANT IMMUNITY

For some reason, current historians of science believe that Vavilov is one of the founders of the doctrine of plant immunity. Indeed, in 1914, Vavilov wrote an article on plant immunity “Immunity to fungous diseases as a physiological test in genetics and systematics, exemplified in cereals.” J. Genet. 1914. 4 (No. 1): 49-65). I don’t understand where he got the material for the article and what outstanding things could be dug up in a year. The fact is that in 1913 he was sent to England, France and Germany to complete his education. Vavilov spent most of his business trip, interrupted in 1914 by the outbreak of the First World War, in England, listening to lectures at the University of Cambridge and conducting experimental work on plant immunity in Merton, near London, under the guidance of William Bateson, one of the founders of genetics. That is, he worked as an ordinary worker. postdoc for less than a year, during which time he could not do anything special in plant immunology. Moreover, at that time there were no methods for analyzing this issue. In England he was there for a maximum of 1.5 years.

Returning to Moscow, Vavilov allegedly continued his work on plant immunity at the breeding station of the Moscow Agricultural Institute. It was a poorly equipped institute for science. Not a single major scientist emerged from him. Moreover, Vavilov almost never visited Moscow. I did not find any mention of Vavilov’s name in the review on plant immunity (141), not only as the founder of this direction, but in general. Therefore, the opinion that Vavilov discovered or participated in the discovery of plant immunity is somewhat exaggerated.

Subsequently, Vavilov repeatedly reprinted this work on plant immunity (Plant immunity to viral diseases. - In the book. Proceedings of the All-Union Meeting on the Study of Ultramicrobes and Filterable Viruses (December 14-18, 1935). M.-L., USSR Academy of Sciences, 1937 , pp. 139-156). In 1919, Vavilov published the book “Plant Immunity to Infectious Diseases.” M., type. Ryabushinsky. By the way, after 1914 and before this book there is not a single original article where Vavilov wrote about plant immunity.

So, Vavilov did not make any special contribution to plant immunology. This is another myth.

LAW OF HOMOLOGICAL RADS

In 1920, at the All-Russian Selection Congress in Saratov, Vavilov made a report “The Law of Homologous Series in Hereditary Variation,” and in 1922 he published English language work “The law of homologous series in variation” (J. Genet., 1922, v. 12, No. 1, p. 47-89). As we can see, Vavilov again lacks original works where this issue would be examined. That is, this is a typical compilation work. Homological series are nothing more than an empirical classification that gives nothing to either science or practice without any experimental and theoretical confirmation; a generalization of the compiler.

There was a Civil War. In a war-ravaged country, not only were there no reagents, but even literature was not received or published. What could be discovered during this time in this institute and in this country?

The only one original idea there was a prediction of the presence of certain morphological characteristics in rye. The fact is that different types of rye and wheat showed complete parallelism. Absence of a non-league type of rye (there was such a type of wheat). Based on Kop's law, Vavilov made a forecast, went to the Pamirs and found such rye there (Tchaikovsky, 2006, p. 167).

Vavilov for his homological series, which were ridiculed in those years by another, no less eminent geneticist Timofeev-Resovsky. who muttered: these are not “homologous”, but “analogous” series. Dubinin criticized the elements of Lotsianism in Vavilov’s law of homological series.

And the originality of this work is quite doubtful. The idea of parallel series was first substantiated and proposed by Cope. It is caused by the presence of the same genes and the same functions and similar ecological niches. Timofeev-Resovsky in his article “The Law of Homological Series” explains: “Even Charles Darwin (1859-68) drew attention to the far-reaching parallelism in the variability of closely related species and genera of animals and plants. In the 19th and early 20th centuries. a number of botanists and zoologists (for example, French scientist M. Duval-Jouve, 1865; Swiss mycologist E. Fischer, 1896; German botanist E. Cederbauer, 1907, 1927; Russian, zoologist V. M. Shimkevich, 1906, 1921, etc.) specifically studied parallel variability different types plants and animals." And Vavilov in 1921 renamed this long-known and studied law of parallelism into the “law of homological series”, and became its great discoverer. Although Vavilov never worked with animals, he nevertheless pointed out the applicability of Cope's law to animals.

What is especially piquant in this discovery of Vavilov is that this law of “homologous series” of his proves the complete inconsistency of Weismannism-Morganism, of which Vavilov seemed to be a supporter, since without the influence of the external environment and simply with random mutations, the law of parallelism of hereditary characteristics is simply wouldn't exist.

CENTERS OF ORIGIN OF CROPS

Already in 1926, he published (which means it was written in 1925) the book “Centers of Origin of Cultivated Plants.” The book is not based on original works, i.e. clean water a compilation of pure water. Based on two of my trips, without properly studying the collected material. This requires time or well-trained employees. And where did he find them in Saratov?

And on this basis, not through his own analysis of his own data, but through compilation, he draws global conclusions. Vavilov identified seven primary centers: 1. The South Asian tropical center (tropical India, Indochina, Southern China and the islands of Southeast Asia), which gave humanity rice, sugar cane, Asian varieties of cotton, cucumbers, lemon, orange, and a large number of other tropical fruit and vegetable crops. 

2. East Asian center (Central and Eastern China, Taiwan Island, Korea, Japan). The homeland of soybeans, millet, tea bush, many vegetable and fruit crops.  3. South-West Asian center (Asia Minor, Iran, Afghanistan, Central Asia, North-West India), where soft wheat, rye, legumes, melon, apple, pomegranate, figs, grapes, and many other fruits originated. : Das Problem der Entstehimg der Kulturpflanzen. [The problem of the emergence of cultivated plants]. - Nova Acta Acad. Caesar. Leop. Carol., 1933, Bd. 1, H. 2-3, S. 332-337, and here - on Czech language Svĕtova stfediska vzniku kulturnich rostlin v zemĕdĕlstvi. [World centers of origin of cultivated plants in agriculture]. - Vĕstn. Ceskosl. akad. zemĕd., 1936, roc. 12, p. 8-9, s. 574-578. or The doctrine of the origin of cultivated plants after Darwin. (Report at the Darwin session of the USSR Academy of Sciences 28/XI 1939) - Sov. Science, 1940, No. 2, p. 55-75.

The idea itself is not original. Vavilov was not the true discoverer of centers of origin. Plant origin centers had been opened before him. He just made a small clarification. Even Charles Darwin, exploring the variability and evolution of cultivated plants, relied primarily on the work of Alphonse Decandolle (1806-1893) “Rational Botanical Geography”. True, Darwin paid attention to the evolution of species, to the hereditary changes to which the species underwent. Decandolle was primarily interested in establishing the homeland of the cultivated plant. After Darwin's death, Decandolle's book “The Origin of Cultivated Plants” was published, which became the main work in this area.

As we see, when describing the centers of cultivated plants, Vavilov again acted as a compiler.

BREEDER VAVILOV

Judging by the list of scientific works, Vavilov not only never engaged in genetic research on plants, but also never described new plant species and developed new varieties. He writes in French a certain generalizing work “Agriculture and agronomic science in the USSR” (L "agriculture et la science agronomiquo en URSS. - Revue int. Bot. appl. Agric. trop., 1933, t. 13, No. 140, p . 241-251). And then suddenly Vavilov became an expert in wheat breeding. In 1935, another book was published, not based on any original work ( Scientific Basics wheat breeding. M.-L., Selkhozgiz, 1935, 246 pp., figure, table, 3 incl. l. kart.). After this book, Vavilov begins to write some review articles on selection. Les bases botaniques et géographiques de la selection. [Botanical and geographical basis of selection]. - Bevue int. Bot. appl. Agric. trop, 1936, t. 16, no. 174, p. 124-129; No. 175, p. 214-223; No. 176, p. 285-293.

The conclusion is obvious: Vavilov was not a breeder.

GENETIC VAVILOV

People are constantly being fed the myth that Vavilov is an outstanding world-class geneticist. You can still find similar statements about Vavilov. For example, Starikov writes that N.I. Vavilov was not engaged in philosophy, but in genetics, laying the theoretical principles of its foundations and even then reached such heights of understanding of genetic processes that Western scientists only reached 30 years later (http://nstarikov. ru/blog/4697).

To understand what kind of geneticist Vavilov was, look at the list of his scientific works. It’s as if the geneticist Vavilov was noted only in popular scientific brochures, like this one: “Genetics in the service of socialist agriculture” (Introduction to the plan for genetic research in the field of crop production for 1933-1937). [Report and closing remarks]. - In the book. Proceedings of the All-Union Conference on Planning Genetic Breeding Research. Leningrad, June 25-29, 1932. Leningrad, USSR Academy of Sciences, 1933, p. 17-46, 231-234). This is probably his only work that can be attributed to genetics, although Vavilov after Civil War He practically did not teach anywhere - he mainly traveled around the world and the USSR, that is, around cities and villages. As you can see, this is a regular performance in the “la-la” style. There is also an article on methods of teaching genetics (How to build a course in genetics, selection and seed production. - Vernalization, 1939, No. 1, pp. 131-135).

Vavilov’s knowledge of genetics was clearly appreciated by Koltsov. At the session of 1936, Koltsov said to N.I. Vavilov: “I turn to Nikolai Ivanovich, do you know genetics properly, you don’t know... You read our Botanical Journal, of course, poorly. You don’t do much about Drosophila, and if If you are given an ordinary student test task, to determine the point of the chromosome where a certain mutation lies, then you probably will not solve this problem right away, since you did not take a student course in genetics at one time (V. Soifer, 2002. Chapter 7. Link 75 ).

During the “scientific” discussions of 1936 and 1939, when formal geneticists attacked Lysenko, Vavilov took a rather passive position. By the way, Vavilov assessed vegetative hybridization very positively. This is evidenced by his article “The Significance of Interspecific and Intergeneric Hybridization in Selection and Evolution.” Izv. Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Series biol., 1938, No. 3, p. 543-563. Literature 25 titles He published the same article in the journal Nature (1938, No. 4, pp. 68-82.) Vavilov stated at the General Meeting of the USSR Academy of Sciences. (it took place in Moscow on May 20–21, 1937): “Our team at the Institute of Genetics and another large institute, which I manage. The Institute of Plant Growing, probably more than any other institution in Europe, works in the field of genuine hybridization, essentially continuing the work of Ivan Vladimirovich Michurin... I should note another major section, which is bypassed in this report when emphasizing other aspects, - this section on remote hybridization, headed by Professor Kostov. The Agricultural Academy awarded Dr. Kostov’s work as outstanding work.”

He is willingly published in the journal "Vernalization", which was edited by Lysenko (On the basic concepts and terms in selection and seed production in relation to the organization of production of varietal seeds. (Memorandum of the commission chaired by N.I. Vavilov). -Vernalization, 1938, No. 1- 2, pp. 137-142). And suddenly, in 1939, Vavilov sharply criticized Lysenko’s views at a meeting of the Leningrad Regional Bureau of the section of scientific workers. At the end of his speech, Vavilov said: “We will go to the stake, we will burn, but we will not give up our convictions.”

Like all biologists of that time in the USSR, Vavilov was noted for his brochure on Darwinism (Linnean species as a system. M.-L., Selkhozgiz, 1931, 32 p., table), but again, Vavilov was never involved in evolution and did not know it properly. In 1941, Vavilov’s last article in English was published. Entering a new epoch. [The beginning of a new era]. - Chronica bot., 1941, v. 6, no. 19-20, p. 433-437.

The conclusion is obvious: Vavilov never studied genetics and most likely did not know it at all, at least he knew it worse than Lysenko, who wrote very good articles on genetics in the Encyclopedia. His intention to go to the stake was nothing more than a message to his descendants, who were supposed to believe that he was innocent.

DISCONNECTION FROM PRACTICE

What did the “brilliant scientist” Vavilov do in those years when there was a crop failure and famine in Russia, when the country was in a critical situation caused by the First World War and the Civil War that began immediately after that? In 1921-1922 there was a severe famine in the Volga region, Crimea, Mordovia and other regions, the former Russian Empire. According to current historians, over 23 million people were starving. Mortality figures vary tenfold, from one million to ten. Let's look at Vavilov's works and works during this period: 1917 - “On the origin of cultural rye”; 1920 - “On the eastern centers of cultivated plants”; 1922 - “Towards the knowledge of soft wheat.” Well, no practical use! In 1924, Vavilov managed to travel to Afghanistan - he was included as a courier in the Soviet diplomatic group. Kill me, but I can’t understand one thing: why does the USSR need the economy of this country that is completely foreign to us? It would be nice if this was before 1979.

In 1932 - 1933, after the VI International Genetic Congress in Ithaca (USA), N.I. Vavilov traveled to a number of Canadian provinces and then surveyed the agricultural regions of most countries in Central and South America.” Perhaps modern agronomists will explain why we need the peculiarities of agriculture in Japan and South America? Notice there is another famine in the country and instead of traveling around the USSR, finding out the reasons, Vavilov studies Agriculture Brazil?

VIR scientists were mainly engaged in theory, although the institute belonged to the purely applied academy of agricultural sciences. Here is an excerpt from the VIR survey report: “The top priority was (to a large extent remains the case now) botanical-systematic and morphological description collections, while the isolation of economically valuable forms from them and selection were given a secondary place. What was and is now recognized (by Academician Vavilov) as the most important product of VIR is not the isolation and introduction into practice of new valuable varieties and forms of cultivated plants and their propagation, but a large number of literary reports devoted to the description of various botanical forms, botanical qualifications, etc.

§3. To plow the land in Siberia and Kazakhstan.

§4. Plow up the lands in the North.

§6. Count on the creativity of peasants united in collective farms.

§7. Do everything according to plan...

§eleven. Pasture development is planned.

§12. "increasing the general culture of road construction (Izvestia of the Central Committee of the CPSU 1989. Number 12. P. 116–120.)". And this is the result of the work of 5,000 people.

The Soviet government, first of all, was faced with the task of feeding people and, based on this, the achievements of scientific schools were assessed, feeding today, or at least tomorrow, but not in 50 years. Basic science is great, but what have you done to feed people? Fundamental science is wonderful, but what did we allocate money for???