Nikolai Vavilov
Nikolai Ivanovich Vavilov ForMemRS, HFRSE (Russian: Никола́й Ива́нович Вави́лов, IPA: [nʲɪkɐˈlaj ɪˈvanəvʲɪtɕ vɐˈvʲiləf] ⓘ; 25 November [O.S. 13 November] 1887 – 26 January 1943) was a Russian and Soviet agronomist, botanist and geneticist who identified the centers of origin of cultivated plants. He devoted his life to the study and improvement of wheat, maize and other cereal crops that sustain the global population.
Nikolai Vavilov | |
|---|---|
Vavilov in 1933 | |
| Born | Nikolaj Ivanovich Vavilov 25 November 1887 |
| Died | 26 January 1943 (aged 55) |
| Nationality | Russian |
| Citizenship | Soviet Union |
| Alma mater | Moscow Agricultural Institute |
| Known for | Centers of origin |
| Relatives | Sergey Vavilov (brother) |
| Awards | |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | |
| Institutions |
|
| Author abbrev. (botany) | Vavilov |
Vavilov's work was criticized by Trofim Lysenko, whose anti-Mendelian concepts of plant biology had won favor with Joseph Stalin. As a result, Vavilov was arrested and subsequently sentenced to death in July 1941. Although his sentence was commuted to twenty years' imprisonment, he died in prison in 1943. In 1955, his death sentence was retroactively pardoned under Nikita Khrushchev. By the 1960s, his reputation was publicly rehabilitated, and he began to be hailed as a hero of Soviet science.