January 26, 1943
He died of exhaustion in a Saratov prison. Nikolay Vavilov - one of the greatest scientists of the 20th century, a geneticist, botanist, and plant breeder who dreamed of saving the world from hunger.
Nikolai Ivanovich is a genius, and we don’t realize it only because he is our contemporary.
(Academician Dmitry Pryanishnikov)
I, doctor Stepanova N. L., and nurse Skripina M. E., examined the body of prisoner Vavilov <> His physique is correct, his nutritional status is sharply reduced... Death occurred as a result of a decline in cardiac activity
Born in 1887 in Moscow. His father was co-owner of a manufacturing company with multimillion-dollar turnover. He dreamed of passing the business on to his son.
Ivan Vavilov complained, albeit with a hint of pride, that his son didn't want to go into business, but rather wanted to get a higher education and become a scientist. I consoled him, saying that my son's scientific career could also bring glory to his name.
(Rector of Moscow University Mikhail Novikov)
He entered the Agricultural Institute and studied under a renowned agricultural chemist. Pryanishnikova — went on expeditions, gave presentations. Knew 20 languages.
In 1911, he remained at the department to prepare for a professorship. He studied plant immunity, conducted experiments, and completed internships abroad.
In 1916, he discovered the cause of a mass illness among Russian soldiers in Persia (now Iran). It turned out that the local flour was contaminated with the seeds of the scaly-headed ...
At the same time, he received permission for an expedition deep into Iran and beyond.
Wandering through the Pamirs and Bukhara, I had to be on the brink of death more than once <> It is not a pity to give up one’s life for the sake of the smallest thing in science
He studied cereal samples. Later, after planting Persian wheat in England, he was unable to infect it with powdery mildew (a fungal disease). He concluded that immunity depends on the environment in which the species evolved.
In 1919 he created the theory of plant immunity.
In 1920, he formulated the Law of Homologous Series in Hereditary Variability.
Knowing the chemical variability of neighboring genera, one can search for or obtain synthetically within a given genus by crossing chemical substances of a certain quality
In 1921, he became head of the Department of Applied Botany and Plant Breeding at the Agricultural Scientific Committee (SKhUK), which later became the All-Union Institute of Plant Growing. He led it until the summer of 1940.
He has been on 180 expeditions to almost every continent (except Australia and Antarctica). As a result, he has assembled the world's richest collection of cultivated plants. 250 thousand samples. To understand how plants behave in different soils and climates, he initiated the establishment of experimental breeding stations across the country—from the subtropics to the tundra. He believed that a scientific approach to plant breeding would save the world from famine.
He received the Lenin Prize for his work “Centers of Origin of Cultivated Plants”.
In the 1930s he had a conflict with an agronomist Timofey Lysenko, who promised Stalin a dramatic increase in grain yields through vernalization (the conversion of winter crops into spring crops by exposing seeds to low temperatures). Vavilov considered Lysenko's ideas unscientific:
Because of your activities, our country has been overtaken in many areas by the West.
Lysenko, however, rejected genetics, calling it a bourgeois science, and, with the support of the authorities, persecuted scientists. The memo that is believed to have led to Vavilov's arrest bears Lysenko's signature.
He was arrested in August 1940. He was accused of sabotage and leadership of the non-existent Labor Peasant Party. He was tortured during interrogation. In 1941, he was sentenced to death. In 1942, his sentence was commuted to 20 years in a labor camp—Academician Pryanishnikov fearlessly fought for his student and colleague. In early 1943, Vavilov died of pellagra.
It's a disease caused by absolute, extreme exhaustion. It's the very same disease that kills homeless dogs. <> So, a great scientist, a world-class genius, the pride of Russian science, died like a dog in a Saratov prison... And everyone needs to know and remember this.
(Vladimir Efroimson)
