S.M. Vynohradsky (1856—1952): A Ukrainian Genius at the Crossroads of Science and Time

Abstract

Serhiy Vynohrandsky is a world-famous microbiologist, a native of Kyiv, a founder of general and soil microbiology and ecology. Details of Vynohrandsky’s scientific carrier after graduation of Saint-Petersburg University in 1881 are given: his work in a microbiological laboratory in Strasbourg (France), after that in the Institute of Hygiene at Zurich University (Switzerland). In 1988, Vynohrandsky came back to Saint-Petersburg, and worked in the Institute for Experimental Medicine, being its director in 1902—1905. Here Vynohrandsky was exploring hazardous infections, e.g., plague. He founded the Russian Microbiological Society in 1903, which he headed in 1903—1905. In 1905, Vynohrandsky moved to his family estate in Podil region, where he became a genuine innovator in agriculture and industry. In 1920, he emigrated first to Switzerland, thereafter to Beograd. In 1922, he created the department for agricultural biology at Pasteur Institute in Brie-Comte-Robert, not far from Paris, and was its director until his death. Detailed information about principal scientific discoveries of Vynohrandsky in the microbiology field are given.