Alexander Mikhailovich Nikolsky (Russian: Александр Михайлович Никольский; February 18, 1858 – December 8, 1942) was a Russian and Ukrainian

zoologist Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...

born in

Astrakhan Astrakhan (, ) is the largest city and administrative centre of Astrakhan Oblast in southern Russia. The city lies on two banks of the Volga, in the upper part of the Volga Delta, on eleven islands of the Caspian Depression, from the Caspian Se ...

. From 1877 to 1881, he studied at the

University of St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg State University (SPBGU; ) is a public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter the Great, the university from the be ...

, earning his doctorate several years later in 1887. From 1881 to 1891, he took part in numerous expeditions to

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

, the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, et al. In 1887 he became an associate professor in

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

, later becoming director of the

herpetology Herpetology (from Ancient Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is a branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, salamanders, and caecilians (Gymnophiona)) and reptiles (in ...

department at the Zoological Museum of the Academy of Sciences (1895). In 1903 he relocated as a professor to the

Kharkiv University The V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University (), also known as Kharkiv National University or Karazin University, is a public university in Kharkiv, Ukraine. It was founded in 1804 through the efforts of Vasily Karazin, becoming the second old ...

. In 1919 he was elected a member at the Academy of Sciences of

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. Among his written works were ''Herpetologia Caucasica'' (1913), and volumes on

reptile Reptiles, as commonly defined, are a group of tetrapods with an ectothermic metabolism and Amniotic egg, amniotic development. Living traditional reptiles comprise four Order (biology), orders: Testudines, Crocodilia, Squamata, and Rhynchocepha ...

s and

amphibian Amphibians are ectothermic, anamniote, anamniotic, tetrapod, four-limbed vertebrate animals that constitute the class (biology), class Amphibia. In its broadest sense, it is a paraphyletic group encompassing all Tetrapod, tetrapods, but excl ...

s that were part of the series "Fauna of Russia and Adjacent Countries". He is the taxonomic authority of 26 reptile species. The viper '' Vipera nikolskii'' (Nikolsky's adder) and the turtle

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

'' Testudo graeca nikolskii'' (Nikolsky's tortoise) are named in his honor. Today in Russia, the "Nikolsky Herpetological Society" commemorates his name.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011)
''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''
Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Nikolsky", pp. 190-191).

Notes

*This article is based on a translation of an article from the

French Wikipedia The French Wikipedia () is the French-language edition of Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia. This edition was started on 23 March 2001, two months after the official creation of Wikipedia. It has :fr:Special:Statistics, encyclopedia artic ...

, whose sources are listed as: **Adler, Kraig (1989). ''Contributions to the History of Herpetology''. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles. 202 pp. . ** Lescure, Jean; Le Garff, Bernard (2006). ''L'étymologie des noms d'amphibiens et de reptiles''. Paris: Éditions Belin. . (in French).

References

External links

European herpetological societies
1858 births 1942 deaths People from Astrakhan People from Astrakhan Governorate Zoologists from the Russian Empire Herpetologists from the Russian Empire Saint Petersburg State University alumni Academic staff of Saint Petersburg State University Academic staff of the National University of Kharkiv {{Zoologist-stub