Evgeny Aleksandrovich Maleev (, ; 25 February 1915 – 12 April 1966) was a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and Russian

paleontologist Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geolo ...

who did most of his research on reptiles and Asian fossils, such as the naming of the ankylosaur '' Talarurus'' and theropods '' Tarbosaurus'' and '' Therizinosaurus'' along with the family Therizinosauridae.

Biography

Evgeny Aleksandrovich Maleev was born on February 25, 1915, in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. After being a member on the

Eastern Front (World War II) The Eastern Front, also known as the Great Patriotic War (term), Great Patriotic War in the Soviet Union and its successor states, and the German–Soviet War in modern Germany and Ukraine, was a Theater (warfare), theatre of World War II ...

he started his scientific career at the

Moscow State University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public university, public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, a ...

. In 1947 he graduated from the Faculty of Biology, also in that year, he started to work at the

Paleontological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences The Paleontological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences (PIN; ) in Moscow is among a paleontological institute. An affiliate of the Russian Academy of Sciences, it includes collections from all over the former Soviet Union, as well as from other ...

. In 1950 Maleev presented his PhD thesis, "Morphofunctional analysis of the occipital region of the skull and skeleton of the neck of mammals", being awarded the

Candidate of Sciences A Candidate of Sciences is a Doctor of Philosophy, PhD-equivalent academic research degree in all the post-Soviet countries with the exception of Ukraine, and until the 1990s it was also awarded in Central and Eastern European countries. It is ...

. Later on, he worked as the deputy manager from 1956 to 1962. He also was the leader of an expedition conducted in 1962 to

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

with the purpose of analyze

Komodo dragon The Komodo dragon (''Varanus komodoensis''), also known as the Komodo monitor, is a large reptile of the monitor lizard family Varanidae that is endemic to the Indonesian islands of Komodo (island), Komodo, Rinca, Flores, Gili Dasami, and Gili ...

specimens. Maleev did notable research on the institute until this death in 1966.

Scientific research

Maleev is recognised for his research on

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

tic

prehistoric life The history of life on Earth traces the processes by which living and extinct organisms evolved, from the earliest Abiogenesis, emergence of life to the present day. Earth formed about 4.5 billion years ago (abbreviated as ''Ga'', for ''gigaa ...

, such as the naming and description of the famous dinosaurs '' Talarurus'',Translated paper
/ref> '' Tarbosaurus'' and '' Therizinosaurus''.Translated paper
/ref> In recognition of his contribution to science, two dinosaurs were named in honor of Maleev: ''

Maleevus ''Maleevus'' (named in honour of Evgeny Maleev) is an extinct genus of herbivorous ankylosaurid dinosaur from the late Cretaceous, around 90 mya (unit), million years ago (possibly 98-83 Ma), of Mongolia. Discovery and naming Between 1946 and 19 ...

'' and '' Maleevosaurus''. Although his PhD thesis was mainly focused on mammals, his interests were oriented to reptiles. In 1948 he was a member of the Joint Soviet-Mongolian Paleontological Expedition conducted on the

Gobi Desert The Gobi Desert (, , ; ) is a large, cold desert and grassland region in North China and southern Mongolia. It is the sixth-largest desert in the world. The name of the desert comes from the Mongolian word ''gobi'', used to refer to all of th ...

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

. The expedition ended up on the discovery of ''Talarurus'', and later described by him in 1952. When first described, based on the claws, Maleev interpreted the remains of ''Therizinosaurus'' as belonging to a gigantic turtle-like reptile, also he named the family Therizinosauridae. After a long debate, the enigmatic fossils were later confirmed to belong to a giant theropod dinosaur. At some point, Maleev analyzed ''Tarbosaurus'' brains by cutting open the fossilized braincases with a diamond saw. In contrast to the risky methods used by Maleev, modern researchers use computer tomography scans and 3D reconstruction software (

CT scans A computed tomography scan (CT scan), formerly called computed axial tomography scan (CAT scan), is a medical imaging technique used to obtain detailed internal images of the body. The personnel that perform CT scans are called radiographers or ...

) to visualize the interior of dinosaur endocrania, thus eliminating the need to damage valuable specimens.

Selected publications

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maleev, Evgeny Soviet paleontologists 1915 births 1966 deaths Moscow State University alumni Soviet military personnel of World War II Place of birth missing Place of death missing Russian scientists

Biography

Scientific research

Selected publications

See also

References