Professor Count Nikolay Alekseyevich Bobrinski (10 March 1890 – 27 December 1964) was a Russian
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 ...
and biogeographer. He was a student of
M.A. Menzbier and was especially interested in the zoogeography of mammals. He published several influential textbooks including one on zoogeography.
Biography
Bobrinski was born in Moscow into the aristocratic Russian family of
Bobrinski, Bobrinsky or Bobrinskoy (Бобринские). His father was Count
Alexei Alekseevich Bobrinsky (descended from an illegitimate son of
Catherine the Great
Catherine II. (born Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst; 2 May 172917 November 1796), most commonly known as Catherine the Great, was the reigning empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. She came to power after overthrowing her husband, Peter I ...
and Count
Grigory Orlov
Prince Grigory Grigoryevich Orlov (; 17 October 1734 – 24 April 1783) was a favourite of the Empress Catherine the Great of Russia, Prince of the Holy Roman Empire (1772), state and military figure, collector, patron of arts, and General-in ...
) and his mother Varvara was daughter of
Nikolai Alexandrovich Lvov. He was mostly taken care of by English governesses and he went to the
Polivanov Gymnasium. He however graduated as an external student at the Tula gymnasium where he became interested in natural sciences. He was sent to Europe along with
Alexander Kots. In 1908 he went to Moscow University and worked under M. A.
Menzbier. In 1911-12 he made an ornithological expedition to
Armenia
Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...
. During
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
he served in the
Izyum Hussar regiment as a volunteer. Two of his brothers were killed and he was seriously injured in 1916 and he survived and returned with the rank of captain. After 1917 he joined the Darwin Museum under Alexander Kots. He married
Maria Alekseevna Chelishcheva, grand-daughter of
A.S. Khomyakov, in 1919. In 1920 the family moved to Tashkent, partly to avoid
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...
repression, and worked with D. N.
Kashkarov. In 1925 he made expeditions to Sary Chelek and the Chatkal Range. He became interested in the zoogeography of central Asia and examined particularly the small mammals and birds. In 1934, the Bobrinski's were again forced to move to Tashkent to avoid arrest. He received a doctorate in 1943 without a thesis. His speciality was mammals and in 1944 he co-authored ''Mammals of the USSR'' (1944) along with A.P.
Kuzyakin and B.A.
Kuznetsov
Kuznetsov, Kuznyetsov, Kuznetsoff, or Kouznetsov (masculine, ) or Kuznetsova (feminine, ) is the third most common Russian surname, an equivalent of the English "Smith" (derived from a Russian word ''kuznets'' that means ''blacksmith'').
Men
* Al ...
. Other publications included ''The Animal World and Nature of the USSR'' and ''Animal Geography'' (1951).
Bobrinski died after suffering in bed for several years. He was buried in the
Vostryakovsky cemetery beside those of his children and his aunt,
Sofya Alekseevna.
(''Allactodipus bobrinskii''), a species of small rodent, and
Bobrinski's serotine
Bobrinski's serotine (''Eptesicus bobrinskoi'') is a species of vesper bat. It can be found in Iran and Kazakhstan.
Taxonomy
Bobrinski's serotine was described as a new species in 1935 by Alexander Petrovitch Kuzyakin (also spelled Kuzjakin). Th ...
(''Eptesicus bobrinskoi''), a species of vesper bat, were named in his honour.
References
External links
Зоогеография и эволюция("Zoogeography and evolution", 1927)
{{authority control
Soviet zoologists
1890 births
1964 deaths