Ivan Vasilyevich Novopokrovskiy (; 7 December 1880, Mikhaylov — 30 May 1951,

Rostov-on-Don Rostov-on-Don is a port city and the administrative centre of Rostov Oblast and the Southern Federal District of Russia. It lies in the southeastern part of the East European Plain on the Don River, from the Sea of Azov, directly north of t ...

) was a

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

and a specialist in the field of botanical geography and systematics of

higher plants Vascular plants (), also called tracheophytes (, ) or collectively tracheophyta (; ), are plants that have lignified tissues (the xylem) for conducting water and minerals throughout the plant. They also have a specialized non-lignified tissue ( ...

Biography

Ivan Vasilyevich Novopokrovskiy was born on 7 December 1880 in Mikhaylov (present-day

Ryazan Oblast Ryazan Oblast (, ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Ryazan, which is also the oblast's largest city. Geography Ryazan Oblast ...

). In 1904 he graduated from the Natural Department of the Physics and Mathematics Faculty of

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

. In 1920—1931 he was a Professor in Novocherkassk Institute of Agriculture and Melioration. Until 1934 he was a professor at Krasnodar Agricultural Institute. From 1934 to 1944 he worked in

Rostov-on-Don State University Southern Federal University (), abbreviated as SFedU () and formerly known as Rostov State University (1957–2006), is a public university in Rostov Oblast, Russia with campuses in Rostov-on-Don and Taganrog. In 2023 ''US News & World Repor ...

(RSU), where he was the head of the Department of Botanics and Dean of the Faculty of Biology. In 1936 he founded (with the participation of Professors A. Flerov and V. N. Vershkovsky)

Herbarium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant biological specimen, specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sh ...

of the Rostov University. He also worked at Donskoy Polytechnic Institute (

Novocherkassk Novocherkassk () is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in Rostov Oblast, Russia, located near the confluence of the Tuzlov and Aksay Rivers, the latter a distributary of the Don (river), Don River. Novocherkassk is best known as the ...

) and in the North Caucasus Department of the State Institute for the Study of Arid Regions. Since 1945 he worked at the Botanical Institute of the

USSR Academy of Sciences The Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union was the highest scientific institution of the Soviet Union from 1925 to 1991. It united the country's leading scientists and was subordinated directly to the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union (u ...

(

Leningrad Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

), where he was in charge of the

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

n herbarium.С. Г. Жилин — Биографические материалы // Репрессированные геологи / Гл. ред. В. П. Орлов. Отв. Редакторы Л. П. Беляков, Е. М. Заблоцкий. М.-СПб. 1999. С. 13-357 In the years 1935—1942 he was persecuted by the

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

regime. He spoke several foreign languages.

Scientific work

Novopokrovskiy studied flora and vegetation of the southeastern European part of the

USSR 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 ...

. He is today known for his work on the systematics of some genera of plants from the family of

Compositae Asteraceae () is a large family of flowering plants that consists of over 32,000 known species in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. The number of species in Asteraceae is rivaled only by the Orchidaceae, and which is the larger fa ...

and the family of

Broomrape ''Orobanche'', commonly known as broomrape, is a genus of almost 200 species of small parasitic herbaceous plants, mostly native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. It is the type genus of the broomrape family Orobanchaceae. It is a weed on ...

, among which he described many new species. He is the author of more than 120 scientific works, including "''Zonal types of steppes of the European part of the USSR''", "''Vegetation of the Rostov region''", "''Quarantine weeds of the Rostov region''".

Memory

In 1985, in connection with the 70th anniversary of

Rostov State University Southern Federal University (), abbreviated as SFedU () and formerly known as Rostov State University (1957–2006), is a public university in Rostov Oblast, Russia with campuses in Rostov-on-Don and Taganrog. In 2023 ''US News & World Repor ...

and in recognition of Ivan Novopokrovsky's merits for the organization of the University's herbarium, the Herbarium of Rostov University was named after him. This is one of the largest herbariums in whole of

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

.Южный федеральный университет: Кафедра ботаники
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Novopokrovskiy, Ivan 1880 births 1951 deaths Academic staff of Southern Federal University Moscow State University alumni Soviet botanists 20th-century Russian botanists People from Mikhaylovsky Uyezd Burials at Serafimovskoe Cemetery