Sergei Sergeevich Chetverikov (; 6 May 1880 – 2 July 1959) was a Russian biologist and one of the early contributors to the development of the field of
genetics
Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinians, Augustinian ...
. His research showed how early
genetic theories applied to natural populations, and has therefore contributed towards the
modern synthesis of evolutionary theory.
Between the two World Wars,
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 ...
biological research managed to connect genetics with field research on natural populations. Chetverikov led a team at the
Nikolai Koltsov
Nikolai Konstantinovich Koltsov (; 14 July 1872 – 2 December 1940) was a Russian biologist and a pioneer of modern genetics. Among his students were Nikolay Timofeeff-Ressovsky, Vladimir Pavlovich Efroimson, Alexander Sergeevich Serebrovsky, A ...
Institute of Experimental Biology in Moscow, and in 1926 produced what should have been one of the landmark papers of the
modern synthesis. However, published only in
Russian
Russian(s) may refer to:
*Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*A citizen of Russia
*Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages
*''The Russians'', a b ...
, it was largely ignored in the English-speaking world (though
J.B.S. Haldane possessed a translation).
Chetverikov influenced several Russian geneticists who later came to work in the West, such as
Theodosius Dobzhansky
Theodosius Grigorievich Dobzhansky (; ; January 25, 1900 – December 18, 1975) was a Russian-born American geneticist and evolutionary biologist. He was a central figure in the field of evolutionary biology for his work in shaping the modern ...
and
Nikolay Timofeev-Ressovsky, both of whom continued to work in a similar style. The significance of Chetverikov's work came to light much later, by which time the evolutionary synthesis was virtually complete.
[Chetverikov S.S. On certain aspects of the evolutionary process from the standpoint of modern genetics. (transl. of 1921 paper by Malina Parker; ed I.M. Lerner) ''Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society'' 105, 167-195. 1961.]
He was arrested by
OGPU
The Joint State Political Directorate ( rus, Объединённое государственное политическое управление, p=ɐbjɪdʲɪˈnʲɵn(ː)əjə ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əjə pəlʲɪˈtʲitɕɪskəjə ʊprɐˈv ...
in 1929 and sent to exile to
Yekaterinburg
Yekaterinburg (, ; ), alternatively Romanization of Russian, romanized as Ekaterinburg and formerly known as Sverdlovsk ( ; 1924–1991), is a city and the administrative centre of Sverdlovsk Oblast and the Ural Federal District, Russia. The ci ...
for five years. He later moved to
Nizhny Novgorod
Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət, t=Lower Newtown; colloquially shortened to Nizhny) is a city and the administrative centre of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast an ...
and organized the Department of Genetics at
Gorky University. He was dismissed from his post at the behest of
Lysenko in 1948.
[Vadim J. Birstein. ''The Perversion Of Knowledge: The True Story of Soviet Science.'' Westview Press (2004) ]
References
External links
The Synthesis Of S. S. Chetverikov
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chetverikov, Sergei Sergeevich
Population geneticists
Russian geneticists
Russian entomologists
1880 births
1959 deaths
Modern synthesis (20th century)
Soviet entomologists
Soviet geneticists
Russian scientists