On may 23, the opening of a memorial plate and exhibition to the 140th anniversary of the birth of Ivan Ivanovich Shmalhausen will be opened at IEE RAS
April 23 marked the 140th anniversary of the birth of one of the greatest biologists of the twentieth century, academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences, zoologist-evolutionist and experimental biologist, outstanding organizer of science and teacher - academician Ivan Ivanovich Shmalhausen. He left a huge scientific legacy, which had a great influence on the development of modern biology.
Ivan Ivanovich Shmalgauzen was a student and colleague of another famous scientist, academician Alexei Nikolaevich Severtsov, who in 1934 created the institute that now bears his name. He was replaced at this post two years later by Academician Shmalhausen.
The A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution RAS is holding anniversary celebrations dedicated to this date on May 23, 2024. At 14:00 there will be an academic council with a scientific report and a presentation about the academician, and then the opening of a memorial plaque and exhibition for the 140th anniversary of the birth of Ivan Ivanovich Schmalhausen, informal communication and a buffet reception.
We will be glad to see all guests! If you are not from our institute, but would like to come to the events, please write to Anna Lavrova (89262551977 - Telegram, WhatsApp) so that we can issue you a pass.
Exhibition “The Unknown Schmalhausen”
April 23, 2024 marks the 140th anniversary of the birth of Academician Ivan Ivanovich Schmalhausen, an outstanding scientist whose works laid the foundation of modern evolutionary biology.
I.I. Schmalhausen is the largest and world-famous evolutionary zoologist of the twentieth century. He made a huge contribution to the development of issues of comparative anatomy and embryology, evolutionary morphology, the origin of terrestrial vertebrates, the study of the processes of growth of organisms, phenogenetics and morphogenesis, factors and patterns of evolution, biocybernetics. He created the doctrine of ontogenetic prerequisites for evolution, the theory of stabilizing selection and the concept of the unity of the mechanisms of micro- and macroevolution.
About the contribution of Academician I.I. Much has been written about Schmalhausen in world and domestic science. Our permanent exhibition on the 1st floor presents materials about his scientific work. The exhibition “Unknown Schmalhausen” presents little-known facts about the biography and scientific activities of the academician.
The exhibition presents previously unpublished materials about the ancestors and descendants of Academician I.I. Shmalhausen, about his life during the evacuation to Kazakhstan and in the Mozzhinka holiday village near Moscow after the notorious session of the All-Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences.
Photographs and personal belongings were donated to the exhibition by the family of Academician I.I. Schmalhausen.
Exhibition “In the Shadow of Giants”
Few modern researchers, with the exception of narrow specialists, will remember the name Makhotin today. And yet, he was an excellent morphologist researcher, the author of a number of scientific papers and thousands of drawings - for scientific articles, books and just for fun. He did not create outstanding theories, did not become an academician, his name is not in encyclopedias or on memorial plaques. He was always as if in the shadow of two great scientists - academicians Alexei Nikolaevich Severtsov and Ivan Ivanovich Shmalhausen. A student of the first and son-in-law of the second, Anatoly Anatolyevich worked with them all his life, learned from them, helped the great become great. And after their death, he preserved the memory of them. In many ways, it is thanks to Anatoly Anatolyevich that we can learn about their lives.
It seems to us that it is quite appropriate in connection with the celebration of the 140th anniversary of Academician I.I. Shmalhausen, recall Anatoly Anatolyevich Makhotin. He was an amazingly erudite and charming man. Scientists, artists and people who had crossed paths with him constantly came to him and sat for hours talking. He had an amazing sense of humor, he managed to joke even when he was in a bad way.
This small exhibition complements the exhibition by I.I. Schmalhausen. On it we present for the first time the drawings of A.A Makhotin (1919–1930) and those preserved in the family archive of academician I.I. Schmalhausen photographs.