IVAN VLADIMIROVICH MICHURIN (1855-1935)
Russian breeder*, gardener-geneticist
“As far as I can remember, I was always and completely absorbed in the pursuit of growing one or another plant, and the passion was so strong that I almost didn’t even notice many other details of life.”
Ivan Vladimirovich Michurin
*Breeder- a scientist who crossbreeds plants to obtain new varieties.
Ivan Vladimirovich was born in the Ryazan region, near the village of Dolgoe, in the family of a small nobleman.
After graduating from the Pronsky district school, Michurin entered the Ryazan gymnasium, but did not stay there long due to the ruin of his family - there was nothing to pay for his studies. Therefore, young Michurin began working at the railway station. He studied telegraph and signaling devices and repaired them. Then Michurin became interested in watchmaking and opened his own watch repair shop.
At the age of 20, Ivan Michurin created a plant nursery in the city of Kozlov, Tambov region, and devoted his life to creating new varieties of garden plants.
Even at the very beginning of gardening activityIvan VladimirovichI visited many gardens in the Ryazan, Tula, and Kaluga regions and became convinced that old Russian varieties, due to diseases and pests, produced insignificant yields, and imported southern plants did not adapt well to our climate - frost, rain, rare sun.
A threat has arisen - Russian varieties will degenerate, and imported ones will never take root - Russians will have to buy expensive imported apples and pears.
“It was impossible to repeat the mistakes of previous gardeners, who in vain hoped to acclimatize foreign varieties. It is necessary to develop new, improved, hardy varieties for each individual area!”
, - wrote I.V. Michurin.
Michurin’s work involved a dozen and a half fruit and berry crops and several dozen botanical species. In his nursery, he collected a unique collection of plants from different parts of the globe - with Far East, Caucasus, Tibet, from China, Canada and other countries. Michurin began to cross all these plants with the aim of breeding new Russian varieties!
In 1913, Michurin received an offer to move to work and live in America and sell his collection, but he refused.
Michurin's achievements:
the scientist developed about 30 new varieties of roses, as well as violet lily bulbs (the flower looks like a lily and smells like a violet), 48 varieties of apple trees, 15 varieties of pears and 33 varieties of cherries and cherries, several varieties of plums.Ivan Vladimirovich tHe also developed varieties of grapes, apricots, blackberries, and currants adapted to the conditions of central Russia. In total there are more than 300 varieties of different plants!
All his life, Ivan Vladimirovich Michurin kept work diaries in which he described and analyzed his work.
Michurin’s diaries contain many specific recipes for all occasions in the garden, which are still relevant today.
1. Trees and shrubs purchased in the fall, but not planted, need to be buried (planted in a specially designated place where water does not stagnate).
2. To repel rodents, planted trees are coated with some odorous substances. Do not apply kerosene, lard, tar, or oils directly to the bark. You need to apply these compounds on thick paper, straw and tie them around.
Behind outstanding achievements in the selection Ivan Vladimirovich Michurin was awarded Russian government Order of St. Anne.
Michurin died on June 7, 1935, and was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery in Moscow.
The contribution of Ivan Vladimirovich Michurin to Russian and world gardening is so great that his name has become a household name. If they say about someone: “Well, he’s straight, Michurin!”, then it’s immediately clear that the person is a renowned gardener.
Today, many streets and squares in Russia are named after Michurin:
Michurovka village in the Ryazan region, railway platform Michurinets , Michurinsky Avenue in Moscow, Michurin Square in Ryazan. Michurina Street is in Belgorod, Volodarsk, Voronezh, Kemerovo, Samara, Saratov, Saransk, Tomsk, and other cities. There is even a lake and a village in Karelia named after Michurin!
A feature film was made about Michurin, which was even translated into Chinese, because they know Michurin in China too!
But the most obvious signRussians' love for Michurin - many folk jokes and caricatures about this outstanding breeder!
Jokes about Michurin
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Who invented barbed wire? Michurin. He crossed a snake and a hedgehog.
***
Michurin crossed a watermelon with flies so that the seeds would fly out on their own.
***
Michurin crossed pumpkin with cherries so that the hybrid had the taste of a berry and the size of a vegetable. It turned out the other way around.
A poorly-sighted man looks for a long time at a tree in the foliage of which an electric light bulb is shining: “Well, Michurin, come on, I didn’t expect it!”
***
How did Michurin die? He climbed a poplar tree to get some dill, and there he was covered in watermelons.
Caricature for fans of the book and movie "Twilight":
For those who don’t understand, there’s CHESNOOOOOK in the garden!!!
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Now you understand why like these ones the photo is posted on the Internet with a caption "Michurin's Dream" ?!
short biography
Ivan Vladimirovich was born on October 28, 1855 in the Vershina estate in the Ryazan region. His love of gardening came from his ancestors, who enthusiastically collected fruit trees and a library of agricultural literature. The father of the future scientist, Vladimir Ivanovich, served at the Tula Arms Factory as a weapons receiver, and after retiring, he was actively involved in gardening and beekeeping. It is noteworthy that in winter and autumn (when the agricultural season was coming to an end) he taught literacy to peasant children in his house. Ivan Vladimirovich was the seventh child in the family, however, his brothers and sisters died in infancy, and his mother Maria Petrovna left after them when the boy was four years old. The father gave his son his love and attention and worked with him. As a result, already at the age of eight, the future scientist could perfectly perform budding, copulation, and ablactation of plants.
Ivan Vladimirovich received his initial education at home, then was sent to the Pronsky district school of the Ryazan province. Immediately after his graduation in 1972, his father became seriously ill, and the family estate was sold under the hammer for debts. The scientist’s uncle enrolled him in the Ryazan provincial gymnasium, but the young man was expelled from there that same year due to his difficult financial situation.
At the same time, the young man moved to live in the district town of Kozlov, where he got a job as a commercial clerk in the goods office of the Kozlov station. He rose to the rank of assistant station manager, but lost this place due to a conflict with the station manager.
In 1874, Ivan Vladimirovich married Alexandra Vasilievna Petrushina, who bore him a son, Nikolai, and a daughter, Maria. In addition to his passion for gardening, the future scientist gained fame as an excellent watchmaker. Needing funds, he opened a watch workshop at his apartment, where he “brought back to life” not only watches, but also various devices. Ivan Vladimirovich could literally determine by sound what was wrong with this or that mechanism.
In rare hours of free time, he created new varieties fruit and berry crops. In 1875, Michurin rented an empty city estate in the vicinity of Kozlov, where he began conducting plant breeding experiments. Later, he acquired a plot of land near the Turmasovo settlement, which became one of the first breeding nurseries in Russia. Active scientific activity began. Already in 1906, the first works of I. V. Michurin appeared, devoted to the problems of breeding new varieties fruit trees. And in 1912, for his work, he was awarded the Order of St. Anne, 3rd degree. The fame of the scientist resounded not only in Russia, but also far beyond its borders. The fact that in 1913 Ivan Vladimirovich refused the offer of the US Department of Agriculture to move to America or at least sell his collection of plants speaks for itself. He motivated his decision famous phrase: “Mature plants do not take root well in another place, and people even more so.” In addition, the Dutch offered I.V. Michurin a lot of money for violet lily bulbs on the condition that this flower would no longer be grown in Russia. The great scientist refused them, although he himself lived poorly. The gardener remained a true patriot of his homeland until the end of his days.
The contribution of the great scientist to science is truly priceless. He was repeatedly awarded high awards. For outstanding work and achievements in the field of genetics and plant breeding in 1926, Michurin was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, and in 1931 - the Order of Lenin. In 1932, Kozlov was renamed in honor of its famous resident. A year before the death of Ivan Vladimirovich, in 1934, a genetic laboratory was created on the basis of his nursery.
Michurin Ivan Vladimirovich brief biography a famous scientist, biologist, founder of the scientific selection of berries, fruits and other crops in the USSR is presented in this article.
Ivan Michurin short biography
Ivan Vladimirovich Michurin famous scientist biologist The breeder was born on October 27, 1855 in the Ryazan province in the family of a retired provincial secretary, a small nobleman.
At first Michurin studied at home, later he entered the Pronsky district school, which he graduated in 1872. In the same year, he became a student at the 1st Ryazan Classical Gymnasium, but was expelled from it for his disrespectful attitude towards his superiors. Ivan Vladimirovich moves to the city of Kozlov, in the Tambov province.
In the new city, he got a job at a railway station, where he worked from 1872 to 1876. At first he held the position of commercial clerk in a goods office, and later became a goods cashier and assistant station manager.
In 1874 he married Alexandra Petrushina, the daughter of a worker at a distillery. In marriage, they gave birth to two children - Nikolai and Maria.
Experiencing a lack of finances, Michurin opened a watch workshop in his apartment. In his free time he was engaged in creating new types of berry and fruit crops. For this purpose, Ivan Vladimirovich rented a plot of land in Kozlov in 1875 and made attempts to develop new varieties of berry and fruit crops, and also collected a collection of plants.
In 1888, Michurin acquired a new plot of land on the outskirts of the city, much larger than the previous one - about 13 hectares, and, having transferred his plants there, he worked on his plantation until the end of his life. From that time on, his site became the first breeding nursery in Russia.
Michurin became famous in 1906, when his first scientific works were published, which covered the problems of breeding varieties of fruit trees. For his work, the scientist received the Order of St. Anne, III degree, and the badge “For his work in agriculture.”
With the Bolsheviks coming to power, he begins to cooperate with the new administration and takes part in consultations on issues of breeding, increasing productivity and combating drought for specialists in the field Agriculture, and also attended agronomic meetings.
In 1923, Michurin's nursery became an institution of national importance. And in 1928 it was reorganized into the Selection and Genetic Station of Fruit and Berry Crops (since 1934 - the Central Genetic Laboratory, named after Michurin).
Michurin Ivan Vladimirovich contribution to science
Ivan Vladimirovich made a huge contribution to the science of genetics, Special attention focusing on research on berries and fruit plants. He is considered the founder of scientific crop selection. He developed a theory and practical techniques in the field of remote hybridization.
Michurin was an experimenter, an honorary member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, and a full member of the All-Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences. He created more than 300 species of new plants.
For his achievements he was awarded the Order of Lenin in 1931 and the Order of the Red Banner of Labor in 1932.
The name of Ivan Vladimirovich Michurin - the great transformer of nature, honorary member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, full member of the All-Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences, in Soviet times awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor and Lenin, - became known to the whole world after he wrote winged words: “We cannot expect favors from nature; It’s our task to take them from her.” Today, few people know that this phrase had a continuation: “But nature must be treated with respect and care and, if possible, preserve it in its original form,” which significantly changed its meaning.
In the Ryazan province, among deep forests, near the ancient Russian town of Pronsk, along the Pronya River, there was a group of villages: Alabino, Birkinovka Dolgoe-Michurovka, Yumashevo. In the middle of the 19th century, they housed the tiny estates of the Michurins. In the village of Dolgoe (now Michurovka), at the forest dacha “Vershina”, on October 28 (15), 1855, Ivan Vladimirovich Michurin was born.
His great-grandfather, Ivan Naumovich, and grandfather, Ivan Ivanovich, served in the military field. Ivan Naumovich had several wounds and took part in many campaigns, including Suvorov’s crossing of the Gotthard Pass. In 1812, a veteran voluntarily joined the militia and was wounded in the head. He ended the war with his son, Major Ivan Ivanovich Michurin, in Paris. After retiring, he settled in the Kaluga province, where he was engaged in gardening and bred several varieties of pears.
Grandfather - Ivan Ivanovich - repeatedly showed courage in battles, for which he received several awards. In 1822 he retired and until the end of his life he was also engaged in gardening.
Michurin's father, Vladimir Ivanovich, served for some time at the Tula Arms Factory as a receiver of weapons for supplies to the army. Having married a bourgeois girl, he retired and settled on the Vershina estate, which he inherited through division between his brothers and sisters.
Vladimir Ivanovich was an authoritative person in the area. He copied the works of Volny economic society, received from him the seeds of the best varieties for the garden, and conducted experiments with fruit and ornamental plants. IN winter time At home he taught peasant children to read and write.
The future biologist Ivan Vladimirovich was the seventh child in the family. All of his brothers and sisters died in early childhood. And when the boy was four years old, his mother, Maria Petrovna, died of cancer.
Vanya Michurin showed the ability to see in living nature what is hidden from the ordinary observer from early childhood. When he was three years old, he seriously embarrassed his father and mother (who were avid gardeners, vegetable growers, and flower growers) by wanting to take part in sowing seeds. They refused him, so he climbed into the basket with his little hand. He was pushed out. Vanya started running around the garden beds and ended up getting several spanks. After crying, the boy became quiet, then became cheerful and ran as fast as he could towards the house. And a minute later he returned with a salt shaker in his hand and began to sow salt on the garden bed. The parents watched the small figure in amazement and, feeling awkward in front of each other, rushed to their son with permission. His father first taught him at home, and then sent him to the Pronsky district school. Coming home for the holidays, the boy adopted his father’s gardening experience.
In June 1872, Ivan Michurin graduated from college, after which his father began preparing his son at the gymnasium course for admission to the lyceum. The Michurins pinned all their hopes for admission to the elite Alexander Lyceum on their beloved aunt Tatyana Ivanovna Birkina-Michurina. Her husband (her nephew’s cousin) Sergei Gavrilovich Birkin was an inspector of this St. Petersburg educational institution for a long time.
But the Michurins’ plans were not destined to come true. Suddenly, Vanya’s father went mad and was sent to a mental hospital in Ryazan. The estate turned out to be mortgaged and was sold for debts. The aunt took patronage over her nephew Vanya Michurin.
In 1865, during the construction of the Ryazan-Kozlovskaya railway, the Kozlov station began to be developed. There is information that his uncle, Lev Ivanovich Michurin - chairman of the Pronsk district zemstvo government - in 1872, when opening a commodity office, supplied his nephew letter of recommendation. And the 17-year-old boy was hired as a commercial clerk at the goods office of the Kozlov station (later the Michurinsk station of the Moscow-Ryazan railway) with a salary of 12 rubles per month and a 16-hour working day. Soon he settled in a room in the railway settlement of Yamskaya.
In 1874, Michurin took the position of commodity cashier, and then one of the assistant chiefs of the same station. According to Bakharev’s biographer, Michurin lost his position as assistant station chief due to a conflict (“caustic ridicule”) with station chief Everling. In the same year, Ivan Vladimirovich married Alexandra Petrushina, the daughter of a distillery worker. He confirmed the fact of his marriage to a bourgeois woman in 1878, responding to a request from the Department of Agriculture: “Married on August 28, 1874 to a bourgeois woman from the city of Kozlov, Alexandra Vasiliev Petrushina, born in 1858. From this marriage I have two children: a son, Nikolai, born in 1876 g., and daughter Maria, born in 1877.”
Renting an apartment in the city and lacking funds, Michurin opened a repair shop in one of the rooms. After duty, he often worked long after midnight, repairing watches, sewing machines and various devices. The news about the talented mechanic quickly spread throughout the city, and the number of orders increased. Perseverance and the ability to quickly grasp the intricacies of mechanics helped him get a new position. From 1876 to 1889, Michurin was an assembler of clocks and signaling devices on the Kozlov-Lebedyan section of the railway with a decent salary of 360 rubles per year.
In the winter of 1881, the head of the Kozlovsky railway depot, engineer Ground, suggested that Michurin install electric lighting at the Kozlov station. The difficulty of the task was that the electricity had to come from its own power plant, which Michurin had to design. Having practical experience and natural ingenuity, Michurin brilliantly completed the task.
At the same time, Ivan Vladimirovich, having rented a piece of land, continued to work in the garden.
“Mr. Mechanic, you should stop messing around with your garden,” Ground once told him. - You are a ready-made first-class electrical engineer.
Indeed, railway workers were considered intellectuals, were respected in society and had great career opportunities. The nobleman Michurin served for twelve years railway, but the craving for selection and development of new varieties, for the land, laid down by his ancestors, overpowered him, and he left the service.
On rented land, in a short time, he created a collection of fruit and berry plants of more than 600 species. Further experiments in plant breeding were suspended due to a lack of free land.
In the fall, Michurin moved to the Lebedev estate, where there was a garden next to the house on Moskovskaya Street. Two years later, he took out a loan from a bank, bought an estate and immediately mortgaged it for 18 years. Ivan Vladimirovich moved the entire collection from the Lebedev estate here.
After several years of work, the first varieties appeared: raspberry “commerce”, cherry “griot pear-shaped”, “small-leaved semi-dwarf”, “fertile” and an interspecific hybrid variety of cherry “Beauty of the North”. By 1887, the gardener again faced the question of land.
At the beginning of autumn, Michurin buys from priest Yastrebov, seven kilometers from the city, near the settlement of Turmasovo, a forest plot on the river bank with an area of about 13-15 hectares. The site was divided into two parts: one half, intended for the garden, was convenient, the second, located under the river cliff, was rocky, with thickets of wild bushes, and was of little use. The deal was completed on May 26, 1888. It can be argued that all the money raised was used to purchase the estate, since neighbors saw how the Michurin family dragged the collection from the city on themselves and lived for two years in a hut. Freed from work at the station, the young scientist-practitioner is developing new high-yielding varieties.
In 1893-1896, when the nursery in Turmasovo already had thousands of hybrid seedlings of plums, cherries, apricots and grapes, severe winters destroyed most of the varietal seedlings. From the misfortune, Michurin concluded that the method of acclimatization by grafting on “fat” soil is good only in warm countries. In Russia, especially in risky farming areas, hybrids lose resistance to frost and die.
In 1900, Michurin began growing frost-resistant varieties, for which he transferred seedlings to an area with poor soils, selecting lower (dwarf) trees for planting. And in 1906, Ivan Vladimirovich began to work closely with the all-Russian magazine “Bulletin of Gardening, Fruit Growing and Horticulture,” in which his first scientific works devoted to the problems of breeding new varieties of fruit trees.
In the biography of Michurin, released in Soviet period, a red thread runs through the statement: the great gardener in tsarist times was suffocated by poverty and indifference of tsarist officials and was only truly appreciated during the years of Soviet power. In reality it was not entirely true.
Printing numerous articles, sending out seeds, complete and comprehensive recommendations Ivan Vladimirovich’s work on growing new varieties of fruit and berry crops aroused enormous interest in the scientist from gardeners around the world. In addition to numerous requests from Russian colleagues, international specialists began to come to Russia. The tsarist administration did not sleep either. One can give an example of a dispatch addressed to the provincial agricultural inspector, sent from the office of the Tambov governor: “The main department of land management and agriculture is currently considering the issue of awarding the Romanov badge for useful work in gardening to I.V., a gardener living near the city of Kozlov. Michurina. As a result of the request I received from the Department of Agriculture on this matter, I ask Your Highness to inform me how much this activity of Michurin has benefited the local economy and, in your opinion, it deserves encouragement.” On September 5, a response was sent to the governor’s office: “The horticulture of I.V. Michurin, located 2-3 versts from the city of Kozlov, is almost the only place in Russia where hundreds of new varieties of fruit, berry and flower plants. Michurin has been involved in hybridization for more than 30 years, and during this time he has introduced and released onto the market a large number of new varieties of mainly fruit plants. Michurin's works are extremely valuable and have become famous not only in Russia, but also abroad... why I think that he deserves every encouragement, not only honorary awards, but also financial assistance, since Michurin does not have the means to necessaryly expand his work highest degree useful work."
The Romanov badge was awarded, and the scientist wore this award with pleasure. In passing, we note that Michurin was proud of the fact that he was a nobleman and served his fatherland. Thus, in the act of registration of land property, which he received in 1915, in the column “Title and rank of the actual owner,” instead of “Small nobleman,” he wrote “Nobleman of the Ryazan province.”
“Our researcher Frank N. Meyer, after talking with you in January, wrote to us that you could be useful in our experiments that we are now carrying out with trees and shrubs in our northwestern steppes. Would you be kind enough to prepare this list in such a form that we can get an idea of how much of each type you could deliver to us and what reward you would like to receive. ...If you want to sell the entire collection, please set a price for the entire collection, and we will decide whether we can buy it for the price you set or not. Material will be allocated for packaging the collection, and delivery will be carried out on a ship sent from America.”
There were other offers to purchase varietal material - from Australia and a number of European countries.
In the same year, Professor Meyer officially invited Michurin, on behalf of the US Agricultural Department, to move to America and continue working in Quebec on condition of payment of $8,000 a year. Michurin was 58 years old; his lack of knowledge of English and the illness of his wife, who had undergone two operations, did not suit him for the trip. However, Michurin did not reject the proposal, as evidenced by a letter (January 31, 1913) written to the Russian gardener and acclimatizer Voikov: “As for the sale of all new plant varieties in bulk, I believe it will be possible to come to an understanding with them [the Americans].”
However, the scientist’s plans were confused by the war.
In the summer of 1915, a cholera epidemic raged in Kozlov. This year, Michurin’s wife, Alexandra Vasilievna, died. An unprecedented flood led to the death of part of the nursery. Based on surviving plants, Michurin determined the law of “inheritance” and developed a method for breeding more resistant varieties.
Before the revolution, Michurin’s nursery had more than 900 varieties of plants from the USA, France, Germany, Japan and other countries. Ivan Vladimirovich was an apolitical person in life, but he met the October Revolution calmly. There was still shooting in the streets when Michurin appeared at the newly organized county land department, where he met with the former farm laborer Dedov, the commissioner of the land department, and told him: “I want to work for the new government.” The latter ordered that a board meeting be convened on the Michurin case on the same day, promised to inform the People's Commissariat of Agriculture and suggested that the Donskaya Sloboda Land Committee take measures to protect the nursery. Dedov provided financial assistance to Michurin and his family.
On July 18, 1918, Dedov wrote to Michurin: “At the same time transmitting a copy of the Board’s resolution of June 29 and copies of relations to the local council and the Moscow Commissariat of Agriculture, the agronomic department asks you, Ivan Vladimirovich, to calmly continue your work that is extremely useful for the homeland...”
On November 22, 1918, the People's Commissariat of Agriculture took the nursery under its jurisdiction, approving Michurin as manager with the right to invite staff for a broader development of the business. The scientist was given an allowance in the amount of 3,000 rubles to carry out the work. During this difficult time, Michurin not only took part in the agronomic work of the People's Commissariat of Agriculture, he advised agricultural specialists on issues of breeding, combating drought, and increasing yields. In his articles, Michurin repeatedly called on agronomists to work for the benefit of the new social system: “... Real workers in the field of horticulture will have the opportunity to continue their activities under the new system, perhaps on an even larger scale... You cannot cling to a part when the whole strives forward "
By 1920, Michurin had developed over 150 new hybrid varieties, among which were: apple trees - 45 varieties, pears - 20, cherries - 13, plums - 15, cherries - 6, gooseberries - 1, strawberries - 1, actinidia - 5, rowan - 3, walnut- 3, apricots - 9, almonds - 2, quinces - 2, grapes - 8, currants - 6, raspberries - 4, blackberries - 4, mulberries ( Mulberry tree) - 2, nuts (hazelnuts) - 1, tomatoes - 1, lilies - 1, white acacia - 1. In addition to the new hybrid assortment, the nursery had over 800 species of original plant forms collected by Michurin from various parts of the globe.
The scope of the experiments required an associate, however, due to the son’s refusal to follow in his father’s footsteps and his secret departure to another city, the scientist was faced with the question of a successor.
In 1920, Michurin invited agronomist-fruit grower Gorshkov to work, who was working at that time in Kozlov as a district horticulture specialist and was a follower of Michurin. Gorshkov organized a reproduction department of the nursery on the lands of the former Trinity Monastery, which was located 5 kilometers from Michurin’s estate. In his autobiography, the scientist wrote: “Tens of thousands of experiments have passed through my hands. I grew a lot of new varieties of fruit plants, from which several hundred new varieties emerged, suitable for cultivation in our gardens, and many of them are in no way inferior in quality to the best foreign varieties. Now I can’t even believe how I, with my weak, sickly build, could endure all this.”
At the age of 45, Michurin established a strict working hours regime, which remained unchanged until the end of his life. Getting up at 5 a.m., he worked in the nursery until 12, with a tea break at 8 a.m., a half-hour lunch at 12, after which he spent an hour and a half reading newspapers and looking at special periodicals, and an hour resting. From 3 to 5 Michurin worked in the nursery or room, depending on the circumstances and weather, at 9 pm dinner for 20 minutes, until 12 am - work on correspondence and then sleep.
Having become a widower at an early age, he no longer thought about family ties, retired to his estate-garden, fenced off by the river from the city, and communicated with a very narrow circle of people. He did not tolerate the intelligentsia of various ranks, ignored the merchant environment, and rarely left the nursery. The only constant connection with the world was a huge correspondence with gardeners, Russian and foreign scientists.
Soviet biographical literature emphasized the scientist's poverty, because of which he could not publish his works. But real reason was the lack of time to work out the provisions of scientific work on hybridization (“Heredity and Environment”, “Theory of Education”). They were based on excellent experiments, but the theoretical part suffered. At the same time, the beginning of the development of genetics required a rethinking of some of Michurin’s provisions, which required additional experiments.
Michurin understood this, but directed his efforts towards achieving financial independence, choosing the path of industrial gardening with high profitability. Ivan Vladimirovich stated that developing a variety is half the battle; it must be conveyed to gardeners. And in the catalogs he sent out, he not only offered more than 2,000 seedlings and seeds, but also indicated the yield: “I dare to assure you that the profitability of some of the plant varieties I offer, under favorable terrain conditions, reaches up to 2,000 rubles, and sometimes more per dessiatine.” . And these statements were supported by the real results of gardeners.
How much unique colors offered Michurin's price list! There were up to twenty varieties of roses alone, among which were those bred by him personally. And gardeners bought them in considerable quantities. Few people know that the scientist bred the violet lily (lily has no smell, but Michurinskaya exuded the aroma of violet). Lily is a noble flower, which was included in the state emblems of many rulers of France and Florence, but it occupied a special place in state emblem the Dutch, who immediately made an offer to sell all the bulbs. They offered 20,000 rubles for this variety.
Ivan Vladimirovich was a good manager. He constantly advertised the best varieties in various periodicals. In a letter to the editor of the magazine “Progressive Gardening and Horticulture,” Michurin mentioned that among the magazine’s subscribers there are about 10,000 of his regular customers. Even at the lowest cost - 20 kopecks - a bag of seeds or seedlings, the scientist’s income was considerable.
The scientist proposed to the government, which purchased tobacco for cigarettes abroad, to create its own plantations and grow his variety of tobacco, which ripened well and could provide high income to the state, but was refused. Michurin himself before last days In my life I smoked only my own brand. It was with his light hand that the residents northern regions In our country, they began to sow tobacco in their gardens, and instead of cigarette tubes, they rolled cigarettes of any thickness and length.
For a long time it was generally accepted that the scientist and practical gardener was unmercenary and suffered terribly under the tsarist regime. However, the brilliant journalist Mikhail Belykh, in his book “Unknown Michurin”, having studied the archives, convincingly debunked this legend. Let us present some of his research from the scientist’s fund No. 6856, stored in the Moscow archive:
"...P. 770. Introductory sheet issued by the Tambov District Court for the ownership of a house in Tambov. July 8, 1883;
item 771. Note from I.V. Michurin about the purchase of land in the settlement of Panskoye. 1888;
item 773. Boundary plans of the estate plot of I.V. Michurin and a record of the right to use land in the Prigorodnaya volost of the Kozlovsky district of the Tambov province. July 29, 1898, January 25, 1899, March 10, 1928;
p. 774. Powers of attorney issued to I.V. Michurin, daughters Maria Ivanovna Michurina and Nikolai Egorovich Nikonov, to conduct the case of 57 acres of land located after the death of I.V.’s aunts. Michurina - Tatyana Ivanovna and Varvara Ivanovna Michurina, owned by I.V. Michurin and his relatives 1903;
p. 775. Insurance certificates issued by I.V. Michurin by the Salamandra insurance company and the Tambov city government in 1908, 1909, 1912, 1917;
item 776. Agreements on the lease of 5 acres of land on the Voronezh River by I.V. Michurin. 1909, 1919;
p. 777. Documents on the claim of I.V. Michurin to Fortunin regarding the collection of rent for 8 acres of land in the Penza province...”
If we add to this incomplete extract that foreign emissaries purchased large quantities of varietal fruit and berry seedlings and legally transported them abroad, then it is simply incorrect to say that the great gardener was poor. And Michurin himself said more than once: “Owning land and being hungry is contrary to nature itself.”
Earlier we mentioned that the Michurin family lived for two years in a hut - after moving from the Turmasovsky site to a new one - near the suburban settlement of Donskoye. But next to the hut they also had a small temporary hut while they were building own house. Ivan Vladimirovich competently designed, calculated estimates and built a house on the banks of the Lesnoy Voronezh River in 1899-1900. The building is two-story building made of red brick. Today on external wall, at the entrance, a memorial plaque testifies: “I.V. Michurin lived and worked here in 1900-1935.”
It is interesting to visit Michurin’s room, which served as a multifunctional office: a library, a laboratory, a precision mechanics and optics workshop in which instruments were made. There was also a forge here - Michurin forged and soldered using a furnace own design. In the workshop, he invented tools: secateurs, a budding tool for grafting wild plants with an eye, a Geiss-Fuss-chisel designed for grafting plants with cuttings, and much more. On the walls of the office there are several advanced meteorological instruments, among them a device for measuring radiation invented by Michurin. Next to the shelf is a distillation apparatus invented by the scientist, necessary to determine the percentage of rose oil in the new variety of oilseed rose he developed, which is still used today.
The scientist also designed a lightweight internal combustion engine. In his experiments, he used electricity, which was generated by a hand-held dynamo he made. A rich legacy was left by scientists in the field of art. Ivan Vladimirovich perfectly mastered not only graphics, but also the complex technique of watercolor. The drawings he made were included in his scientific works and in the atlas of plants and fruits.
Michurin met Soviet power calmly, but seeing the rampant anarchy, confusion, and the unauthorized expropriation of land that had begun, in order to save the nursery, he went to the land committee and offered his services to the new government.
In order to correctly evaluate the work of the gardener Michurin, it is necessary to understand what gardening and horticulture were like in tsarist times. It is known that of the entire bulky assortment of fruit and berry plants, only 20 percent had economic value. The rest only depleted the land. Large gardens were concentrated on the farms of landowners and monasteries.
In noble estates there were gardeners at gardens and greenhouses, as a rule, contracted from abroad. Even if these specialists expanded the range of trees, bushes and flowers, they grew them either in greenhouses or in barrels of soil, which were transferred to the garden in the spring and to a warm storage in the fall. True, there were also titled amateur gardeners - Prince Trubetskoy, Baroness Bostream, Count Kleinmichel. But their activities were limited to competition for the presence of rare exotic plants and participation in the distribution of price lists for seeds, bulbs and cuttings. As an example, let us give prices for products from the “Catalog of trees and shrubs, fruit and other plants sold in the garden establishment of Baroness Maria Pavlovna Bistrom.” The cost of a one-year-old pear is 25 kopecks, a two-year-old is 30 kopecks, a three-year-old is 40 kopecks. Cherries "Vladimirskaya" - 5 and 10 kopecks per piece, 100 pieces - 4 rubles 48 kopecks. Strawberries and wild strawberries for 25 pieces - 40 kopecks, a hundred - 1 ruble 50 kopecks. American agave (greenhouse) - from 1 to 15 rubles.
To get an idea of prices, we note that in 1849 a pound of first-grade beef cost 6 rubles 40 kopecks, a pound of rye bread - 3-4 kopecks, a pound of sterlet - 7 rubles 50 kopecks, a bucket of vodka (depending on the variety) - 5-16 rubles (government bucket - 12.3 liters). In 1902, a bucket of vodka cost 4 rubles, chrome boots - 2 rubles, tarpaulin boots - 1 ruble, a pound of meat - 40-60 kopecks, a pound of sieve bread - 3 kopecks. In 1908, the monthly salary of a cook was 14 rubles, a servant - 12 rubles, a policeman - 40 rubles, a city chairman - 200 rubles.
Based on the salary received, the proposed list price for the peasant was not cheap.
It is no coincidence that Ivan Vladimirovich managed to acquire financial independence in practice, even on rented land. Appointed by the Soviet government as director of the nursery, within two years he made it self-supporting and self-sustaining. For the Soviet authorities, such ascetics and transformers of nature were a rare find, and the more their fame spread, the more generous the authorities were towards them.
"1. Issue a special act to I.V. Michurin indicating his state merits, expressed in many years of work on breeding many valuable varieties of fruit plants, and assign him for life land plot, on which his garden is located.
2. Select I.V. Michurin 500,000 rubles in 1922 banknotes for his personal, unaccountable disposal...
3. Instruct the editorial and publishing department of the People's Commissariat of Agriculture to collect and publish all the works of Michurin with his biography and portrait under the general editorship of Professor N.I. Vavilova".
It was this Resolution that allowed Michurin to be exempt from many taxes. Since that time, Ivan Vladimirovich has really gotten stronger financially.
Lenin was the first member of the government to pay attention to the breeder-biologist. The leader of the revolution wrote a note to the “All-Russian Elder” Kalinin with an order to create a commission and send it to Kozlov with the aim of studying on the spot the issue of gardening and Michurin’s work. Kalinin came to visit Michurin twice, and, as can be seen from the short letter, the gardener’s work was assessed positively: “Dear Ivan Vladimirovich!
As a reminder of myself, I am sending you a small package. Do not take it as an act of favor from a person in power. This is just my sincere desire to somehow emphasize my respect and sympathy for you and your work.
With sincere greetings M. Kalinin. 15/XII 1922".
On January 28, 1923, in Michurin’s memorandum on the issue of releasing funds for further expansion of the nursery’s work, Kalinin wrote to the People’s Commissar of Agriculture: “TOV. Yakovenko! I think this matter needs to be carried out as a matter of urgency. I have no doubt that the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee will meet you halfway.”
Representatives of local authorities provided specific assistance to the nursery. Thus, by the decision of the provincial economic meeting on March 19, 1923, five quitrent articles were assigned to the nursery the best gardens and land plots with total area in 915 dessiatines. In 1923, the first All-Union Agricultural Exhibition was organized in Moscow. Exhibits from the Michurin nursery, unprecedented varieties of plants, fruits and berries bred by the scientist, surprised even experienced gardeners. The commission, headed by Professor Vavilov, awarded Michurin the highest award and presented him with the following address:
“Dear Ivan Vladimirovich! The experts of the 1st All-Union Agricultural Exhibition, having become acquainted with your exhibits, send you heartfelt greetings, wishes for health and continued such brilliant success in creating new varieties.
Moscow, September 12, 1923."
A real campaign to glorify the scientist was launched in the country on the anniversary of the gardener-breeder. For his outstanding half-century-long, exceptionally valuable work in developing new and improved varieties of fruit and berry plants, Michurin was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor by the Central Executive Committee of the USSR with a lifetime pension.
One of the many varieties bred by Michurin. From left to right:
1. Rowan "Michurinskaya dessert"
2. Above - “Abundant” blackberry, below - “Texas” raspberry
3. Gooseberry “Black Moor”
In the fall of 1929, the People's Commissariat of Agriculture of the RSFSR, the regional and district executive committees of the Central Black Sea Region realized Michurin's long-standing dream. The country's first technical school for the selection of fruit and berry crops was opened in Kozlov. Soon the first volume of Michurin’s major works, “Results of half a century of work,” was published, covering the fundamentals of the methodology of his selection work. Some scientists who disagreed with a number of Michurin’s works criticized the “revolutionary of nature,” to which he sharply replied: “Get to work, carry out experiments, observe and check for yourself.”
On June 7, 1931, the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR awarded the scientist the Order of Lenin for particularly outstanding services in the creation of new forms of plants that are of exceptional importance for the development of fruit growing, and for special work of national importance in this area.
On September 18, 1934, before his anniversary, Michurin wrote to Comrade Stalin: “Dear Joseph Vissarionovich! The Soviet government and the party led by you turned me from a lone experimenter, not recognized and ridiculed by official science and officials of the Tsarist Department of Agriculture, into the leader and organizer of experiments with hundreds of thousands of plants. The Communist Party and the working class gave me everything I needed - everything an experimenter could want for his work. ...The Soviet government awarded me the highest award for a citizen of our land, renaming the city of Kozlov to the city of Michurinsk, gave me the Order of Lenin, richly published my works...Dear Joseph Vissarionovich! I am already 80 years old, but the creative energy that millions of workers and peasants are full of Soviet Union, and in me, an old man, it instills a thirst to live and work under your leadership for the benefit of the cause of socialist construction of our proletarian state. I. Michurin.”
In connection with the next anniversary, Michurin received a greeting from Stalin: “I sincerely greet you, Ivan Vladimirovich, on the occasion of the sixtieth anniversary of your fruitful work for the benefit of our great Motherland. I wish you health and new successes in the transformation of fruit growing. I firmly shake your hand.”
In his response telegram, Michurin wrote: “Dear Joseph Vissarionovich, a telegram on your behalf was for me the highest reward for all 80 years of my life, it is more valuable to me than any other awards. I am happy with your great attention. Your Michurin."
Local authorities were not far behind. Thus, Yakovlev, the People's Commissar of Agriculture, freed Ivan Vladimirovich from almost all everyday problems: he had at his disposal food, clothes, a telephone, a car, a house for children and even a bridge (still in operation today) across the river directly to the scientist's nursery. During one of his visits, Yakovlev sets the scientist the task of developing varieties that will begin to bear fruit not in 10 years, but in 3-4 years, which would significantly increase the efficiency of orchards.
The cult of the scientist was created not only by the Soviet government, but also by academic professors. At the solemn anniversary (60 years of work) meeting, responding to greetings and speeches, Ivan Vladimirovich said: “The whole point is that with this pomp of celebration, our government shows the importance of gardening so that all state farms and collective farms pay special attention to this business to increase the productivity of their gardens and enter into a more prosperous life.” Michurin was especially warmly supported by Professor Vavilov and such a controversial figure as Academician Lysenko. Let us immediately note that the essence of Michurin’s provisions was reflected in different ways in the works of these scientists, but on June 1, 1935, all twelve full members of the Academy of Sciences unanimously elected Michurin an honorary member of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
People considered Michurin a good sorcerer and a great healer. He knew herbs that had medicinal properties, prepared ointments, decoctions, and tinctures from them. He treated his wife, who had cancer, with tinctures, which extended her life by nineteen years. It was rumored that Ivan Vladimirovich saw kidney stones and successfully removed them. He was able to influence the growth of plants and knew how to talk to them. Out of a thousand seedlings, he kept two or three, but the ones he chose actually turned out to be hybrids. Secretly from him, his assistants tried to replant the seedlings he had rejected. None of them took root. He could talk for hours with a dying plant, and some would come back to life. Dogs did not bother him, cats adored him, and hundreds of birds flocked to his nursery for lunch. Trained frogs lived in the garden.
The years have taken their toll. Ivan Vladimirovich fell ill and stopped eating, experiencing stomach pain. To the arriving council of doctors, he announced the diagnosis of the disease: “Carcinoma (cancer) of the lesser curvature of the stomach.” Doctors confirmed this diagnosis. On June 7, 1935, at 9:30 a.m., Ivan Vladimirovich died.
Before the anniversary (in June-July 1934), I.V. complained of stomach pain, but then there was a temporary improvement in his health, which coincided with the period of the anniversary celebration in September 1934.
However, by the winter of 1934/35 he again felt worse and complained of illness. Nevertheless, I.V. worked without violating his usual routine. He received his employees and gave instructions on work, and conducted a large correspondence.
In the winter of 1934/35, I.V. no longer left the room, feeling a growing malaise. In February 1935, ominous intestinal symptoms appeared; I.V. lost his appetite, his strength noticeably weakened. However, he never ceased to supervise the work of his employees and was interested in all matters and news.
On March 14, I.V. received one of the scientific employees of the Timiryazev Agricultural Academy, who came to him for advice and help. On March 19, he consulted on the plan for a film about his work. On March 29, I spent the entire day doing writing consultations. Metal Department of the Georgian SSR on the application garden tools new design. Closely following newspapers and magazines, I.V. learned about the anniversary of V.R. Williams and on April 3 sent him a welcoming telegram: “On the fiftieth anniversary of your outstanding scientific activity“I cordially congratulate you, dear Vasily Robertovich, I sincerely wish you to work with the same energy for the benefit of socialist society.”
In April, Ivan Vladimirovich’s health experienced a sharp deterioration, and he began to quickly weaken. His well-known biographer A. N. Bakharev, who was constantly in communication with the patient, describes this period of his life as follows: “The disease was corroding the once mighty body of Ivan Vladimirovich... The patient’s face was drawn, his hands were shaking, and he could hardly move around the room. Only his dark brown, unfading eyes still burned. His appetite disappeared completely... Michurin ate only milk and tea. On the morning of April 22, we, who had lived and worked with Michurin for many years, last time had breakfast with Ivan Vladimirovich. The next day, complaining of general weakness and sharp pains in the stomach, he could no longer get out of bed.” A consultation of doctors held on April 24 found that the patient had cancer of the lesser curvature of the stomach.
The end of April, all of May and the beginning of June I.V. was already on artificial nutrition. He was tormented by bloody vomiting and severe stomach pain, but he continued to work without getting out of bed, courageously enduring the suffering.
He often called his employees into his small bedroom, gave them instructions, made amendments to their work plans, took a keen interest in the progress of work in the garden, looked through all correspondence himself and read newspapers. Having received watermelon seeds from Saratov, which are distinguished by the special keeping quality of the fruit (up to 4 years), and a letter from one of the commanders of the Red Army, who accidentally found it near the village of Tomingont, Oranienbaum district Leningrad region large-fruited red currants, I.V. immediately sent scientific workers to collect material and information on these interesting plants.
Due to the continuing deterioration of I.V.’s health, a second consultation was held on May 10, which confirmed the diagnosis of the first. Doctors were on duty with the patient all the time, his daughter Maria Ivanovna, niece Alexandra Semenovna Tikhonova and his closest assistants - P. N. Yakovlev, I. S. Gorshkov, A. N. Bakharev and some others were always in the house. It was clear to everyone that the denouement was approaching and that everyone needed to be ready to say goodbye forever to their beloved teacher and friend...
Until June 4, I.V. still continued to be interested in work and received relatives and guests who came to visit him. His son Nikolai, a design engineer, also came from Leningrad.
The fourth of June was the last day before I.V.’s mortal agony. On this day, the third medical consultation took place, which established: “The diagnosis is cancer. The condition is serious. Severe cachexia (exhaustion), weakening of cardiac activity.”
“June 5th. I.V. Michurin's health condition became worse every hour. On the night of June 5, the patient was unconscious almost all the time, delirious a lot, and rarely regained consciousness. Pulse 108, weak filling. Today at 12 noon, a council of doctors noted a sharp deterioration in the patient’s condition and an increase in heart weakness” (Izvestia, June 6, 1935).
“June 6. By evening, I.V. Michurin's situation worsened sharply. Pulse 90-100. Cramping pain in the abdominal area. For the first time during his illness, I.V. began to moan. From time to time he spoke monosyllables” (Pravda, June 7, 1935).
At 9:30 a.m. on June 7, I.V. died. The next day, a mourning government message notified the whole world of the death of the great biologist:
"Council of People's Commissars USSR and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) regret to announce the death of Ivan Vladimirovich Michurin, an outstanding Soviet scientist, a courageous transformer of nature, who created hundreds of new beautiful varieties of fruit trees, and devoted his entire life to serving the working masses.”
The Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks decided to bury I.V. Michurin at the expense of the state. At the same time, it was decided to transfer the house in which I.V. lived for the lifelong use of his family, to oblige the NKZ USSR to establish 10 scholarships named after Michurin at agricultural universities, to organize the publication of a collection of his scientific works, and to provide I.V.’s family members with a personal pension. Kozlovsky district was renamed Michurinsky district, Kozlov station - Michurinsk station.
Let us give a detailed conclusion about I.V. Michurin’s illness, which led to his death. This conclusion was drawn up by a representative of the Kremlin Sanitary Department and the attending physicians.
"Medical Bulletin
Ivan Vladimirovich Michurin used it all his life good health. In the spring of 1934, he suffered several attacks of malaria, accompanied by intestinal dysfunction. After this there was a deterioration in general condition health. Last May, Ivan Vladimirovich was under the systematic supervision of local doctors and was periodically examined the best specialists Moscow and Voronezh.
During the winter of 1934/35, there was a progression of general malaise and a decline in performance. The patient did not leave his room all winter, continuing to supervise the work of his closest employees. In February 1935, intestinal dysfunction reappeared. Appetite dropped sharply, to the point of complete aversion to food, and vomiting occurred, often mixed with blood. From this moment on, the phenomena of nutritional decline began to increase especially quickly. On the advice of the attending physicians, the patient was placed on bed rest and dietary nutrition.
The above-mentioned dyspeptic phenomena and the associated drop in nutrition still continued to increase. During April-May, a series of consultations took place with the participation of professors: Muller, Leporsky, Rossiysky, Bruskin, Associate Professor Kogan and a number of others. A stomach tumor was diagnosed, apparently malignant. Clarifying the diagnosis was difficult due to the inability, due to the patient’s condition, to carry out a number of necessary laboratory, radiological and other studies. The progression of the disease process, uncontrollable vomiting, and complete aversion to food led to severe exhaustion, which could not be prevented by artificial nutrition, which the patient had been on for the last month and a half.
Exceptional individual resistance and the characteristics of the body allowed the patient to endure almost complete fasting for such a long period. It is necessary to note the amazing preservation of intelligence and interest in work until the very last days of his life.
On June 7, 1935, at 9:30 a.m., with increasing decline in cardiac activity, Ivan Vladimirovich died” (Izvestia, June 8, 1935).
On the night of June 7-8, an autopsy was performed on the body of I.V. Michurin in Michurinsk. An autopsy revealed that the deceased suffered from stomach cancer, general arteriosclerosis, aortic aneurysm and cardiosclerosis. The brain was removed and sent to the Moscow Brain Institute.
The funeral of Ivan Vladimirovich took place on June 9 in the evening. He was buried in the square near the fruit and vegetable educational institute named after him, on the highest place in the city. From here you can see a beautiful view of the outskirts of the city with typical pictures of Russian nature, and Michurin institutions are clearly visible from here: the Central Genetic Fruit and Berry Laboratory and the Research Fruit and Vegetable Institute.
Shortly before his death, I.V. wrote: “I recognize it as quite expedient to organize an educational and experimental molded garden on a special site near the university building (i.e., the I.V. Michurin Fruit and Vegetable Educational Institute."
This position has been fulfilled: at the grave of the great gardener there is an interesting garden square - a living museum of Michurin's varieties of fruit and berry plants. Framed by a mass of still young, blooming, full of vigor trees and bushes is the grave of Ivan Vladimirovich. Strict black marble tomb. On its side facing the entrance to the park we read:
MICHURIN I. V. 1855-1935
On the opposite side:
“Man can and must create new forms of plants better than nature.”
I. V. Michurin.
At the head of the head are words expressing the idea of the great naturalist’s entire life:
“We cannot expect favors from nature; It’s our task to take them from her.”
I. V. Michurin.
The death of I.V. Michurin caused great amount responses both here and among progressive figures in foreign countries. On June 8, the Pravda newspaper published an obituary compiled by N. I. Vavilov. Numerous appeals were received in Kozlov from a variety of institutions and organizations expressing grief over the death of I.V.
A mass of letters and telegrams from people who knew Ivan Vladimirovich, heard about him, studied with him or used his classical works came from all over our vast country. Government, party and public organizations, collective farmers-gardeners, workers, agronomists, scientists, miners - gardeners and gardeners, to whom I.V. provided considerable assistance in his time, teachers and students, as well as land authorities, agricultural and scientific organizations and institutions, etc.
In Donbass, mourning meetings were held at many mines. In many cases, these appeals were accompanied by obligations aimed at developing the “green book” of I.V. Michurin - to grow thousands and millions of fruit seedlings, ornamental plants etc. Botanist scientists of the USSR Academy of Sciences, headed by academician. V.L. Komarov and academician B. A. Keller published a letter that said: “Death tore from our ranks the great gardener, plant converter, honored worker of science, honorary member of the USSR Academy of Sciences Ivan Vladimirovich Michurin. He was an outstanding experimenter, naturalist and artist in horticulture. His motto was: “We cannot expect favors from nature; taking them from her is our task. And he took from nature a huge number of new varieties of fruit and berry plants and transferred these new varieties to his socialist fatherland” (Pravda, June 9, 1935).
The letter ended with a call to move breeding work from the classroom to the fields.
Personal friend of I.V. Michurin, acad. B. A. Keller, expressing the grief of wide circles of scientific workers in the Soviet Union, wrote:
“Ivan Vladimirovich Michurin’s old body refused to serve his young, strong creative thought. A feeling of enormous grief covers the hearts of workers and collective farmers, our Soviet public... I. V. Michurin seemed to be an “eccentric” in the eyes of the average person. Tsarist Russia when he single-handedly made his way through his great creative path - without diplomas or professions, on his own pennies, among the stuffy police atmosphere, through the thick crust of provincial philistinism in remote Kozlov.
“Ivan Vladimirovich was related to the masses by his heroic struggle alone before the revolution; his entire life's research path was bold, far from templates, the concreteness of his scientific creativity, the unified thought of art found expression in the joy of fruits and flowers. And the main thing is that Ivan Vladimirovich from the very beginning October revolution He completely devoted all his creativity to her, sensitively, with extreme accessibility, he met people halfway and he himself aroused requests for him from the masses.
"AND. V. Michurina in his creative work V. I. Lenin has long appreciated it with his characteristic great insight.
“This high assessment of V.I. Lenin found a joyful response and broad support from the millions of people in the Soviet Union. I. V. Michurin soon became one of the favorite heroes of our great, new socialist culture.
“Dear teacher and friend! We all want to decorate our beloved socialist homeland with laces of greenery, bright colors flowers, illuminate life with the joy of lush fruits. For all of us - from the gardener-academician and gardener-worker and collective farmer to the young pioneer - courage will shine on this; paths, the bright courage of your daring, your research methods will serve as weapons.
“Dear teacher and friend! You gave the rich fruits of your exceptional creative life entirely to the new, great socialist human culture. The harvest of your creative thoughts and your wonderful varieties will take possession of millions.
“Your life's work has not been lost. It is picked up and multiplied by millions, it moves forward into the great future of a new humanity” (Pravda, June 9, 1935).
In Czechoslovakia, in Prague, many newspapers published detailed biography I.V. Michurin - an honorary member of the Czechoslovak Agricultural Academy, with an expression of deep sympathy for the death of the great scientist, who with his work brought enormous benefit to the peoples of not only the USSR, but also the whole world.
The responses of progressive scientists of foreign countries to the death of I.V. Michurin are given based on materials published in connection with this mourning event in our central newspapers (Pravda and Izvestia for June 9-10, 1935).
On October 12, 1935 in Prague, at a meeting of the Academy, the Czechoslovak scientist Neoral read a detailed report on the life and work of I.V. Michurin. In Austria, F. Zweigelt made the following statement in connection with the death of I.V. Michurin: “The death of the famous researcher Michurin means an irreparable loss for the entire world breeding science in the field of fruit crops... The death of this man is especially regretted by Austria, which was in close contact with Michurin ... But I hope that the legacy of this great man will be preserved as a living testament and impulse for posterity.”
French scientists expressed deep sorrow: prof. Rive, prof. Langevin. The director of the National Agronomic Museum in France, Lemoigne, wrote: “With all my heart I join the mourning that befell the USSR. I did not have the honor of personally knowing the great scientist Michurin. But his scientific work is known and highly appreciated in France.” Biology professor Prenen wrote: “The name of Michurin is now famous throughout the world. It is a symbol of the revitalizing influence exerted Soviet power to science. Before the revolution, Michurin had difficulty conducting his experiments. Only the victory of the workers and peasants gave him the means to realize the great work he had planned.” Director of the colonial agronomic laboratory prof. Chevalier stated: “I wholeheartedly join Soviet scientists in the great mourning that has befallen science. Professor Michurin is well known to French scientists. Until his death, he was a man of action who gave a lot to botany. His experiments on hybridization are of great scientific importance."
In England and the USA, the news of the death of I.V. Michurin also caused a wide response, and many newspapers published reports about his work and the opportunities for its development that were provided to him by the Soviet government.
I.V. Michurin died. The great teacher of Soviet biology has passed away... But his work lives on and develops. Our biological science, connected by thousands of threads with the practice of the national economy of the USSR, is successfully developing along the path indicated by Darwin and Michurin.
“Michurin,” wrote academician. W. R. Williams (Pravda, June 5, 1937) - belongs to the category of happy figures. Happy because the results of his work will live on for centuries, will outgrow many generations and will bloom and bear fruit.”
Organized in 1921 in Michurinsk at the Central Selection and Genetic Station, the Museum of Michurin’s achievements is the best monument to Ivan Vladimirovich himself. I. V. Grushvitsky and L. I. Ivanina (1949) in their concise but at the same time very detailed description of this museum report: “It is worth at least a quick glance at the book of reviews and wishes to be convinced of its extraordinary popularity. Where else if not here, in the city named after I.V. Michurin, where long years he lived and worked, where for the first time works on the transformation of nature were widely carried out, where Michurin’s life’s work is continued by his talented students, you can get the deepest, brightest and most vital understanding of I.V. Michurin.”
On October 27, 1955, the Soviet people, all progressive humanity, widely celebrated the centenary of the birth of the great transformer of nature, the outstanding biologist Ivan Vladimirovich Michurin.
On October 27, at the Bolshoi Theater of the USSR, a ceremonial meeting of the USSR Academy of Sciences, the All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences named after V.I. Lenin was held together with representatives of ministries, scientific institutions, and leading agricultural leaders. Representatives of the Central Committee of the CPSU and members of the Government of the Soviet Union were in the Presidium of the meeting.
The anniversary meeting was attended by the largest Soviet scientists, agronomists, livestock specialists, innovators and leaders of collective and state farm production, who came from all over the country, guests from Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, the German Democratic Republic, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the Democratic Republic Vietnam, France, Yugoslavia, Japan, Pakistan, Switzerland, Belgium and other countries.
The ceremonial meeting opened with an opening speech by the President of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Academician A. N. Nesmeyanov.
“The great Lenin discovered Michurin,” said academician A. N. Nesmeyanov. - The way I. V. Michurin entered the history of modern natural science, he became thanks to the care and generous help of the Communist Party, the Soviet state, “thanks to the conditions that the socialist system created for the development of scientific thought.
“Scientists of our country celebrate the centenary of the birth of I.V. Michurin as a significant date in the history of natural science, as a bright milestone on the path of scientific daring in the knowledge of the laws of life, in their use for the transformation of living nature for the benefit of humanity.”
From October 28 to November 2, a scientific session of the All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences named after V.I. Lenin took place in Moscow with the participation of the Institute of Genetics of the USSR Academy of Sciences, the All-Union Institute of Animal Husbandry and other scientific institutions, universities and leaders in agriculture, dedicated to the centenary of the birth of I. V. Michurina.
About two thousand people took part in the plenary and sectional sessions - there were scientists, leaders in agriculture, experienced people, as well as foreign scientists. In total, more than 250 reports were made.
A group of session participants and foreign guests traveled to the city of Michurinsk, where they toured scientific institutions and laid a wreath on the grave of the great scientist.
The meeting of the Biological Department of the USSR Academy of Sciences, scientific sessions of the academies of sciences of the union republics, ceremonial meetings of scientific councils of research institutions and higher education institutions were dedicated to the centenary of the birth of I.V. Michurin. educational institutions. Throughout the country, reports and lectures about Michurin were read at enterprises, collective farms, and state farms. Michurin evenings took place in schools, district cultural centers, experimental stations, and variety testing sites.
The centenary of the birth of I.V. Michurin resulted in a nationwide demonstration of the achievements of Soviet biology.
All his life I.V. worked for the prosperity of that science about which V.I. Lenin said (1953): “The human mind has discovered many marvelous things in nature and will discover even more, strengthening its power over it.”
Centuries will pass, but the memory of the outstanding Russian naturalist, a brave transformer of nature, a great worker, public figure and a patriot of his homeland will live forever in the happy future generations of humanity.