Sergei Sergeevich Chetverikov (russian: Серге́й Серге́евич Четверико́в; 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 Augustinian friar wor ...

. 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 Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

biological research managed to connect genetics with field research on natural populations. Chetverikov lead a team at the

Nikolai Koltsov Nikolai Konstantinovich Koltsov (russian: Николай Константинович Кольцов; July 14, 1872 – December 2, 1940) was a Russian biologist and a pioneer of modern genetics. Among his students were Nikolay Timofeeff-Ressovs ...

Institute of Experimental Biology in Moscow, and in 1926 produced what should have been one of the landmark papers of the

modern synthesis Modern synthesis or modern evolutionary synthesis refers to several perspectives on evolutionary biology, namely: * Modern synthesis (20th century), the term coined by Julian Huxley in 1942 to denote the synthesis between Mendelian genetics and s ...

. However, published only in

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

, 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 (russian: Феодо́сий Григо́рьевич Добржа́нский; uk, Теодо́сій Григо́рович Добржа́нський; January 25, 1900 – December 18, 1975) was a prominent ...

and

Nikolay Timofeev-Ressovsky Nikolaj Vladimirovich Timofeev-Resovskij (also Timofeyeff-Ressovsky; russian: Николай Владимирович Тимофеев-Ресовский; – 28 March 1981) was a Soviet biologist. He conducted research in radiation genetics ...

, 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 in 1929 and sent to exile to

Yekaterinburg Yekaterinburg ( ; rus, Екатеринбург, p=jɪkətʲɪrʲɪnˈburk), alternatively romanized as Ekaterinburg and formerly known as Sverdlovsk ( rus, Свердло́вск, , svʲɪrˈdlofsk, 1924–1991), is a city and the administra ...

for five years. He later moved to

Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət ), colloquially shortened to Nizhny, from the 13th to the 17th century Novgorod of the Lower Land, formerly known as Gork ...

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