Nikolai Vasilyevich Tsitsin: biography. Main Botanical Garden named after
The work on remote hybridization of wheat with wheatgrass, begun by Tsitsin in 1927, was continued in 1932–1938. in Omsk, and then in the Moscow region - in Nemchinovka and in Snegiri, where they successfully continued until the last days of the scientist’s life. As a result of hard work, Tsitsin and his colleagues for the first time obtained hybrids between the main types of wheat and three types of wheatgrass (as well as with one of the Siberian varieties of wheatgrass). In subsequent years, the scientist created mid-early (with a shorter growing season) varieties of wheat-wheatgrass hybrids, characterized by high yields and a complex of other economically valuable traits. At the same time, new varieties of wheat were created that had a branched ear structure. Before this, only forms of spring durum wheat existed in nature. The scientist managed to create varieties of winter soft branched wheat, that is, forms that previously did not exist in nature at all. One of Tsitsin's pioneering works was the creation of multigrain forms of wheat with particularly high productivity. In the recent past, all varieties of wheat had ears with one or two grains. In modern wheat varieties, the number of flowers in spikelets is five, and the number of grains does not exceed four. Based on the distant hybridization of cultivated wheat with wild cereal plants, Tsitsin managed, for the first time in world practice, to create hybrid forms of wheat, in the spikelets of which the number of flowers reaches nine and the number of grains reaches six to eight, which leads to a significant increase in yield.
Among the varieties created by the scientist in the last years of his life, it is worth noting the intermediate constant (stable in the offspring) forms of wheat, which have a high protein content and compete in yield with the best standards of this crop. Knowing about such a property of wheatgrass as perenniality, Tsitsin, for the first time in the history of breeding and genetic science, created a completely new type of wheat plant, which is of great scientific and practical importance - perennial wheat, which he named Triticum agropynotriticum . Tsitsin’s work on the creation of high-yielding lodging-resistant varieties and forms with shortened and filled straw was also of great practical importance. Typically, soft wheat varieties have a hollow straw, but in the hybrids he obtained, it was filled with parenchyma throughout the entire stem, which gave the plants greater resistance to lodging.
The scientist and his collaborators successfully used polyploid forms of plants (containing several sets of chromosomes in cells) in breeding. In particular, a tetraploid (with four sets of chromosomes in somatic cells) winter rye variety “Start” was created, which had high winter hardiness and productivity. Particularly interesting is the work of Tsitsin and his students on the hybridization of wheat, rye and barley with elymus (giant, sandy and soft). Based on 29 combinations of crossing soft and durum wheat with three types of elimus, seven generations of wheat-elimus hybrids were obtained. In 1968–1969 In the process of hybridization of wheat with soft elymus, highly productive constant 42-chromosomal hybrids were isolated for the first time. They were distinguished by their large ears and grains, containing over 20% protein and more than 40% gluten.
December 17, 1968 For great services in the development of biological and agricultural sciences and in connection with the 70th anniversary of his birth, Nikolai Vasilyevich Tsitsin was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor with the Order of Lenin and the Hammer and Sickle gold medal.
Nikolai Vasilyevich acted as a delegate to the 20th Congress of the CPSU, a Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the 1st, 3rd and 4th convocations. In addition, Tsitsin was an honorary foreign member of eight foreign academies. He was elected president, chairman, and member of a number of domestic and foreign scientific organizations. He headed the Soviet-Indian Society for Friendship and Cultural Relations. Published more than 700 scientific works, including 46 books and brochures. Has eight copyright certificates for inventions. Many works have been published abroad.
By Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated December 15, 1978 For great services in the development of biological and agricultural sciences and in connection with the 80th anniversary of his birth, Nikolai Tsitsin was awarded the Order of Lenin and the second gold medal “Hammer and Sickle”.
The outstanding scientist Nikolai Vasilyevich Tsitsin died July 17, 1980 in Moscow. He was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery in the capital.
Nikolai Tsitsin Awards
Twice Hero of Socialist Labor (1968, 1978)
Seven Orders of Lenin (12/30/1935; 06/10/1945; 11/10/1945; 11/19/1953; 12/17/1968; 09/17/1975; 12/15/1978)
Order of the October Revolution (12/18/1973)
Order of the Red Banner of Labor (11/16/1939)
Medal "For Military Merit" (28.10.1967)
Lenin Prize (1978)
Stalin Prize, second degree (1943)
Order of Agricultural Merit (France, 1959)
Memory of Nikolai Tsitsin
In Saratov, in the park on Rakhov Street, a bust was erected
Memorial plaque on the House on the Embankment in Moscow
Memorial plaque at the main building of the Main Botanical Garden named after N.V. Tsitsin RAS in Moscow
The country's main botanical garden bears the name of its founder: Tsitsin.
17.07.1980
Tsitsin Nikolay Vasilievich
Russian Scientist
Doctor of Agricultural Sciences
Twice Hero of Socialist Labor
Nikolai Tsitsin was born on December 18, 1898 in the city of Saratov. The boy grew up in a poor peasant family. Having lost his father due to his difficult financial situation, the mother sent her son to an orphanage. Kolya stayed there until 1912 and received his primary education, and then, to earn a living, he mastered many professions.
During the Civil War, Tsitsin joined the ranks of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army and soon became a military commissar, and since 1920 he was the head of the cultural department and a member of the provincial communications committee in Saratov.
At the same time, Tsitsin continued his education: first he studied at the school for working youth, and then entered the agronomic department of the Saratov Institute of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, from which he graduated in 1927. Having received his diploma, he got a job at the Saratov Agricultural Experimental Station at the All-Union Institute of Grain Farming. It was this work and communication with famous breeders: Georgy Meister, Alexey Shekhurdin and Pyotr Konstantinov that determined the future scope of Nikolai Vasilyevich’s activity.
From the very beginning, the young scientist was interested in the problem of creating, based on distant hybridization, more productive varieties of the country's main food crop: wheat. The research he carried out on crossing wild and cultivated plants allowed him to create new varieties of plants with higher yields. Even then, Tsitsin, like his entire subsequent life, successfully combined his fruitful scientific work with social, organizational and government activities.
In 1932, he headed the laboratory of wheat-wheatgrass hybrids he organized in Omsk, which was later reorganized into the Siberian Research Institute of Grain Farming. In 1938, Tsitsin was appointed director of the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition in Moscow, into the creation and operation of which he invested a lot of effort.
Nikolai Vasilyevich in the 1940s headed the Institute of Grain Farming in the Central Regions of the Non-Black Earth Zone. He was the chairman of the State Commission for Variety Testing of Agricultural Crops under the USSR Ministry of Agriculture and vice-president of the All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences of the USSR.
Under his leadership, on April 14, 1945, the Main Botanical Garden of the USSR Academy of Sciences was created, where he remained the permanent director until the end of his life. Thanks to the efforts of Tsitsin, this botanical garden has become a methodological and coordinating center for scientific research carried out by all other botanical gardens in our country.
In subsequent years, Nikolai Vasilyevich was also the chairman of the board of the Council of Botanical Gardens of the USSR Academy of Sciences and the president and vice-president of the International Association of Botanical Gardens. At the same time, he continued his scientific work, being the head of the laboratory of remote hybridization of the Academy of Sciences of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the laboratory of wheat-wheatgrass hybrids of the Institute of Grain Farming of the Non-Black Earth Strip. The scientist’s main works and research are devoted to distant hybridization of plants and are aimed at developing Michurin’s ideas in this area.
Tsitsin theoretically substantiated and practically proved the possibility of producing perennial wheat; its wheat-wheatgrass hybrids became especially widespread, which led to a significant increase in yield. He also contributed to the development of the scientific foundations of plant acclimatization and the organization of introduction work in the country. Many of the scientist’s conclusions and scientific developments are still widely used by breeders today.
Tsitsin Nikolai Vasilievich - academician of the All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences named after V.I. Lenin, director of the Main Botanical Garden of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Moscow.
Born on December 6 (18), 1898 in Saratov in a peasant family. Russian. Graduated from elementary school. As a teenager he worked at a factory in Saratov.
During the Civil War, he was a military commissar, participated in the defense of Tsaritsyn (now Volgograd) and battles on the Southern Front, and defended the Soviet Republic.
After the war, he graduated from the workers' faculty at the university in Saratov. In 1923-1927 he studied at the Saratov Institute of Agriculture and Land Reclamation.
After graduating from the institute in 1927-1932, he worked at the All-Union Scientific Research Institute of Grain Farming of the South-East as a researcher. On the fields of this institute (Saratov Agricultural Experimental Station), being at the same time an agronomist of one of the departments of the grain state farm "Giant" in the Salsky district of the Rostov region, N.V. Tsitsin began to conduct experiments that subsequently led him to brilliant results.
From the very beginning, N.V. Tsitsin was interested in the problem of creating more productive varieties of the main food crop - wheat - based on distant hybridization. He crossed wheat with wheatgrass and became the first wheat-wheatgrass hybrid. He widely involved in crossing wild and cultivated plants that had gone through independent evolutionary paths that determined their genetic isolation. Research conducted by the scientist in this direction has made it possible to create new plant varieties.
Since 1932, N.V. Tsitsin worked as the head of the laboratory of wheat-wheatgrass hybrids at the Omsk Zonal Experimental Station, which was later reorganized into the Siberian Research Institute of Grain Farming (in 1936-1938 - director of the institute). Doctor of Agricultural Sciences (1936). Here the scientist created mid-early (with a shorter growing season) varieties of wheat-wheatgrass hybrids, characterized by high yields and a complex of other economically valuable traits. At the same time, new varieties of wheat were created that had a branched ear structure. Before this, only forms of spring durum wheat existed in nature. The scientist managed to create varieties of winter soft branched wheat, that is, forms that previously did not exist in nature at all. One of Tsitsin's pioneering works was the creation of multigrain forms of wheat with particularly high productivity.
In 1938-1949 and in 1954-1957, N.V. Tsitsin was the director of the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition (VSKhV) in Moscow; in 1938-1948 - Chairman of the State Commission for Variety Testing of Grains, Oilseeds and Herbs; in 1940-1949 - director of the Research Institute of Grain Farming in the Non-Black Earth Zone of the USSR; in 1940-1957 - head of the laboratory of remote hybridization of the USSR Academy of Sciences. In 1938-1948 - vice-president of the All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences named after V.I. Lenin (VASKhNIL). Member of the CPSU(b)/CPSU since 1938.
In the post-war years, N.V. Tsitsin created intermediate constant (stable in offspring) forms of wheat, which had a high protein content and competed in yield with the best standards of this crop. For the first time in the history of breeding and genetic science, he created a completely new species of wheat plant, which is of great scientific and practical importance - perennial wheat, which he named Triticum agropynotriticum. Tsitsin’s work on the creation of high-yielding lodging-resistant varieties and forms with shortened and filled straw was also of great practical importance.
The scientist and his collaborators successfully used polyploid forms of plants (containing several sets of chromosomes in cells) in breeding. In particular, a tetraploid variety of winter rye “Start” was created, which had high winter hardiness and productivity. Particularly interesting is the work of Tsitsin and his students on the hybridization of wheat, rye and barley with elymus (giant, sandy and soft). Based on 29 combinations of crossing soft and durum wheat with three types of elimus, 7 generations of wheat-elimus hybrids were obtained. In 1968-1969, in the process of hybridization of wheat with soft elymus, highly productive constant 42-chromosome hybrids were isolated for the first time. They were distinguished by their large ears and grains, containing over 20 percent protein and more than 40 percent gluten.
In 1945-1980, N.V. Tsitsin was the director of the Main Botanical Garden of the USSR Academy of Sciences (GBS AS USSR), organized with his participation, chairman of the Council of Botanical Gardens of the USSR (1953-1980), academician-secretary of the Department of Plant Growing and Breeding of the All-Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences (1966- 1968), President (1969-1975), Vice-President (1975-1980) of the International Association of Botanical Gardens.
Under the leadership of N.V. Tsitsin, all landscape and construction work was carried out for the development of the All-Russian Agricultural Exhibition/VDNKh of the USSR and GBS. He was the initiator of organizing expeditions around the country to collect plants for the botanical garden. Since 1947, Tsitsin collected a scientific library, in the collections of which already in 1952 there were 55 thousand books, including rare copies of the 16th-19th centuries in Russian and foreign languages. Since 1948, Tsitsin began publishing the “Bulletin of the Main Botanical Garden”. Of the 200 bulletins issued from 1 to 120, he was the responsible editor. Under his leadership, an arboretum, one of the largest in Europe, was created on 75 hectares. During its existence, 2,500 species of woody plants were tested there. Of these, 1,800 were selected as completely sustainable, and of these, in turn, about 600 were recommended for landscaping in Moscow.
In 1952, on the initiative of N.V. Tsitsin, a network of botanical gardens of the USSR was created, and the Main Botanical Garden of the USSR Academy of Sciences became a kind of national coordinating and methodological center. The same year the greenhouse opened. By 1953, Tsitsin had completely completed the exhibition of the flora department, and by 1954, on the day of the second birth of VSKhV/VDNKh, the garden of continuous flowering, the garden of coastal plants and the collection rose garden were finally completed. In the village of Snegiri, Istrinsky district, Moscow region, Tsitsin organized an experimental garden farming on almost 1.5 thousand hectares.
On July 28, 1959, the Botanical Garden was opened to visitors. By the 1970s, all the main exhibitions of the garden were finally completed, and collection areas of geographical landscapes were created in the flora department. The garden under the leadership of N.V. Tsitsin became one of the largest in Europe. His collections included more than 20 thousand plant taxa (about 17 thousand were exhibited).
By Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of December 17, 1968 for outstanding services in the development of biological and agricultural sciences and in connection with the seventieth anniversary of his birth Tsitsin Nikolai Vasilievich awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor with the Order of Lenin and the Hammer and Sickle gold medal.
By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of December 15, 1978, for outstanding services in the development of Soviet science and in connection with his eightieth birthday, he was awarded the Order of Lenin and the second gold medal “Hammer and Sickle.” Became twice Hero of Socialist Labor.
Delegate to the 20th Congress of the CPSU (1956). Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR 1st (1937-1946), 3rd-4th convocations (1950-1958).
Honorary foreign member of 8 foreign academies. He was president, chairman, and member of a number of domestic and foreign scientific organizations. President (1958-1970) and vice-president (since 1970) of the Soviet-Indian Society for Friendship and Cultural Relations. More than 700 scientific works have been published, including 46 books and brochures. Has 8 copyright certificates for inventions. Many works have been published abroad.
Awarded 7 Orders of Lenin (12/30/1935; 06/10/1945; 11/10/1945; 11/19/1953; 12/17/1968; 09/17/1975; 12/15/1978), Orders of the October Revolution (12/18/1973), Labor Red Banner me (11/16/1939 ), medals, including “For Military Merit” (10.28.1967), the gold medal named after I.V. Michurin, the French Order “For Merit in the Field of Agriculture” (1959). Laureate of the Lenin (1978) and Stalin 2nd degree (1943) USSR Prizes.
The name of N.V. Tsitsin was given to the Main Botanical Garden of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Essays:
Distant hybridization of plants, M., 1954;
The problem of winter and perennial wheat, M., 1935;
What will cross wheat with wheatgrass yield? M., 1937;
Research in the field of vegetative-sexual hybridization of herbaceous plants with woody plants;
Proceedings of the Zonal Institute of Grain Farming of the Non-Black Earth Zone of the USSR, 1946;
Ways to create new cultivated plants, M., 1948;
The role of science and advanced practice in the rise of grain farming, M., 1954;
Perennial wheat, M., 1978;
Theory and practice of remote hybridization, M., 1981.
USSR Academy of Sciences (1939), VASKhNIL (1938; vice-president in 1938-1948). Twice Hero of Socialist Labor (1968, 1978); Laureate of the Lenin Prize (1978) and the Stalin Prize of the second degree (1943).
Biography
Born on December 18, 1898 in Saratov. Coming from a poor peasant family, as a teenager he worked at a factory in Saratov.
During the civil war, Nikolai Vasilyevich was a military commissar, defending the Soviet Republic with arms in his hands. The Soviet government opened the path to education for young workers. He studied at the workers' faculty, and then at the Saratov Agricultural Institute.
Graduated from the Saratov Institute of Agriculture and Land Reclamation (1927).
After graduating from the institute, he worked at the Saratov Agricultural Experiment Station. Communication with such outstanding breeders as N. G. Meister, A. P. Shekhurdin, P. N. Konstantinov determined the further direction of the young scientist’s work. From the very beginning, he was interested in the problem of creating more productive varieties of the main food crop - wheat - based on distant hybridization. Working as an agronomist at one of the departments of the grain state farm "Giant" in the Salsky district of the Rostov region, Tsitsin crossed wheat with wheatgrass and for the first time obtained a wheat-wheatgrass hybrid, which was the beginning of his work in this direction. He widely involved in crossing wild and cultivated plants that had gone through independent evolutionary paths that determined their genetic isolation. Research conducted by scientists in this direction has made it possible to create new plant varieties.
In 1931-1937 he was the head of the laboratory of wheat-wheatgrass hybrids he organized, in 1938-1948 he was the chairman of the State Commission for Variety Testing of Agricultural Crops at the USSR Ministry of Agriculture, in 1940-1957 he was the head of the Laboratory of Remote Hybridization of the USSR Academy of Sciences, from 1945 he was the director of the Main Botanical Garden of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
Chairman of the Board of the Council of Botanical Gardens of the USSR Academy of Sciences. The main works are devoted to distant hybridization of plants. By crossing wheat with wheatgrass, a new type of wheat (Triticum agropynotriticum) was obtained. Author of wheat-wheatgrass hybrid varieties. Honorary member of a number of academies of socialist countries. President (1958-1970) and vice-president (since 1970) of the Soviet-Indian Society for Friendship and Cultural Relations.
Member of the CPSU(b) since 1938. Delegate to the 20th Congress of the CPSU. Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the 1st, 3rd and 4th convocations.
Scientific works
- - Chief Editor
Awards and prizes
- Stalin Prize, second degree (1943).
- Lenin Prize (1978).
- Twice Hero of Socialist Labor (1968, 1978).
- He was awarded five Orders of Lenin (according to other sources - seven orders), the Order of the October Revolution, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, as well as medals.
Perpetuating the memory of N.V. Tsitsina
Memorial plaque to academician N.V. Tsitsin installed on the House on the Embankment
Memorial plaque to academician N.V. Tsitsin is installed near the main building of the botanical garden named after. N.V. Tsitsin RAS
The Botanical Garden is a forested area in the north-east of Moscow, a favorite place for pensioners, rollerbladers and cyclists. As a rule, residents of nearby areas - Northern Administrative District and North-East Administrative District - come here for a walk. But there is something to see here, and the place is worth coming here especially from other parts of the capital.
The botanical garden was founded in 1945 on the site of preserved natural forests, such as the Ostankino and Leonovsky forests. If you believe official sources, then Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich (remember the palace in Kolomenskoye?), the father of Peter I, hunted here.
If you are not a biologist-botanist and can barely distinguish a birch from an aspen, then at first glance the Botanical Garden will seem to you like an ordinary forest park, of which there are quite a few in Moscow. True, the area of the park is comparable to Sokolniki Square, but here the forest is wilder and denser, and there are fewer asphalt paths.
The first feeling from the Botanical Garden is that no one planted anything here on purpose, but everything grew on its own, everything is so natural and organic. Only after spending some time here do you begin to understand that the naturalness of the park is actually thought out to the smallest detail and is the result of the painstaking work of caring hands. And most importantly, it’s simply beautiful and quiet here, this becomes especially relevant when you get tired of the noise and dust of the city. The only thing that reminds you of where you are is the point.
You will have to fork out a little for the silence and beauty - entrance to the park is paid, although only from April 29 to mid-October. In April and October you can enter the garden for free. Although according to official information it is closed for planting work, I personally was there in April, and there were many visitors. But in winter the garden is definitely not open, and this is a little upsetting, because you could make great snowmen there or go skiing or sledding with your children.
Ticket price to visit the Botanical Garden – 50 rubles. for pedestrians and 100 for cyclists, the cost of tickets for schoolchildren and students is 30 rubles, no fee is charged for pensioners. The story with cyclists and rollerbladers is not clear. The official website of the Botanical Garden states that rollerblading and bicycles are prohibited in the park. At the same time, they are allowed in, and they even set a special price for the entrance ticket.
If you don't like to wander aimlessly looking at unfamiliar tree species, you can book an excursion. To do this, you need to gather a group of like-minded people and come to an agreement with the administration. The cost of the excursion, depending on the direction, is from 100 to 200 rubles. per person, for foreigners – 250 rubles.
Conventionally, the garden can be divided into several zones by region, which represent the flora of the Caucasus, Central Asia, the Far East, and Siberia. The park also includes a rose garden. Last summer it was rebuilt and remodeled, so I never got a chance to admire the roses.
The park has a greenhouse, a glass building the height of a ten-story building. Inside it, through the glass, you can see huge palm trees and some beautiful tropical flowers of bright colors. But, as far as I know, you can only get inside with a guided tour; entry is closed to individual visitors, so you just have to be content with spying on it from the street.
A very popular place in the park - Japanese garden. Entrance here is paid, 100-150 rubles. At the very beginning of May you can see cherry blossoms here. Flowering lasts only two to three days, and on these days there is usually a stir in the Japanese Garden - many professional photographers and just amateurs. In general, photographers have taken a liking to the Japanese Garden. Most likely, this is why the administration has raised prices for professional photography so much. So be careful, if employees see you, for example, with a tripod, they may ask you to pay. In general, everything here is quite strict - you can’t sit on the lawns, nor on the rocks.
There are several ponds in the park. Swimming and fishing are prohibited here - you can only admire the water. One of the reservoirs is located near the main entrance opposite the Laboratory building, the other is on the border with the territory of the All-Russian Exhibition Center. There are also several other small streams and ponds.
The main paths of the park are paved, there are also many dirt paths, which, by the way, are much less crowded, so if you want to find a secluded corner for a romantic date, turn onto the path. There are signs at every intersection in the park, so only someone suffering from topographical cretinism can get lost here.
There are always a lot of people on the main paths of the park. If the weather is good, then this happens not only on weekends, but also on weekdays. Therefore, the benches along them are almost always occupied. Many, contrary to the instructions of the Rules, are located directly on the lawns - I have never seen anyone being kicked out. In general, the people here are mostly intelligent, everything is very clean and tidy, there is almost no garbage.
In the Botanical Garden, for the first time in my life, I saw how snowdrops grow, maybe you will discover something new and unusual here.
How to get there from the metro:
Main Botanical Garden named after. N.V. Tsitsina is located a 5-minute walk from Vladykino metro station. You can also get here from the VDNH metro station by buses 24, 85, 803 and trolleybuses 9, 36.73. You can also get to the Botanical Garden from the metro station of the same name, but this is not very convenient - you have to travel a bit far. In general, there are several entrances to the park: at the Vladykino metro station, on the side of Botanicheskaya Street, on the side behind the Space pavilion, and there is also an entrance from Komarova Street. The park is large, so there are many entrances (see map below).