Boris K. Schischkin

Boris Konstantinovich Shishkin (Russian Борис Константинович Шишкин; * 7 Apriljul / April 19 1886greg in Kukarka, .. † March 21, 1963 in Leningrad ) was a Russian- Soviet botanist and since 1943 a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Its official botanical author abbreviation is " Schischk. ".

Life and work

1911 closed Shishkin his studies at the Medical Faculty of the University of Tomsk, 1913 to 1915, he taught there. Between 1915 and 1918 he worked as a military doctor.

From 1918 to 1925 he headed the botanical section of the Caucasian Museum in Tbilisi, from 1925 to 1930 he was professor at the University of Tomsk and had held a chair in morphology and plant systematics there. From 1930 he was a member of the Botanical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR ( 1938-1949 its director ) and from 1945 to 1958 a professor at the University of Leningrad, and from 1946 to 1963 Vice- President of the Botanical Society of the USSR. Shishkin's herbarium included more than thirty thousand leaves, the bulk of which is kept in Tomsk.

His main works deal with the classification of flowering plants (especially from the family Caryophyllaceae, Umbelliferae and Compositae ) and the plant geography ( Siberia, Transcaucasia ). He was the organizer and editor of numerous collective works, including The Flora of the USSR ( Флора СССР ), The Flora of the Byelorussian SSR ( Флора БССР ), The Flora of the Leningrad Oblast ( Флора Ленинградской области ) and The Flora of Turkmenistan ( Флора Туркмении ).

Honors

Shishkin was awarded the State Prize of the USSR ( 1952), awarded the Order of Lenin and other orders.

He was an honorary member of the Société botanique de France and the Botanical Society of Washington.

The plant genera Schischkinia Ilyin ( Asteraceae ) and Schischkinella Steenis (synonym of Gastrocalyx; Caryophyllaceae ) were named in his honor, and also carry a number of types his name as epithet.