- Ilya Ivanovich Ivanov (biologist)
Infobox Scientist
name = PAGENAME
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caption =Ilya Ivanov, 1927
birth_date = OldStyleDate|August 1|1870|July 20
birth_place =Shchigry ,Kursk gubernia ,Russia
death_date =March 20 1932 ?
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nationality =Russia n
ethnicity =
field =biology
work_institutions =
alma_mater =Kharkov University
doctoral_advisor =
doctoral_students =
known_for =artificial insemination
author_abbrev_bot =
author_abbrev_zoo =
influences =
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footnotes =Ilya Ivanovich Ivanov ( _ru. Илья Иванович Иванов, OldStyleDate|August 1|1870|July 20-
March 20 1932 ?) was aRussia n andSoviet biologist who specialized in the field ofartificial insemination and theinterspecific hybrid ization of animals. He was involved in controversial attempts to create a human-ape hybrid.Biography
Ilya Ivanovich Ivanov was born in the town of
Shchigry ,Kursk gubernia ,Russia . He graduated from theKharkov University in 1896 and became a fullprofessor in 1907. He worked as a researcher in theAskania-Nova natural reserve, also for the State Experimental Veterinary Institute (1917-1921, 1924-1930), for the Central Experimental Station for Researching Reproduction of Domestic Animals (1921-1924), and for the Moscow Higher Zootechnic Institute (1928-1930).At the turn of the century Ilya Ivanov perfected artificial insemination and its practical usage for horse breeding. He proved that this technology allows one stallion to fertilize up to 500 mares (instead of 20-30 by natural fertilization). The results were sensational for their time, and Ivanov's station was frequented by horse breeders from many parts of the world.
Ilya Ivanov also pioneered the practice of using artificial insemination for obtaining various interspecific hybrids. He was the first (or one of the first) scientists who obtained and studied a
Zeedonk (hybrid ofzebra anddonkey ),Żubroń (a hybrid ofwisent and domesticcow ), a hybrid of anantelope and cow, ofmouse andrat , of mouse andguinea pig , guinea pig andrabbit , rabbit andhare and many others, [ [http://kokshetau.online.kz/ot/ivanov.htm Èíòåðåñíîå ÷òèâî ] at kokshetau.online.kz] . [ [http://www.zerkalo-nedeli.com/nn/show/475/45014/ ÇÀ×ÅÌ ×ÅËÎÂÅÊÓ ÊÅÍÒÀÂÐ?. Âèòàëèé ÌÎÑÊÀËÅÍÊÎ | Íàóêà | ×åëîâåê ] at www.zerkalo-nedeli.com] At that time the study ofgenetics was in its infancy. Many believed that such hybrids could start new species of domestic animal and thus be potentially quite important.Human-ape hybridization experiments
The most controversial of Ivanov's studies was his attempt to create a human-ape hybrid.ref|autonumber As early as 1910 he had given a presentation to the World Congress of Zoologists in
Graz in which he described the possibility of obtaining such a hybrid through artificial insemination.In 1924, while working at the
Pasteur Institute in Paris, Ivanov obtained permission from the Institute's directors to use its experimental primate station in Kindia,French Guinea , for such an experiment. Ivanov attempted to gain backing for his project from theSoviet government. He dispatched letters to thePeople's Commissar on Education and ScienceAnatoliy Vasilievich Lunacharsky and to other officials. Ivanov's proposal finally sparked the interest ofNikolai Petrovich Gorbunov , the head of the Department of Scientific Institutions. In September 1925 Gorbunov helped allocate US$10,000 to the Academy of Sciences for Ivanov's human-ape hybridization experiments in Africa.In March 1926 Ivanov arrived at the Kindia facility, but stayed only a month without success. The Kindia site, it turned out, had no sexually mature
chimpanzee s. He returned to France where he arranged through correspondence with French Guinea's colonial governor to set up experiments at the botanical gardens inConakry .Ivanov reached Conakry in November 1926 accompanied by his son, also named Ilya, who would assist him in his experiments. Ivanov supervised the capture of adult chimpanzees in the interior of the colony, which were brought to Conakry and kept in cages in the botanical gardens. On
February 28 ,1927 , Ivanov artificially inseminated two female chimpanzees with human sperm (not his own or his son's). On June 25, he injected a third chimpanzee with human sperm. The Ivanovs left Africa in July with thirteen chimps, including the three used in his experiments. They already knew before leaving that the first two chimpanzees had failed to become pregnant. The third died in France, and was also found not to have been pregnant. The remaining chimps were sent to a new primate station atSukhumi .Although Ivanov attempted to organize the insemination of human females with chimpanzee sperm in Guinea, these plans met with resistance from the French colonial government and there is no evidence such an experiment was arranged there.
Upon his return to the Soviet Union in 1927, Ivanov began an effort to organize hybridization experiments at Sukhumi using ape sperm and human females. Eventually in 1929, through the help of Gorbunov, he obtained the support of the Society of Materialist Biologists, a group associated with the
Communist Academy . In the spring of 1929 the Society set up a commission to plan Ivanov's experiments at Sukhumi. They decided that at least five volunteer women would be needed for the project. However, in June 1929, before any inseminations had taken place, Ivanov learned that the only postpubescent male ape remaining at Sukhumi (anorangutan ) had died. A new set of chimps would not arrive at Sukhumi until the summer of 1930.In the course of a general political shakeup in the Soviet scientific world Gorbunov and a number of the scientists involved in the planning of the Sukhumi experiments lost their positions. In the spring of 1930 Ivanov came under political criticism at his veterinary institute. Finally on
December 13 ,1930 Ivanov was arrested. He was sentenced to five years of exile toAlma Ata , where he worked for the Kazakh Veterinary-Zoologist Institute until his death from a stroke on20 March 1932 . The renowned physiologist and psychologistIvan Pavlov wrote an obituary for him.References
*Citation
id =PMID :12467272
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12467272
last=Rossiianov
first=Kirill
publication-date=2002 Jun
year=2002
title=Beyond species: Il'ya Ivanov and his experiments on cross-breeding humans and anthropoid apes.
volume=15
issue=2
periodical=Science in context
pages=277-316
*Citation
id =PMID :4253169
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4253169
last=Zvereva
first=G V
publication-date=1970 Jul
year=1970
title= [Professor I.I. Ivanov--founder of artificial insemination of animals]
volume=7
issue=
periodical=Veterinariia
pages=88-90
*Citation
id =PMID :4253171
url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4253171
last=Smirnov
first=L N
last2=Ozhin
first2=F V
publication-date=1970 Jul
year=1970
title= [Outstanding scientist-biologist (Il'ia Ivanovich Ivanov)]
volume=7
issue=
periodical=Veterinariia
pages=90-2Footnotes
The bulk of the information in this section is drawn from Rossiianov, 2002.
Web references
*en icon [http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=124129 Kirill Rossiianov, "Beyond Species: Il’ya Ivanov and His Experiments on Cross-Breeding Humans with Anthropoid Apes", Science in Context, 2002, p. 277-316]
*ru icon [http://www.zerkalo-nedeli.com/nn/show/475/45014/ Article in Zerkalo Nedeli]
*ru icon [http://web.archive.org/web/20051122184936/http://www.trud.ru/Arhiv/2004/04/08/200404080641301.htm Article in Trud]
*ru icon [http://www.mk.ru/numbers/1960/article66726.htm Article in Moskovskiy Komsomomolets]
*ru icon [http://kokshetau.online.kz/ot/ivanov.htm Article in KoMok newspaper]
*ru icon [http://www.oval.ru/enc/28474.html article in Great Sovier Encyclopaedia] - the article doesn't mention the alleged experiments
*en icon [http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/5198/ Article in Creation on the Web site] - Contains a rare photo of Ilya Ivanov
*en icon [http://news.ufl.edu/2005/12/12/kissing-cousins-oped/ NYT op-ed piece reprinted by University of Florida]
*ru icon [http://tonos.ru/articles/3323 Зачем человеку кентавр? from Tonos.ru]ee also
*
Alexander Bogdanov
*Heart of a Dog
*Humanzee
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