Nikolai Koltsov

Nikolai Konstantinovich Koltsov
Nikolai Koltsov and Maria Sadovnikova-Koltsova. Closeup of the tomb at Vvedenskoye Cemetery
Born	July 14, 1872 Moscow
Died	December 2, 1940 Leningrad
Nationality	Russian Empire, USSR
Fields	Genetics, molecular biology
Alma mater	Moscow University
Notable students	Nikolay Timofeeff-Ressovsky Vladimir Pavlovich Efroimson

Nikolai Konstantinovich Koltsov (Russian: Николай Константинович Кольцов; July 14, 1872– December 2, 1940) was a Russian biologist. He was one of the creators of modern genetics. Nikolai Koltsov was a teacher of Nikolay Timofeeff-Ressovsky.

Scientific career

He graduated from Moscow University in 1894 and was a professor there (1895-1911). He established and directed the Institute of Experimental Biology in the middle of 1917, just before the October revolution. He was a member of the Agricultural Academy (VASKhNIL).

Research

Nikolai Koltsov worked on cytology and vertebrate anatomy. In 1903 Koltsov proposed that the shape of cells was determined by a network of tubules which he termed the cytoskeleton. In 1927 Kolstov proposed that inherited traits would be inherited via a "giant hereditary molecule" which would be made up of "two mirror strands that would replicate in a semi-conservative fashion using each strand as a template".^[1] These ideas were confirmed to have been accurate in 1953 when James D. Watson and Francis Crick described the structure of DNA. Watson and Crick had apparently not heard of Koltsov. US geneticist Richard Goldschmidt wrote about him: "There was the brilliant Nikolai Koltsov, probably the best Russian zoologist of the last generation, an enviable, unbelievably cultured, clear-thinking scholar, admired by everybody who knew him"^[1]

Arrest and trial in 1920

Koltsov was arrested as a member of the non-existent "anti-Soviet Tactical Center" invented by the VCheKa in 1920. Prosecutor Nikolai Krylenko demanded the death sentence for Koltsov (67 of around 1000 arrested people were executed).^[2] However, after a personal appeal to Vladimir Lenin by Maxim Gorky Koltsov was released and was restored to his position as the head of the Koltsov Institute of Experimental Biology.^[1]

Campaign against him and death

In 1937 and 1939, the supporters of Trofim Lysenko published a series of propaganda articles against Nikolai Koltsov and Nikolai Vavilov. They wrote: "The Institute of Genetics of the Academy of Sciences not only did not criticize Professor Koltsov's fascistic nonsense, but even did not dissociate itself from his "theories" which support the racial theories of fascists".^[2] His death in 1940 was claimed to have been due to a stroke. However, "the biochemist Ilya Zbarsky revealed that the unexpected death of Koltsov was a result of his poisoning by the NKVD", the secret police of the Soviet Union.^[1] The same day his wife committed suicide^[2]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Valery N. Soyfer. The consequences of political dictatorship for Russian science. Nature Reviews Genetics 2: 723-729 (2001)
2. ^ ^{a b c} Vadim J. Birstein. The Perversion Of Knowledge: The True Story of Soviet Science. Westview Press (2004) ISBN 0813342805

Persondata
Name	Kolstov, Nikolai Konstantinovich
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	July 14, 1872
Place of birth	Moscow
Date of death	December 2, 1940
Place of death	Leningrad