Nekrasov, Aleksei

Born Mar. 12 (24), 1874, in Moscow; died Aug. 22, 1960, in Moscow. Soviet zoologist, embryologist, and biological historian.

In 1900, Nekrasov graduated from Moscow University. He began teaching at the university in 1905 and became a professor in 1919. From 1928 he headed the subdepartment of zoology at the University of Nizhny Novgorod (now Gorgy). He worked at freshwater and marine biological stations in Naples, Saint-Vaastla-Hougue (Normandy), Villefranche-sur-mer (on the Mediterranean), and Sevastopol’. He organized the Pustyn’ Biological Station at the University of Gorky in 1934.

Nekrasov’s principal works were on the reproduction and embryonic development of invertebrates (chiefly mollusks) and on the history of evolutionary theory and embryology. Nekrasov translated essays into Russian written by C. Darwin in 1842 and 1844 on the theory of natural selection. He edited and wrote introductory articles and commentaries to the collected works of C. Darwin, A. O. Kovalevskii, and I. I. Mechnikov. He also edited and wrote articles on the scientific work of Kovalevskii and Mechnikov. Nekrasov was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor and a medal.