Kuznetsov, Sergei Ivanovich

Born Nov. 4 (17), 1900, in the village of Poretskoe, in present-day Suzdal’ Raion, Vladimir Oblast. Soviet microbiologist; corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1960).

Kuznetsov graduated from Moscow State University in 1923. He was director of the laboratory at the limnology station in Kosino from 1931 to 1941 and at the sewage treatment plant in Liubertsy from 1941 to 1946. He has been director of a laboratory at the Institute of Microbiology of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR since 1942.

Kuznetsov’s main works deal with aquatic microbiology: microbiological processes as the basic factor in the oxygen balance of lakes, the role of microorganisms in the cycle of substances in lakes, and the use of radioactive isotopes of carbon and sulfur to study the intensity of the cycle of substances in bodies of water. He has also studied the geological activity of microorganisms, such as their activity in oil fields and their role in the formation and destruction of sulfur deposits and sulfide ores.

Kuznetsov has been awarded the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, and various medals.