Matveev, Boris

Born Sept. 8 (20), 1889, in Bobrov, now in Voronezh Oblast; died Sept. 21, 1973, in Moscow. Soviet zoologist; specialist in animal morphology; Honored Scientist of the RSFSR (1970). Professor at Moscow State University (from 1931).

Matveev graduated from Moscow University in 1913. He was a pupil and co-worker of A. N. Severtsov. From 1931 to 1951 he was head of the subdepartment of zoology and vertebrate comparative anatomy at Moscow State University. From 1930 to 1935 he was assistant director of the Laboratory of Evolutionary Morphology of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (now the A. N. Severtsov Institute of Evolutionary Morphology and Ecology of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR). He was the author of works on the comparative anatomy and comparative embryology of vertebrates and on general problems of evolution. He elaborated a theory of the metamerism of the skull and studied the principles of the evolutionary transformation of derivatives of the skin (scales, teeth, etc.). He was coauthor and editor of a textbook on the zoology of vertebrates (seven editions). He was awarded the Order of Lenin, two other orders, and various medals.