Boris Stepanovich Vinogradov

Born Mar. 25 (Apr. 6), 1891, in Vol’sk; died July 10, 1958, in Leningrad. Soviet zoologist; specialist in the field of morphology, comparative anatomy, paleontology, ecology, and zoogeography of rodents. Doctor of biological sciences (1934); professor (1939).

Vinogradov graduated from the natural sciences division of Khar’kov University in 1918; he studied under P. P. Sushkin. From 1921 to 1958 he worked in the Zoological Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, and in 1934 he became head of the institute’s department of land vertebrates. From 1932 to 1953 he was at Leningrad State University, and in 1945 he became head of the zoology department. Vinogradov was the founder of the Leningrad school of mammalogy, and he and his school are noted for their comprehensive historical approach to the study of animals, involving a synthesis of the animal’s structure, way of life, habitat, and distribution. This synthesis permits the establishment of generic relationships between species and the place of groups of species in the natural order. This principle was especially clearly realized in Vinogradov’s monograph on the jerboa family. Vinogradov was awarded the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Red Star, and medals.