Ivan Michurin

Ivan Vladimirovich Michurin (1855 to 1935) was a Russian fruit breeder who devoted his life to creating new kinds of fruit plants and introduced more than 300 varieties. From 1875 he leased a small plot of land near Tambov, collected plants there and began research in pomology and selection, and in 1899 he moved his collection to a much larger tract. After the Russian Civil War the Soviet government took an interest in his work: his garden was recognized in 1923 as an institution of state importance, a selection genetic station was set up on it in 1928, and in 1934 it was reorganized as the Michurin Central Genetic Laboratory. He was an honorary member of the Soviet Academy of Sciences and an academician of the Lenin All-Union Academy of Agriculture, and the town of Michurinsk is named for him.