Ivan Vladimirovich Michurin

Ivan Vladimirovich Michurin
Michurin's bust in front of Moscow University
Born	October 27 [O.S. October 15] 1855
Died	June 7, 1935 (1935-06-08) (aged 79)
Nationality	Russia
Fields	botany
Institutions	Lenin All-Union Academy of Agriculture
Known for	selection

Ivan Vladimirovich Michurin (Russian: Иван Владимирович Мичурин) (October 27 [O.S. October 15] 1855 – June 7, 1935) was a Russian practitioner of selection to produce new types of crop plants, Honorable Member of the Soviet Academy of Sciences, and academician of the Lenin All-Union Academy of Agriculture. His methods were championed by Trofim Lysenko as part of the political campaign against genetics and science-based agriculture that became known as Lysenkoism and Michurinism.

Throughout all his life, Michurin worked to create new sorts of fruit plants. He introduced over 300 new varieties. He was awarded the Order of Lenin and Order of the Red Banner of Labour for his achievements. The town of Michurinsk is named in his honor, as was the Bulgarian town of Tsarevo between 1950 and 1991.

In 1875, Michurin leased a strip of land of about 500 square metres not far from Tambov, began collecting plants, and started his research in pomology and selection. In 1899, he acquired a much bigger strip of land of about 130,000 square metres and moved all of his plants there.

In 1920, right after the end of the Russian Civil War, Vladimir Lenin ordered People's Commissar of Agriculture Semion Sereda to organize an analytic research project on Michurin's works and practical achievements. On September 11, 1922, Mikhail Kalinin visited Michurin at Lenin's personal request. On November 20, 1923, the Council of People's Commissars recognized Michurin's "fruit garden" as an institution of state importance. In 1928, the Soviets established a selectionist genetic station on the basis of Michurin's garden, which would be re-organized into the Michurin Central Genetic Laboratory in 1934.