Alexander Ivanovitch Petrunkevitch

Alexander Ivanovitch Petrunkevitch is a American zoologist of Russian origin , born the December 22nd 1875 in Pliski, a village of Ukraine close to Kiev and dead the March 9th 1964.

Youth

He is the second child of a phratry of Sept. His father, Illitch Petrunkevitch, is a noble writer of origin and with the liberal ideas; he is one of the founders of the Parti Kadet, democratic party and constitutional, and is elected with the first Douma. Petrunkevitch is impassioned very early by the Natural history and in particular for the Coléoptère S. It is also interested in the literature, in particular Anglo-Saxon and publishes under pseudonym, Alexandr Jan-Ribbon, a translation of Manfred of Lord Byron (1788-1824). It also makes appear Poésie S. It attends the Université of Moscow and follows the courses of Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky (1863-1945), the two men binding friendship. Besides they miss being killed when they take an elevator to visit a mine: an anarchistic minor, thinking of dealing with the noble ones, cut the cable retaining the cabin. This one starts to fall but is blocked soon, Vernadsky and Petrunkevitch draws some unscathed.

Petrunkevitch shares the ideas of his/her father and takes part, student, with the protest movement against repression concerning the students after the movements of revolt of 1899. It must soon leave the country to avoid being stopped.

Germany

It goes to Germany and studies with the Université of Freiburg to follow there the courses of one of the largest biologists of the time, August Weismann (1834-1914). He knew and admired his work the more so as he was the subject of attack on behalf of a professor of Moscow Kliment Arkadyevich Timiriazev (1843-1920). Weissmann will exert a great influence on him.

For the preparation of its doctorate, which it supports in 1900, it studies the cytological development of eggs of Abeille S. It brings the demonstration of the assumption of Jan Dzierżon (1811-1906) which had supposed that the queens and the workers were born from fertilized eggs while the males were born from eggs not-fertilized by parthenogenesis.

In 1902 - 1903, he is lecturer and sign cytology and human parasitology. He also has charges the collections with them in particular with Araignée S preserved by the university.

He at that time begins the development of a discovery which will make its name famous. In 1943, it develops a new liquid of fixing intended for the histological preparations: fluid of Petrunkevitch containing bromophenol and copper salts.

America

It meets American then, Wanda Hartshorn. He marries it with London and comes to settle in the New Jersey in November 1903. Until 1910, it gives courses to private customers when it learns that Addison Emery Verrill (1839-1926) takes its retirement of the post of professor of zoology to the Université of Yale. It enters in Yale in 1911 as professor-assistant before becoming professor in 1917. It makes appear in 1913 has Monograph off the Terrestrial Paleozoic Arachnida off North America , its first work of great width in Paléontologie.

Of 1917 with 1924, Petrunkevitch is implied in the assistance with the Russian refugees. It tries, in 1921, to improve the situation of Ivan Petrovitch Pavlov (1849-1936), Nobel Prize 1904, remained with Saint-Pétersbourg in spite of his anticommunism, but without success. In 1924, it protests vigorously against the recognition by the US government of the Soviet mode.

In 1926, his wife dies brutally whereas it is on a journey to Puerto Rico. It launches out then in work and makes appear, in 1929 - 1930, a vast monograph on the spiders of this island. In 1933, it makes appear off Inquiry into the Natural Classification Spiders, Based one has off Study Their Internal Anatomy , its first comparative study of the anatomy of Arachnida and its implications of the Taxinomie.

George Vernadsky (1887-1973), historian, the son of Vladimir Ivanovitch Vernadsky, profits from the support of Petrunkevitch when this one arrives at the Université Yale. The two men will contribute to make known the work of Vladimir Vernadsky to the the United States.

Its retirement

After its retirement, in 1943, it is devoted to the study of the spiders taken in the Ambre of the Baltic and makes appear several important work. The subject is new and Petrunkevitch described of many Taxon S: thirty-three S (including six extinct), ninety-six S (including seventy-eight extinct) and a hundred and sixty S all extinct. It starts to work on the amber of Central America but its work is stopped its death.

He also studies Arachnida of the Paléozoïque and makes appear important monographs which require a long voyage in Europe in order to study the collections of various natural history musea there.

Petrunkevitch is elected, in 1954, to the National Academy off Sciences and belongs to many others learned societies.

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