Omelyansky, Vasily Leonidovich

OMELYANSKY Vasily Leonidovich (1867–1928), an outstanding microbiologist and member of the All-Union Academy of Sciences. Born in Poltava; after graduating in 1889 from the Natural Sciences Department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics at St. Petersburg University, he remained at the Department of Organic Chemistry under N. A. Menshutkin. In 1893, Omelyansky joined S. N. Winogradsky as an assistant in the Department of General Microbiology at the Institute of Experimental Medicine, where all his scientific activities took place until his death. Until 1895, Omelyansky worked jointly with Winogradsky on the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen by bacteria and on nitrification. Between 1895 and 1899, Omelyansky published his classic works on the fermentation of cellulose. As a result of these studies, specific anaerobic agents of cellulose fermentation were discovered and the biochemistry of this process was elucidated. From 1899 to 1911, Omelyansky published a series of works on nitrification and other issues of general microbiology; 1911–1916 were years of brilliant experimental work on nitrogen fixation. In 1909, Omelyansky’s classic manual Fundamentals of Microbiology appeared (republished for the 7th time posthumously in 1931); in 1922, the extremely valuable Practical Manual of Microbiology (Petrograd) was published, serving as a supplement to the Fundamentals. In 1923, Omelyansky published a large experimental-critical monograph, The Binding of Atmospheric Nitrogen by Soil Microbes (Petrograd). In addition to scientific works in various fields of microbiology, Omelyansky released a number of popular essays: The Invisible World (Moscow, 1923), Louis Pasteur (Petrograd, 1922), I. I. Mechnikov and His Works (Petrograd, 1917), Microorganisms as Chemical Reagents (Leningrad, 1924), Kefir and Kumis (Petrograd, 1923), and many others. In 1925–1927, Omelyansky published about 20 more theoretical and experimental works, and finally, after his death, Omelyansky’s last book appeared, A Short Course in General and Soil Microbiology (Moscow-Leningrad, 1929). From 1916, Omelyansky was the permanent editor of the Archives of Biological Sciences (Leningrad), and from 1924, the editor of Advances in Biological Chemistry (Leningrad). From 1906 to 1917, Omelyansky served as a professor at the Lokhvitskaya-Skalon Higher Natural Science Courses. Omelyansky was widely known not only in the USSR but also abroad. In 1909, he was elected a corresponding member of the Turin Medical Academy, in 1926 a corresponding member of the American Society of Microbiologists, etc. Omelyansky authored about 100 printed works.