Viktor Levashev

LEVASHEV, Viktor Aleksandrovich (1864–1916), a well-known hygienist and public figure. In 1888 he graduated from the natural sciences division of the physico-mathematical faculty of St. Petersburg University, and in 1893 from the Military Medical Academy. While a student, he worked in the laboratory of I. M. Sechenov, from which Levashev's first study on the products of protein digestion under the influence of artificial gastric juice emerged. Upon defending his dissertation "On methods of investigating the air quality of residential premises using potassium permanganate solutions" (St. Petersburg, 1895), Levashev was sent abroad for 2 years. In Germany, he worked in the laboratories of Flügge, Buchner, and Rubner, and together with the latter published the study "Über den Einfluss der Feuchtigkeitsschwankungen unbewegter Luft auf den Menschen während körperlicher Ruhe" (Arch. f. Hyg., B. XXIX, 1897). In 1898 Levashev was elected privat-docent of the Military Medical Academy; from 1900 he served as an assistant at the Department of Hygiene, and in 1910 he was elected professor of general and military hygiene at the Military Medical Academy. Directing the department, Levashev introduced mandatory development by students and attached physicians of various hygienic topics chosen by the workers themselves; he is also responsible for organizing the attachment of military physicians to the Department of Hygiene for advanced training in this discipline. Levashev conceived the idea of creating a Hygiene Institute at the Military Medical Academy, and he developed the project and plan for such an institute. Levashev carried out extensive public work, serving as a consultant to the Petrograd Sanitary Commission on municipal hygiene and sanitation, etc.; in addition, Levashev served as head of the Central Disinfection Station at the Botkin Barracks Hospital. Levashev is responsible for developing a new plan for the building of the disinfection station constructed on the site of the burned one. All the equipment and arrangement of this station, which is currently the best and most powerful in the USSR, is owed to Levashev. During his tenure as head of the disinfection station, Levashev and his students published over 40 works. Levashev was a universally recognized leading specialist in the field of disinfection. Levashev was responsible for organizing the first courses for disinfectors (1908–1909) and directing all such courses during the war.

various hygienic topics chosen by the workers themselves...