Background
Anton Zhebrak was born on December 21, 1901 in the village Zbliany (at that time Russian Empire) into a family of peasants Roman Pavlovich and Mariya Ivanovna Zhebrak. The family was very big and children helped parents.
Belarusian delegation at he United Nations Conference on International Organization that took place from 25 April 1945 to 26 June 1945 in San Francisco, California
Belarusian delegation at he United Nations Conference on International Organization that took place from 25 April 1945 to 26 June 1945 in San Francisco, California
1959
1944
cytologist geneticist Selectionist
Anton Zhebrak was born on December 21, 1901 in the village Zbliany (at that time Russian Empire) into a family of peasants Roman Pavlovich and Mariya Ivanovna Zhebrak. The family was very big and children helped parents.
Anton received his primary education at a parochial school in the neighbouring Lavrynovychy. He was a very capable pupil and continued his studies at Slonim non-classical secondary school, but because of the World War I, the family had to evacuate and leave for Russia. They lived in Mytishchi first and then in Shatsk of the Tambov Governorate. Anton continued his education at Moscow non-classical secondary school, and afterwards in Shatsk, but when his parents died, he had to find a job or go to the army to fight for the establishment of the Soviet regime (1918). Anton joined the Red Army. As an educated person and a member of the Bolshevik Party, he worked as an instructor and organizer of the Komsomol Central Committee. Soon, he entered the courses for the heads of the Komsomol organizations at the Communist University in Moscow. After the courses he was commissioned to the 17th Cavalry Division of the Southern Front. By the end of the war, he discharged. In 1921–1925, Zhebrak studied at the Moscow Timiryazev Agricultural Academy. As a 3rd year student, he got interested in Genetics. He continued his studies further as a PhD student at the Department of Genetics (1925-1928) and at the Institute of Red Professors (1929). Zhebrak defended his Doctoral dissertation on “The state of genotype under age modification of an organism” in 1936. It was sent to the Institute of Genetics of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Russian biologist and academician Nikolay Dubinin highly appreciated it. Later they became good friends.
In 1928, Anton Zhebrak began to work as a docent at the Department of Genetics and Selection of Moscow Timiryazev Agricultural Academy. In 1930, he was sent to the USA for an internship. He worked at the laboratories of Columbia University with the developmental geneticist Leslie Clarence Dunn, and California Institute of Technology with a Nobel Prize winner in Physiology or Medicine Thomas Hunt Morgan. In 1934, Zhebrak headed the Department of Plant Genetics at Moscow Timiryazev Agricultural Academy and became professor. In 1945, Zhebrak participated in the founding conference in San Francisco as a member of Belarusian delegation. He signed the United Nations Charter.
In May 1947, he became president of the Academy of Sciences of the Belarusian SSR. In Zhebrak’s publication of 1947 in the journal “Science”, the party leadership of the Belarusian SSR disapproved some statements concerning Soviet scientists and considered them as slander. As a result of this fact and Zhebrak’s turn against Soviet agronomist and biologist Trofim Lysenko, Anton Zhebrak was dismissed from the position of the president first and soon expelled from the Academy of Sciences of the Belarusian SSR.
Since 1948, he worked as a Professor of the Department of Botany at Moscow Forestry institute. In 1949, he headed the Department of Botany of Moscow Pharmaceutical Institute. In 1955 he signed the "Letter of 300." In 1957, Zhebrak began to work at the laboratory of polyploidy of the Institute of Biology, Academy of Sciences of Belarusian SSR. Zhebrak conducted research on prepotency in hybrid plants, gramineous grafts and the development of polyploid and amphidiploid crop forms. He was well-known for his studies not only in the Soviet Union, but throughout the world.
In addition to academic activities, Zhebrak was actively involved in public and party work. In 1945-1946, he was in charge of the Department of Propaganda and Agitation of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
Anton Zhebrak was a well-known for his studies of prepotency in hybrid plants, gramineous grafts and the development of polyploid and amphidiploid crop forms. He managed to obtain several polyploid interspecific hybrids of wheat. Zhebrak published more than 70 scientific works, including 5 monographs.
In addition to academic activities, Zhebrak was actively involved in public and party work. In 1945-1946, he was in charge of the Department of Propaganda and Agitation of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
Member of the Belarusian Academy of Sciences since 1940
Zhebrak worked under his guidance at the laboratories of Columbia University during his internship to the USA.
Zhebrak worked under his guidance at California Institute of Technology during his internship to the USA.
