Background
IVANOVSKIY, Dmitriy was born on October 28, 1864 in Saint St. Petersburg.
IVANOVSKIY, Dmitriy was born on October 28, 1864 in Saint St. Petersburg.
1888 graduate Natural History Department, Faculty of Physics and Mathematics, Saint St. Petersburg University, where he studied under A. North. Beketov, A. South. Famintsyn and Kh.
After graduate stayed on at university to prepare for professorship. 1895 defended master’s thesis on spirit fermentation. As associate professor read a course on the physiology of lower organisms and, a year later, on plant physiology and anatomy.
From 1901 extraordinary professor, Warsaw University. 1903 defended doctor’s thesis on tobacco mosaic at Warsaw University and became ordinary professor 1887, together with V. V. Polovtsev, studied tobacco mosaic in Southern Russia.
Established that the two forms of tobacco mosaic are two different diseases and that one form (wildfire) is caused by a fungus. Was unable to establish the cause of the other. 1890-1892 and 1898-1902 did further research on tobacco mosaic and developed counter-measures.
1892 discovered filtrable viruses. Noticed that the sap of diseased leaves strained through a fine filter retains its infectious properties, while the filtrate contains no microbes delectable under the microscope and docs not grow in normal nutrients. Established that disinfectants deprive the filtrate of its infectious capacity.
By making a comparative study of the diffusion of the filtered sap of diseased plants in agar and the organic matter in suspension by determining the infectious properties of fractions of the filtrate, he came to the conclusion that the disease agent has a corpuscular structure. Suggested that the agent of tobacco mosaic is a minute organism. Described crystalloid deposits which he detected in the cells of diseased plants.
Ivanovskiy’s crystal turned out to be accumulations of the tobacco mosaic virus. Also did research on spirit fermentation. Established a similarity between the absorption spectra of chlorophyll in colloidal solutions and the living leaf.
Also did research on soil microbiology. Was an advocate of Darwinism. Wrote some 50 works.
Religion obstructs scientific research and technological progress.
Marxism–Leninism as the only truth could not, by its very nature, become outdated.