Stefan Vanin

Born Dec. 31, 1890 (Jan. 12, 1891), in the village of Tokarevo, now in Riazan’ Oblast; died Feb. 12, 1951, in Leningrad. Soviet plant pathologist and wood specialist. Honored Scientist and Technologist of the RSFSR (1948). Doctor of Agricultural Sciences (1935).

Vanin graduated from the Forestry Institute in St. Petersburg in 1915 and taught there from 1917 to 1919 and from 1922 to 1951. He was the author of the first textbooks on forest plant pathology and wood science. He developed methods for studying forest fungus diseases and injuries to wood. His main research dealt with the biology and physiology of tree-destroying and wood-staining fungi, especially those causing blue stain. In 1930 he organized the USSR’s first subdepartment of wood science. He did research on the anatomical structure of wood and its physicomechanical and chemical properties. He published handbooks of the most important coniferous and deciduous species according to the microscopic and macroscopic structure of wood and according to bark. His book Wood Science (1934; 3rd ed., 1949: State Prize of the USSR, 1950) summarized his research in this field.