Shennikov, Aleksandr

Born Aug. 29 (Sept. 10), 1888, in the village of Papulovo, Veliko-Ustiugskii District, Vologodskaia Province; died May 24, 1962, in Leningrad. Soviet botanist. Corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (from 1946).

Shennikov graduated from the University of St. Petersburg in 1912. He taught at several institutions of higher education—at the Forestry Institute (now the Leningrad Academy of Timber Technology) from 1912 to 1936, at the Bestuzhev Courses from 1914 to 1919, and at the University of Leningrad from 1919 to 1960 (professor from 1930; department head from 1944). Beginning in 1925, Shennikov was also affiliated with the Central Botanical Garden and the Botanical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR; he became laboratory director in 1960.

Shennikov’s research centered on meadow vegetation, primarily the vegetation of the floodplain meadows of the northern European portion of the USSR and the northern Trans-Volga region. He also studied theoretical problems of meadow management and general phytocoenology. Shennikov was one of the founders of experimental phytocoenology in the USSR. He was also involved in plant classification and geobotanical regionalization. Shennikov was awarded the Order of Lenin and the Order of the Badge of Honor.