Afrikan Nikolaevich Krishtofovich

Born Oct. 27 (Nov. 8), 1885, in Krishtopovka, in present-day Kharkov Oblast; died Nov. 8, 1953, in Leningrad. Soviet paleobotanist. Corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1953); academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR (1945).

In 1908 Krishtofovich graduated from the University of Novorossiia in Odessa. In 1914 he began working at the Geological Committee; between 1917 and 1924 he worked in Vladivostok. After 1924 he was affiliated with the Central Scientific Research Geological Exploration Institute, the All-Union Geological Institute, and the Botanical Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences; he also taught at a number of higher education institutions in Leningrad.

Krishtofovich established the Soviet school of paleobotany. His principal works were on the Mesozoic and Tertiary flora of the USSR and East Asia, the stratigraphy of continental deposits of those periods, and general problems of paleobotany. He presented a total picture of the development of terrestrial floras and especially broadened the knowledge of geobotanical zonality in the geological past. A recipient of the State Prize of the USSR in 1946, Krishtofovich was also awarded the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, and various medals.