Edelshtein, Vitalii Ivanovich

Born Apr. 17 (29), 1881, in Kazan; died Aug. 1, 1965, in Moscow. Soviet scientist, specialist in vegetable cultivation. Honorary member of the V. I. Lenin All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences (1956). Hero of Socialist Labor (1961). Member of the CPSU from 1952.

Edel’shtein graduated from the St. Petersburg Forestry Institute in 1902 and worked in the institute’s department of botany until 1907. He taught at the Uman’ Agricultural School from 1907 to 1913 and later became head of the Tula Fruit and Vegetable Station. In 1916 he became a professor in the department of fruit and vegetable growing of the Moscow Agricultural Institute (now the K. A. Timiriazev Moscow Agricultural Academy). Edel’shtein’s principal works deal with the biology of vegetables, vegetable-growing techniques, and methods of obtaining seedlings. They include the textbook Vegetable Growing (1944; State Prize, 1946).

Edel’shtein was awarded two Orders of Lenin, the Order of the Badge of Honor, and several medals.