Dogel, Valentin Aleksandrovich

Born Feb. 26 (Mar. 10), 1882, in Kazan’, died June 1, 1955, in Leningrad. Soviet zoologist and Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1939). Son of A. S. Dogel’.

Dogel’ graduated from the University of St. Petersburg in 1904, becoming a professor there in 1913 (later Leningrad University). From 1944 he was the head of the Protistology Laboratory at the Zoological Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. His principal works dealt with protozoology, embryology, comparative anatomy of invertebrates, and parasitology. He discovered an important evolutionary law—the principle of polymerization and oligomerization of homologous organs. Dogel’ founded a progressive ecological school in parasitology. In the USSR he organized a study of parasitic and bacterial diseases in fish, which facilitated the development of fisheries and fish acclimatization. He founded schools of protozoology and parasitology. He received the Lenin Prize (1957, posthumously) for his work General Protistology (1951). Dogel’ was also awarded the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, and medals.