Evgenii Evgenevich Uspenskii

Born July 21, 1889, in Moscow; died Jan. 2, 1945. Soviet microbiologist.

After graduating from Moscow University in 1912, Uspenskii taught in the university’s department of plant physiology, where he became a professor in 1922. He founded the subdepartment of microbiology at Moscow State University and headed it from 1925 to 1938. Uspenskii also headed divisions in the Institute of Fertilizers of the Supreme Council of the National Economy (1919–32), the K. A. Timiriazev Institute of Biology (1922–36), and the Institute of Plant Physiology of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1936–38).

Uspenskii’s main works dealt with soil microbiology and aquatic microbiology. He conducted research on the energetics of life processes, the influence of ecological factors on the morphology and physiology of microorganisms, and the biological purification of water. Uspenskii established the physiological school of Russian microbiology. He founded the journal Mikrobiologiia (Microbiology) and was its editor in chief from 1932 to 1938.