Georgii Dementev

Born June 23 (July 5), 1898, in Petergof (present-day Petrodvorets); died Apr. 14, 1969, in Moscow. Soviet ornithologist. Professor (1934); doctor of biological sciences (1936). Honored Scientist of the RSFSR (1968).

Dement’ev was director of the ornithological section of a zoological museum from 1931 to 1947. In 1947 he became a professor at the subdepartment of vertebrate zoology, and from 1956 he was director of the ornithological laboratory at Moscow State University. The basic works of Dement’ev were on the geographic variability and ecology of birds; the taxonomy, zoogeography, and history of fauna; the history of science; and the protection of nature. He received the State Prize of the USSR in 1952 for volumes 1–3 of the work Birds of the Soviet Union (vols. 1–6, 1951–54; he was editor and one of the authors). He also received the Geoffroy Saint-Hïlaire Grand Gold Medal (Paris, 1959). Dement’ev was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor and medals.