Georgii Dmitrievich Karpechenko

Born Apr 21 (May 3), 1899, in the town of Vel’sk, in present-day Arkhangel’sk Oblast; died Sept. 15, 1942. Soviet cytogeneticist and professor (1938).

Karpechenko graduated from the Moscow Agricultural Academy in 1922. From 1925 to 1941 he was the head of the genetics laboratory at the Ail-Union Institute of Plant Raising. From 1932 to 1941 he headed the subdepartment of plant genetics at Leningrad State University. Karpechenko was one of N. I. Vavilov’s closest associates. His principal works were devoted to the distant hybridization of plants. Having obtained a fertile intergeneric radish-cabbage hybrid (Raphanobrassica), he proved experimentally the possibility of overcoming sterility in distant hybrids by doubling the number of chromosomes. Karpechenko worked out the foundations of the theory of distant plant hybridization, giving particular attention to morphogenetic significance. He also introduced a classification of distant hybrids based on the genetic closeness of the parent plants. Karpechenko was the author of works on experimental polyploidy.