She was at the origins... (in memory of Lyubov Nikolaevna Vasilyeva)

Abstract

The article is devoted to Doctor of Sciences in Biology Lyubov Nikolaevna Vasilyeva (19.02.1901– 07.07.1985), a well-known scientist in Russia and abroad in the field of mycology, bryology, algology and lichenology. In 1918, she graduated from the women’s gymnasium with a gold medal, in 1925 – Kazan State University with a degree in geobotany and was admitted to postgraduate school, where she studied mosses under the guidance of L.I. Savich-Lyubitskaya. From February 1930, she taught at the Department of Botany of Kazan State University. L.N. Vasilyeva worked as a geobotanist at the Chita Experimental Field, studied swamps and weeds in the Mari Republic, studied the flora of the Caucasian Reserve and then chose mycology as her specialty. In 1938, she  passed PhD defense on the topic “Mushrooms of the Caucasian State Reserve.” Until 1941, L.N. Vasilyeva studied macromycetes under the guidance of one of the most famous mycologists of the 20th century, Rolf Singer, in Altai, as well as in the vicinity of Kazan. In July 1942, she was invited to work at the Botanical Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences, which was evacuated to Kazan. In 1944, she transferred to work at the Far Eastern Base of the USSR Academy of Sciences in Voroshilov (Ussuriysk) as a mycologist and geobotanist. In the first years of work there, she was the only highly qualified specialist in lower plants in the Far East. Later in Vladivostok, part-time in 1946–1948 and in 1952–1954, Vasilyeva L.N. worked at the Vladivostok State Pedagogical Institute as an Associate Professor of the Department of Natural Science, in 1957-1959 – at the Far Eastern State University as an Associate Professor of the Department of Biology. In 1952–1954, she headed the Department of Botany and Crop Production of the Far Eastern Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences, in 1962–1965, she headed the laboratory of lower plants of the Biological and Soil Institute, created on her initiative. In 1967, she passed doctoral defense on the topic “Agaric cap mushrooms of Primorsky Krai”, based on the results of many years of research. She also studied rust and smut fungi, which severely affected crops in the Far East. Under her leadership, 12 PhD theses were defended: 8 in mycology, 2 in algology, 1 in bryology, 1 in lichenology.