Kleopov, Yurii

Kleopov, Yurii [Клеопов, Юрій], b 9 August 1902 in Horodyshche (Cherkasy region), Kyiv gubernia, d 13 July 1943 in Smila, Cherkasy oblast. Botanist. Kleopov studied under Oelsander Fomin at Kyiv University before becoming a professor at Kharkiv University. From 1931 he directed the department of geobotany of the Institute of Botany of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR. A specialist in floristics, taxonomy, and phytogeography, he dealt in his research both with the contemporary flora of Ukraine (especially Southern Ukraine) and with the flora of the Tertiary and Quaternary periods. Kleopov described six new types of plants and developed the theory of coenoelements in botany. He published many articles and studies, mostly in the journals Visnyk Kyïvs'koho botanichnoho sadu and Ukraïns'kyi botanichnyi zhurnal.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 2 (1988).]