Ivanov, Mikhail

Ivanov, Mikhail [Іванов, Міхаїл], b 2 October 1871 in Yalta, Tavriia gubernia, d 29 October 1935 in Moscow. Animal breeder; in 1935 elected full member of the All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences. After graduating from the Kharkiv Veterinary Institute (1897) and studying breeding techniques abroad, he joined the institute’s faculty in 1900. In 1914 he was appointed professor at the Moscow Agricultural Institute, where he taught to the end of his life. He organized and directed (1925–35) the zootechnical experimental breeding station at the Askaniia-Nova Nature Reserve. There he conducted experiments in animal acclimatization and hybridization, introducing his own methods of producing new breeds and improving existing breeds. The Askaniia sheep and the Ukrainian Steppe White hog were bred by Ivanov. In 1956 the breeding station was named in his honor.

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