Kholodny, Mykola H.

Kholodny, Mykola H. [Холодний, Микола; Xolodnyj], b 22 June 1882 in Tambov, Russia, d 4 May 1953 in Kyiv. Plant physiologist, microbiologist; from 1929 full member of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR. After graduating from Kyiv University in 1906, he taught there until 1941. From 1920 to 1949 he also worked at the Institute of Botany of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR and he edited some issues of Zapysky Fizychno-matematychnoho viddilu VUAN. At the beginning of the 1920s he did important research on iron-fixing bacteria, and then pioneering work in the field of plant physiology on plant hormones and their role in phytotropism. He also published work on ecology, soil science, the origin of life, and evolution. Besides writing numerous scientific articles, Kholodny wrote two important books—Zhelezobakterii (Iron Bacteria, 1921, 1953) and Fitogormony (Phytohormones, 1939)—and edited and wrote the commentary for the two botanical volumes of Charles Darwin's collected works in Russian (1935–59). After his death the Institute of Botany at which he had worked was named in his honor.

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