Георгий Васильевич Никольский

The first head of the Division of Ichthyology since its creation in 1932 till 1939 was acknowledged Soviet ichthyologist G.V. Nikolsky. Fish collection was growing rapidly during those times due to his both personal activity and high authority among colleagues. Acquisitions from Middle Asia were especially important and numerous, as Nikolsky serves simultaneously at Aral Fishery Station. Results of investigations of these materials were reflected in fundamental monographs on fishes of Ili River, Aral Sea and of Tadzhikistan.

In 1940, A.A. Svetovidova became the head of the Division and remained in this position by 1974. She did her best to secure the collection during the War and to bring them into normal conditions afterward. In late 1940s and the 1950s she participated in three expeditions to Far East from which extensive samples of fishes of the Amur River basin were obtained. Besides those field explorations, the most important entries of fishes to the Division during 1940s were from the Petchora River basin. Due to such collecting activity, the collection stock of the Division of Ichthyology got tripled and took the second place in the USSR (after Zoological Institute in Leningrad) in its size and importance.

 

Members of the Division of Ichthyology in the 1990s: standing are A.N. Kotlyar (associate curator) Yu.I. Sazonov; sitting are G.L. Pokrovskaya, I.A. Verigina, E.D. Vasil'eva, M.V. Vasil'eva

The position of head of the Division, after Dr. Svetovida's death in 1974, was taken by I.A. Verigina who had began to work in the Museum in 1956. Dr. Verigina not only collected herself in the southern of USSR, but also managed moving of extensive collections from several marine institutions in Moscow to the Museum. She was assisted by several persons in the staff of the Division, namely Dr. I.N. Ryabov (1974-1977), N.P. Kulikova (1974-1978), and G.L. Pokrovskaya (1986-2000).

Dr. E.D. Vasil'eva began to work in the Museum in 1978 and replaced Dr. Verigina as head of the Division in 1990. In the same year, Dr. Yu.I. Sazonov also became a member of the Division staff and made a lot of research and curatorial job until 2002 when he untimely died.