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Ivan Michurin Иван Мичурин | |
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| Born | 27 October 1855 Dolgoye, Russian Empire |
| Died | 7 June 1935 Michurinsk, RSFSR, Soviet Union |
| Nationality | Russian |
| Field of study | Epigenetics |
Ivan Vladimirovich Michurin (27 October 1855 – 7 June 1935) was a Soviet biologist who mainly studied fruit trees. His work debunked the theories of Thomas Hunt Morgan and August Weismann, which claimed that only random mutations could change genes.[1]
Early life[edit | edit source]
Michurin was born in an aristocratic family that split up around 1875 and became very poor. He began working as a railway clerk to fund his development of fruit trees.[1]
Work[edit | edit source]
Michurin emphasized that plants had to be grown very carefully in order to create positive changes that could pass on to future generations. He believed that an organism's environment could change its metabolism, especially at crucial development stages. He also showed that grafting one type of variation to a different stock plant could create changes in the graft that would only be expected by changes in genes.[1]