«Если бы английские энтомологи собирали так же, как наши… »: первое письмо из Лондона Б. П. Уварова А. П. Семенову-Тян-Шанскому

Историко-биологические исследования. 2015. Т. 7. № 4. С. 124–132.

Kouprianov A. V., Федотова А. А.

A letter dated May 22, 1921 (London) by Boris Uvarov (1889–1870), a Russian-born entomologist and author of the phase theory (which provided the rational foundation for the control of locusts), to his colleague and teacher, zoogeographer and taxonomist, Andrey Semenoff Tian-Shanski (1866–1942) is published for the first time. The letter is remarkable in three respects. First, it provides an account of Uvarov’s encounter with local British collection practices and documents a partly successful attempt at introducing a practice of collecting insects using cotton layers, which had proven unpopular in Britain. Secondly, it offers a glimpse into the ways in which professional entomologists of the period rationalised and structured their accounts of their everyday activities. And, thirdly it documents contemporary attitudes to the instability in Russia during the years following the Revolutions of 1917 and the Civil War. The letter is provided with biographical and bibliographical commentaries of the persons and publications mentioned.

Keywords: история науки, history of science, entomology, энтомология, история науки в России и СССР