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Protistology 16 (2): 143-144 (2022) | doi:10.21685/1680-0826-2022-16-2-8 Pl'OtiStOlO&y
In memoriam
Boris Fedorovich Zhukov (1940-2022)
Natalia G. Kosolapova, Zoya M. Mylnikova, and Denis V. Tikhonenkov
I.D. Papanin Institute for Biology ofInland Waters, Russian Academy ofScience, Russia
On April 30, 2022 Boris Fedorovich Zhukov, Ph.D., leading researcher ofthe protozoology group at the I.D. Papanin Institute for Biology of Inland Waters of the Russian Academy of Sciences, passed away at the age of 82, after suffering from a severe illness.
He was a very enthusiastic researcher, a prominent professional in his field, and a very sincere and cheerful person.
Boris Zhukov was born on January 21, 1940. After graduating from high school, he entered the
Yaroslavl State Pedagogical Institute. Having completed his studies at the institute in 1963, he worked as a teacher of biology, chemistry, geography and labor training in the rural Sosnovskaya eight-year school in the Yaroslavl region, USSR. In 1964, Boris Zhukov was sent on mission to Algeria as a French-speaking biology teacher at a lyceum. After returning to the USSR in 1966, he was hired as an assistant at the Department of Zoology at the Yaroslavl Pedagogical Institute.
In 1967, Boris Zhukov entered graduate school at the Institute for Biology of Inland Waters of the Russian Academy of Sciences. In 1970, under the leadership of Prof. M.M. Kamshilov, he graduated and enrolled in the institute as a junior researcher. In 1971, his research work at the institute culminated by the publication of the Ph.D. thesis entitled "Biology of freshwater colorless flagellates of the suborder Bodonina Holl. (Protozoa)." In 1979, Boris Fedorovich was promoted to senior researcher.
From 1990 to 2002, he was a leading researcher and the head of the protozoology group at the Institute for Biology of Inland Waters RAS. Scientific interests of B.F. Zhukov were in the field of diversity, biology, ecology and taxonomy of colorless heterotrophic flagellates of fresh water bodies. Boris Fedorovich was the initiator and leader of investigations of this protozoan group in Russia.
As a world-class scientist, he published a chapter on the diversity of bodonid flagellates in the collective monograph "The Biology of Free-living Heterotrophic Flagellates", Oxford, 1991, which systematized the views of leading researchers on the biology and diversity of flagellated protists. Boris Fedorovich is the author of more than 40 scientific papers. He translated into Russian the morphological descriptions of a huge number of
https://doi.org/10.21685/1680-0826-2022-16-2-8
© 2022 The Author(s)
Protistology © 2022 Protozoological Society Affiliated with RAS
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Natalia G. Kosolapova, Zoya M. Mylnikova, and Denis V. Tikhonenkov
heterotrophic flagellates, published in monographs ofthe 19th century in French and German languages. An invaluable contribution of his scientific work to protistology is his taxonomic key of heterotrophic flagellates, which will be used by his followers for many years to come. Boris Zhukov was also one of the compilers ofthe Cadaster offree-living Protozoa of the Volga basin, which includes 166 species of flagellates.
B.F. Zhukov was repeatedly awarded various diplomas and prizes for his work. Boris Fedorovich was a fascinating person; he loved nature immensely, wrote poetry and had wonderful voice.
We express our condolences to the family and friends of Boris Fedorovich and mourn with them.
