Usov, Sergey Alekseevich

A nobleman of the Saratov province. He graduated from the course at the Moscow Noble Institute and entered Moscow University at the Physics and Mathematics Department of the Faculty of Philosophy, from where, without completing the course, he was dismissed due to some kind of disciplinary misconduct, with the right to enter the public service. From 1849 to 1852 he served in the Moscow Treasury Chamber as a clerical servant of the 1st category, rising to the rank of provincial secretary . In 1858, Usov externally passed exams at Moscow University and was approved as a candidate of natural sciences. On December 29, 1861, Usov was allowed to teach vertebrate zoology during a business trip, who taught this course to a professor abroad, and since 1864 he continued to read the course as an outside teacher. In 1865 he defended his thesis " Bison " and was approved by the Master of Zoology; in 1866 he was an assistant professor in the department of zoology. In 1868, Usov, after defending his doctoral dissertation "Taxonomic Units and Groups", was approved by an extraordinary professor; since 1871 he is an ordinary professor . In 1881-1886, Usov taught art history at the Polivanov Grammar School .

In 1886, after 25 years of service in the academic part, S. A. Usov was left at the university for another five years.

Usov was one of the leading figures and initiators of the founding of the Imperial Russian Society for the Acclimatization of Animals and Plants and the Zoological Garden in Moscow (now the Moscow Zoo ), and after the death of K. F. Rulie, editor of the Bulletin of Natural Sciences , published by the Moscow Society of Naturalists .

Together with L. P. Sabaneev Usov founded the journal "Nature". Subsequently, when the number of subscribers to a serious scientific journal began to decrease, Sabaneev combined it with the “Journal of Hunting”, the popular science channel “Nature and Hunting”.

Known as an avid advocate of the University Charter of 1863 .

The name "S. Usov is associated with the famous" Usov Thursdays ", on which, according to the memoirs of A. N. Severtsov

there were historian V.O. Klyuchevsky , and writers S. A. Yuryev , N. I. Storozhenko , and A. N. Veselovsky , and a talented mathematician (and philosopher) N. V. Bugaev , and M. N. Lopatin their philosophers-sons ^[2] , and prof. Ya. A. Borzyonkov , and L. I. Polivanov , and, finally, even “himself” L. N. Tolstoy .

S. A. Usov died at 59, buried in the Vagankovsky cemetery .

In addition to his dissertation, he published a number of popular articles in the Bulletin of Natural Sciences. In addition, he was engaged in archeology and published in the editions of the archaeological society “Explanation of the Kerch Frescoes”; "Mosaic in the Church of the Transfiguration in the monastery of St. Catherine in the Sinai"; "Miniatures for the Greek text of the gospel of the VI century, discovered in Russia"; “A note on ancient Russian money according to Russian Truth”; "Wonderful carpet in Heron"; "On the history of the Moscow Assumption Cathedral."

Thanks to Usov, the first book appeared in 1865, which was entirely devoted to the presentation of Darwinism in popular scientific form: a translation of Rollet’s book outlining Darwin’s teachings ^[3] .

In 1909 , the heirs presented to the Moscow University a personal library of S. A. Usov, a total of 3103 volumes of books on zoology and biology. Currently, S. A. Usov’s personal library is kept in the Department of Rare Books and Manuscripts of the Scientific Library of Moscow State University named after MV Lomonosov ^[4] .

• Usov, Sergey Alekseevich - article from the Great Soviet Encyclopedia .
• Usov, Sergey Alekseevich // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• Imperial Moscow University: 1755-1917: Encyclopedic Dictionary / A. Yu. Andreev, D. A. Tsygankov. - M .: Russian Political Encyclopedia (ROSSPEN), 2010 .-- S. 740. - 894 p. - 2,000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-8243-1429-8 .
• M. Menzbir Sergey Alekseevich Usov. - M: 1887;
• B. E. Raikov Russian evolutionary biologists before Darwin. T. 4; - M. — L: 1959.

• Usov Sergey Alekseevich (neopr.) . Chronicle of Moscow University . Date of treatment November 30, 2017.
• Biography