Villa Frank Zoological Station

Villa Frankfurt Zoological Station is one of the first Russian marine biological stations, opened in 1886 on the Mediterranean coast near the town of Villefranche-sur-Mer , six kilometers east of Nice .

Villa Frank Zoological Station. 1898 year.

Villefranche Oceanological Observatory. year 2013.

The Villa-Frankish Zoological Station of Kiev University of St. Vladimir owed its origin and existence to the Russian fleet. In 1857-1878, a Russian coal station was located here to replenish supplies on Russian warships; the building of the former Sardinian penitentiary prison, built in 1769, was donated by the Sardinian kingdom for an indefinite lease to the base of the Russian fleet (1857), and later a similar agreement was concluded with France. At the same time, Russian scientists conducted research here: L. S. Tsenkovsky , A. O. Kovalevsky , F. V. Ovsyannikov , M. M. Usov , A. P. Bogdanov (1873), N. P. Wagner , V. V Zalensky , M. S. Ganin , V. N. Ulyanin .

In 1880 ^{[Comm. 1]} J. Barrois (Fr.) and G. Foll opened a private laboratory in Villafranca, because negotiations on the organization of a sea station under the auspices of Russia, begun as early as 1879, did not receive support at that time.

In 1884, the land and the building were transferred to an oceanographic laboratory. As early as 1874, A. A. Korotnev worked as a student here, at whose personal expense a zoological station was largely organized. Korotnev saw the main tasks of the zoological station in organizing marine biology practices for student youth, which was not done then at other stations, and in providing opportunities for comfortable work on a variety of topics related to marine life, and biologists. From the very beginning, the station was international in character, although visitors from Russia enjoyed some advantages ^[1] .

By the beginning of the 20th century, thanks to the patronage of Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich , Minister of Finance S. Yu. Witte , admiral and adjutant general, managing the Ministry of the Sea, N. M. Chikhachev and Minister of Education P. S. Vannovsky , as well as active assistance to M. Yu Poggenpol , the head of savings and auxiliary cash desks, an official of the Marine Ministry and a friend of Korotnev, the station first received a one-time subsidy of 26,000 rubles, and then an annual maintenance of 9,600 rubles.

Dock at the biostation

At the station there was a sailing-motor yacht “Vella”, with a displacement of 7 tons; large aquariums with running water were installed; the library was expanded significantly, the basis of which was the collection of V. N. Ulyanin. At the station there was a museum of local fauna, several rooms for visitors, an extensive garden. In terms of technical equipment and attractiveness for students and specialists, the Villafranca Zoological Station was second only to the Neapolitan Station .

By the nature of the research, the first place at the station was occupied by faunistic works. Studies in the field of embryology, cytology and histology were also relatively common. The main objects were representatives of marine fauna and flora. Gradually, the station changed from a purely zoological to a biological one.

The head of the station was A. A. Korotnev; his assistants were A. Bolles-Lee, E. Weber (1888–1895) and M. M. Davydov (1895–1915; since 1915, he was the director). The station staff also included assistants V.P. Garyaev, T.E. Timofeev and F.A. Spichakov.

In fact, until 1914, the station was under the patronage of the Ministry of the Sea. She received annually 800 rubles from the University of Kiev for the maintenance of a laboratory assistant ^[2] .

Many Russian scientists worked at the zoological station, including: A. G. Gurevich, I. I. Puzanov , K. K. Saint-Hilaire , V. A. Karavaev , V. M. Shimkevich , A. N. Severtsev , I. I. Sokolov , Yu. N. Wagner , D. D. Pedashenko , N. K. Koltsov , as well as foreign: Yves Delage ( French Yves Delage ), K. Herbst, Hans Driesch , Richard Goldschmidt , American Edmund Wilson ( English Edmund Beecher Wilson )

In 1914, with the vigorous support of the comrade Minister of Education V.T. Shevyakov, the station was accepted to the balance of the Ministry with the official name “Russian Zoological Station named after prof. A. A. Korotnev "and an annual budget of 18,000 rubles. However, with the outbreak of World War I, active work at the station was curtailed: only M. M. Davydov, assistant G. P. Mittens and one fisherman lived here permanently. From autumn 1914 to autumn 1916, only five scientists visited the station. After the October Revolution of 1917, the station lost its funding. In 1921, a special committee was created for its economic support by Russian emigrant scientists, which included academician N.I. Andrusov , professors M.M. Novikov and S.I. Metalnikov , and well-known public figure E.P. Kovalevsky . The organizer and vice-president of the Board of Trustees of the Russian Biological Station was Mikhail Mikhailovich Novikov . His authority helped bring the largest scientific forces of Czechoslovakia into the Station’s Board of Trustees - Bohumil Nemets , rector of Charles University , Bajant - rector of the Technical University, and Babak - rector of the University of Brno . After receiving little assistance from the French government, the committee received funds from the Czech Academy of Sciences, which began to rent 12 jobs in Villafranca for its scientists. The lease involved a fairly substantial financing. In addition, thanks to Bohumil German, a motor boat was bought for the station. Stable financing for 7 years from Czechoslovakia (money was provided as part of the Masaryk action) revived the station ^[3] . It was also intended to receive support from some organizations in the United States. However, in fact replacing Davydov, who retired from his old age, G.S. Tregubov (1886-1969), a Russian graduate of the University of Montpellier, conducted separate negotiations with the French government to transfer the station to French jurisdiction, initiating a court order on sequestration - the administrative patronage of the station from the French (1928). Despite the protests of the committee, this transfer took place in 1931, when the station became part of the University of Paris . In fact, Tregubov continued to lead it until 1956.

In 1989, the station received its modern name: Observatoire Océanologique de Villefranche-sur-Mer (“Villefranche Oceanological Observatory”) ^[4] . It includes two research laboratories: Laboratoire de Biologie du Développement and Laboratoire d'Océanographie de Villefranche / Mer .