Kucheruk, Valentin Victorinovich

Born in Moscow in the family of Victorin Vladimirovich Kucheruk (1890 ^[1] —1964), an industrial ventilation engineer, and Maria Petrovna, nee Razumova (1890-1969?), A kindergarten teacher ^[2] . In 1931 he was admitted to the Circle of Young Zoo Biologists ^[3] . In 1934 he became a student of the Faculty of Biology of Moscow University, participated in the scientific work of the ecology laboratory under the guidance of V.V. Alpatov and the laboratory of vertebrate zoology. He considered S.I. Ognev , N.I. Kalabukhov and A.N. Formozov to be his scientific advisers. In the early years of college, he participated in an expedition to the Volga-Ural Sands under the leadership of Yu. M. Rall and the elimination of the outbreak of tularemia in the Moscow region ^[4] . While still a student, in 1937-1939 he organized and conducted three expeditions to study the tundra ecosystems on the Yamal Peninsula. Already in his student years, together with T. N. Dunaeva, he prepared his first scientific monograph, Materials on the Ecology of the Terrestrial Vertebral Tundra of the South Yamal (Moscow, 1941). At the initiative of Charles Elton, the book was translated into English at the University of Oxford ^[4] .

After graduating with honors from the university in 1940, he was distributed to the Borzinsky branch of the Chita anti-plague station. In November 1940, he was called up for military service in the anti-plague department of the sanitary-epidemiological laboratory of the Trans-Baikal Military District (later the front) ^[4] . He served as the leading zoologist of the front sanitary-epidemiological laboratory of the Transbaikal Front, with the rank of senior lieutenant of the administrative service, later was a senior specialist in front anti-plague squads, was involved in suppressing the epidemic of pulmonary plague among residents in the city of Vanemiao in the province of Inner Mongolia. There he discovered an epizootic of the plague in rats and during the course of deratization measures. For this work he was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War II degree. In 1947 he defended his thesis on epizootological materials.

Since 1946, he began working in the department of natural focal infections, under the guidance of Academician E. N. Pavlovsky , at the Institute of Epidemiology, Microbiology and Infectious Diseases of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences. In March 1947, based on the materials collected in Mongolia, he defended his thesis on "The nature of the impact of epizootics on the Brandt vole population" ^[4] . He led zoological detachments and expeditions to study various zoonoses (plague, tularemia and tick-borne encephalitis) in the Northern Aral Sea region (1948), the central regions of the RSFSR (1948–1962), the Stavropol Territory (1950–1951), and the Volga-Akhtuba floodplain (1952– 1954), Northern Kazakhstan and the Altai Territory (1955-1957, 1968-1969), the Vyatka-Kama interfluve and Udmurtia (1960-1967, 1971), the river basin. Emba (1970), on Yamal (1973) and in Mongolia (1975-1976) ^[4] .

In 1960 he presented for defense a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Biological Sciences "Mammals of the Palearctic steppes, natural foci of plague in the steppes and some theoretical questions of the natural foci of this infection." In 1961, the desired degree was awarded; in 1965, the Higher Attestation Commission was approved as a professor in the specialty “Zoology” ^[4] . He became head of the laboratory of medical zoology, led it for more than 25 years, and in 1970-1985 led the department of medical zoology. From February 1987 until the end of his life he worked at the IEMEZh named after A. N. Severtsov Academy of Sciences of the USSR.

In 1954, together with N. G. Olsufyev, he published the book Methodological Instructions on the Epidemiological, Zoological and Bacteriological Work of the Anti-Tularemia Station, which became the key guide for many specialists of the USSR when working on tularemia.

For the first time described the general laws of the relationship between the number of rodent carriers and the mechanism of occurrence, development and extinction of epizootics. This work provided the basis for the scientific prediction of the development of epizootics in natural foci. He investigated the spatial aspects of the theory of natural foci, the structure, principles of typology and zoning of plague foci.

He was engaged in ecology and the spread of various species of mammals, as a rule of great epitological and economic importance. He developed new original principles for the analysis of fauna, with their help he conducted the modern zoogeographic zoning of the Palearctic.

He was a major organizer of biomedical science in the USSR, brought up many students and followers. He was a member of the Scientific Councils and Commissions of the Ministry of Health of the USSR and the RSFSR, the Academy of Sciences and the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR, for more than 25 years he was chairman of the problem committee of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR "Natural focal human infections", vice-president and honorary member of the All-Union Theriological Society. Editor of a series of collections “Fauna and Ecology of Rodents” and a number of monographs. Member of the editorial board of the magazine “Folia Parasitologica”, from March 1979 to April 1987, editor-in-chief of the journal “Medical Parasitology and Parasitic Diseases”.

• The first wife is Tatyana Nikolaevna Dunaeva (1916–2011), a fellow student at KYuBZ and Moscow State University, an expedition companion, co-author of the first works.
  • Daughter - Natalia, died in infancy.
  • Son - Nikita (05/26/1949 - 12/23/2012 ^[5] ), manager. Laboratory of Ecology of Coastal Benthic Communities, Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Sciences (1997-2012)
• The second wife is Natalya Vladimirovna Tupikova (1918-2003 ^[6] ), a zoologist, a biogeographer.

• Faculty of Biology, Moscow State University during the war
• Valentin V. Kucheruk (1916-2003) // Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology named after N.F. Gamalei
• Valentin Viktorovich Kucheruk. On the occasion of the 90th birthday (03/18/1916 - 03/01/2003)