Ivan P. Borodin (1847–1930) was a Russian botanist, popularizer of science, the founder of the Russian preservation movement. In 1869, he became a lecturer on botany and the head of the Chair of Botany and Dendrology at the St. Petersburg Agricultural and Forestry Institute. In 1876, he received his master’s degree in botany for dissertation Physiological Investigations of Respiration in Leaf Shoots. This work, which brought Borodin fame not only in Russia but elsewhere, was followed by a number of papers by the theme of physiology and anatomy, in particular, dealing with the distribution of various substances in plants. I. Borodin developed a special research technique that received his named. He is also known for the discovery of crystallizing chlorophyll, which played a major role in the study of this substance. In 1873, Borodin initiated a study of flavonoids in Russia.
In different years, he was a professor and lecturer on botany at the St. Petersburg Medical-Surgical Academy, the Forest Institute, the Novorossiysk and St. Petersburg Universities. Since 1887, Ivan Borodin was a Corresponding Member, and since 1902, an Academician of the Imperial St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. From 1902, he held the position of the Director of the Botanical Museum of the Academy of Sciences. Borodin repeatedly promoted the idea of nature protection. On December 29, 1909, at the XII Congress of Russian Naturalists and Physicians in Moscow, he read his report On the preservation of areas of the vegetation of interest in botanical and geographical respects. In article Protection of Natural Monuments, he gave a detailed overview of nature protection measures in Russia and abroad. In 1912, a Standing Environmental Commission of the Russian Geographical Society was established with his active participation. On the I. Borodin’s initiative, a Russian Botanical Society was instituted in 1915, of which he was the permanent President until the end of his life. From October 7, 1917, to May 31, 1919, Ivan Borodin was a Vice-President of the Russian Academy of Sciences. In the period of 1917-1919, he was the Director of the Petrograd Botanical Garden.
The main illustration features a portrait of I. Borodin against the background of the covers of his papers and the logo of the RGS; the commemorative stamp provides images that reflect symbolically geographic projects.
In addition to the issue of the postcard with a commemorative stamp, JSC Marka produced special cancels for Moscow, St. Petersburg and Veliky Novgorod.
Design Artist: S. Kapranov.
Quantity: 7 thousand postcards.
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