Porfiry Krylov

Porfiry Krylov (Порфирий Никитич Крылов, 13 August 1850, village of Sagaiskoe (Сагайское), Minusinsk Hollow [now part of Krasnoyarsk Krai] – 27 December 1931, Tomsk) was a Russian botanist, known for his plant collecting expeditions.

Biography Porfiry Krylov was born into a family of Old Believers. His father was Nikita Kondratyevich Krylov (Никита Кондратьевич Крылов, 1792–1873), Perm merchant of the first guild, hereditary honorary citizen, and commerce advisor. In early childhood, Porfiry Krylov with his family moved to Perm, where at the age of 12 he began secondary school at Perm's gymnasium. After the fourth year, during the fifth year of secondary school, he was expelled from the gymnasium due to failure to appear for an exam and received a certificate of completion of four classes of the gymnasium with grades: “good” and “sufficient”, including “excellent” in Latin and “mediocre” in German. In 1868 he became an apprentice in one of the Perm pharmacies. He was interested in chemistry, medicinal plants, and botany. In 1916 Krylov traveled to the Caucasus. After the February Revolution and the October Revolution, he returned in 1917 to Tomsk, where he was appointed Professor at Tomsk University. His students included Viktor Vladimirovich Reverdatto (Виктор Владимирович Ревердатто), Lidia Palladievna Sergievskaya (Лидия Палладиевна Сергиевская), and Boris Konstantinovich Schischkin.

Awards and honors honorary doctorate from the University of Kazan (1909) Baer Prize of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1914)