Mikhail Mikhailovich Kozhov

Mikhail Mikhailovich Kozhov was a zoologist, hydrobiologist, ecologist, and biogeographer, the foremost expert on the fauna of Lake Baikal. He was born in the village of Tutura in the Irkutsk Governorate into a peasant family. At an early age he was orphaned and began to work, progressing from a hired farmhand to an accountant. Having completed his education externally, Kozhov worked for a time as a teacher.

Participation in World War I and the Civil War interrupted his peaceful life. After the Civil War he worked for a while as a school instructor. In 1925 he graduated from Irkutsk University and began working in the Department of Invertebrate Zoology. Shortly thereafter he published his first scientific paper, and in 1931 his first monograph on the fauna of Baikal was published. In 1931 Kozhov became director of the Biological-Geographical Research Institute at Irkutsk University, and in 1936 he defended his doctoral dissertation.

Kozhov devoted most of his life to the study of Baikal, using the biological station at Bolshiye Koty as a base for his research, and wrote several well-known books about Baikal and its ecosystem. Kozhov also made a significant contribution to the development of scientific fields such as climatology, hydrology, and Baikal geotectonics. He was a popularizer of science, actively giving lectures and presentations. For his achievements he received the title of Honored Scientist of the RSFSR. Mikhail Mikhailovich Kozhov died in 1968 and was buried on the grounds of the biological station at Bolshiye Koty.