Alexander Nikolsky

For the Russian-born American aeronautical engineer, seeAlexander A. Nikolsky.

Alexander Mikhailovich Nikolsky, ca. 1910.

Alexander Mikhailovich Nikolsky(Russian: Александр Михайлович Никольский; February 18, 1858 – December 8, 1942) was a Russian and Ukrainianzoologistborn inAstrakhan.

From 1877 to 1881, he studied at theUniversity of St. Petersburg,earning his doctorate several years later in 1887. From 1881 to 1891, he took part in numerous expeditions toSiberia,theCaucasus,Persia,Japan,et al. In 1887 he became an associate professor inSt. Petersburg,later becoming director of theherpetologydepartment at theZoological Museum of the Academy of Sciences(1895).

In 1903 he relocated as a professor to theKharkiv University.In 1919 he was elected a member at the Academy of Sciences ofUkraine.Among his written works wereHerpetologia Caucasica(1913), and volumes onreptilesandamphibiansthat were part of the series "Fauna of Russia and Adjacent Countries".

He is the taxonomic authority of 26 reptile species.The viperVipera nikolskii(Nikolsky's adder) and the turtlesubspeciesTestudo graeca nikolskii(Nikolsky's tortoise) are named in his honor. Today in Russia, the "Nikolsky Herpetological Society" commemorates his name.

Notes

• This article is based on a translation of an article from theFrench Wikipedia,whose sources are listed as:
  • Adler, Kraig (1989).Contributions to the History of Herpetology.Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles. 202 pp.ISBN0-916984-19-2.
  • Lescure, Jean;Le Garff, Bernard (2006).L'étymologie des noms d'amphibiens et de reptiles.Paris: Éditions Belin.ISBN2-7011-4142-7.(in French).

External links

• European herpetological societies