Sergei Korzhinsky

Biography

Sergei Ivanovich Korzhinsky (Сергей Иванович Коржинский; also transliterated as Sergei Ivanovitsch Korshinsky; 26 August (7 September) 1861, Astrakhan – 18 November (1 December) 1900, Saint Petersburg) was a Russian botanist who proposed, in 1899, a mutation theory in evolution ("theory of heterogenesis"), which he thought was more accurate than Darwin's. A similar theory was developed, independently, by Hugo de Vries.

At the age of 35 he was elected an academician of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences (one of the first Siberian scientists to be so honored). He died before reaching the age of 40. Several plant species, such as Pyrus korshinskyi and Prunus korshinskyi, are named in his honor, typically bearing the epithet korshinskyi.