Д.Г. Віленський — відомий український ґрунтознавець і геоботанік, організатор галузевого науково-освітнього процесу

Abstract

Goal. To reveal the main milestones of the life and creative path, to summarize the most important scientific achievements of the talented agricultural scientist, one of the organizers of higher branch education and research in the Ukrainian SSR D.G. Vilenskyi. Methods. General scientific — analysis, synthesis, classification; historical — problem-chronological, comparative-historical, retrospective, biographical. Results. It is proved that D.G. Vilenskyi contributed to the establishment of leading institutions of higher agricultural education — Kharkiv Agricultural Institute named after H.G. Rakovsky and Kyiv Engineering and Reclamation Institute. He published the first textbook in the Ukrainian SSR «Botany» (1928) in the state language for higher and secondary educational institutions and the first textbook «History of soil science in Russia» (1958). On the initiative of the scientist, a large-scale interuniversity work was started — the natural zoning of the territory of the USSR for agriculture. It was established that D.G. Vilenskyi made efforts to organize the All-Ukrainian Research Institute of Agro-Soil Science and Chemical Agriculture, as well as the Ukrainian Institute of Applied Botany. For his great achievements in the field of soil science, he was elected president of the International Commission for Classification of Geography and Soil Mapping. Conclusions. The most significant scientific assets of D.G. Vilenskyi is the establishment of the phenomenon of clogging, the development of new indices of genetic horizons of soils — H, E, I, R, etc., preparation of the first soil maps of Ukraine, pioneering geobotanical studies of reclaimed drained soils, authorship of soil maps of the USA, Canada, individual regions and districts of the USSR, development of methods of soil research and large-scale soil mapping. It was established that D.G. Vilenskyi contributed to the popularization of the achievements of domestic science as a member of the editorial board (1930–1949), and editor (1934–1939) of the journal «Soil Science».