Mitin, Mark (1901–1987), Marxist philosopher. Joined the Communist Party in 1919. Graduated from the Institute of Red Professors (a special Party college) (1929), director of the Marx and Engels Institute in Moscow (1939–1944). Chief editor of the Party magazine Under the Banner of Marxism (1930–1944), member of the Central Committee (1939–1944; 1950–1956). Academician (1939), deputy director of the Academy Institute of Philosophy, member of the Academy Presidium (1939–1946). Took part in the “discussion” on genetics in 1939 and in the events of 1948. Stalin Prize (1943).
Molotov (Skryabin), Vyacheslav (1890–1986), Party and state figure, a Politburo member (1926–1957). Secretary of the Central Committee of the Ukrainian Communist Party (1920–1921), secretary of the Central Committee (1921–1930), first secretary of the Moscow Committee (1928–1929), chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars (Sovnarkom) (1930–1941), Foreign commissar/minister (1939–1949), deputy chairman of the State Committee of Defense (1941–1945), deputy chairman (1941–1942; 1946–1953) and then first deputy chairman (1942–1946; 1953–1957) of the Sovnarkom/Council of Ministers, foreign minister (1953–1956), minister of state control (1956–1957), ambassador to Mongolia (1957–1960), head of a group of Soviet representatives at the International Agency on Atomic Energy (1960–1962). In 1962, was forced to retire and was expelled from the Party. In 1984, restored as a Party member. Actively joined with Stalin, Yezhov, and Beria in drafting numerous arrest lists and signing death sentences during the years of the Great Terror (1936–1938).
Muralov, Aleksandr (1877–1937), Party and state figure. Commissar (1923–1929), then deputy commissar (1929–1937) of agriculture. In 1935 replaced Vavilov as president of the Agricultural Academy. Arrested in 1937 because of his brother, Nikolai (1887–1937), also a Party functionary and a victim of the Pyatakov Show Trial (January 23–30, 1937). Nikolai was shot on February 1, 1937, before Aleksandr. Both brothers were rehabilitated (Conquest, The Great Terror, pp. 147–167; Tikhanova, V., ed., Rasstrel’nye spiski. Vypusk 1: Donskoe kladbishche, 1934–1940 [The Lists of the Executed. Issue 1: Donskoe Cemetery, 1934–1940] (Moscow: Memorial, 1993), pp. 78 and 81 (in Russian).
Muromtsev, Sergei (1898–1960), microbiologist, worked in a secret NKVD/NKGB laboratory; experimented on humans. Graduated from the Medical Faculty of the First Moscow University (1923); a veterinarian scientist. In 1931, one of the organizers of the centralized State Control System of Veterinarian Preparations. In 1938, joined the NKVD; headed a group working on bacteriological toxins as a part of Mairanovsky’s laboratory. Also worked on a special method of preparation of vaccines for animals (1934–1943). In 1948, supported Lysenko and was one of the appointed academicians to the Agricultural Academy. Acting director of the Gamaleya Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology within the Medical Academy (1956–1960). Due to the opposition at this institute and within the Medical Academy, not approved as director. Stalin Prize (1946).
Nasonov, Dmitrii (1895–1957), cytophysiologist. Corresponding member (1948) and a member of the Medical Academy (1945). Head of the Cytology Laboratory at the All-Union Institute of Experimental Medicine (VIEM) (1932–1945), head of the General Morphology Department at the VIEM (1945–1948), director of the VIEM (1948–1950), chair of the Department of Comparative Physiology at Leningrad University (1945–1948). Lost this position because of his opposition to Lysenko. Head of a small laboratory on general cell physiology at the Academy Zoological Institute (1951–1953). In 1954–1955, this laboratory became the Academy Institute of Cytology (IC) (formally established in 1957). Directed this institute until his death in 1957.
Nikolaev-Zhurid, Nikolai (1897–1940) joined the Special Department of the Red Army in 1919. Head of the Leningrad NKVD Regional Branch (1935–1936), then head of the Second (Counterintelligence) Department (1936–1937) and of the Fifth (Special) Department (1937–1938) of the NKVD Main State Security Directorate (GUGB). Arrested in 1938, tried and shot in 1940. Not rehabilitated (Petrov and Skorkin, Kto rukovodil NKVD, pp. 318–319).
Ogol’tsov, Sergei (1900–1977) joined the CheKa in 1919. First deputy NKGB/MGB commissar/minister (1945–1952). Responsible (the curator) for the MGB Department for Investigation of Especially Important Cases (1946–1951). After Abakumov’s arrest, acting minister (July–August 1951), Uzbek MGB minister (February–December 1952), first deputy MGB minister (December 1952–March 1953). On March 11, 1953, dismissed and on April 3, 1953, arrested on the charge of organizing the assassination of Solomon Mikhoels. Released on August 8, 1953, and dismissed from the MGB (1954). In 1959 deprived of his lieutenant general rank (Petrov and Skorkin, Kto rukovodil NKVD, p. 323; Naymov and Sigachev, Lavrentii Beria, pp. 471–472).
Oldenburg, Sergei (1863–1934), orientalist. After graduating from the Oriental Languages Department of St. Petersburg University (1885), in libraries in France and England. From 1894, professor of Indian language and literature at St. Petersburg University. Helped to organize expeditions to Tibet and Chinese Turkestan. Extraordinary academician (1903). From 1904, permanent secretary of the academy (1904–1929). Minister of education in the Provisional Government (July–August 1917). In September–October 1919, arrested as a member of the Kadet Party. In 1929, dismissed as permanent secretary. Director of the new Academy Institute of Oriental Studies (1930–1934), chairman of the Commission for the Study of the History of the Academy (1932–1934) (Tolz, Russian Academicians, pp. 108–122).
Oparin, Aleksandr (1894–1980), biochemist and author of the theory of the origin of life. Graduated from Moscow University (1917). In 1922, introduced his concept of a primordial organism arising in a brew of already formed organic compounds at a meeting of the Russian Botanical Society. In 1924, published his theory in Russian; the English version was published in 1938 (The Origin of Life). Corresponding member (1939), academician (1946). Director of the Bach Institute of Biochemistry (1946–1980), secretary academician of the Academy Division of Biological Sciences (1949–1956). From the late 1940s to early 1950s, actively supported pseudotheories of Trofim Lysenko and Olga Lepeshinskaya. Organized the first international conference on the origin of life in Moscow (1957). In 1950, was appointed a member of the Soviet Committee in Defense of Peace and a member of the International Council for Peace. Vice president of the International Federation of Scientists (1952; 1962). Awarded many Soviet decorations.
Orbeli, Leon (1878–1958), physiologist. Graduated from the Military-Medical Academy (MMA) in St. Petersburg (1904). Academician Pavlov’s assistant at the Institute of Experimental Medicine (1907–1920); also, in Germany and Britain (1907–1920). Head of the Physiology Department at the Leningrad Medical Institute (1920–1931), and of the Physiological Department at the MMA (1925–1950); also director of the MMA (1943–1950). Director of the Institute of Physiology (1936–1950), the Institute of Evolutionary Physiology and Pathology of Higher Nervous Activity (1939–1950), and the Institute of Evolutionary Physiology (1956–1958) (all within the Academy of Sciences). Corresponding member (1932), academician (1935), member of the Armenian Academy of Sciences (1943) and the Medical Academy (1944). Secretary academician of the Academy Biology Division (1939–1948), and first vice president of the academy (1942–1946). Head of the All-Union Physiology Society (1937–1950). Forced to make many compromises, especially regarding Lysenko. Stalin Prize (1944), Hero of Socialist Labor (1945), four Lenin Order awards; colonel general (1944).