Born on this day 123 years ago, Nikolay Vasilyevich Tsitsin was an outstanding Russian scientist, botanist, plant breeder, geneticist, member of the USSR Academy of Sciences and the Lenin All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences, twice the Hero of Socialist Labor, and former director of the Main Botanical Garden of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

The scientific activity of Nikolay Tsitsin was associated with the creation of new productive varieties of wheat, and more. The choice of the breeder's life path was largely determined by communication with such outstanding scientists as N. G. Meister, A. P. Shekhurdin, P. N. Konstantinov.

Nikolay Tsitsin crossed wheat with cultivated and wild plants, and accumulated vast research experience in this field. Thanks to Tsitsin, scientists managed to obtain new productive varieties of wheat and many other plants. The scientist's works on creation of multigrain forms of wheat with very high productivity became very popular.

The main works of the scientist were devoted to hybridization of plants. He created a new species of wheat called Triticum agropynotriticum. In 1968, Tsitsin was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor for his outstanding achievements in the development of biological and agricultural sciences.

Nikolay Vasilyevich Tsitsin passed away at the age of 81, on July 17, 1980.

Based on open sources.

Photo in the text and on the homepage: https://www.peoples.ru/science/botany/nikolay_tcitcin/