Ilya Ivanovich Ivanov (biologist)
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{{Infobox Scientist
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|image =Ilya ivanov.jpg
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|caption =Ilya Ivanov, 1927
|birth_date = {{OldStyleDate|August 1|1870|July 20}}
|birth_place = [[Shchigry]], [[Kursk]] [[gubernia]], [[Russia]]
|death_date = [[March 20]] [[1932]]?
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|nationality = [[Russia]]n
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|field = [[biology]]
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|alma_mater = [[Kharkov]] University
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|known_for = [[artificial insemination]]
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'''Ilya Ivanovich Ivanov''' ({{lang-ru|Илья Иванович Иванов}}, {{OldStyleDate|August 1|1870|July 20}}-[[March 20]] [[1932]]?) was a [[Russia]]n and [[Soviet]] [[biologist]] who specialized in the field of [[artificial insemination]] and the [[interspecific hybrid]]ization of animals. He was involved in controversial attempts to create a [[Humanzee|human-ape hybrid]].
==Biography==
Ilya Ivanovich Ivanov was born in the town of [[Shchigry]], [[Kursk]] [[gubernia]], [[Russia]]. He graduated from the [[Kharkov]] University in [[1896]] and became a full [[professor]] in [[1907]]. He worked as a researcher in the [[Askania-Nova]] [[Natural reserves in Russia|natural reserve]], also for the State Experimental Veterinary Institute ([[1917]]-[[1921]], [[1924]]-[[1930]]), for the Central Experimental Station for Researching Reproduction of Domestic Animals ([[1921]]-[[1924]]), and for the Moscow Higher Zootechnic Institute ([[1928]]-[[1930]]).
At the turn of the century Ilya Ivanov perfected artificial insemination and its practical usage for horse breeding. He proved that this technology allows one stallion to fertilize up to 500 mares (instead of 20-30 by natural fertilization). The results were sensational for their time, and Ivanov's station was frequented by horse breeders from many parts of the world.
Ilya Ivanov also pioneered the practice of using artificial insemination for obtaining various interspecific hybrids. He was the first (or one of the first) scientists who obtained and studied a [[Zeedonk]] (hybrid of [[zebra]] and [[donkey]]), [[Żubroń]] (a hybrid of [[wisent]] and domestic [[cow]]), a hybrid of an [[antelope]] and cow, of [[mouse]] and [[rat]], of mouse and [[guinea pig]], guinea pig and [[rabbit]], rabbit and [[hare]] and many others [http://kokshetau.online.kz/ot/ivanov.htm], [http://www.zerkalo-nedeli.com/nn/show/475/45014/]. At that time the study of [[genetics]] was in its infancy. Many believed that such hybrids could start new species of domestic animal and thus be potentially quite important.
==Human-ape hybridization experiments==
The most controversial of Ivanov's studies was his attempt to create a human-ape hybrid.{{ref|autonumber}} As early as [[1910]] he had given a presentation to the World Congress of Zoologists in [[Graz]] in which he described the possibility of obtaining such a hybrid through artificial insemination.
In [[1924]], while working at the [[Pasteur Institute]] in Paris, Ivanov obtained permission from the Institute's directors to use its experimental primate station in Kindia, [[French Guinea]], for such an experiment. Ivanov attempted to gain backing for his project from the [[Soviet]] government. He dispatched letters to the [[People's Commissar]] on Education and Science [[Anatoliy Vasilievich Lunacharsky]] and to other officials. Ivanov's proposal finally sparked the interest of [[Nikolai Petrovich Gorbunov]], the head of the Department of Scientific Institutions. In September [[1925]] Gorbunov helped allocate US$10,000 to the [[Russian Academy of Sciences|Academy of Sciences]] for Ivanov's human-ape hybridization experiments in Africa.
In March [[1926]] Ivanov arrived at the Kindia facility, but stayed only a month without success. The Kindia site, it turned out, had no sexually mature [[chimpanzee]]s. He returned to France where he arranged through correspondence with French Guinea's colonial governor to set up experiments at the botanical gardens in [[Conakry]].
Ivanov reached Conakry in November [[1926]] accompanied by his son, also named Ilya, who would assist him in his experiments. Ivanov supervised the capture of adult chimpanzees in the interior of the colony, which were brought to Conakry and kept in cages in the botanical gardens. On [[February 28]], [[1927]], Ivanov artificially inseminated two female chimpanzees with human sperm (not his own or his son's). On June 25, he injected a third chimpanzee with human sperm. The Ivanovs left Africa in July with thirteen chimps, including the three used in his experiments. They already knew before leaving that the first two chimpanzees had failed to become pregnant. The third died in France, and was also found not to have been pregnant. The remaining chimps were sent to a new primate station at [[Sukhumi]].
Although Ivanov attempted to organize the insemination of human females with chimpanzee sperm in Guinea, these plans met with resistance from the French colonial government and there is no evidence such an experiment was arranged there.
Upon his return to the Soviet Union in [[1927]], Ivanov began an effort to organize hybridization experiments at Sukhumi using ape sperm and human females. Eventually in [[1929]], through the help of Gorbunov, he obtained the support of the Society of Materialist Biologists, a group associated with the [[Communist Academy]]. In the spring of 1929 the Society set up a commission to plan Ivanov's experiments at Sukhumi. They decided that at least five volunteer women would be needed for the project. However, in June 1929, before any inseminations had taken place, Ivanov learned that the only postpubescent male ape remaining at Sukhumi (an [[orangutan]]) had died. A new set of chimps would not arrive at Sukhumi until the summer of [[1930]].
In the course of a general political shakeup in the Soviet scientific world Gorbunov and a number of the scientists involved in the planning of the Sukhumi experiments lost their positions. In the spring of 1930 Ivanov came under political criticism at his veterinary institute. Finally on [[December 13]], [[1930]] Ivanov was arrested. He was sentenced to five years of exile to [[Alma Ata]], where he worked for the Kazakh Veterinary-Zoologist Institute until his death from a stroke on [[20 March]] [[1932]]. The renowned physiologist and psychologist [[Ivan Pavlov]] wrote an obituary for him.
==References==
*{{Citation
|id = [[PMID]]:12467272
|url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12467272
|last=Rossiianov
|first=Kirill
|publication-date=2002 Jun
|year=[[2002]]
|title=Beyond species: Il'ya Ivanov and his experiments on cross-breeding humans and anthropoid apes.
|volume=15
|issue=2
|periodical=Science in context
|pages=277-316
}}
*{{Citation
|id = [[PMID]]:4253169
|url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4253169
|last=Zvereva
|first=G V
|publication-date=1970 Jul
|year=[[1970]]
|title=[Professor I.I. Ivanov--founder of artificial insemination of animals]
|volume=7
|issue=
|periodical=Veterinariia
|pages=88-90
}}
*{{Citation
|id = [[PMID]]:4253171
|url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4253171
|last=Smirnov
|first=L N
|last2=Ozhin
|first2=F V
|publication-date=1970 Jul
|year=[[1970]]
|title=[Outstanding scientist-biologist (Il'ia Ivanovich Ivanov)]
|volume=7
|issue=
|periodical=Veterinariia
|pages=90-2
}}
==Footnotes==
{{note|autonumber}} The bulk of the information in this section is drawn from Rossiianov, 2002.
==Web references==
*{{en icon}} [http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=124129 Kirill Rossiianov, ''Beyond Species: Il’ya Ivanov and His Experiments on Cross-Breeding Humans with Anthropoid Apes'', Science in Context, 2002, p. 277-316]
*{{ru icon}} [http://www.zerkalo-nedeli.com/nn/show/475/45014/ Article in Zerkalo Nedeli]
*{{ru icon}} [http://web.archive.org/web/20051122184936/http://www.trud.ru/Arhiv/2004/04/08/200404080641301.htm Article in Trud]
*{{ru icon}} [http://www.mk.ru/numbers/1960/article66726.htm Article in Moskovskiy Komsomomolets]
*{{ru icon}} [http://kokshetau.online.kz/ot/ivanov.htm Article in KoMok newspaper]
*{{ru icon}} [http://www.oval.ru/enc/28474.html article in Great Sovier Encyclopaedia] - the article doesn't mention the alleged experiments
*{{en icon}} [http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/5198/ Article in Creation on the Web site] - Contains a rare photo of Ilya Ivanov
*{{en icon}} [http://news.ufl.edu/2005/12/12/kissing-cousins-oped/ NYT op-ed piece reprinted by University of Florida]
*{{ru icon}} [http://tonos.ru/articles/3323 Зачем человеку кентавр? from Tonos.ru]
==See also==
*[[Alexander Bogdanov]]
*[[Heart of a Dog]]
*[[Humanzee]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ivanov, Ilya}}
[[Category:1870 births]]
[[Category:1932 deaths]]
[[Category:Russian zoologists]]
[[Category:Victims of Soviet repressions]]
[[Category:Human experimentation]]
[[da:Ilja Ivanovitj Ivanov]]
[[de:Ilja Iwanowitsch Iwanow]]
[[eo:Ilja Ivanoviĉ Ivanov]]
[[it:Il'ja Ivanovič Ivanov]]
[[pt:Ilya Ivanovich Ivanov]]
[[ru:Иванов, Илья Иванович (биолог)]]