Alphabetical list
A
- Johann Friedrich Adam , discoverer of the Adams mammoth, the first complete woolly mammoth skeleton
- Igor Akimushkin , biologist
- Vladimir Prokhorovich Amalitskii , paleontologist
- Nicolai Andrusov , paleontologist
- Andrey Avinoff , entomologist
- Anatoly Andriyashev , ichthyologist, zoogeographist
B
- Karl Ernst von Baer , naturalist, founder of the Russian Entomological Society, formulated embryological Baer's laws
- Alexander Barchenko , notable for his research of Hyperborea
- Jacques von Bedriaga , prominent herpetologist, described Bedriaga's rock lizard and Bedriaga's skink
- Andrey Belozersky , founder of molecular biology
- Dmitry Belyayev , domesticated silver fox
- Lev Berg , ichthyologist of Central Asia and European Russia
- Yuli Berkovich , experimented with seed germination in zero gravity
- Nikolai Bernstein , neurophysiologist, coined the term biomechanics
- Vladimir Betz , discovered giant pyramidal neurons of primary motor cortex
- Anatoli Petrovich Bogdanov , biologist
- Andrey Bolotov , major 18th-century agriculturist, discovered dichogamy, pioneered cross-pollination
- August von Bongard , botanist of Alaska, discoverer of Sitka spruce and red alder
- Antonina Borissova , botanist
- Zinaida Botschantzeva , botanist
- Alexander Bunge , major botanist of Siberia (especially Altai)
- Alexey Bystrow , paleontologist
C
- Alexander Catsch , medical doctor and radiation biologist
- Mikhail Chailakhyan , researcher of flowering, described the florigen hormone
- Maria Cherkasova , ecologist
- Evgeny Chernikin , biologist
- Feodosy Chernyshov , paleontologist
- Sergei Chetverikov , pioneer of modern evolutionary synthesis
- Pyotr Chikhachyov , naturalist
- Alexander Chizhevsky , founder of heliobiology and modern air ionification
D
- Ilya Darevsky , biologist
- Nikolay Dubinin , studied the genetic basis of the human individuality in different populations; studied variability and heritability of neuro, and psychodynamic parameters
E
- Vladimir Efroimson , Soviet geneticist
- Andrey Erst , botanist
- Kirill Eskov , biologist, discovered several new genera of spiders
- Eduard Eversmann , biologist and explorer, pioneer researcher of flora and fauna of southern Russia
F
- Andrey Famintsyn , plant physiologist, inventor of grow lamp, developer of symbiogenesis theory
- Mikhail A. Fedonkin , paleontologist
- Yuri Filipchenko , entomologist, coined the terms microevolution and macroevolution
G
- Oleg Gazenko , zoologist
- Johann Georg Gmelin , first researcher of Siberian flora
- Viktor Grebennikov , naturalist and entomologist, claimed to have built a levitation platform by attaching dead insect body parts to the underside
- Ilya Gruzinov , discovered the source for deep vocal sound is the membrane
- Grigory Grum-Grshimailo , zoologist and geographer, obtained two Przewalski's horses and more than 1000 bird specimens from his travels in Central Asia
- Alexander Gurwitsch , originated the morphogenetic field theory and discovered the biophoton
I
- Ilya Ivanov , researcher of artificial insemination and the interspecific hybridization of animals, involved in controversial attempts to create a human-ape hybrid
- Dmitry Ivanovsky , discoverer of viruses
J
- Hans Johansen , zoologist
- Hermann Johansen , zoologist
K
- Georgii Karpechenko , inventor of rabbage, an early experimental allopolyploid and non-sterile hybrid obtained through crossbreeding of distant species
- Karl Fedorovich Kessler , zoologist
- Alexander Keyserling , zoologist
- Nikolai Koltsov , discoverer of cytoskeleton
- Vladimir Komarov , plant geographer, President of the Soviet Academy of Sciences, founder of the Komarov Botanical Institute
- Aleksei Alekseevich Korotnev , zoologist
- Alexander Kovalevsky , embryologist, major researcher of gastrulation
- Vladimir Kovalevsky , studied the effect of meteorological, hydrological, and temperature factors on harvest
- Alexey Kondrashov , works on evolutionary genetics. Developed the deterministic mutation hypothesis explaining the maintenance of sexual reproduction, sympatric speciation, and evaluated mutation rates
- Boris Kozo-Polyansky , botanist, and evolutionary biologist. First to support the theory of symbiogenesis with Darwinian evolution, and first director of The B.M. Kozo-Polyansky Botanical Garden of Voronezh State University.
- August David Krohn , pioneer in marine biology and published essential works on Chaetognatha (arrow worms)
- Peter Kropotkin zoologist
- Ludmila Kuprianova , botanist
- Andrei Kursanov , major physiologist and biochemist
- Sergei Kurzanov , paleontologist
- Nikolai Jakovlevice Kusnezov , entomologist
L
- Alexander Lebedev , known for his work on the biochemical basis of behavior
- Olga Lepeshinskaya , advocate of spontaneous generation
- Ivan Lepyokhin , botanist
- Peter Lesgaft , founder of the modern system of physical education, one of the founders of theoretical anatomy
- Vladimir Ippolitovich Lipsky , botanist
- Dmitry Litvinov , botanist
- Trofim Lysenko , agronomist, developer of yarovization, infamous for lysenkoism
M
- Evgeny Maleev , discoverer of Talarurus, Tarbosaurus, and Therizinosaurus
- Karl Maximovich , pioneer researcher of the Far Eastern flora
- Ilya Mechnikov , pioneer researcher of immune system, probiotics and phagocytosis, coined the term gerontology , Nobel Prize in Medicine winner
- Zhores Medvedev , biologist
- Ivan Vladimirovich Michurin , botanist
- Nicholas Miklouho-Maclay , ethnologist
- Sergei Mirkin , DNA researcher
- Andrey Vasilyevich Martynov , entomologist
- Mikhail Menzbier , major ornithologist, discoverer of the Menzbier's marmot
- Konstantin Merezhkovsky , major lichenologist, developer of symbiogenesis theory, a founder of endosymbiosis theory
- Ivan Michurin , pomologist, selectionist and geneticist, practiced crossing of geographically distant plants, created hundreds of fruit cultivars
- Alexander Middendorf , zoologist and explorer, studied the influence of permafrost on living beings, coined the term "radula", horse breeder
- Victor Motschulsky , coleopterologist (researcher of beetles)
- Dmitrii Mushketov , paleontologist
N
- Sergei Navashin , discovered double fertilization
- Alexander Mikhailovich Nikolsky , zoologist
O
- Vladimir Obruchev , paleontologist
- Sergey Ognev , for his work on mammalogy
- Alexey Olovnikov , predicted existence of telomerase, suggested the telomere hypothesis of aging and the telomere relations to cancer
- Aleksandr Oparin , biologist and biochemist, proposed the "primordial soup" theory of life origin, showed that many food production processes are based on biocatalysis
- Yuri Ovchinnikov , proponent of using molecular biology and genetics for creating new types of biological weapons
P
- Heinz Christian Pander , embryologist, discoverer of germ layers
- Peter Simon Pallas , polymath naturalist and explorer, discoverer of multiple animals, including the Pallas's cat, Pallas's squirrel, and Pallas's gull
- Vladimir Pasechnik , biologist
- Ivan Pavlov , founder of modern physiology, the first to research classical conditioning, Nobel Prize in Medicine winner
- Alexander Petrunkevitch , eminent arachnologist of his time. Described over 130 spider species
- Nikolay Pirogov , founded field surgery. Was one of the first surgeons in Europe to use ether as an anaesthetic
- Vladimir Pravdich-Neminsky , published the first EEG and the evoked potential of the mammalian brain
- Yevgenia Georgievna Pobedimova , botanist and plant collector, notably in Russia, Ukraine and North Asia
- Maria Prokhorova , biologist and physiologist, did a research on gas gangrene during the Great Patriotic War
- Nikolai Przhevalsky , explorer and naturalist, brought vast collections from Central Asia, discovered the only extant species of wild horse
R
- Tikhon Rabotnov , made ground breaking studies in the regeneration of natural plant communities
- Leonty Ramensky , studied biotic communities
- Alexandr Pavlovich Rasnitsyn , paleontologist
- Anatoly Rozhdestvensky , discoverer of Aralosaurus and Probactrosaurus
- Vasiliy E. Ruzhentsev , paleontologist
S
- Ivan Schmalhausen , developer of modern evolutionary synthesis
- Leopold von Schrenck , ethnographer, zoologist, discovered the Amur sturgeon, Manchurian black water snake and Schrenck's bittern
- Boris Schwanwitsch , entomologist, applied colour patterns of insect wings to military camouflage during World War II
- Ivan Sechenov , founder of electrophysiology and neurophysiology
- Andrey Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky , entomologist
- Aleksandr Grigorevich Sharov , paleontologist
- Vladimir Shevyakov , zoologist, protistologist
- Pyotr Shirshov , hydrobiologist, participant of many arctic expeditions including the first drifting ice station, North Pole-1, researched plankton in polar regions and proved there is life in high altitudes of the Arctic Ocean, founded and headed the Shirshov Institute of Oceanology
- Victor Shmidt , zoologist, leading Russian specialist in microscopic anatomy and embryology
- Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Shmuk , studied the biochemistry of tobacco
- Julian Simashko , zoologist
- Norair Sisakian , biochemist, one of the founders of space biology, pioneer in biochemistry of sub-cell structures and technical biochemistry
- Alexey Skvortsov , botanist
- Boris Sergeyevich Sokolov , paleontologist
- Alexander Spirin , made significant contributions to the biochemistry of nucleic acids, and protein biosynthesis
- Yaroslav Starobogatov , zoologist
- Georg Wilhelm Steller , naturalist, participant of Vitus Bering's voyages, discoverer of Steller's jay, Steller's eider, extinct Steller's sea cow and multiple other animals
- Lina Stern , pioneer researcher of blood–brain barrier and first female full member of the Russian Academy of Sciences
- Vladimir Sukachev , geobotanist
T
- Armen Takhtajan , developer of Takhtajan system of flowering plant classification, major biogeographer
- Valery Taliev , the founder of concept of the role of man in the spreading of plants during Holocene, geobotanist
- Aleksandr Tikhomirov , zoologist
- Kliment Timiryazev , plant physiologist and evolutionist, major researcher of chlorophyll
- Nikolai Timofeeff-Ressovsky , major researcher of radiation genetics, population genetics, and microevolution
- Vladimir Andreevich Tranzschel , mycologist, expert on rust fungi
- Lev Tsenkovsky , pioneer researcher of the ontogenesis of lower plants and animals
- Mikhail Tsvet , inventor of chromatography
- Mikhail Voronin , major researcher of fungi and plant pathology
Vavilov
V
- Nikolai Vavilov , botanist and geneticist, gathered the world's largest collection of plant seeds, identified the centres of origin of main cultivated plants
- Vladimir Vernadsky , founded biogeochemistry, pioneered research into the noosphere
- Olga Vinogradova , accomplished neuroscientist
- Sergey Vinogradsky , microbiologist, ecologist, and soil scientist, pioneered the biogeochemical cycle concept, discovered lithotrophy and chemosynthesis, invented the Winogradsky column for breeding of microorganisms
- Roman Vishniac , biologist
W
- Sergei Winogradsky , microbiologist, ecologist and soil scientist who pioneered the cycle of life concept
Y
- Gennady Yakovlev , botanist
- Ivan Yefremov , paleontologist, sci-fi author, founded taphonomy
Z
- Sviatoslav Zabelin , biologist, awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize
- Sergey Zimov , creator of the Pleistocene Park
- Nikolai Zograf , zoologist
- Valeriy Zyuganov , formulated the concept of freshwater pearl mussel - Atlantic salmon symbiosis