Sergei Nikolaievich Winogradsky was a Russian microbiologist, ecologist and soil scientist who pioneered the cycle-of-life concept.
Winogradsky discovered the first known form of lithotrophy during his research with Beggiatoa in 1887. He reported that Beggiatoa oxidized hydrogen sulfide H2S as an energy source and formed intracellular sulfur droplets. This research provided the first example of lithotrophy, but not autotrophy.
His research on nitrifying bacteria would report the first known form of chemoautotrophy, showing how a lithotroph fixes carbon dioxide CO2 to make organic compounds.
Biography
Winogradsky was born in Kiev then in the Russian Empire. In this early stage of his life, Winogradsky was "strictly devoted to the orthodox faith", though he later became irreligious.
Twenty questions, eight minutes on the clock, and a percentile measured against everyone who has taken it. No sign-up.
Take the IQ test →He entered the Imperial Conservatoire of Music in St Petersburg in 1875 to study piano. However, after two years of music training, he entered the University of Saint Petersburg in 1877 to study chemistry under Nikolai Menshutkin and botany under Andrei Sergeevich Famintzin.
He received a diploma in 1881 and stayed at the St. Petersburg University for a degree of master of science in botany in 1884. In 1885, he began work at the University of Strasbourg under the renowned botanist Anton de Bary; Winogradsky became renowned for his work on sulfur bacteria.
In 1888, he relocated to Zurich, where he began investigation into the process of nitrification, identifying the genera Nitrosomonas and Nitrosococcus, which oxidizes ammonium to nitrite, and Nitrobacter, which oxidizes nitrite to nitrate.
He returned to St. Petersburg for the period 1891–1905, and headed the division of general microbiology of the Institute of Experimental Medicine. During this period, he identified the obligate anaerobe Clostridium pasteurianum, which is capable of fixing atmospheric nitrogen. In St. Petersburg, he trained his only student und assistant Vasily Omelianski which popularized Winogradskys concepts and methodology in the Soviet Union during the next decades.
In 1901, he was elected honorary member of the Moscow Society of Naturalists and, in 1902, corresponding member of the French Academy of Sciences.
He retired from active scientific work in 1905, dividing his time between his private estate and Switzerland. In 1922, he accepted an invitation to head the division of agricultural bacteriology at the Pasteur Institute at an experimental station at Brie-Comte-Robert, France, about 30 km from Paris. During this period, he worked on a number of topics, among them iron bacteria, nitrifying bacteria, nitrogen fixation by Azotobacter, cellulose-decomposing bacteria, and culture methods for soil microorganisms. Winogradsky retired from active life in 1940 and died in Brie-Comte-Robert in 1953.
Discoveries
Winogradsky discovered various biogeochemical cycles and parts of these cycles. These discoveries include
- His work on bacterial sulfide oxidation for which he first became renowned, including the first known form of lithotrophy in Beggiatoa.
- His work on the Nitrogen cycle including The identification of the obligate anaerobe Clostridium pasteurianum is a free living microbe capable of fixing atmospheric nitrogen and not living in legume root nodules. Chemosynthesis – his most noted discovery The Winogradsky column
- The identification of the obligate anaerobe Clostridium pasteurianum is a free living microbe capable of fixing atmospheric nitrogen and not living in legume root nodules.
- Chemosynthesis – his most noted discovery
- The Winogradsky column
Chemosynthesis
Winogradsky is best known for discovering chemoautotrophy, which soon became popularly known as chemosynthesis, the process by which organisms derive energy from a number of different inorganic compounds and obtain carbon in the form of carbon dioxide. Previously, it was believed that autotrophs obtained their energy solely from light, not from reactions of inorganic compounds. With the discovery of organisms that oxidized inorganic compounds such as hydrogen sulfide and ammonium as energy sources, autotrophs could be divided into two groups: photoautotrophs and chemoautotrophs. Winogradsky was one of the first researchers to attempt to understand microorganisms outside of the medical context, making him among the first students of microbial ecology and environmental microbiology.
The Winogradsky column remains an important display of chemoautotrophy and microbial ecology, demonstrated in microbiology lectures around the world.
Top questions
Who was Sergei Winogradsky?
Sergei Winogradsky (1856 to 1953) was a Ukrainian and Russian microbiologist, ecologist and soil scientist who pioneered the cycle-of-life concept. He was born in Kiev, became a Foreign Member of the Royal Society, and received the Leeuwenhoek Medal in 1935. He is among the first students of microbial ecology and environmental microbiology.
What is chemosynthesis and how did Winogradsky discover it?
Chemosynthesis, or chemoautotrophy, is the process by which organisms derive energy from inorganic compounds and obtain carbon from carbon dioxide. Winogradsky discovered it through organisms that oxidized hydrogen sulfide and ammonium. It was previously believed that autotrophs got energy only from light, so his work divided them into photoautotrophs and chemoautotrophs.
What is the Winogradsky column?
The Winogradsky column is a technique for studying sediment microbes, which Winogradsky invented and for which he is best known in school science. It remains an important display of chemoautotrophy and microbial ecology, and it is demonstrated in microbiology lectures around the world.
What did Winogradsky discover about the nitrogen cycle?
In Zürich from 1888 he investigated nitrification and identified Nitrosomonas and Nitrosococcus, which oxidize ammonium to nitrite, and Nitrobacter, which oxidizes nitrite to nitrate. In St. Petersburg he identified Clostridium pasteurianum, an obligate anaerobe that fixes atmospheric nitrogen as a free-living microbe rather than in legume root nodules.
What did Winogradsky discover about Beggiatoa and lithotrophy?
In 1887, studying the bacterium Beggiatoa, Winogradsky reported that it oxidized hydrogen sulfide as an energy source and formed intracellular sulfur droplets. This was the first known form of lithotrophy, though not of autotrophy. His later research on nitrifying bacteria reported the first chemoautotrophy, showing how a lithotroph fixes carbon dioxide into organic compounds.
Where did Sergei Winogradsky study and work?
Winogradsky studied piano briefly, then chemistry and botany at Saint Petersburg Imperial University, earning a degree in 1881 and a master's in 1884. He worked under Anton de Bary at Straßburg from 1885, then in Zürich, and in St. Petersburg from 1891 to 1905, where after 1902 he headed general microbiology at the Institute of Experimental Medicine. In 1922 he joined the Pasteur Institute's agricultural bacteriology division in France.
How is Sergei Winogradsky remembered?
Winogradsky was one of the first researchers to study microorganisms outside the medical context. The Institute of Microbiology of the Russian Academy of Sciences has borne his name since 2003. A bust of him was unveiled in 2012 on his former estate in Horodok, Ukraine, where the Winogradsky Club promotes the study of his life and work.
.jpg)