Professor of the Academy of Sciences of the Kyrgyz SSR, Yennafa Vasilyevna Nikitina

Ennafa Vasilyevna Nikitina, an outstanding scientist-florist, leading botanist of Kyrgyzstan, honored figure of science of the Kyrgyz SSR, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor of the Academy of Sciences of the Kyrgyz SSR.

E. V. Nikitina was born in Tomsk and graduated from Tomsk University in 1916. Until 1927, she worked as an assistant at the same university under the patronage of Professor V. V. Sapozhnikov. Her deep interest in science and extraordinary determination as a student did not go unnoticed. She was entrusted with processing a large herbarium of Semirechye collected by V. Sapozhnikov. This was E. V. Nikitina's first acquaintance with the plants of the Tien Shan.

In 1927, E. V. Nikitina arrived in Kyrgyzstan, where she began extensive research on the plant cover. She surveyed many regions of the republic. At the zootechnical institute, she organized the Department of Botany and was awarded the academic degree of Candidate of Biological Sciences without defending a dissertation.

E. V. Nikitina became one of the organizers of the Soil-Botanical Bureau under the Land Management Administration of the Kyrgyz ASSR, established in 1928, and the first scientific research institution in the republic — the Institute of Local Lore, where she later worked as a senior research associate-botanist. At the request of the republic's land authorities, she conducted geobotanical surveys of pastures and hayfields in the Kochkor Valley, the Kara-Kudzhur River in Central Tien Shan, and the Kugart River in the eastern part of the Fergana Valley. Subsequently, she studied the phenology of vegetation, tannin and medicinal plants of the Chui Valley under stationary conditions. The plant cover of the Aalamedin, Ala-Archa, Chonkurchak, Besh-Kungey, and Paspeldika areas. Based on the Kyrgyz Scientific Research Institute of Animal Husbandry, E. V. Nikitina launched extensive stationary research on natural hayfields and pastures on the Ak-Shiyrak ridges, on the western shore of Lake Issyk-Kul, the Kyzyl-Ompul ridge, and others. As a result of these studies, scientific works were written that have great practical and theoretical significance and have entered the main fund of scientific literature on plant cover. E. Nikitina laid the fundamental foundations for the effective use of pastures and hayfields in the republic.

Her scientific research did not go unnoticed. In 1936, E. V. Nikitina was awarded the academic degree of Candidate of Biological Sciences without defending a dissertation. With her active assistance, a Botanical Garden was established in Frunze, where she was the second director in order of appointment.

In 1938, with her active assistance, a Botanical Garden of the Academy of Sciences was established in Frunze. During the war years, she headed the Frunze Garden and managed the biological department of the Committee of Sciences under the Council of People's Commissars of the Kyrgyz SSR. Today, the Botanical Garden is a major scientific research center of the republic. E. Nikitina has made a significant contribution to this.

In 1946, since the establishment of the Kyrgyz branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences, which was later reorganized into the Academy of Sciences of the Kyrgyz SSR, E. V. Nikitina headed the laboratory of flora. A special period in the study of the flora of Kyrgyzstan is associated with her work here. Under her leadership, an 11-volume compilation "Flora of the Kyrgyz SSR" was published, along with two "Additions," which serves as a reference for researchers, students and teachers of higher education institutions, agronomists, zootechnicians, teachers, and students, as well as all those interested in the plant world of Kyrgyzstan. Simultaneously with her work on this multi-volume effort, E. V. Nikitina was involved in training specialists-florists. Under her guidance, seven candidate dissertations were defended.

In 1962, E. V. Nikitina was awarded the academic degree of Doctor of Biological Sciences based on her body of scientific work, and later the title of Professor. The scientists of the country remember and appreciate her. An example of this is the naming of new plant species in her honor.

E. Nikitina placed great importance on regional studies of flora. In particular, she conducted research on the flora of the multicolored thicknesses of southern Kyrgyzstan and the flora of the highlands of Northern Kyrgyzstan. Under her leadership, in 1965-1966, karyological studies of higher plants were initiated.

For the first time in the republic, Ennafa Vasilyevna organized biogeochemical studies of flowering plants in relation to their systematic position at the laboratory of flora. Under her guidance, it was established that different plant species selectively accumulate chemical substances both in quantitative and qualitative aspects.

Under her leadership and direct participation, popular guides to higher plants were compiled, accessible to a wide range of readers. With her active participation, a republican Herbarium was created at the Institute of Biology of the Academy of Sciences of the Kyrgyz SSR, where more than 500,000 sheets of herbarium material are currently stored. This is the largest herbarium collection in Central Asia after the Almaty Herbarium.

She is the author of more than 60 scientific works, 4 monographs, 14 brochures, and many popular science articles.

In addition to her scientific activities, she conducted extensive pedagogical work — teaching for many years at agricultural and pedagogical institutes.

However, her greatest achievement can be considered the creation of the 11-volume work "Flora of Kyrgyzstan" (Frunze, 1965), which describes all representatives of the plant world.

During the compilation of the "Flora of the Kyrgyz SSR," over 400 species of wild flora were cultivated in the republic.

She described many new species of higher plants for science. In describing new taxa, she conducted a thorough morphological-geographical analysis. Naturally, the study of plant cover does not end with the completion of work on its inventory. On the contrary, the first inventory opens up wide opportunities for further in-depth research of the flora of our country.

E. V. Nikitina's scientific, pedagogical, and public activities have been highly appreciated. She has been awarded the Orders of Lenin, "Badge of Honor," two Honorary Certificates from the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Kyrgyz SSR, and the medals "For Labor Valor" and "For Valorous Labor in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945." In 1963, in honor of her 70th birthday and 48 years of scientific, pedagogical, and public activities, she was awarded the title of Honored Figure of Science of the Kyrgyz SSR.

The name of Professor Ennafa Vasilyevna Nikitina lives on in the scientific community of sovereign Kyrgyzstan.

Women of Kyrgyzstan