Ivan Maksimenko

Ivan Kyrylovych Maksymenko (Ukrainian: Іван Кирилович Максименко; 23 February 1907 – 31 May 1976) was a Soviet and Ukrainian geneticist, doctor of biological sciences, professor, member of the Academy of Sciences of the Turkmen SSR (since 1959), and a Hero of Socialist Labour (1965).

Memorial In recent years he lived and died in Kyiv. His tomb is at Baikove Cemetery (plot No. 33).

Biography He was born on February 23, 1907, in the village of Mykhailivka (now Cherkasy Raion of Cherkasy Oblast). He received his primary education in Ukraine, then studied in Tashkent, and worked in Turkmen SSR.

Scientific activities His main areas of scientific research were selection and seed production of cotton. He revealed the patterns of hereditary change of cotton plants in remote hybridization and developed methods to accelerate the selection process. For the first time in the USSR, he bred varieties of cotton with naturally dyed fiber, which was a strategic raw material during the German-Soviet war (camouflage made of natural brown and green cotton was not recognizable from the air). He created valuable varieties of fine-fibrous cotton.