Maya Borisovna Shternberg
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| Maya Borisovna Shternberg | |
|---|---|
| Born | 24 June 1920 Kharkiv, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic |
| 💀Died | 22 February 2016 (95 years old) New York City, United States22 February 2016 (95 years old) |
| 🏳️ Citizenship | USSR, United States |
| 🎓 Alma mater | Moscow State University |
| 💼 Occupation | |
Maya Borisovna Shternberg (aka Maya Shternberg; married name: Maya Kossman; October 24, 1920, Kharkiv, Ukrainian SSR - February 22, 2016, New York, United States) was a Soviet and American botanist, plant physiologist; translator, and science editor (after the August session of the VASKhNIL).
Biography[edit]
Born on June 24, 1920, in Kharkiv. Moved with her family to Moscow at age 4.[1]
Plant physiologist, a follower of Dmitry Sabinin, she was expelled from her job at the Moscow State University during the Lysenkovshchina. Like Y. L. Tselniker,[2] she managed to defend her Ph.D. thesis on the eve of the August session of VASKHNIL, in June 1948.
"She was engaged in the study of the physiology of an important crop – Aleurites; she was also to be involved in promising research of the activity of synthetic plant hormones, and was expelled from the Department of Plant Physiology of Moscow State University "in order to strengthen the department" immediately after the August session of VASKHNIL whence Lysenkovshchina was allowed to rule Soviet genetics and biology. After her dismissal, she earned a living by translating and editing scientific books, and only in 1952 was she able to find a permanent job at the newly created VINITI, a science institute that became a shelter for many leading scientists expelled from their jobs as a result of various "sessions" analogous to the VASKhNIL session.”[3]
In 1955 she signed the "Letter of Three Hundred", which was instrumental in Lysenko's resignation as president of VASHNIL.[4]
She translated and/or edited many monographs which were crucial for the development of Soviet science, e.g., P. R. White’s “A Handbook of Plant Tissue Cultures,” E. Bünning's "The Physiological Clock," Davidson’s “The Biochemistry of Nucleic Acids,” C. Villee's “Biology textbook”.[5]
She lived and worked in Moscow until 1972. She emigrated from the Soviet Union with her husband and two children in 1972. After spending a year (1972-1973) in Israel, she moved to the United States (1973), first to Cleveland, Ohio, and then to New York City (1974). In the US, she worked as an editor of scientific publications at Academic Press.
Family[edit]
Maya's father, Boris Akimovich Shternberg (1886-1937), a former member of the "Bund," head of the Mossovet Water and Sewage Administration, was arrested and shot in 1937 as an "enemy of the people". He was buried in Kommunarka,[6] a mass burial site for victims of Stalin’s regime, on the outskirts of Moscow.
After her father was shot, her mother, Yevgenia Yakovlevna Shternberg (Kokel) (1888-1970),[7] a microbiologist by profession, was arrested on January 20, 1938, and sentenced to a term in a penal labor camp as a "family member of an enemy of the people." During the Holocaust, her grandmother Rosa Kokel and many other members of her family perished in Rivne. Maya was evacuated to Kzyl-Orda, Kazakhstan, at the beginning of the war and returned to Moscow in 1944.
Her husband, Leonid Kossman, was a journalist, philologist, linguist, and author of textbooks on German phraseology, English usage, and grammar for Russian speakers, having first emigrated from revolutionary Russia at an early age (in 1918). In 1941, he managed to flee Latvia three days before Hitler's army occupied Riga. All of his remaining family members, including his wife (Teresa Yakoby) and mother (Ruth Brenson), perished in the Holocaust in Riga.
Son: Michael Kossman - poet, prose writer, translator of poetry, and literary critic
Daughter: Nina Kossman - poet, prose writer, artist, translator of poetry, and editor.
Memorial[edit]
In October 2022, a plaque commemorating the victims of the Lysenkovshina was installed at the Biology Department of Moscow State University. Among other names on it, are the names of Maya Borisovna Shternberg and her teacher, Dmitry Sabinin.
Selected scientific publications[edit]
- M. Shternberg “The Possible Participation of Growth Stimulants and Nucleic Acids in the Mechanism of the Action of Phytochrome” [in Google Books]
- M. Shternberg "Peculiarities of morphogenetic processes of plagiotropic shoots" (Reports of the AS USSR,1951,#3,507) / М. Б. Штернберг «Особенности морфогенетических процессов плагиотропных побегов» (Доклады АН СССР,1951,#3,507)[8]
- M. Shternberg "Crown structure of monopodial and sympodial trees-Bulletin of the Moscow Society of Scientific Researchers"-M. 1953,#1,63 / Штернберг М. Б. «Структура кроны моноподиальных и симподиальных деревьев —Бюллетень Московского общества научных исследователей» — М. 1953, #1, 63
- M. Shternberg "The influence of the orientation of the embryonic leaf of a plagiotropic shoot on the growth of the leaf plate" (Botanical Journal [of the USSR], 1956, 61, #3, 51 / Штернберг М. Б. «Влияние ориентации эмбрионального листа плагиотропного побега на рост листовой пластинки» (Ботанический журнал [СССР], 1956, 61, № 3, 51
- M. Shternberg "Peculiarities of the physiology of plagiotropic shoots of fruit trees" - Botanical Journal [of the USSR], 1957, 42 No. 7, 1079 / Штернберг М. Б. «Особенности физиологии плагиотропных побегов плодовых деревьев» — Ботанический журнал [СССР], 1957, 42 № 7, 1079
- M. Shternberg "On the correlative inhibition of plant growth" - Botanical Journal [of the USSR] 1963, 48 - 273 / Штернберг М. Б. «О корреляционном ингибировании роста растений» — Ботанический журнал [СССР] 1963, 48 — 273
- M. Shternberg, "Biochemistry and Physiology of Plants"-Guidelines for abstracting scientific literature on botany, plant physiology, plant breeding, forestry, soil science, and agrochemistry - M. 1964 / Штернберг М. Б. "Биохимия и физиология растений´- Руководство к реферированию научной литературы по ботанике, физиологии растений, растениеводству, лесоводству, почвоведению и агрохимии — М. 1964
- M. Shternberg "On the possible involvement of growth substances and nucleic acids in the mechanism of action of phytochrome" in Plant Growth Regulators and Nucleic Exchange), Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Moscow: Nauka Publishing House, 1965. / Штернберг М. Б. «О возможном участии ростовых веществ и нуклеиновых кислот в механизме действия фитохрома» в "Регуляторы роста растений и нуклеиновый обмен) Академия Наук СССР. Москва: Издательство Наука, 1965 г.
- M. Shternberg, "The Modern Development of D. Sabinin's Ideas on Plant Growth Rhythms" (Izvestia of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Biology Series, 1971, no. 6, 850)[9] / Штернберг М. Б. «Современное развитие идей Д. Сабинина о ритмах роста растений» (Известия АН СССР, серия биология, 1971, № 6, 850)[9]
Selected scientific translations/books[edit]
- Philip R. White, A Handbook of Plant Tissue Cultures. - Translated from English by Maya Shternberg. Moscow, Foreign Literature Publishing, 1949.
- M.C. Rayner, W. Neilson-Jones. The role of mycorrhizae in tree nutrition. Translated from English by Maya Shternberg. M. IL. - 1949. 236 pp.[10]
- W. Crocker. Growth of Plants - Moscow: Publishers of Foreign Literature. 1950. 359 pp. Translated by Maya Shternberg.[11]
- E. Bünning, Ritmy fiziologicheskih processov ("The Physiological Clock") Translated from German by Maya Sternberg. – Moscow: Foreign Literature Publishing, 1961.
- J. N. Davidson, The Biochemistry of Nucleic Acids – Moscow, Publishing House "Mir", 1952 [1st edition], 1968 [5th edition]
- C. Villee, Biology (Plants), Moscow - Mir Publishing House, 1968. Co-translated by Maya Shternberg
- English-Russian Biological Dictionary: Plant Physiology. - M. 1963 Academy of Sciences "Nauka", Moscow - Big Soviet Encyclopedia (section "Biology")
References[edit]
- ↑ "Maya Shternberg (Maya Kossman) 1920-2016". ninakossman. Retrieved 2022-12-29.
- ↑ "Юдифь Львовна Цельникер. Воспоминания". modernproblems.org.ru.
- ↑ "Ценность научной истины: локальная история — Троицкий вариант — Наука". trv-science.ru. Retrieved 2022-12-29.
- ↑ "The 50th Anniversary of the Letter of Three Hundred // Vestnik VOGI, 2005" (PDF).
- ↑ "Антикварная книга "Биология" Вилли К 1968, - купить в книжном интернет-магазине «Москва»". www.moscowbooks.ru.
- ↑ "Штернберг Борис Акимович (1886)". Открытый список.
- ↑ "Штернберг (Кокель) Евгения Яковлевна". Бессмертный барак.
- ↑ Shternberg, M. B. (March 21, 1951). "[Peculiarities of formative processes in inclined branches]". Doklady Akademii Nauk SSSR. 77 (3): 507–510. PMID 14822833 – via PubMed.
- ↑ "Google Scholar". scholar.google.com.
- ↑ "Рейнер, М. - Авторы - Книги - Базы данных - БГТУ". catalog.belstu.by.
- ↑ Крокер, Вильям; Штернберг, М. Б.; Туманов, И. И. (January 8, 1950). Рост растений. Изд-во иностр. лит – via Российская Государственная Библиотека. Search this book on
External links[edit]
- “Oral history”(Устная история)
- Judith L. Tselniker. “Reminiscences”
- "The Value of Scientific Truth"
- List of Selected Publications
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