Sergei Nikolayevich Winogradsky

(1 Sep 1856_1953)

Russian microbiologist who helped to establish bacteriology as a major biological science. He was first to isolate the bacteria responsible for nitrification and nitrogen fixation by soil bacteria (1890). Winogradsky also studied bacteria that recycle other vital elements for use by other organisms - including ‘iron bacteria’, and those which metabolize sulfur (1887-9) - deriving metabolic energy from inorganic nutrients. Previously, only organic substrates were considered suitable for microbes. The "Winogradsky column" is still used as an enrichment culture that simulates the muddy habitat of an oxygenic photosynthetic bacteria.

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