Biologists and Paleontologists
- "'M. Blagorazumova", original discoverer of LDL and HDL's roles in atherosclerotic plaque formation
- Johann Friedrich Adam, discoverer of the Adams mammoth, the first complete woolly mammoth skeleton
- Karl Baer, naturalist, founder of the Russian Entomological Society, formulated embryological Baer's laws
- Jacques von Bedriaga, prominent herpetologist, described Bedriaga's Rock Lizard and Bedriaga's Skink
- Dmitry Belyaev, domesticated silver fox
- Lev Berg, ichthyologist of Central Asia and European Russia
- Nikolai Bernstein, neurophysiologist, coined the term biomechanics
- Andrey Bolotov, major 18th century agriculturist, discovered dichogamy, pioneered cross-pollination
- August von Bongard, botanist of Alaska, discoverer of Sitka Spruce and Red Alder
- Alexander Bunge, major botanist of Siberia (especially Altai)
- Mikhail Chailakhyan, researcher of flowering, described the florigen hormone
- Sergei Chetverikov, pioneer of modern evolutionary synthesis
- Alexander Chizhevsky, founder of heliobiology and modern air ionification
- Eduard Eversmann, biologist and explorer, pioneer researcher of flora and fauna of southern Russia
- Andrey Famintsyn, plant physiologist, inventor of grow lamp, developer of symbiogenesis theory
- Yuri Filipchenko, entomologist, coined the terms microevolution and macroevolution
- Nikolay Gamaleya, microbiologist and pioneer of Russian vaccine research
- Johann Georg Gmelin, the first researcher of Siberian flora
- Grigory Grumm-Grzhimaylo, zoologist and geographer, obtained two Przewalski's Horses and more than 1000 bird specimens from his travels in Central Asia
- Alexander Gurwitsch, originated the morphogenetic field theory and discovered the biophoton
- Ilya Ivanov, researcher of artificial insemination and the interspecific hybridization of animals, involved in controversial attempts to create a human-ape hybrid
- Dmitry Ivanovsky, discoverer of viruses
- Georgii Karpechenko, inventor of rabbage (the first ever non-sterile hybrid obtained through crossbreeding)
- Nikolai Koltsov, discoverer of cytoskeleton
- Vladimir Komarov, plant geographer, President of the Soviet Academy of Sciences, founder of the Komarov Botanical Institute
- Alexander Kovalevsky, embryologist, major researcher of gastrulation
- Trofim Lysenko, agronomist, developer of yarovization, infamous for lysenkoism
- Evgeny Maleev, discoverer of Talarurus, Tarbosaurus, and Therizinosaurus
- Carl Maximowicz, pioneer researcher of the Far Eastern flora
- Ilya Mechnikov, pioneer researcher of immune system, probiotics and phagocytosis, coined the term gerontology, Nobel Prize in Medicine winner
- Mikhail Menzbier, major ornithologist, discoverer of the Menzbier's Marmot
- Konstantin Merezhkovsky, major lichenologist, developer of symbiogenesis theory, a founder of endosymbiosis theory
- Ivan Michurin, pomologist, selectionist and geneticist, practiced crossing of geographically distant plants, created hundreds of fruit cultivars
- Alexander Middendorf, zoologist and explorer, studied the influence of permafrost on living beings, coined the term radula, prominent horse breeder
- Victor Motschulsky, prominent coleopterologist (researcher of beetles)
- Sergei Navashin, discovered double fertilization
- Alexey Olovnikov, predicted existence of Telomerase, suggested the Telomere hypothesis of aging and the Telomere relations to cancer
- Aleksandr Oparin, biologist and biochemist, proposed the famous "Primordial soup" theory of life origin, showed that many food production processes are based on biocatalysis
- Heinz Christian Pander, embryologist, discoverer of germ layers
- Peter Simon Pallas, polymath naturalist and explorer, discoverer of multiple animals, including the Pallas's cat, Pallas's Squirrel, and Pallas's Gull
- Ivan Pavlov, founder of modern physiology, the first to research classical conditioning, Nobel Prize in Medicine winner
- Vladimir Pravdich-Neminsky, published the first EEG and the evoked potential of the mammalian brain
- Nikolai Przhevalsky, explorer and naturalist, brought vast collections from Central Asia, discovered the only extant species of wild horse
- Anatoly Rozhdestvensky, discoverer of Aralosaurus and Probactrosaurus
- Ivan Schmalhausen, developer of modern evolutionary synthesis
- Leopold von Schrenck, ethnographer, zoologist, discovered the Amur sturgeon, Manchurian Black Water Snake and Schrenck's Bittern
- Boris Schwanwitsch, entomologist, applied colour patterns of insect wings to military camouflage during World War II
- Ivan Sechenov, founder of electrophysiology and neurophysiology
- Georg Wilhelm Steller, naturalist, participant of Vitus Bering's voyages, discoverer of Steller's Jay, Steller's Eider, extinct Steller's Sea Cow and multiple other animals
- Lina Stern, pioneer researcher of blood–brain barrier
- Armen Takhtajan, developer of Takhtajan system of flowering plant classification, major biogeographer
- Kliment Timiryazev, plant physiologist and evolutionist, major researcher of chlorophyll
- Nikolai Timofeeff-Ressovsky, major researcher of radiation genetics, population genetics, and microevolution
- Lev Tsenkovsky, pioneer researcher of the ontogenesis of lower plants and animals
- Mikhail Tsvet, inventor of chromatography
- Nikolai Vavilov, botanist and geneticist, gathered the world's largest collection of plant seeds, identified the centres of origin of main cultivated plants
- Mikhail Voronin, major researcher of fungi and plant pathology
- Sergey Vinogradsky, microbiologist, ecologist, and soil scientist, pioneered the biogeochemical cycle concept, discovered lithotrophy and chemosynthesis, invented the Winogradsky column for breeding of microorganisms
- Ivan Yefremov, paleontologist, sci-fi author, founded taphonomy
- Sergey Zimov, creator of the Pleistocene Park
Read more about this topic: List Of Russian Scientists