Orbeli L.A., (1882-1958), physiologist

Categories / Science. Education/Personalia
ORBELI Leon (Levon) Abgarovich (1882-1958), physiologist, member (1935) and vice-president (1942-46) of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, member of the Academy of Sciences of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic (1943), member of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR (1944), Hero of Socialist Labour (1945), colonel general of the medical service (1944). The brother of I.A. Orbeli. He came to St. Petersburg in 1899. Here he graduated from the Military Academy of Medicine in 1904. From 1907 to 1920 he worked at the Institute of Experimental Medicine. In 1911 he took on an office at the Military Academy of Medicine (the head of the academy from 1943 to 1950; the building of the academy bears a memorial plaque). Two years later he assumed the professorship at P.F. Lesgaft Higher Women's Courses (32 Angliisky Avenue; memorial plaque). From 1936 to 1950, he combined his multiple duties with those of the head of I.P. Pavlov Institute of Physiology of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (memorial plaque). His major research works dwell on the issues of evolutionary physiology, physiology of vegetative nervous system and physiology of senses. In 1941, he was awarded the Stalin Prize. Orbeli was buried at Bogoslovskoe cemetery. A monument to the scientist was set up in front of I.M. Sechenov Institute of Evolutionary Physiology and Biochemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 1969 (sculptor D.M. Epifanov). The house, where Orbeli lived from 1944 to 1958 (7 Karla Marxa Avenue, present-day Bolshoy Sampsonievsky Avenue), bears a memorial plaque. The name of the Orbeli brothers was given to a street (Orbeli Street, formerly Bolshaya Obyezdnaya Street).

References: Лейбсон Л. Г. Леон Абгарович Орбели. М., 1973; Л. А. Орбели в воспоминаниях современников. Л., 1983; Лейбсон Л. Г. Академик Л. А. Орбели: Неопубл. главы биографии. Л., 1990.

O. N. Ansberg. Epifanov Dmitry Mikhailovich
Lesgaft Peter Franzevich
Orbeli Iosif Abgarovich
Orbeli Leon (Levon) Abgarovich
Pavlov Ivan Petrovich
Sechenov Ivan Mikhailovich
Bolshoy Sampsonievsky Ave/Saint Petersburg, city, house 7
Orbeli St./Saint Petersburg, city
Лейбсон Л. Г. Леон Абгарович Орбели. М., 1973
Лейбсон Л. Г. Академик Л. А. Орбели: Неопубл. главы биогр. Л., 1990
Л. А. Орбели в воспоминаниях современников. Л., 1983 Russian Academy of Sciences
Army Medical Academy
Institute of Experimental Medicine
Lesgaft's Courses
Pavlov Institute of Physiology
Bogoslovskoe Cemetery