Tauson, Vladimir

Tauson, Vladimir Ottonovich 

Born Feb. 5 (17), 1894, in Riazan’; died Oct. 28,1946, in Moscow. Soviet microbiologist and plant physiologist.

Tauson graduated from Moscow University in 1924. He worked at the Institute of Microbiology from 1930 to 1938 and at the Institute of Plant Physiology of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR from 1938 to 1946. From 1932 to 1935 he taught at Moscow State University, where he became a professor in 1935. His main work was concerned with the geological activity of microorganisms and energetics of microbiological processes. He was the first to establish the ability of microorganisms to use paraffins (1924) and to oxidize phenanthrene (1929).

Tauson’s research on hydrocarbon-oxidizing microorganisms marked the beginning of the study of the microbiology of petroleum and laid the foundation for the microbiological treatment of sewage and the production of protein by microorganisms. Tauson advanced the theory of “exothermality” of the synthesis of cellular components in heterotrophic microorganisms. He studied the products of photosynthesis, emphasizing their qualitative differences.

Tauson was awarded the Order of the Badge of Honor and several medals.

WORKS

Osnovnye polozheniia raslitel’noi bioenergetiki. Moscow-Leningrad, 1950.