Biography of G. N. Petrov (1926-1997) according to the memories of his daughter (Valentina Grigorievna Petrova).

G. N. Petrov was born on January 14, 1926 at Chaushi village, Radishchevsky district of Kuibyshev region. His father was Petrov Nikolay Fedorovich; his mother was Petrova Mariya Prokofievna.

In 1929, his father died of typhoid fever and was brought up by the mother from the age of three.

In 1932 in connection with a severe famine, his mother was forced to move to Nizhny Novgorod (Gorky) with him and the youngest daughter Valentina. She worked as a laborer at the ‘Neftegaz’ plant during the year.

In 1933, the family returned to the village to work on the collective farm. They lived half-starving: for 3 months 1. 5 l of sunflower oil and 1. 5 kg of flour were allocated for everyone. They newly moved to Nizhny Novgorod and his mother worked as a laundress. The family was needy and lived in hard conditions: occupied a corner in the barracks, in a room for 6 families. They had only a table, a bed and a chest from the furniture.

In 1936, Maria Prokofievna re-married. The new husband set her condition: one child would return to the village.

Grigory returned to the village and was brought up by his grandmother Elena Nikolaevna. In consequence, he often spoke with warmth and love about her. In the same year, he went to school. He was an excellent student and showed an active interest in studies despite the fact that he passed education with interruptions.

In 1941, Grigory graduated from the 4th grade of the general education school and then he graduated from the vocational school and received a specialty of a turner. He worked as a turner at a machine-building plant and continued his education at the evening school.

In 1944, he received an incomplete secondary education. In the same year, he entered the Odessa Naval School of Feldsher. Because of the war, the Naval School was evacuated from Odessa to Krasnoyarsk at that time. For his excellent studies, he got the certificate from the external school about completing the general education school.

In 1944 the city was released (evacuation was ended) and he moved back to Odessa. The building of the school was destroyed. Repair and restoration work was carried out by the forces of cadets. At that time, they lived in " spartan" conditions: they lived in cold rooms, had to sleep together on the same bed and covered themselves with mattresses.

In 1947, Grigory Petrov graduated from the Naval School. After graduation, he was appointed the head of the medical-sanitary service for the destroyer " Gromkiy" in Arkhangelsk.

In the period from 1948 to 1953, he studied at the Arkhangelsk Medical Institute. He met his future wife – Doctor Serogodskaya Nina Anatolievna during the practice in the village Konosh in the Arkhangelsk region. They married in 1953.

In 1953, the newlyweds moved to the Crimea.

In 1954, G. N. Petrov graduated from the Crimean Medical Institute.

In the period from 1954 to 1957, he was a graduate student of the Crimean Medical Institute.

From 1957 to 1967, he worked as an assistant at the Department of Histology and Embryology of the Crimean Medical Institute.

In the period from 1967 to 1986 worked as an associate professor of the Department of Anatomy of the Crimean Medical Institute.

In 1986, he retired.

P. Khvatov set the task for the young post-graduate student Petrov: “To investigate the process of fertilization and crushing of ova outside the body in mammals, and if possible, in human”.

The main studies on mammals` in vitro fertilization were carried out in 1954. 1109 experiments were conducted: 120 in pigs, 9 in horses and 980 in rabbits. According to Petrov, in those years it was not difficult to get the rabbits’ germ cells. The rabbit factory was located in Simferopol where, at the request of the medical institute, he was allowed to come to the slaughterhouse and select biological material in sufficient quantities. “As for pigs, the results were successful, but it was easier to work with rabbits”. According to G. N. Petrov, it was difficult to work with horses: “Male cells were difficult to obtain, because stallions were almost not killed. I did some samples, but they did not get to the thesis”.

After successful studies in mammals, B. P. Khvatov charged with G. N. Petrov to investigate the process of fertilization of oocytes outside the human body. It was in 1955. A young post-graduate student went to the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology to Assistant Professor I. A. Brusilovsky for gynecological operations. Grigory Petrov told how the work was organized: “When operations were to be performed with removal of ovaries, I prepared (turned on) a thermostat, took a sterile solution, a crystallizer and sterile instruments, and went to the surgery. During the operation, I was given ovaries at a sterile napkin. I put them in a sterile solution. I ran quickly to the laboratory at the Department of Histology… If I succeeded, I received an ovum from the ovary. It was the most difficult process to get an ovum from the follicle. If I lost it in rabbits, so I had hundreds. It was not known when the next operation would be. It was difficult and frustrating to lose an ovum. However, I still got it. Then I ran back to gynecology, gave back the ovary, so they sent it for histological examination. So I worked…”.

Petrov told that made the “box for the oocytes’ cultivation; it was a container of water with double-wall and sleeved. There was a bulb hung at a certain distance from the microscope, and allowed to maintain the temperature of 37. 5 d. c. The microscope included a camera for filming. A drop of solution with an ovum and an added drop of diluted semen was put on a cover glass, which was placed on a slide with a recess. A hanging drop was directed into the recess. Next, I watched and took photos. ” “I did not think that I invented something. The box was like a box.

There department of biology was located near us. The Associate Professor worked on it. She was the former party organizer of the institute. She came and looked at my " box". At that time, many people came and looked at it. A month later, she published the work where she described the box as her invention for the lifetime study of cells. She was also researching cells at the Department of Biology”.

“One day he (G. N. Petrov) observed the process of fertilization in vitro during 29 hours, without going away. The observation log was completely marked with figures showing the development of " K-01" - Crimean " Pets" …” (source - the newspaper " Crimean Truth " from 10. 01. 1962, article " In the world of science" “NEAR THE ORIGINS OF LIFE" ). The semen for fertilization was handed over by the students of the medical institute, perhaps for credit.

The first reports of a young post-graduate student on the fertilization and fragmentation of an ovum in vitro appeared already in 1955. Attention was taken note to the abbreviation of those years in the titles of articles – “crushing of the human egg cell”, “crushing the human egg out of the body”. Generally, accepted terms have not yet been used in those articles. This suggests that at that time, there were no studies on this topic practically, so there was no well-defined terminology.

It was the article “Fertilization and the first stages of the human egg cleavage outside the body” (Archive of anatomy, histology and embryology V. XXXV, №1, 1958, p. 88-91) that aroused criticism of Pavel Grigorevich Svetlov, the embryologist, professor, and corresponding member of the Academy of Medicine Sciences of the USSR. In 1959, he published his review in the DISCUSSION section about the article had been written by G. N. Petrov (Archive of anatomy, histology and embryology V. XXXVI, № 3, 1959). P. G. Svetlov made his negative feedback based on three photographs presented in the article, which he did not consider an evidence of the fertilization of the human ovum. The post-graduate student Petrov G. N. probably had some errors. How often do we meet in the journals such discussions, when the corresponding member of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR, the professor opposes the post-graduate student? Is this not confirmation that the work of G. N. Petrov was from the category of innovative and interested in the scientist from Leningrad? It is unfortunate, P. G. Svetlov, either in a discussion article or in the future directly to Professor B. P. Khvatov, did not give him recommendations on the continuation of these studies in the Crimea. Moreover, this single review almost abolished the continuation of such research in the Crimean Medical Institute and the defense of the thesis by G. N. Petrov in the future. We could only assume why he did it this way, only after acquaintance with P. G. Svetlov biography (Photo № 9).

Photo № 9. Pavel Grigorevich Svetlov (1892-1976).

Embryologist, Professor, Corresponding Member of Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR, laureate of the State Prize. Head of the Laboratory of embryology at the All-Union Institute of Experimental Medicine. Scientific consultant at the Institute of Cytology Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR.