The role of A. P. Ponomarevʼs investigations in the development of microbiology at Kazan University (1920s – 1930s)

The development of microbiology in the Russian Empire at the cusp of the 19th and 20th centuries was accompanied by the emergence of specialized scientific institutions involved in bacteriological studies. These were both standalone organizations and those that were part of the universities. Later on, departments of microbiology began to open in the USSR’s higher educational institutions and specialists began to be trained in this discipline. This article analyses the material on the history of non-medical microbiological research at Kazan University from the 1920s to the 1930s. It is shown that A. P. Ponomarev and his colleagues were the pioneers in geo-environmental microbiology. Their comprehensive studies were devoted to the role of microorganisms in the mechanisms of formation of therapeutic muds and were of both applied and theoretical significance.