Sysin Alexey Nikolaevich (17 October 1879, Nizhny Novgorod Region — 20 June 1956, Moscow) was a Russian and Soviet hygienist physician, professor, academician of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences (1944), Honored Scientist, and one of the main organizers of the sanitary-epidemiological service in the USSR. A native of Nizhny Novgorod, he was connected with the city and the governorate at the start of his professional career.[1][4]

Education and Early Career

Sysin graduated from the medical faculty of Moscow University in 1908.[4] In the years preceding the revolution, he worked as a zemstvo physician and conducted research in sanitation: in 1910 his works "Water Supply in the Nizhny Novgorod Governorate" and "On the Question of Water Supply in the Settlement of Yuzovka" were published, and in 1912 — "Medical-Sanitary Institutions of the Major Cities of Europe" (based on materials from a trip abroad). At the same time, he took part in preparing medical and sanitary measures to help refugees and dealt with disinfection problems under wartime conditions.[1]

Scientific and Organizational Activity

After 1917, Sysin focused on building the Soviet sanitary-epidemiological system. In 1919–1922 he published a series of mass-circulation pamphlets on typhus and methods of combating it — the publications were distributed across the entire front of the Civil War and were reprinted several times both by the People's Commissariat of Health and by military-political structures.[1] In 1917, as a speaker at the 7th Congress of the All-Russian Union of Cities, he formulated the tasks of protecting the health of the urban population.[1]

At Moscow University, Sysin held the position of professor of the Department of Hygiene (with subsections in epidemiology, medical statistics, and veterinary police) from 1922 to 1924, and then professor of the Department of Experimental Hygiene and director of the Hygiene Institute of the medical faculty.[4] From 1944 to 1956, he headed the Institute of General and Communal Hygiene of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences — an institution created with his direct participation.[4][3]

Awards and Recognition

Sysin was awarded the Order of Lenin and the Order of the Red Banner of Labour, as well as the title of Honored Scientist. In 1944 he was elected academician of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences.[4] The Institute of General and Communal Hygiene in Moscow, which he headed until the end of his life, carefully preserves his memory: staff have tended the scientist's grave for decades.[3]

Connection to Nizhny Novgorod

Sysin was born in Nizhny Novgorod, and in the pre-revolutionary years he published works devoted directly to Nizhny Novgorod sanitary issues — above all, the state of water supply in the governorate.[1] In 2019, on the 140th anniversary of the scientist's birth, staff of the institute he had headed contacted the State Archive of the Nizhny Novgorod Region requesting help in searching for documents about the Sysin family.[3]

Sources

  1. ru.wikisource.org — Author:Alexey Nikolaevich Sysin — Wikisource
  2. letopis.msu.ru — Sysin Alexey Nikolaevich — Chronicle of Moscow University (archive)
  3. forum.vgd.ru — Blank page — Alexey Nikolaevich Sysin — VGD Genealogical Forum. Topic… (archive)
  4. behance.net — Alexey Shibanov — UI/UX in Russian Federation (archive)