Stepan Ivanovich Vanin was born in the village Tokarevo, Riazan province, Russia, on 30 December 1890 in the family of a peasant. In 1910 he finished Kasimov Mechnical and Technical College and entered St Petersburg Forestry Institute. In 1915 he graduated from the Institute as first-class scientist-silviculturist. In 1914 S.I. Vanin wrote his first scientific work. In 1915-1917 he worked under the direction of A.S. Bondartsev at the Phytopathological Station of St Petersburg Botanical Garden as a trainee. In 1917 the Council of the St Petersburg Forestry Institute assigned him to the position of scholar of higher salary for the preparation to Professor's degree. In 1919, still remaining at the Institute, S.I. Vanin worked for some time at the Main Botanical Garden as an assistant of the head of the Central Phytopathological Station.

In March 1919, S.I. Vanin moved to Voronezh Agricultural Institute, where he worked till 1922 as professor assistant on forestry and simultaneously gave the course on agricultural and forest phytopathology.

In 1922 he transferred to Leningrad and began to work at the Forestry Institute (later Forestry Engineering Academy). He successively held the positions from junior teaching staff to Professor. Since 1947 he headed the Chair of Plant Pathology.

During the Great Patriotic war S.I. Vanin was in evacuation in Sverdlovsk, where he continued to work as Professor and headed the Chair of Plant Pathology.

Since 1922 S.I. Vanin combined work at the Forestry Institute (later Forestry Engineering Academy) with work at other Leningrad research institutes and higher educational institutions (Institute of Plant Protection, Institute of Applied Zoology and Phytopathology, Leningrad Agricultural Institute etc).

S.I. Vanin took part in numerous scientific expeditions. In 1925 he headed the expedition in order to inspect infectiousness of Murman forest by fungal agents. Materials collected during this expedition are stored at the Institute of Plant Protection. In 1926 and 1927 he investigated drying of Buzuluk Coniferous Forest of Samara province. Materials collected during this expedition underlay the work "The main fungal diseases of Buzuluk Coniferous Forest of Samara province". Moreover, as consultant S.I. Vanin took part in expeditions, organized by Forestry Engineering Academy (the Caucasus expedition) and by the Forestry Institute (Altai and Chita expeditions etc).

S.I. Vanin was a silviculturist and plant pathologist. In this essay his activity as phytopathologist is analyzed.

S.I. Vanin wrote more then 140 works, including textbooks, manuals and monographs. In 1935 S.I. Vanin was conferred the degree of Doctor of Agricultural Sciences without defence of dissertation. S.I. Vanin contributed much into development of forest phytopathology. The long-term scientific work resulted in composition of the first original Russian textbook on forest plant pathology, and also in publishing monograph, devoted to fungal diseases of wood species (wood rot, diseases of seedlings etc) and techniques of their investigation. The great importance of Vanin's experimental works on wood-attacking and painting fungi is doubtless. Many of his works on forest plant pathology were translated in English by Medisson Laboratory (USA) and are used by foreign specialists in their practical work.

This page is a short synopsis of the article from "Russian botanists" (botanists of Russia - USSR). Biographic-Bibliographic Dictionary. Moscow: Moscow Society of Naturalists, Volume II. - 19....., pp. 31-34.

Kirk & Ansell form of name: Vanin.