Visits made by Soviet plant breeders to France during the interwar period (1919-1939)

This article reviews the visits of Soviet plant breeders to France and how these visits helped in establishing a scientific network between Soviet and French scientists, as exemplified by the visits of D.N. Pryanishnikov, E.E. Kern, K.A. Flaksberger, P.M. Zhukovsky, and N.N. Kuleshov.
The author emphasizes that scientific relations between Soviet and French researchers were mostly established before the Russian Revolution, during numerous internships of Russian scientists in Europe.
During the interwar period, the interest in French science increased, which was associated not only with political reasons but also with a change in epistemological models.
In the 1920s, French science was rapidly recovering from the devastation caused by World War I, while those French researchers who had previously collaborated with their Soviet colleagues stayed in contact with them.
Except for Pryanishnikov’s 1923 visit before the de jure recognition of the USSR by France, the visits of Soviet plant breeders to France proved mostly fruitful, even though they were marred by numerous administrative difficulties such as visa requirements, funding constraints, and limited duration of the visits.
Thus, the visits of Soviet plant breeders to France not only enabled the building of individual contacts between scientists but also the setting up of a cross-institutional network.

EHC2024: International Symposium on the History of Horticulture in Europe

E.S. Khablova

Soviet agronomy, international scientific cooperation, Soviet scientists’ missions, French scientists, interbellum

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2025.1438.55