WELL – KNOWN SCIENTIST-BIOLOGIST OF WORLD LEVEL (I. V. SMIRNOV)

The purpose of the article is to light up scientific approaches and technological solutions that provided IV Smirnov's experimentally establish property of mammalian sperm to preserve biological value and genetic information after freezing at temperatures below -200C, to obtain normal offspring from frozen sperm. Research methods: general scientific, retrospective, source studies. The discovery of I. V. Smirnov became the basis of the scientific and technological revolution in the field of breeding and improvement of farm animals, contributed to the development of a new direction of research in the theory and practice of animal breeding, genetic methods of bulls valuation by genotype. Long-term storage of deep-frozen gametes in liquid nitrogen ensured efficient use of valuable animals, regardless of the country where they are kept, and time of use, which significantly increased the efficiency of selection. Thanks to the discovery of I. V. Smirnov, large-scale genotypic selection was introduced in many countries of the world, which was initiated by O. V. Garkavy (1928) and O. O. Serebrovsky (1934). Due to extensive use of the world's best gene pool of specialized dairy breeds, in Ukraine have highly productive domestic breeds of dairy cattle been created: Ukrainian red-and-white, black-and-white, red and brown dairy. The genetic potential of these breeds in breeding plants is 9–10 thousand kg of milk from cows per year, and in the public sector – 6–7 thousand kg, which is 3–4 times higher than the original breeds on which they were created. The use of deep-frozen sperm and embryos has become global.   Modern methods of biotechnology, freezing of gametes of other species of animals and embryo transplantation, in vitro fertilization, transgenic engineering, organ transplantation in medicine, etc. are based on IV Smyrnov's discovery. The world's most difficult problem is the preservation of the gene pool of farm animals and the biological diversity of wild fauna, also solved by this discovery. At present, in the sperm and embryo repositories are genetic information of prominent offspring and queens and embryos of commercial and endangered populations stored. The great scientist was an excellent teacher. He gave brilliant lectures to students, livestock specialists, formed his own school, trained many candidates and doctors of sciences, 3,500 highly qualified specialists and more than two thousand laboratory technicians. With his theoretical developments and their practical implementation IV Smirnov initiated a new direction and methods of scientific research in the field of biology, organizational forms of selection and reproduction of animals, which acquired planetary significance and became an indispensable heritage of mankind. His scientific heritage is one of the greatest discoveries of the human mind and is the pride of domestic zootechnics.