M. I. Ravich-Shcherbo, the founder of the scientific School of biological chemistry in Kursk

The article is devoted to scientific and teaching activities of the Soviet biochemist M. I. Ravich-Shcherbo whose scientific career was largely spent in Kursk. The results of his studies into the development of ways to control malaria, carried out jointly with I. A. Smorodintsev and A. N. Adova during their work at the Tropical Institute of the RSFSR Peopleʼs Commissariat of Public Health (Narkomzdrav) in the 1920s and 1930s, and his research aimed at reducing the incidence of syphilis, conducted at the V. M. Bronner State Institute for Venereal Diseases in the 1930s – 1950s, are analyzed. His contribution to the development of wound healing and radiopaque contrast agents during World War II is also shown. Particular attention is given to the results of the studies into the mechanisms of biosynthesis of antibodies, gamma-globulin metabolism, and the ways to regulate these processes, carried out by Ravich-Shcherbo’s postgraduate and postdoctoral students in the 1950s – 1970s. The article also sheds light on the history of the scientific school of biological chemistry that became established at the Kursk Medical Institute.