The heritage of Ukrainian Soil Scientists and its Significance for Global Food Security Revivified

We review important contributions of Ukrainian soil scientists that were ignored by Russian imperial and Soviet regimes. Pride of place belongs to Kharkiv Professors Nykyfor Borysiak and Ivan Levakovskyi who studied and published a theory of chernozem soils decades before Vasily Dokuchaev’s acclaimed Russkiy chernozem. Before the Second World War, soil science in western Ukraine also produced a constellation of scholars who later formed the Polish school of soil science, including Arkadiusz Musierowicz and Bohdan Dobrzanski. And Hryhorii Andrushchenko, humiliated by the Soviet authorities and denied certification by the Higher Attestation Commission of the Soviet Union, nevertheless spearheaded historically significant, large-scale soil surveys and the first soil maps of Ukraine. His compatriots N. Vernander and H. Hryn remain overshadowed to this day. Every Ukrainian soil scientist mentioned here, and others not yet mentioned, made a substantial contribution to national science with discoveries, theories and technologies; often founding new schools and scientific directions. Their achievements are still germane, serving as a foundation for the further development of specialized fields. Ukrainian science remains robust under military aggression and with scant research funding; and many countries currently engage Ukrainian scientists within their own research communities.