Vladimir Geptner

Vladimir Georgievich Geptner (or Heptner in English) (Russian: Владимир Георгиевич Гептнер; 22 June 1901 – 5 July 1975) was a Russian and Soviet zoologist who studied the mammals of the USSR and was a pioneer of biogeographic research.

His mother Valeria Augstinovna née Kovalevskaya was of German Polish origin from Krotoshin near Poznan.

He graduated in 1929 and became an assistant professor and helped teach the systematics of vertebrates.

On February 16, 1933, he and his wife Nina Sergeevna Rudneva were arrested on charges under Article 58-11 that they were participating in anti-Soviet activities and sentenced to three years of labour camp in Siblag.

[1][2] A major contribution was two volumes in the mammals of the Soviet Union series of publications.