Nikolai Drozdov - traveler, presenter, biologist

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Who is still the constant host of the program "In the Animal World", which has been broadcast on domestic television since 1968? Who made two trips around the world and was directly involved in a hundred expeditions? Who wrote 20 books and over two hundred articles? Who works as one of the advisers to the UN Secretary-General on environmental issues? Well, dear readers, can you name this person? Of course, this is an intellectual and erudite, a popular favorite Nikolai Drozdov.

Birth of a legend

On June 20, 1937, a handsome boy was born in the family of Professor of the Department of Organic Chemistry Nikolai Sergeevich Drozdov and therapist Nadezhda Pavlovna Dreyling.

From childhood, he absorbed the tender attention and reverent love of his parents for the environment, even kept a diary in which he made all entries in Latin. With dad little Kolya oftencollected a herbarium, learned to make geoexcavations. It was thanks to his father that he learned to observe the natural, as it happens in nature, the behavior of various wild animals and birds.

Family family tree

Nikolai Drozdov inherited numerous positive qualities from his ancestors. This is nobility and kindness, an ardent heart and an endless craving for all living things, an inquisitive mind and he alth.

Genealogical roots of the genus can be called unique. From the side of his father, who was fluent in several languages (Greek, Latin, English, German), studied botany, paleontology and astronomy, the path leads to the highest strata of the Russian clergy. Metropolitan of Moscow Filaret was his great-great-grandfather. On the mother's line, the ancestors are nobles (great-great-grandfather participated in the Battle of Borodino, side by side with Kutuzov managed to get to Paris, an order bearer).

Biogeography is my calling

The fact that Nikolai Nikolayevich learned the world from childhood and devoted a huge amount of time to nature, and served as an impetus for his future, being the determining factor in choosing a profession. The whole family was sure that Kolya's profession must certainly be connected with nature. After all, being a student of a comprehensive school, every summer during the holidays he worked as a herdsman at a stud farm near Moscow.

After graduating from school, the future doctor of biological sciences becomes a student of the biological faculty of Moscow State University named after M. V. Lomonosov. But two years later, having decided to prove that he can earnmoney on his own, he went to work at a garment factory, where he eventually received the position of a tailor for men's clothing. But in his heart he felt some kind of discomfort, so he returned to his studies. Nikolai not only brilliantly graduated from the university, but also studied there in graduate school and defended his Ph. D. thesis in biogeography. He devoted his whole life to biological research.

By the way, Nikolai Drozdov lectures to students to this day, even being at such a respectable age and being an assistant professor at the Department of Biogeography.

In the Animal World

It's 1968. It was marked by the fact that Nikolai Drozdov took part in the popular television program as a speaker. "In the world of animals" - this was the name of this program, gathering hundreds of thousands of viewers at the TV screens. At first, he combined the positions of co-host (together with Alexander Zguridi) and scientific consultant for films about animals. Only nine years have passed, and Nikolai Nikolayevich became the author and host of the program.

This program has been on the air for several decades, enabling viewers sitting at the screens to enjoy overseas countries, the diversity of flora and fauna of different continents. Did Nikolai Drozdov invite scientists and travelers to visit? nature conservation activists. These were Thor Heyerdahl, Gerald Durrell, Jacques-Yves Cousteau, John Sparks. In 1995, the program was awarded the TEFI prize in the category of the best educational program.

Happiness is family

It is not for nothing that it is believed that if a personsuccessful and happy, this extends to everything he touches, whatever he does, whatever he thinks. All this is confirmed by Nikolai Drozdov. The biography of this surprisingly kind and sensitive, intelligent and hardy man would not be complete if she, Tatyana Petrovna Drozdova, had not appeared in his life. She is a teacher of biology at the Palace of Creativity for Children and Youth. In an interview, Nikolai Nikolaevich said that if his fate had not included his girls - his wife and two daughters (Nadezhda is a biologist, and Elena is a veterinarian), it would be just existence. He often recalls with special tenderness their chance acquaintance in the elevator. As it turned out later, they lived in the same house, only on different floors.

When a free minute is issued, Nikolai Drozdov, the host of one of the most beloved programs on Channel One, spends it with his living creatures. Among his favorites are scorpions, snakes, spiders. He has not eaten meat for many years. He rides with pleasure (he respects horses and tries to communicate with them as often as possible), swims in an ice-hole, practices yoga, skiing. He likes to play the guitar and sing romances and bard songs in different languages.