Bio-oceanologist, DSc (Biological sciences) (1940), Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1958), State Prize Laureate (1951), Lomonosov Prize Laureate (1965), one of the founders of the Institute Deputy Director (1946-1961), Head of the Plankton Laboratory (1961-1971).
He was born in a family of employees. In 1920, as a student of the 9th grade of the school, he entered preparatory courses at the First Moscow University, which he graduated in 1926. As a student, he participated in "Perseus" voyages in the Barents Sea, and then, becoming a graduate student of Plavmornin, in the Kara Sea. At the end of graduate school he was enrolled in the staff of the GOIN. In 1930 he was sent for an internship in England, where he worked at a biostation in Plymouth, and in 1933 he took the post of head of the Fish Nutrition Laboratory at VNIRO. In 1934, at the invitation of Professor V.Yu. Wiese he worked in the Arctic at the "F. Litke" icebreaker and in a high-latitude expedition to the "Sadko" LP, where he developed the study of biological seasons in the polar seas and laid the foundations for the biological justification of ice forecasts.
In 1940 he defended his doctoral dissertation on the topic "Biological seasons in the plankton of the polar seas." In the same year, at the Department of Geological and Geographical Sciences of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, the Oceanology Laboratory was created, with P.P. Shirshov, and his deputy - V.G. Bogorov. In 1946, this laboratory was transformed into the Institute of Oceanology.
While working at the Institute of Oceanology, his talent fully developed both as a scientist and as a leader. He headed the first few Vityaz voyages to the Far Eastern Seas, and then his large ocean voyages to the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
In 1958 he was elected a corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
An outstanding bio-oceanologist, one of the founders of the Institute of Oceanology and the first ocean research vessel Vityaz.
The author of the concept of biological seasonality in plankton of various latitudes; one of the founders of the doctrine of the biological structure of the ocean; the author of maps of the distribution of plankton biomass in the oceans, who identified bioproductive zones in its various regions and did a lot to understand the role of plankton in the biological transformation of ocean ecosystems.
The main interest in the last two decades of his life is the general problems of marine planktonology and the biology of the sea as a whole.
Among other topics, in his scientific works he covered the problems of biogeographic zoning of the pelagic zone along plankton; plankton-based separation of water masses using indicator species. He also highlighted the relationship between the climatic zonality of our planet and the patterns of plankton distribution in the oceans.
He paid special attention to the problem of biological productivity of the oceans and the rational use of biological resources of the ocean by man.
Bogorov was engaged in the study of marine and oceanic plankton (in particular, the North Seas), the biological productivity of the ocean, and its geographical zonality. When studying the ocean depths, he discovered the existence of a water exchange to the very bottom of the deepest oceanic depressions, which proved the danger of using depressions for the disposal of radioactive waste. Together with L.A. Zenkevich, he developed the doctrine of the biological structure of the ocean (1959) and its biological zoning. In a number of his recent works, he specifically discussed the role of plankton in the transformation of matter and energy in the ocean, and also applied the doctrine of biocenosis to explain the evolution of the ocean as a biological system.
He considered the general principles of sea biology and the problem of the unity of the nature of the ocean in a philosophical aspect.
He was the author of over 200 publications.
He was the chief editor of the journal “Oceanology”, a member of the Bureau of the Oceanographic Commission, chairman of the section “Biological problems of the ocean” of the Scientific Council on problems of hydrobiology and ichthyology, and vice-president of the All-Union Hydrobiological Society. He participated in many international congresses, was an expert of the International Council for the Study of the Seas, a member of the USSR government delegations on fisheries research of the Pacific Ocean, a member of the Soviet delegation at the UN conference in Geneva on the resources of less developed countries.
V.G. Bogorov was a member of the Scientific Council “The Study of Oceans and Seas and the Use of Their Resources” and a member of the editorial boards of the seven-volume monograph “The Pacific Ocean” and “Atlas of the Oceans”.
He received 19 patents for inventions. He invented and constructed a number of witty instruments and fishing gear, widely used in the practice of oceanological research in our country and abroad (“Bogorov’s chamber”, “Bogorov’s glass”, “Bogorov’s plank collector”, etc.).
Active popularizer of science. He acted as a public correspondent on many expeditions, published in central newspapers with popular articles, invented children's games, organized exhibitions in the homes of pioneers and schoolchildren, delivered publicizing lectures for the population, and the author of many popular science articles and books. He was a scientific consultant to the first large popular science films in our country, in particular, “In the Ice of the Ocean”, “Enchanted Islands”.
His work was marked by high government awards: the Order of Lenin (1953), the Order of the Red Star (1934), twice - the Order of the Red Banner of Labor (1945, 1964), and medals. In 1951, he was awarded the USSR State Prize for oceanological research at Vityaz.
