Ivan Semenovych Kosenko – a person, scientist, and citizen

Abstract

Aim. To define the phenomenon of personal formation and reveal sources of creative energy, and scientific achievements of the Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor, Corresponding Member of NAS of Ukraine, the Honored Worker of Culture of Ukraine, Laureate of the Ukrainian State Award in the field of architecture, holder of all three classes of the Order “For Merit” and many state, departmental and international awards, Honorary Citizen of Uman, an outstanding scientist and phytobiologist, a world-renowned researcher of hazelnut and the author of hazelnut cultivars Ivan Semenovych Kosenko. He was also a head of the National Dendrological Park “Sofiyivka” of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine for 42 years. Methods. Biographical paradigmatic-synergetic methods were used to work, and the cognitive possibilities of the synergetic approach to study the way of life and personality of a scientist in his individuality and imagery in natural disasters and sociopolitical upheavals of the 20th – early 21st centuries. Results. The dynamics of the notion of “personality” and the place of a scientist's personality in scientific cognition in different countries and at different epochs of human development are analyzed. The Curriculum Vitae is presented based on Ivan Semenovych Kosenko's questionnaires and biographical publications of his colleagues, which provide information about his childhood and youth and the role of family and teachers in shaping his personality. Ivan Semenovych's activity during major political and economic crises and natural disasters, when the fate of “Sofiyivka” was under the decision, characterizes him as an effective manager. He was able to assess external and internal threats realistically and successfully overcome the most significant obstacles involving the public, business, and power-holding structures. In the history of world management of preservation, restoration and development of botanical gardens and parks-monuments of landscape art were gone his following achievements: results of restoration of “Sofiyivka” from the consequences of mudflow with more than 70-cm ice, which in night from 3 to 4 April 1980 swept through the park destroying everything on its way; withdrawal in May 1987 of the chemical threat to “Sofiyivka” and the whole Uman district from the possible construction of a nicotine acid plant near Uman; organization of works in the new territories of the park in the turbulent 1990s, when almost all production and construction in the state stopped; restoration of the original appearance of some park landscapes in the historical part of the park and development of new territories in 2014–21; the recruitment original landscapes in the historical part of the park and the restoration of new areas of the park, when the foreign and domestic political situation in Ukraine worsened, accompanied by a drop in the purchasing power of the domestic population and fears of foreign tourists about possible terrorist attacks, minimized income from the sale of planting material and tourist services. Conclusions. The unusual achievements of the team headed by I.S. Kosenko and the results of his more than 40 years of scientific and organizational activities, as well as the best traits of an anti-crisis manager, capable of achieving the desired success in the most challenging economic and political conditions while maintaining comfortable conditions of work and rest for the personnel, are generally recognized in Ukraine and throughout the world. It can state that the currently implemented two five-year term limits with mandatory rotation of heads of the state enterprise needs significant reservations regarding the directors of historical, cultural, and scientific institutions.