Communication/review Biomath 2 (2013), 1312312, 1–5

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BIOMATH
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130th anniversary of Prof. Dr. Vladimir Markov
Prof. Ivan Mitov, MD, PhD,

Dept. Medical Microbiology, Medical Faculty
Medical University of Sofia

Prof. Dr. Vladimir Markov

This year marks 130 years since the birth of the
founder and leader (untill 1958) of the Department
of Microbiology at the Medical University Sofia in
Bulgaria, the eminent and internationally recognized
scholar Prof. Dr. VLADIMIR NESTOROV MARKOV,
Full Member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
(Academician).

A contemporary with the liberation from Ottoman
rule, Vladimir Markov was assigned by fate to become
the father of microbiology in Bulgaria and creator of
the national microbiological school. He elevated national
microbiology to world-class level at that time, leaving
a profound legacy in the development of medicine in
Bulgaria.

Born in the city of Veliko Tarnovo, Vladimir Markov
was brought up in a family of patriotic Bulgarians. His
father Nestor Markov was an active participant in the
struggle for spiritual and political liberation. His brother
Marko Markov was a member of the detachment of Yane
Sandanski and was killed in a battle of the liberation of
Macedonia.

Vladimir Markov completed his secondary education
in the state agricultural school “Obraztzov Chiflik” in
Rousse. In 1904, he went to Germany, where he gradu-
ated in veterinary medicine in Munich and Berlin. Upon
his return to Bulgaria, Vladimir Markov embarked on
a career as a veterinarian doctor in Panagiurishte and
Oriahovo. In lieu of his excellent training in veterinary
medicine and by using bacteriological methods of inves-
tigation, he discovered the cause of infectious pneumonia
in calves in the Kabuik horse farm near Shumen and pro-
vided science-based treatment for successful eradication
of that epizootic. This investigative discovery brought
to the forefront his special interest and specific talent
for bacteriology as well as his ability to illuminate a
purely practical question. This led to him devoting his
first scientific work in 1909 to this subject.

Vladimir Markov’s qualities were noticed by his col-
leagues and his superiors and in the autumn of 1909,
after successful competitive examination, he was sent
to specialize in bacteriology and serology in Munich
and Berlin. He worked in various research institutes
including the Institute for Infectious Diseases “Robert
Koch”. Vladimir Markov received excellent microbio-
logical training by prominent scholars such as T. Kit, P.
Ulenhut, A. Wasserman, W. Loeffler and others. In 1911
he was promoted to a doctor of veterinary medicine at

Citation: Ivan Mitov, 130th anniversary of Prof. Dr. Vladimir Markov, Biomath 2 (2013), 1312312,
http://dx.doi.org/10.11145/j.biomath.2013.12.312

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I Mitov, 130th anniversary of Prof. Dr. Vladimir Markov

the University of Berlin.
After his return from Germany, Vladimir Markov was

much sought after as a specialist in microbiology and
in the course of six years he consecutively worked in
the Veterinary Bacteriological Station and the Hygiene
Institute of Sofia. During the Balkan Wars and the First
World War he held key positions on various fronts
as bacteriologist and set-up new laboratories and work
stations. He examined the etiology of some vague but
typical human and animal diseases and successfully
battled cholera, dysentery, typhus and other diseases
spread among the troops and the civilian population. He
gave scientific significance to his practical experience
with a number of publications recognized in the scientific
literature both abroad and in Bulgaria, which defined him
as an established researcher in the late twenties. On these
grounds, after the establishment of the Medical Faculty
of Sofia, Vladimir Markov was invited to be a chief
assistant at first, and shortly after, in the middle of 1921
was elected private associate professor and head of the
department of bacteriology and serology. He remained
in this position for over four decades.

Vladimir Markov began his teaching activities with
an interesting introductory lecture and discourse on
“Agglutination as colloidal reaction” in October 1921.
Among others he lectured and organized practical train-
ing in microbiology for medical students, agronomists,
chemists, pharmacists and biologists till the end of
his life. He developed and delivered the first lecture
course in technical microbiology in the new found State
Polytechnic school. All specialists in microbiology were
trained and developed under his leadership. His lectures
were full of content and real-life examples and together
with his rich experience and originality, they aroused
great interest. Looking very harsh and inaccessible on
the outside, Vladimir Markov loved his students very
much. He engaged with them on many levels and he had
discussions with them on various professional, current
and political issues. He sympathized with the progressive
studentship and cultivated in his students the love for
microbiology and science in general, and the selfless and
enthusiastic service to the people. Vladimir Markov’s
students remember him encouraging them to participate
in the student’s movements in 1932 against the antidemo-
cratic government.

Vladimir Markov’s great love and dedication to the
preparation of students consisted also of his constant
efforts to provide them with textbooks and training
aids. Vladimir Markov wrote more than ten original

textbooks, manuals and other materials on microbiology
for students of various disciplines at Sofia University.

Vladimir Markov established and maintained an orig-
inal style, method and traditions in the teaching of
microbiology. He actively contributed to the creation of
new departments of microbiology at Sofia University
and other universities that were opened in the years
after World War II, as well as in the Sanitary and
Epidemiological stations and the scientific-research in-
stitutes. Naturally those institutions became followers of
his work, developing it further under the new conditions
after the war.

As a scientist with an alert public awareness, Vladimir
Markov was closely linked to prominent public figures.
His closest friends were Prof. As. Zlatarov, Prof. As.
Hadzhiolov, Academician Georgi Uzunov, Dr. Racho
Angelov, who were brought together by long-term col-
laborative work in professional and social areas.

“Microbes in the service of life”—that was the motto
of Vladimir Markov, left to his followers. This is one
of the factors that can explain why till the end of his
days Vladimir Markov associated his entire scientific
and research work with the needs of society. He and his
department were the team that developed and organized
the microbiological thought and microbiologists all over
the country, and in 1923 Vladimir Markov initiated
the establishment of Bulgarian microbiological society,
which he chaired till the end of his life in 1962.

There is hardly any field in microbiology to which
Vladimir Markov did not contribute scientifically. The
scientific heritage left by Vladimir Markov is outstand-
ing. For 53 years, he worked dedicatedly, strenuously
and enthusiastically, with the expertise of a true scientist-
experimentalist-bacteriologist. He wrote more than 180
works devoted to general microbiology, infectiology,
infection and immunity, serology, special microbiology,
industrial and soil microbiology, food microbiology, etc.
He was highly appreciated and quoted as early as the
1920s in many German essays, textbooks and magazines
and was placed on a par with all most prominent German
researchers.

Vladimir Markov’s achievements on the problems of
variability of microorganisms should be noted among
his most important scientific developments. Regarding
the discussions that occurred at the beginning of the
century on the problems of variability, Vladimir Markov
in 1922, for the first time in science, founded and
described the dissociation in the anthrax bacillus later

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I Mitov, 130th anniversary of Prof. Dr. Vladimir Markov

called 8 IK forms of bacteria, and proved the possibility
of existence of naturally attenuated forms, named by
him “vaccine in nature”. This discovery has not lost
its theoretical and practical significance to the present
day. He explained experimentally the phenomena para-
agglutination as a result of mixed infection in which
bacteria of the saprophytic intestinal flora acquire some
properties of the pathogenic intestinal microbes. The
formulations of his experiments on para-agglutination
were adopted and then used for decades in science and
references. These studies of Vladimir Markov signifi-
cantly contributed to the explanation of the origin of the
so-called atypical forms of bacteria which is very im-
portant for microbiological diagnosis. Vladimir Markov
defended his science-based views on the problems of
variability with the dignity of a scholar. Even in the
politically laden period of 1948-1950 he rejected the
theory of some politically supported pseudo-scientists
about the possible conversion of microbial species from
one into another, which was attributed by the ruling party
as his great sin.

Vladimir Markov devoted a lot of effort to the study
of etiology and epidemiology of many bacterial, viral
and parasitic diseases in humans and domestic animals.
He identified the cause agents of typhoid Borreha recur-
rence, on piroplasmosis in domestic animals, found in
Bulgaria for the first time in 1912 as well as the cause
agents of typhus, anaerobic infections, etc. He discovered
the non-described, till then anaerobic bacillus, and gave
it the name of Bacillus anaerobus hemoliticus.

We should also recall the incredibly active research
and practical work of Vladimir Markov in the fight
against intestinal infections. He studied the large epi-
demic of typhoid fever in Sofia (1932), Kyustendil
(1938–1939), a number of toxico-infectious outbreaks,
most important among which were the poisoning with
foods, bonito fish, cheese, the dysentery epidemic in
Svishtov, diseases of glanders, anthrax, rhinoscleroma
and others. Vladimir Markov was the first in our country
back in 1954 to point out the task and manage extensive
research on proving the presence of enteropathogenic
bacteria coli in our bodies and its importance for pathol-
ogy.

In his studies on the biology of both pathogenic and
beneficial microbes to man, Vladimir Markov created a
number of more comprehensive elective nutrient media
to facilitate cultivation and microbiological diagnosis.

Early in his scientific quest Vladimir Markov was

interested in the problems of the process of infection,
immunity and serology. In 1911 he was the first to
develop cell-free extracts of anti-anthrax precipitating
serum and studied the bactericidal action of normal
serum on bacteria. His theory concerning the antibodies
analyzed in his work “Antibodies and sub-antibodies”
published in 1928, as well as his works on obtaining
specific sera against streptococcus, diphtheria bacteria
and others were valued as highly original. In addition,
the combined active and passive immunization against
rabies was a method developed by Vladimir Markov and
remains of great importance even today for the successful
control of this extremely dangerous infection.

The biochemical studies of Vladimir Markov related
to the natural cycle of substances and the role of
microorganisms contributed theoretically to the studies
of oceanography, balneology and toxicology. Such are
his publications devoted to biochemical microbiological
processes in the formation of the therapeutic mud in the
cities of Pomorie and Tuzlata as well.

Within the context of the industrial microbiology
Vladimir Markov also contributed greatly to develop-
ment in Bulgaria. His scientific research helped support
industrial production and was used in the making of
valuable manufactured goods, food, beverages, etc. His
studies from 1923 on the optimization of the wine
producing process by introducing pure cultures of se-
lected yeasts became very popular. He provided those to
the interested wine-makers for free till the creation of
specialized institutes and laboratories in 1950.

Based on his studies, Vladimir Markov gave the bread-
making industry a pure culture of bread yeast and his
own original method for detecting tampering with hop
yeast bread. This helped improve the quality of bread and
facilitated workers in the bread making process. During
the hungry years of the Second World War, his research
into mold bread resulted in the preparation of bread yeast
of lactic acid bacteria for the production of potato bread.

He conducted extensive research on the problem of
nitrogen fixation and on the use of organic fertilizers with
his chemical “Radiksoya”—a problem that has not lost
its importance today. He carried out comprehensive and
in-depth studies on “Bacterial flora in Bulgarian yogurt,
plain Bulgarian cheese, sheep’s milk and rennet”. Asked
for assistance by soap manufacturers whose export ship-
ments were returned as unfit, Vladimir Markov explored
the causes, described two new types of bacteria, called
Serratia saponaria I and II, studied their biochemical

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I Mitov, 130th anniversary of Prof. Dr. Vladimir Markov

characteristics and proposed measures to prevent rancid-
ity of the soap.

The issues of antibiotics interested Vladimir Markov
in many aspects and his theoretical and practical work
on “volatile antibiotics”, affecting bacteria from a dis-
tance, provoked great interest as well. He and Prof. Sv.
Bardarov together examined the resistance to penicillin,
developed and proposed the neutralization of the enzyme
and recovery of the efficiency of the antibiotic during
treatment with anti-penicillinase serum.

According to his understanding of the infectious pro-
cess in the fifties, Vladimir Markov developed the hy-
pothesis for the viral genesis of tumors, whereby the
virus and the cell produced organically bound complex
which is foreign to the body. Moreover, the emergence of
this complex was determined by a number of exogenous
and endogenous factors, a pattern characterizing the
infectious process.

In his promotional activities he managed different
levels of involvement. Vladimir Markov pointed out the
great importance of the control of infectious diseases,
of women and their role in public life, of alcoholism
and the fight against it. A great patriot and admirer
of Bulgaria, he described its beauty and passionately
promoted tourism and sports. The ultimate goal of his
activity was to help people to “master the art of living”
and devoted more than 250 works to these causes.

Vladimir Markov, the great scientist and doctor was
also a great fighter for peace. As a scientist, micro-
biologist and a public figure he was not afraid to
protest angrily against the preparation of bacteriological
warfare in the mid-thirties. In a brochure issued by
him, he condemned the supporters and scientists who
were developing those weapons of mass extermination.
Academician Vladimir Markov led the battle against the
bacteriological weapons till the end of his life. His creed
on the problems of life, peace and war he expressed as
follows: “Progress and culture are created only in an
environment of peace”.

This is a brief summary of the creative scientific
activity of Vladimir Markov. What he had mastered and
created in science, he readily and with dedication shared
in the press, in magazines, in the media, in lectures and
discussions at a variety of forums. He also contributed
to various Bulgarian and foreign magazines. He was an
editor-in-chief in some of them. In the years after World
War II, Vladimir Markov’s qualities as a skilled scientist
and academic supervisor were well founded and he

established the national school of medical microbiology,
which even today enjoys recognition.

Vladimir Markov’s scientific achievements were rec-
ognized when he was elected a Full Member of the
Academy of Sciences (Academician) and Doctor Hon-
oris Causa of the Faculty of Medicine at the University
of Sofia. He was also awarded the prestigious “Dimitrov
Prize”, the title of “Distinguished doctor”, the medals
“Red Flag”, “People’s Republic of Bulgaria grade II”.
His life and work at the Department of Microbiology
for the Medical Faculty of the University of Sofia and as
founder of microbiology in Bulgaria, Academician Prof.
Dr. Vladimir Nestorov Markov remains an epic model
and example in the history of medicine in Bulgaria.

SELECTED REFERENCES1

Markov, Wl., Studien ueber die Variability der Bakte-
rien. Zugleich ein Beitrag zur Morphologie und Biolo-
gie des Milzbrand-bazillus, Ztschr. f. Infektionskrankh.,
parasiL Krankh. u. Hyg. d. Haustiere, Bd. 12, 1912, 137–
158.

Bernhardt, G., W. Markoff., Ueber Modifikationen bei
Bakterien. Beitrag zur Frage der sogenannten “Mutation”
bei Bakterien. - Ztrbl. f. Bakteriol. etc., I Abt., Orig., Bd.
65, 1912, 1–4.

Markov, Wl., Experimentelle Studien ueber das Wesen
der Para-agglutination, Ztrbl. f. Bakteriol. etc., I Abt.,
Orig.Bd. 75, 1916, 372–383.

Gildenmeister, E., Markoff, Wladimir N. Experi-
mentelle Studien ueber das Wesen der Panagglutination.
I. Mitteilung. (C. f. Bakt., I Abt., Orig., Bd. 78, 1916, p.
372), Ztrbl. f. Bakteriol. etc., I Abt., Ref., Bd. 66, 1918,
H. 19, p. 489.

Markov, Wl., Spezifische und subspezifische Antiko-
rper. Wirkung von Bakteriophagen auf bakterielle Anti-
gene und Kompleentbindungsversuche, Ztschr. f. Im-
munforsch., Bd. 56, 1928, 95–106.

Markov, Wl., Z. K. Jatschewa. Eine todliche Episootie
unter den Forellen im Mussalahsee, Ztrbl. f. Bakteriol.
etc., II Abt. Orig., Bd. 100, 1939, 194–201.

Markov, Wl., Zum Problem der Seefischfaulnis, Ztrbl.
f. Bakteriol. etc., II Abt, Orig, Bd. 101, 1939, 151–171.

Gildemeister, E., Markoff, Wl. N., Zum Problem der
Seefischfaulnis. (Ztrbl. f. Bakter., 11, Orig, 101, 151-
171, 1939), Ztrbl. f. Bakteriol. etc., I Abt., Ref., Bd.
137, 1940, 1/2, p. 44.

1For a full bibliography see: Markov, K., V. Valchanov, Vladimir
Markov—Bibliography, in: Bibliography of Bulgarian scientists, Bul-
garian Academy of Sciences Publ. House, 1960, p. 201.

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I Mitov, 130th anniversary of Prof. Dr. Vladimir Markov

Gaethgens, W., Markoff, Wl. N., Erfahrungen mit
dem Behringschen Diphtherieheilserum in Bulgarien. (Z.
Immunforsch., 99, 27-39, 1940), Ztrbl. f. Bakteriol. etc.,
I Abt., Ref., Bd. 140, 1941, 1/2, p. 12.

Markov, Wl., Die Menge der antitoxischen Einheiten
(AE) bei der Behandlung der toxischen Diphtherie,
Wiener med. Wschr., Bd. 91, 1941, 14, 279–280.

Markoff, W. N., Die Menge der antitoxischen Ein-
heiten (AE) bei der Behandlung der toxischen Diph-
therie. (Wien. med. Wschr., 1941, 279–281), Ztrbl. f.
Bakteriol. etc., I Abt., Ref., Bd. 140, 1941, 21/22, p.
445.

Markov, Wl., Die Verbeugung der Garungsdyspepsie,
Wiener med. Wschr., Bd. 92, 1942, 20, p. 1–2.

Markov, W., The Normal Intestinal Flora in Man.
Annales Medicales, Revue de l’Union des Medicins Bul-
gares, Sofia, 1948,40/10 (1174–1180). Excerpta Medica,
Sect. IV, Medical Microbiology and Hvgiene, vol. II,
1949, 10, Abstr. 4947.

Markov, Wl., Serratia saponaria I und II. Schadliche
Bakterien in der Seife, Ztrabl. f. Bakteriol. etc., I Abt.,
Orig. Bd. 110, 1956, 26–31.

Markov, Wl., G. Mitov, G. Saev. Die Eigenschaften
der biogenen Substituenten der fluchtigen Antibiotika
und ihre Verbreitung. Zentralblatt fur Baktertologie, Par-
asitenkunde, Infektlonskrankheiten und Hygiene, I Orig.
173. 129–140 (1958).

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