Abstract

In this article, we commemorate the life and scientific journey of the brilliant gerontologist-theorist Alexey Olovnikov (1936-2022). In 1971, he published his famous “marginotomy” hypothesis, in which he predicted the replicative shortening of telomeres and its role as a counter of cell divisions and biological age of an organism. This work put forth several remarkable assumptions, including the existence of telomerase, which were confirmed two decades later. Despite this, Alexey Olovnikov moved further in his theoretical studies of aging and proposed a series of new hypotheses that seem no less exotic than the marginotomy hypothesis once appeared. Alexey Olovnikov had an extraordinary way of looking at biological problems and, in addition to aging, authored striking concepts about development, biorhythms, and evolution.

中文翻译：

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“如果我处于大自然的位置，我会这样做......”阿列克谢·奥洛夫尼科夫的生活和假设

摘要

在本文中，我们纪念杰出的老年学家兼理论家阿列克谢·奥洛夫尼科夫（Alexey Olovnikov，1936-2022）的一生和科学旅程。1971年，他发表了著名的“边缘切开”假说，其中他预测了端粒的复制性缩短及其作为细胞分裂和生物体生物年龄计数器的作用。这项工作提出了几个值得注意的假设，包括端粒酶的存在，这些假设在二十年后得到了证实。尽管如此，阿列克谢·奥洛夫尼科夫（Alexey Olovnikov）在他的衰老理论研究中取得了进一步的进展，并提出了一系列新的假设，这些假设看起来并不比曾经出现的切缘假说更奇特。阿列克谢·奥洛夫尼科夫（Alexey Olovnikov）以非凡的方式看待生物学问题，除了衰老之外，他还提出了有关发育、生物节律和进化的引人注目的概念。