Bizhan R. Sharopov

Bizhon Sharopov Rashidovich was born on October 7, 1989 in Dushanbe (Tajikistan). Since 1995, his family has lived in Kyiv. He studied at the Department of Biology of the Faculty of Natural Sciences of NaUKMA, and later in the postgraduate program at the Institute of Physiology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. He participated in the Euromaidan. In 2014, he fought in the Luhansk region as part of the volunteer battalion "Aydar". In 2019, he defended his PhD dissertation. That same year, he was a finalist in the competition for the Platon Kostiuk Scientific Society of Shevchenko (NTSh) in the USA. He gave popular science lectures during "Brain Weeks" and other similar events. He gave numerous interviews on neurobiology and the coronavirus disease, in particular to Hromadske Radio. With the start of the full-scale Russian invasion, he returned to the military. He fought as part of the 11th Separate Reconnaissance Battalion of the 112th Territorial Defense Brigade, participated in the battles for the liberation of the Kyiv region, entered the liberated Chornobyl, and defended the city of Izium. On April 13, 2022, while carrying out a combat mission to break through the encirclement in the direction of the village of Pidlyman in the Kharkiv region, Bizhon Sharopov's unit was ambushed in the area of the village of Borove and engaged in combat with Russian troops. Having lost their equipment, the soldiers were forced to break through in small groups. After that, Bizhon and his comrades-in-arms did not make contact. Since April 15, 2022, Bizhon Sharopov has been considered missing in action. In early 2023, the first unofficial reports of his death appeared, and on February 28, 2023, the Bohomolets Institute of Physiology officially announced the death of its employee. On March 20, 2023, a farewell ceremony for Bizhon Sharopov was held on Independence Square in Kyiv. The hero was buried in the Alley of Glory of the Lukyanivske Cemetery in Kyiv.