Vladimir Serbsky

Vladimir Petrovich Serbsky (Russian: Влади́мир Петро́вич Се́рбский, February 26 [O.S. February 14] 1858 in Bogorodsk – April 18 [O.S. April 14] 1917 in Moscow) was one of the founders of the forensic psychiatry in Russia. An author of The Forensic Psychopathology, Serbskiy thought delinquency to have no congenital diatheses, considering it to be caused by social reasons.

A disciple of Sergey Korsakov, Serbsky was the head physician of Tambov mental hospital from 1885 to 1887. Then he was offered the rank of the senior assistant in the mental hospital of Moscow University. In 1902 Serbsky became a professor extraordinarius and the head of psychiatric studies at Moscow University.

Serbskiy died of kidney disease. He was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery.

The Central Institute of Forensic Psychiatry was named after Serbsky in 1921. Now the facility is known as the Serbsky Center (Serbsky State Scientific Center for Social and Forensic Psychiatry).

Major works