On September 28, 2023, Georgy Borisovich Smirnov, Professor, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, turned 80 years old. Formally, his scientific activity began in 1966 in the postgraduate program of the Department of Microbiology of the 2nd MOLGMI, where he entered after graduation from the Stavropol Medical Institute. However, much earlier, even in the 1st year of the Institute, he began to study in the student circle at the Department of Biology, which was headed by a charming man, enthusiast, and an ascetic Konstantin Ivanovich Gavrilov. Konstantin Ivanovich studied the variability of yeasts and unicellular algae, which largely determined the direction of G.B. Smirnov's further scientific path.