Nikolsky, Pyotr Vasilyewich, or Pierre W. Nikolsky, was born in Usman, Tambow, Russia, in 1858 (some biographic references give 1855). He studied at Kiev. He became an assistant of Stoukowenkow at Kiev (1884 to 1935) and served in the skin clinic. Nikolsky became professor, first at Warsaw, in 1900, then at Rostov, as was announced at the Budapest Kongress. Nikolsky presented "L'etat de la dermatologie et de la syphiligraphie en Russie jusqu'à 1884." He wrote that he saw the Russian dermatology from its infancy.
Nikolsky is best known for his contribution of 1896, which earned him the eponym, Nikolsky's sign. A German translation of the Russian title was "Material zur Lehre von Pemphigus Foliaceus, Cazenave, Kiev." Nikolsky made this reference to the subject: "Ce fut le Prof. Stoukowenkow qui le premier diagnostiqua un cas de pemphigus foliaceus Cazenave et ce fut sur 5 cas de cette maladie que je basai