Timiryazev physiology. Timiryazev Kliment Arkadievich

Kliment Arkadyevich Timiryazev (May 22 (June 3), 1843, St. Petersburg - April 28, 1920, Moscow) - Russian naturalist, professor at Moscow University, founder of the Russian scientific school of plant physiologists, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1917; corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences since 1890) . Deputy of the Moscow City Council (1920). Honorary doctorates from Cambridge, Universities of Geneva and Glasgow.

Kliment Arkadyevich Timiryazev was born in St. Petersburg in 1843. He received his primary education at home. In 1861 he entered the St. Petersburg University at the cameral faculty, then switched to the physical and mathematical faculty, the course of which he graduated in 1866 with a candidate's degree and was awarded a gold medal for his essay "On liver mosses" (not published).

In 1860, his first scientific work "A device for studying the decomposition of carbon dioxide" appeared in print, and in the same year Timiryazev was sent abroad to prepare for a professorship. He worked with the Chamberlain, Bunsen, Kirchhoff, Berthelot and listened to lectures by Helmholtz, Bussengo, Claude Bernard and others.

Returning to Russia, Timiryazev defended his master's thesis ("Spectral Analysis of Chlorophyll", 1871) and was appointed professor at the Petrovsky Agricultural Academy in Moscow. Here he lectured in all departments of botany, until he was left behind the state due to the closure of the academy (in 1892).

In 1875, Timiryazev received a doctorate in botany for his essay "On the Assimilation of Light by a Plant." In 1877 he was invited to Moscow University to the Department of Plant Anatomy and Physiology. He also lectured at women's "collective courses" in Moscow. In addition, Timiryazev was chairman of the botanical department of the Society of Natural Science Lovers at Moscow University.

In 1911 he left the university, protesting against the oppression of students. Timiryazev welcomed the October Revolution, and in 1920 sent one of the first copies of his book "Science and Democracy" to V. I. Lenin. In the dedicatory inscription, the scientist noted the happiness "to be his [Lenin's] contemporary and witness to his glorious activity."

Timiryazev's scientific works, distinguished by their unity of plan, strict consistency, precision of methods, and elegance of experimental technique, are devoted to the question of the decomposition of atmospheric carbon dioxide by green plants under the influence of solar energy, and have greatly contributed to the elucidation of this most important and most interesting chapter of plant physiology.

The study of the composition and optical properties of the green pigment of plants (chlorophyll), its genesis, the physical and chemical conditions for the decomposition of carbon dioxide, the determination of the components of the solar ray that take part in this phenomenon, the fate of these rays in the plant, and, finally, the study of the quantitative relationship between the absorbed energy and the work done - these are the tasks outlined in the first works of Timiryazev and largely resolved in his subsequent works.

To this it should be added that Timiryazev was the first to introduce experiments in Russia with plant culture in artificial soils. The first greenhouse for this purpose was arranged by him at the Petrovsky Academy in the early 70s, that is, soon after the appearance of this kind of devices in Germany. Later, the same greenhouse was arranged by Timiryazev at the All-Russian Exhibition in Nizhny Novgorod.

Timiryazev's outstanding scientific merits earned him the title of Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences, Honorary Member of the Kharkov and St. Petersburg Universities, the Free Economic Society, and many other learned societies and institutions.

In the 1930s–1950s T. D. Lysenko reproduced these views of Timiryazev in his speeches. In particular, in the report of June 3, 1943 “K. A. Timiryazev and the tasks of our agrobiology” at the solemn meeting of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the birth of K. A. Timiryazev in the Moscow House of Scientists, Lysenko cited these statements of Timiryazev, calling Mendelian genetics “false science”.

In 1950, in the article “Biology”, the TSB wrote: “Weisman absolutely groundlessly called his direction “neo-Darwinism”, which K. A. Timiryazev resolutely opposed, showing that Weismann’s teaching was completely directed against Darwinism.”

K. A. Timiryazev acted as a supporter of the ideas of J.-B. Lamarck: in particular, he joined the position of the English philosopher and sociologist H. Spencer (1820–1903), who argued: “Either there is a heredity of acquired characteristics, or there is no evolution.” Timiryazev wrote about the statement of the breeder Vilmorin: “They talk about the heredity of acquired properties, but heredity itself - is it not an acquired property?”.

Among the educated Russian society, Timiryazev was widely known as a popularizer of natural science. His popular scientific lectures and articles included in the collections "Public lectures and speeches" (M., 1888), "Some main tasks of modern natural science" (M., 1895) "Agriculture and plant physiology" (M., 1893), "Charles Darwin and His Teaching" (4th ed., Moscow, 1898) is a happy combination of rigorous science, clarity of presentation, and brilliant style.

His Plant Life (5th ed., Moscow, 1898; translated into foreign languages) is an example of a publicly available course in plant physiology. In his popular scientific works, Timiryazev is a staunch and consistent supporter of the mechanical view of the nature of physiological phenomena and an ardent defender and popularizer of Darwinism.

Publications
A list of 27 scientific works by Timiryazev that appeared before 1884 is included in the appendix to his speech "L'etat actuel de nos connaissances sur la fonction chlorophyllienne" ("Bulletin du Congres internation. de Botanique a St.-Peterbourg", 1884). After 1884 appeared:
* "L'effet chimique et l'effet physiologique de la lumiere sur la chlorophylle" ("Comptes Rendus", 1885)
* "Chemische und physiologische Wirkung des Lichtes auf das Chlorophyll" ("Chemisch. Centralblatt", 1885, No. 17)
* "La protophylline dans les plantes etioleees" ("Compt. Rendus", 1889)
* Enregistrement photographique de la fonction chlorophyllienne par la plante vivante (Compt. Rendus, CX, 1890)
* “Photochemical action of the extreme rays of the visible spectrum” (“Proceedings of the Department of Physical Sciences of the Society of Natural Science Lovers”, vol. V, 1893)
* "La protophylline naturelle et la protophylline artificielle" ("Comptes R.", 1895)
* Science and Democracy. Collection of articles 1904-1919. Leningrad: Surf, 1926. 432 p.

and other works. In addition, Timiryazev owns the study of gas exchange in the root nodules of leguminous plants (“Proceedings of St. Petersburg. General Naturalist”, vol. XXIII). Under the editorship of Timiryazev, the Collected Works of Charles Darwin and other books were published in Russian translation.

Memory
In honor of Timiryazev are named:
* lunar crater
* ship "Akademik Timiryazev"
* Moscow Agricultural Academy
* Timiryazev Street in Zaporozhye
* Timiryazev Street in Voronezh.
* Timiryazev Street in Lipetsk.
* Timiryazev Street (since 1999 Yu.Akaeva) in Makhachkala
* Timiryazev Street in Minsk.
* Timiryazevskaya street in Moscow.
* Timiryazev Street in Nizhny Novgorod.
* Timiryazev Street in Perm.
* Timiryazev Street in Bishkek.
* Timiryazev Street in Almaty
* Timiryazev Street in Chelyabinsk
* Timiryazev Street in Magnitogorsk
* In 1991, the Timiryazevskaya metro station was opened on the Serpukhovskaya line of the Moscow Metro.
* Agricultural College of the village of Oktyabrsky Gorodok
* Timiryazev Street in Shymkent
* Timiryazev Street in Yalta
* Timiryazev Street in Krasnoyarsk
* Timiryazev Street in Bendery (PMR)
* Timiryazev Street in Izhevsk
* Timiryazev Street in Odessa.

In contact with

classmates

Timiryazev Kliment Arkadyevich belongs to a group of scientists - Darwinists.

Studied the natural sciences, laid the foundation for the Russian school of plant physiology.

A world-famous scientist, in 1890 he was elected a corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. Since 1920, a deputy of the Moscow City Council.

Biography

Timiryazev's date of birth is May 25, in a new way June 3, 1843, the city of St. Petersburg. Rarely named after his grandfather Clement-Philipp-Joseph von Bode.

Father, Arkady Semyonovich Timiryazev, a nobleman, head of the St. Petersburg customs district.

Mother, father's second wife, Adelaida Klimentyevna - Baroness Bode. She taught her youngest son German, French and English.

With the help of his older brother Dmitry, he learned botany and chemistry. As a teenager, he earned money by translating English newspapers and stories, helping out a family that lived in poverty.

• 1860 - a law student at St. Petersburg University, but becomes a student of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics to study the natural sciences.
• 1861 - expelled for participating in student unrest, with permission to return the next year as a volunteer. During the years of study he was awarded a gold medal, the topic of the work is “The structure of liver mosses”, and wrote “Short essays on Darwin's theory” - the first Russian book on a similar topic.
• 1866 - graduation and receiving the degree of candidate of sciences.
• 1867 - work in the Free Economic Society, Simbirsk province. Timiryazev created the instruments needed in research and set up experiments in the fields. Together with D. Mendeleev, he takes part in experiments to determine the effect of mineral fertilizers on the amount of the crop.
• 1868 - 1869 – preparing for the defense of a doctoral dissertation, and working abroad in Germany and France.
• 1870 - return home.
• 1871 - defense of a dissertation for a master's degree on the topic "Spectral decomposition of chlorophyll" and an invitation to the post of professor at the Petrovsky Academy of Moscow.
• 1872 - arranges the first, scientifically equipped greenhouse in the growing house at the Petrovsky Academy. Later, in 1896, he arranged the same house for the All-Russian Exhibition, which was held in Nizhny Novgorod. 1875 - defense of a doctoral dissertation on the topic "Assimilation of light by plants".
• 1877 - accepted as a corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, foreign scientific societies and educational institutions. For Timiryazev, Ch. Darwin remembered this year as a trip.
• 1892 - works at the Agricultural Institute, leads the department of plant anatomy and physiology. Works in a physiological laboratory. In addition to teaching, he devotes himself to scientific work.
• 1902 - Honored Professor at Moscow University.
• 1903 - delivers a lecture "On the cosmic role of plants" in London, at the Royal Society. These are the results of 30 years of research.
• 1911 - leaves the university with other professors who disagree with police supervision during lectures to students.
• 1919 - restoration to the professorship, but health does not allow lecturing.
• 1920 K. A. Timiryazev fell ill with pneumonia and died on April 28.

The last refuge of the scientist is the Vagankovsky cemetery. 1923 - a book entitled "The Sun, Life and Chlorophyll" is published, in which Timiryazev, during his lifetime, combined the works of 1868-1920, when he studied the air nutrition of plants.

Personal life

Kliment Arkadievich married Alexandra Alekseevna Gotvalt, born in 1857. Alexandra's father, Timiryazev's father-in-law - Major General Alexei Alexandrovich Loveiko, Moscow police chief. In 1888, the Timiryazevs adopted the "thrown" boy, naming him Arkady (according to other assumptions, the child is the illegitimate son of Clement). The son, becoming an adult, chose the profession of a physicist. The elder and younger Timiryazevs were fond of photography. Participating in the competition of Nizhny Novgorod with nature photographs, they were awarded a silver diploma.

Contribution to science

Kliment Arkadyevich approved the materiality of life, introduced new methods and facts into science, and for a long time determined the direction of scientific thoughts in the field of botany and plant physiology.

• Timiryazev studied the photosynthesis of plants and established their cosmic connection.
• With the writing of "A Brief Essay on Darwin's Theory", he introduced the Russian people to the evolution of the living world. From the point of view of evolution, he explained the origin of photosynthesis.
• He was the first Russian scientist to test plants using artificial soils in growing houses – prototypes of greenhouses.
• Work with plants gave impetus to the development of agronomy. Timiryazev proved the benefits of using fertilizers during a drought, explaining that with the help of science, the productivity of agriculture will increase. He argued that plants need light, a strong root system and fertilizing for development. He argued that saltpeter needed to be produced at special factories, and dreamed of greenhouse farms in crop production.
• The energy pattern of photosynthesis discovered by Timiryazev laid the foundation for the study of the cycle of energy and substances.
• The scientist left to the descendants more than 100 books and articles, which describe in detail and clearly about the effects of light on plants and about ways that will increase productivity.
• The works of the scientist helped further study of photosynthesis. American biochemist Melvin Calvin found out the assimilation of carbon dioxide by plants.

What Timiryazev discovered

For 30 years, studying how plants convert water and carbon dioxide into organic substances with the help of light, Timiryazev acted on them with rays of different colors. As a result:

• He established that red rays are absorbed more intensively than blue-violet color and, at the same time, the rate of decomposition of carbon dioxide increases. Green and yellow color is not perceived by the plant. The absorption of light is affected by the thickness of the leaf blade and the intensity of the green color.
• I guessed that light rays are absorbed by green grains of chlorophyll - the main elements of the process, which are also involved in the chemical process.
• Proved the conservation of energy by photosynthesis.

Food chains start with hydrogen, carbon and oxygen - the constituents of carbon dioxide and water. These substances are stored and decomposed by the plant under the action of light and then become organic substances. This was discovered by Timiryazev, studying the process of photosynthesis.

The second discovery is related to light saturation. Performing experiments, Timiryazev refuted the assumption that bright light is necessary for plants. Brightness acts up to the border, with the transition of which intensive evaporation of moisture occurs.

The third discovery is about the cosmic role of green plants:

• stored solar energy is used by man as a source of light;
• used as energy for the living world, which maintains a constant composition of the atmosphere through the circulation of substances;
• The oxygen released by plants is breathed by the living organisms of the planet.

• Timiryazev's book "The Life of Plants" was reprinted more than 20 times. English editions, in quantity, were not inferior to Dickens' novels. And the scientist was called a talented writer.
• The name of Timiryazev is carried by: a district in Moscow, towns, villages and streets. The name of the scientist was given to a crater on the Moon and a ship, a Moscow metro station, universities, libraries and a biological museum.
• They opened the "Museum-apartment" named after him, approved the award, Timiryazev readings are held within the framework of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Even a film was made, which is dedicated to Kliment Arkadyevich, called "Deputy of the Baltic".

Results

The works of the famous scientist are still used by experienced scientists to find the right solutions to complex issues of science. As a person, Kliment Arkadyevich remains an example for the younger generation.

: June marks the 175th anniversary of his birth. A good reason to remember the life story of a naturalist, in which there was a place for riddles.

If you look closely, the glass in the windows on the first floor of the rector's office is concave inward: there are no such windows anywhere else in Moscow. They say that the scientist - at that time a tall blond with blue eyes - was terribly jealous. And his wife, Alexandra Gottwald, a general's daughter, was distinguished by her extraordinary beauty. And so that from the street the mouths could not see his beautiful wife, who often visited her husband at work, Timiryazev ordered these concave glasses in Finland.

Fiction, of course, - assures the professor of the Moscow Agricultural Academy, Doctor of Historical Sciences Alexander Orishev, who undertook to drive "VM" around the Timiryazev places of the university, promising to reveal a couple of secrets. - But the legend says a lot about Timiryazev's character. Many believe that now the frames are antique glass. This is not true. When renovations were made for the 100th anniversary of the academy, they were replaced. Official information about the eminent naturalist is repeated from one encyclopedic edition to another: a nobleman, an Englishman by mother, the father of Russian botany, who discovered plant photosynthesis, the banner of Soviet power. In his honor, in 1923, a monument was erected in Moscow with the inscription “To the Fighter and the Thinker”, the metropolitan area and the academy were named, which, by the way, under Timiryazev himself was called Petrovsky Agricultural and Forestry.

The charter of the educational institution was very unusual. According to him, one could study at a university for as long as one wanted, there were no attendance requirements, as well as an exam schedule. It was believed that enthusiastic people who did not need incentives and prohibitions would study at the academy.

Timiryazev approved the charter of the academy, - says Alexander Orishev. - But I thought that the time had not yet come for such a liberal document.

Nobility pleasing to the Soviets

Timiryazev was the first person in Russia to read Marx's Capital. And in this, by the way, he was ahead of both Plekhanov, who is considered the first Russian theoretician of Marxism, and Lenin. There were few scientists who shared Timiryazev's beliefs, so the young Soviet government valued his loyalty. Even too much. Turning it into the banner of the revolution, which, in fact, it was not. Even on the death of a scientist, the Bolsheviks managed to make propaganda.

As you know, Timiryazev sent his work "Science and Democracy" to Lenin. It was two years after the revolution, when the botanist, broken by a stroke, was in his eighties.

The scientist pinned hopes on Lenin and believed that the new government would support science. A few hours before his death, Timiryazev received a letter from the leader of the world proletariat: “Dear Klimenty Arkadyevich! Thank you very much for your book and kind words. I was downright delighted reading your remarks against the bourgeoisie and for Soviet power. I firmly, firmly shake your hand and wish you health, health and health with all my heart! Yours V. Ulyanov (Lenin)."

This message was read to the scientist during the day, and at night he died. According to the memoirs of the doctor Boris Veisbrod, who was at Timiryazev’s deathbed, before his death, the scientist urged to follow the Leninist course: “I have always tried to serve humanity and I am glad that in these serious moments for me I see you, a representative of the party that really serves humanity. The Bolsheviks who promote Leninism - I believe and am convinced - are working for the happiness of the people and will lead them to happiness. I have always been yours and with you. Convey to Vladimir Ilyich my admiration for his brilliant solution of world problems in theory and in practice.

I consider it a pleasure to be his contemporary and witness to his glorious activity. I bow to him and I want everyone to know about it. Convey to all comrades my sincere greetings and wishes for further successful work for the happiness of mankind.”

There is no direct evidence that Timiryazev said this, Orishev explains. - The words were written down by a zealous communist, there are no witnesses.

European

But back to Timiryazevka. Timiryazev's relations with his superiors were not the warmest.

Kliment Arkadievich, - says the historian, - was a straightforward person, he could afford to do as he saw fit. For example, there was a case: when in the 70-80s of the 19th century student unrest began and many were detained, the authorities ordered that if the majority did not appear, the lecture should not be read. To which Timiryazev replied, they say, what, gentlemen, will you order me to go to Butyrka, to give a lecture there?

Timiryazev got a job at the Petrovsky Academy, having studied and worked in Germany and France, and he himself was half an Englishman.

He was a purely European scientist in the best sense of the word, the historian clarifies.

In addition, according to Alexander Orishev, Professor Kliment Timiryazev earned good money: at the academy he was paid, by our standards, about 500 thousand rubles a month. Financial independence inspired self-confidence. At the same time, Timiryazev did not reach for luxury. And he often spent money helping students.

According to some reports, up to 20 students ate with him every day, - Alexander Orishev continues the story. - Some even lived with him: in a house on the territory of the academy. But Timiryazev did not give money to students. I thought money corrupted.

With his hard-earned money, Kliment Arkadyevich bought equipment for the academy's gym. The scientist himself was a big fan of sports and tried to attract studious to it. They say that it was Timiryazev who introduced Leo Tolstoy to cycling, who once rolled over so much that he fell and broke his leg.

Kliment Arkadyevich was also fond of photography, the historian emphasizes. - His landscapes at exhibitions won first prizes. He loved music: he played four hands on the piano with his wife and often sang at work when he conducted experiments.

The secret behind seven seals

But Timiryazev was definitely not an eccentric scientist. In reasoning logical, he spoke clearly, without emotions, did not bustle. Always collected, loving order. Timiryazev, historians assure, never offended anyone. Although the great scientist had one fad.

In our time, this would not be understood exactly, - Alexander Orishev smiles. - At lectures, he sometimes portrayed his fellow teachers. I don't know how harmless these parodies were. Perhaps they were friendly cartoons.

Or maybe not - the sources about the nature of the entertainment of the genius of botany are silent. This is yet to be sorted out. As in the dark story of the origin of Timiryazev's son, Arkady.

Some researchers write that he was born out of wedlock and then was adopted by a noble father, while others believe that Arkady was not the son of Kliment Arkadyevich at all, to whom, by the way, as some biographers casually mention, regarding the relationship of the scientist with the weaker sex, " nothing human was alien."

There is another secret, over which you have to break your head. It is officially believed that the Timiryazev family descended from the Tatar princes. But there is another version.

He was born in St. Petersburg in the family of customs official Arkady Semenovich Timiryazev, who came from an ancient noble family. Arkady Semenovich was a man of republican views, for which he caused the personal dislike of Tsar Nicholas I as "unreliable." In his youth, the father of the future scientist spoke enthusiastically about the Great French Revolution and, being a member of the military campaign of 1813-1814, dreamed of getting to Paris, which was dear to him. However, having reached Montmartre (a suburb of Paris), Arkady Semenovich received the strictest order to return home. Even there, the "freethinker" and the hater of the autocracy were closely monitored by the tsar's servants. Later, when the latter was already serving as the director of customs, they tried to fabricate various charges against him through intrigues, only the impeccable honesty of Arkady Semenovich prevented the implementation of insidious plans. In the end, they got rid of him by abolishing the position, sending him to a very small pension. And then the question arose of the maintenance of his huge family. Arkady Semenovich from his first marriage already had a daughter, Maria, and two sons - Alexander and Ivan, and there were also four sons from his second marriage: Nikolai, Dmitry, Vasily and the youngest - Clement.
At that time, Clement was only 15 years old, and he, like his brothers, had to start working early to help his family. His first profession was as a referent and newspaper translator. Two years later, he and his brother Vasily entered St. Petersburg University at the cameral faculty, and then, having oriented themselves, Clement chose the natural department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics, and Vasily - the Faculty of Law. In 1861, Kliment Timiryazev enthusiastically plunged into public life, participating in the student movement. He was expelled from the university for refusing to accept new disciplinary rules - the "matricules" of Minister Putyatin. What the young man thought then is best expressed by the words he published in 1905 in the article “On the Threshold of a Renewed University”:
“In our time, we loved the university, as now, perhaps, they don’t love it, and not without reason. For me personally, science was everything. This feeling was not mixed with any considerations about a career, not because I was in special favorable circumstances - no, I earned my livelihood myself, but just thoughts about a career, about the future, there was no place in my head: it was too full of the present. But then a storm came up in the form of not a good memory, Minister Putyatin with his notorious matriculations. It was necessary either to submit to the new, police system, or to give up the university, to give up, perhaps forever, from science - and thousands of us did not hesitate in our choice. The point was, of course, not in some matricules, but in the conviction that we, in our modest share, are doing a common thing, rebuffing the first breath of reaction, in the conviction that it is shameful to surrender to this reaction. Two years later, Timiryazev was restored at the university, but already as a volunteer.
Immediately after graduating from the university in 1866, K.A. Timiryazev is sent to work at the Simbirsk experimental field, where, under the guidance of D.I. Mendeleev puts experiments with fertilizers, and on other agricultural issues. Here he established the beneficial effect of superphosphate on grain yields even in dry summer conditions and for the first time showed the importance of deep plowing to combat drought. Later, throughout his life, he was actively involved in many important problems of agriculture: plant nutrition, fertilizer application, drought control, breeding, seed production, etc. Some of these works were reflected in his book Agriculture and Plant Physiology (1906). The main thing in the scientific work of Kliment Arkadyevich was the study of photosynthesis in plants. He enriched this section of plant physiology with classical studies unsurpassed in depth and originality. Works on photosynthesis by K.A. Timiryazev began to print in 1867. The most important of them are collected in his book "The Sun, Life and Chlorophyll" (1923). He often and with great success gave public lectures on various issues of natural science and agronomy. The cycle of these lectures made up his famous book The Life of the Plant (1878).
As biologist K.A. Timiryazev developed Darwinism, struggled with Darwin's idealistic mistakes, defended his teaching from the attacks of reactionaries and obscurantists. He first read On the Origin of Species less than two years after its publication, as a first-year student. Four years later, on the pages of Otechestvennye Zapiski, he places his first articles about him, which the next year were included in the book, which later became known as Charles Darwin and His Teachings. In 1877, visiting Darwin at his Down estate, Timiryazev presented him with his work on him. A year before his death, the great Russian scientist completes the characterization of his teachings with the articles “Ch. Darwin and K. Marx” and “The Historical Method in Biology”. In the latter, Timiryazev narrates that Darwin's main merit lies in the fact that he, having managed to combine "biology with history" and explain "the harmony of the organic world as a result of the elimination of everything inharmonious by natural selection", answered the question "how the evolutionary process is carried out."
Kliment Arkadyevich considered the history of science to be studied in close connection with practice, with production, in which he saw the most important source of the development of science. “The demands of life have always been the first stimuli that prompted the search for knowledge, and in turn, the degree of their satisfaction served as the most accessible, most obvious sign of his success.” Timiryazev noted, in defiance of the idealistic perversions of the Machists, that the main driving forces of science, which originated from the desire of people for knowledge, action and aesthetic pleasure, initially served as a means to achieve practical goals and only later, due to exercise, turned into an independent need, an attraction of a higher order. He saw the sources of the origin of science not in the ideological impulses of the individual, as in the Machist Petzold, but in his material needs, production activity. “Almost every science owes its origin to some art, just as every art in turn follows from some human need.” Timiryazev does not get tired of repeating that scientists who really moved science forward never ignored the centuries-old experience of ordinary people, workers. As an example of such a close unity of science and practice, Timiryazev cites the activities of Darwin: “... Darwin's teaching is indebted to the facts acquired by practical figures in the field of horticulture and animal husbandry; everyone knows that one of the main merits of this scientist lies precisely in the fact that he used this huge stock of factual knowledge to build his theory, that he owes the most basic idea of ​​his teaching to practitioners.

Timiryazev associated the rapid development of Russian science in the middle of the 19th century both with the successes of natural science abroad and with the general upsurge of the revolutionary democratic movement in Russia: a century as teachers in Simferopol and Yaroslavl, the jurist Kovalevsky would be a prosecutor, the cadet Beketov would be a squadron commander, and the sapper Sechenov would dig trenches according to all the rules of his art. Speaking of the awakening of natural science, we must, of course, have in mind here not only its development in a close circle of specialists who studied and promoted science, but also the general movement that swept wide circles of society, left its mark on the school (higher and secondary) , on literature, influenced more or less deeply on the general mindset.
One of the conditions favoring the development of natural science in Russia, according to Kliment Arkadyevich, was the fact that “the natural sciences, as the most remote from politics, were also considered the most harmless ... only this relative tolerance for natural science ... we can probably explain that the fact that this desire for the study of natural science, which was clearly expressed in the second five years of the fifties, was caused by a whole galaxy of talented figures, the initial development of which must be attributed to the end of the forties and the first half of the fifties.
For 22 years (1870-1892) K.A. Timiryazev was a professor at the Petrovsky Agricultural and Forestry Academy. In it, he built the first growing house in Russia for experiments with plants. At the All-Russian Exhibition in 1896 in Nizhny Novgorod
de he achieved the construction of an even better vegetative house, in which he personally demonstrated the nutrition of plants.
Back in 1867, on his way from Simbirsk, he stopped by the newly opened Petrovka to see Professor of Chemistry P.A. Ilyenkov, where he finds him in the library at his desk; in front of him lay a thick fresh German volume of K. Marx's Capital. Immediately, Pavel Antonovich shared his expressive lecture about what he had read. The professor of chemistry was already familiar with the activities of Marx, because. during the time of the first commune in 1848 he was in Paris: he was one of the first distributors of Marx's ideas in Russia. As another professor of Petrovka suggested, Fortunatov, Ilyenkov was the one who took the initiative to attract Timiryazev to the new university. A. Fortunatov, who knew perfectly well the scientific and social views of Kliment Arkadievich, who sat next to him shoulder to shoulder for more than five years, noted that Timiryazev, while maintaining the dignity of a scientist, more than once shuddered colleagues, members of the council of the Petrovsky Academy, with his "seditious spirit." The young teacher of botany was already then closely associated with the advanced part of the freedom-loving professors. During his work in Petrovka, Timiryazev repeatedly defended revolutionary-minded students from the repressions of the academic authorities, and in the early 90s. XIX century receives the first reprimand in a "strange form" for defending students who participated in a demonstration on the occasion of Chernyshevsky's death.

Professors of the Imperial Moscow University who resigned in protest against the resignation of the rector and vice-rectors of the university. Sitting: V.P. Serbian, K.A. Timiryazev, N.A. Umov, P.A. Minakov, A.A. Manuilov, M.A. Menzbir, V.A. Focht, V.D. Shervinsky, V.K. Tserasky, Prince. E.N. Trubetskoy. Standing: I.P. Aleksinsky, V.K. Roth, N.D. Zelinsky, P.N. Lebedev, A.A. Eichenwald, G.F. Shershenevich, V.M. Khvostov, A.S. Alekseev, F.A. Rein, D.M. Petrushevsky, B.K. Mlodzievsky, V.I. Vernadsky, S.A. Chaplygin, N.V. Davydov. 1911. Photo by A. staker

Timiryazev's "seditiousness" did not give rest to the conservative-minded part of the nobility and professors: the literary critic Strakhov and the academician Famintsyn scribbled numerous libels on Timiryazev, the leader of the Petrine opposition. Black Hundreds publicist Prince V.P. Meshchersky in his newspaper Grazhdanin attacks K.A. Timiryazev for "casting God out of nature". Professor Tikhomirov, having spoken out against the Darwinists with a lecture "Two liars - Darwin and Tolstoy", received a promotion in rank - he became a trustee of the Moscow educational district. The outstanding ones, V.O. Kovalevsky and I.I. Mechnikov, are forced to leave to work abroad.
As Timiryazev later noted: “The present century, like its predecessor, is leaning towards sunset with undoubted signs of a general reaction. The reaction in the field of science is only one of its particular manifestations. Just as any reaction does not come forward with an open visor, but loves to hide under a mask that does not rightfully belong to it, so the modern campaign against science, proclaiming its imaginary bankruptcy, likes to call itself the "revival of idealism."
K.A. Timiryazev does not confine himself to pointing out the connection between reaction in science and general political reaction, he shows the social roots of this reaction and its social carriers - the counter-revolutionary bourgeoisie, which in the new conditions is in solidarity with the nobility and is based on clericalism and idealistic philosophy. “The decaying bourgeoisie,” writes Timiryazev, “is getting closer and closer to obsolete metaphysics, does not disdain to enter into an alliance with both mysticism and the militant church ...” In contrast to the prediction of the obscurantist Bergson that “the past will gnaw the future and therefore grow fat”, Timiryazev writes that "science, reality, history teach the opposite: the gaps of the present, dispelling the darkness of the past, prepare a brighter future."
He, along with other "unreliable" professors and students, was dismissed from the academy by the Minister of Education Ostrovsky in connection with its closure for the speeches of revolutionary-minded students, whom the great scientist always supported. In 1892, the academy was disbanded and turned into the Moscow Agricultural Institute.
From 1877 to 1911 K.A. Timiryazev was a professor at Moscow University, where he continued to defend everything progressive in science and public life. However, after his dismissal from Petrovka, he was haunted even at the university: unequipped, cramped and stuffy rooms that did not satisfy not only pedagogical, but even hygienic requirements were provided for work. After a cerebral hemorrhage in 1909, Timiryazev was left paralyzed in his left arm and leg. Although the seriously ill scientist had no other sources of income, in 1911 he left the university together with 124 teachers, protesting against the oppression of students and the reactionary policy of the Minister of Education Kasso.
On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of Timiryazev, the great physiologist I.P. Pavlov described his colleague as follows: “Kliment Arkadyevich himself, like the plants he loved dearly, strove for light all his life, storing in himself the treasures of the mind and higher truth, and he himself was a source of light for many generations who strove for light and knowledge and sought warmth. and truth in the harsh conditions of life.
Kliment Arkadyevich from the very beginning condemned the war unleashed by the imperialists in 1914, and a year later accepted Gorky's invitation to head the department of science in the anti-war journal Letopis. In many ways, it was thanks to Timiryazev that his fellow physiologists, Nobel laureates Ilya Mechnikov, Ivan Pavlov, and many cultural figures, socialists of various parties and trends, were attracted to work in the journal for direct or indirect participation. In the same period, V.I. Lenin began to strive to be published in this journal and even dreamed of uniting with Kliment Arkadyevich against the August bloc of 1912, which was then part of the organizing committee of the Chronicle.

In the bold public speeches of K.A. Timiryazev stigmatized arbitrariness and oppression in the countryside and came to the correct conclusion that getting two ears of corn where one had previously grown was a political issue. This issue was resolved by the Great October Socialist Revolution, which, thanks to the leadership of the Bolshevik Party, carried out collectivization - the revolutionary restructuring of small peasant farming into a large, mechanized and socialist one.
In 1917, Timiryazev supported Lenin's famous April Theses. Despite the fact that the Central Committee of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party since September of that revolutionary year nominated K.A. Timiryazev to the post of Minister of Education of the Homogeneous Socialist Government, after the victory of the Great October Revolution, the great scientist from the very beginning supported the policy of the Bolshevik Party and took an active part in building a new life; he was elected a member of the Moscow Soviet and a full member of the Socialist Academy of Social Sciences.
In the matter of educating young people, Timiryazev attached great importance to familiarizing them with the life and work of the great luminaries of science, with their courageous struggle for the implementation of their brilliant ideas. He spoke with particular love of those of them who managed to combine their activities with the struggle for the liberation of their people. For more than half a century, Kliment Arkadyevich created a whole gallery of biographies of fighters for the people's cause - from the biography of the socialist Giuseppe Garibaldi in 1862 to an essay on the Friend of the People Marat in 1919. At the same time, Timiryazev was able to notice the weaknesses of this or that scientist. He also rebelled against the immoderate praise and indiscriminate condemnation of historical figures, demanding an objective approach to their assessment: "Our duty in relation to the dead is the same as in relation to the living - the truth."
The most important articles on socio-political issues published by him in different years are collected in his book Science and Democracy (1920). The first copy of this work, published a month before his death, was sent by the author to his friend V.I. Lenin, signing: "To the deeply respected Vladimir Ilyich Lenin from K. Timiryazev, who considers it a blessing to be his contemporary and witness to his glorious work."
April 21 Timiryazev falls ill with pneumonia. On April 27, he receives from V.I. Lenin’s letter, in which Ilyich admires Kliment Arkadyevich’s book “Science and Democracy”, reading Timiryazev’s remarks “against the bourgeoisie and for Soviet power”, and wishes the author “with all my heart ... health, health and health!”, passing through the new attending physician B .WITH. Weisbrod invitation to the evening dedicated to his 50th anniversary. On the same day, Timiryazev wrote his last letter, handed over with this communist doctor:
“I have always tried to serve humanity and I am glad that in these serious moments for me I see you, the representative of the party that really serves humanity. The Bolsheviks who promote Leninism - I believe and am convinced - are working for the happiness of the people and will lead them to happiness. I have always been yours and with you. Convey to Vladimir Ilyich my admiration for his brilliant solution of world problems in theory and in practice. I consider it a pleasure to be his contemporary and witness to his glorious activity. I bow to him and I want everyone to know about it. Convey to all comrades my sincere greetings and wishes for further successful work for the happiness of mankind.”

On the night of April 28, 1920, Kliment Arkadyevich Timiryazev died. In Moscow, K.A. Two monuments were erected to Timiryazev, his name was given to the Institute of Plant Physiology of the Academy of Sciences, the Biological Museum and Petrovka, which became the Moscow Agricultural Academy, which is now called the Russian State Agrarian University.

V.A. RODIONOV

PhD in Agricultural Sciences

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