Timiryazev Kliment Arkadievich short biography. Biography of Kliment Arkadyevich Timiryazev: Biography of Kliment Arkadyevich Timiryazev

Timiryazev Kliment Arkadievich - scientist, Darwinist naturalist, one of the founders of the Russian school of plant physiology (discovered the phenomenon of light saturation - photosynthesis.

Timiryazev Kliment Arkadievich was born on May 22 (June 3), 1843 in St. Petersburg. He received his primary education at home. In 1861 he entered the St. Petersburg University at the Cameral Faculty, then switched to the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics, the course of which he graduated in 1866 with a candidate's degree. In 1868 Timiryazev K.A. was sent by St. Petersburg University to prepare for a professorship for two years abroad (Germany, France), where he worked in the laboratories of prominent scientists. Upon returning to his homeland in 1871, Timiryazev K. A. successfully defended his dissertation "Spectral analysis of chlorophyll" for a master's degree and became a professor at the Petrovsky Agricultural and Forestry Academy in Moscow (currently it is called the Moscow Agricultural Academy named after K. A. Timiryazev) . In 1875, after defending his doctoral dissertation ("On the assimilation of light by a plant"), he became an ordinary professor. In 1877, Timiryazev 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 in protest against the actions of the reactionary Minister of Education Kasso. In 1917, after the Great October Socialist Revolution, Timiryazev was reinstated as a professor at Moscow University, but due to illness he could not work at the department. For the last 10 years of his life, he was also engaged in literary and journalistic activities.

Timiryazev's main studies in plant physiology are devoted to the study of the process of photosynthesis, for which he developed special methods and equipment. Timiryazev established that carbon assimilation by plants from atmospheric carbon dioxide occurs due to the energy of sunlight, mainly in the red and blue rays, which are most completely absorbed by chlorophyll. Timiryazev was the first to express the opinion that chlorophyll not only physically, but also chemically participates in the process of photosynthesis, thus anticipating modern ideas. He proved that the intensity of photosynthesis is proportional to the absorbed energy at relatively low light intensities, but as they increase, it gradually reaches stable values ​​and does not change further, that is, he discovered the phenomena of light saturation of photosynthesis.

For the first time in Russia, Timiryazev introduced experiments with plants on artificial soils, for which in 1872 at the Petrovsky Academy he built a growing house for growing plants in vessels (the first scientifically equipped greenhouse), literally immediately after the appearance of such facilities in Germany. A little later, Timiryazev installed a similar greenhouse in Nizhny Novgorod at the All-Russian Exhibition.

Timiryazev is one of the first promoters of Darwinism in Russia. He considered the evolutionary teachings of Darwin as the greatest scientific achievement of the 19th century, which affirmed the materialistic worldview in biology. Timiryazev repeatedly emphasized that the modern forms of organisms are the result of a long adaptive evolution.

Thanks to outstanding scientific achievements in the field of botany, Timiryazev was awarded a number of high-profile titles: corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences since 1890, honorary member of Kharkov University, honorary member of St. Petersburg University, honorary member of the Free Economic Society, as well as many other scientific communities and organizations . Timiryazev K. A. is known all over the world. For his services in the field of science, he was elected a member of the Royal Society of London, the Edinburgh and Manchester Botanical Societies, as well as an honorary doctorate from a number of European universities - in Cambridge, Glasgow, Geneva.

“Kliment Arkadyevich himself, like his beloved
them plants, all his life he strove for the light,
storing in himself the treasures of the mind and the highest truth,
and he himself was a source of light for many generations,
striving for light and knowledge and seeking
warmth and truth in the harsh conditions of life.

Geologist, Academician A.P. Pavlov

The children of the Timiryazevs were brought up in the spirit of patriotism and love for the Russian people.

Due to the poor situation of the family, Kliment Arkadyevich started early to earn a living by helping the family: he translated the stories of English writers and reviews of English newspapers.

He received his primary education at home.

In 1860 he entered St. Petersburg University.

In 1861, Timiryazev was expelled from the university for participating in student unrest and refusing to cooperate with the police. He was allowed to continue his studies at the university only as a volunteer after a year.

For student scientific work "On the structure of liver mosses" Timiryazev received the first gold medal in his life.

In 1862 - the first appearance in print: the article "Garibaldi on Caprera" in the journal "Domestic Notes"

In 1865, Timiryazev wrote and published the first book on Darwinism in Russia, A Brief Outline of Darwin's Theory.

In 1866 he graduated from the course with the rank of candidate.

After university, he worked on the experimental fields of the Free Economic Society in the Simbirsk province. Here K.A. Timiryazev was engaged in the creation of instruments for his future research.

In 1868, his first scientific work "A device for studying the decomposition of carbon dioxide" appeared in print. This report was heard at a meeting of the Society of Russian Naturalists and Physicians.

In 1868-1869 Timiryazev worked abroad, with professors R.V. Bunsen, G.R. Kirchhoff and W. Chamberlain. Mastered new methods of gas analysis and spectroscopy.

In 1869 - 1870. worked in Paris.

After returning to St. Petersburg, in 1870, he was elected a teacher of botany at the Petrovsky Agricultural and Forestry Academy. He began to create a laboratory and a course of lectures.

In 1871 he defended his master's thesis Spectral Analysis of Chlorophyll. Elected Extraordinary Professor of the Petrovsky Academy.

In 1872, he built the first greenhouse in Russia for vegetative experiments with plants, and began working as a teacher of botany at Moscow University.

In 1874, Timiryazev participated in the international congress of botanists in Florence with a report "The action of light on chlorophyll grains." The success of this report marked the beginning of the world fame of the scientist.

In 1875 he defended his doctoral thesis "On the assimilation of light by a plant." This work irrefutably proved the facts previously unknown to science: chlorophyll most strongly absorbs the red rays of the solar spectrum and it is in these rays that the greatest assimilation of carbon dioxide occurs. Both of these discoveries showed for the first time the role of chlorophyll in the air nutrition of plants.

Kliment Arkadyevich Timiryazev was elected an ordinary professor at the Petrovsky Academy.

In 1877 he organized a laboratory for the study of plants at Moscow University. In the same year he visited Charles Darwin.

In 1878, the book Life of Plants was published. It aroused great interest, was reprinted in Russia and abroad more than 20 times.

In 1896 he set up an experimental station for crop production in Russia.

In 1902 he was approved as an honored professor at Moscow University.

In 1903, he read the Kronian lecture "The Cosmic Role of Plants" at the Royal Society of London. It summarizes more than 30 years of research on the role of chlorophyll and sunlight in the air nutrition of plants and the development of life on earth.

“Before you ... an eccentric. I spent over 35 years staring<...>on a green leaf in a glass tube, puzzling over the solution of the question: how does the storage of sunlight for the future ... ".

In 1906, he published the collection "Agriculture and Plant Physiology", in which Timiryazev combined the lectures he had given since 1885.

In 1909 he was elected an honorary doctor of the University of Cambridge and Geneva.

In 1911, he left Moscow University at the head of a large group of professors and teachers in connection with political views. Elected a Corresponding Member of the Royal Society of London.

In 1919 K.A. Timiryazev was reinstated as a professor at Moscow University.

In early 1920, the scientist published the book "Science and Democracy", in which he showed that real scientific progress is possible only in a democratic society.

In 1923, the collection "The Sun, Life and Chlorophyll" was published, combining the author's work on the study of air nutrition of plants from 1868 to 1920. The book was prepared by K. A. Timiryazev for publication in the last years of his life.

Since Timiryazev was a world-famous scientist who welcomed the Bolshevik movement, the Soviet authorities promoted his legacy in every possible way.

Kliment Arkadyevich Timiryazev is dedicated to the film "Deputy of the Baltic".

In honor of Timiryazev were named:

• Settlements: the village of Timiryazev in the Lipetsk region and Timiryazevsky in the Ulyanovsk region, many villages in Russia and Ukraine, a village in Azerbaijan.
• Lunar crater.
• Motor ship "Akademik Timiryazev".
• Moscow Agricultural Academy and other educational institutions
• Institute of Plant Physiology. K. A. Timiryazev RAS.
• State Biological Museum. K. A. Timiryazev.
• Prize of the Russian Academy of Sciences named after K. A. Timiryazev for the best works on plant physiology, Timiryazev Readings of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
• Library them. K. A. Timiryazev in St. Petersburg
• Vinnytsia Regional Universal Scientific Library. K.A. Timiryazev.
• Central Station for Young Naturalists (Moscow).
• Museum-apartment of Timiryazev. The Memorial Museum-Apartment of K.A. Timiryazev is included in the International Directory “Cultural Institutions of the World”, which is published in England.
• Moscow metro station "Timiryazevskaya" (on the Serpukhovsko-Timiryazevskaya line).
• Streets Timiryazev, Timiryazevskaya in many settlements.

Bust of K.A. Timiryazev on the territory of the Moscow Agricultural Academy

Sources:

Landau-Tylkina S.P. K.A. Timiryazev: Prince. for students / S.P. Landau-Tylkin. - M. : Education, 1985. - 127 p. - (People of Science)

Chernenko G.T. Timiryazev in St. Petersburg - Petrograd. - L.: Lenizdat, 1991. - 239, p., l. ill. - (Outstanding figures of science and culture in St. Petersburg - Petrograd - Leningrad).

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.

Born on May 22 (June 3 according to the old calendar), 1843 in St. Petersburg in the family of the head of the customs district of St. Petersburg.

Like many children from noble families of that time, Clement from an early age underwent versatile home schooling. Under the influence of a progressive father, the boy absorbed liberal republican views from childhood.

Since 1860, Timiryazev K. A. entered St. Petersburg University to study at the cameral (law) faculty, but then moved to another faculty - physics and mathematics, to the natural department. In 1861, for participating in student unrest and refusing to cooperate with the authorities, he was expelled from the university. He was allowed to continue his studies at the university as a volunteer only after a year. As a student, he had already published a number of articles on Darwinism, as well as on socio-political topics. In 1866, Timiryazev successfully completed his studies with a candidate's degree and a gold medal for his work On Liver Mosses, which was never published.

Timiryazev began his scientific activity under the guidance of the well-known Russian botanist A. N. Beketov. The first real scientific work by K. A. Timiryazev “A device for studying the decomposition of carbon dioxide” was published in 1868. In the same year, the young scientist went abroad to expand his knowledge and experience, as well as to prepare for a professorship. His teachers and mentors were, among others: Chamberlain, Bunsen, Kirchhoff, Berthelot, Helmholtz and Claude Bernard. The formation of the worldview of K. A. Timiryazev was influenced by the revolutionary-democratic upsurge in Russia, and the development of his scientific thinking was influenced by a whole galaxy of naturalists, among whom were D. I. Mendeleev, I. M. Sechenov, I. I. Mechnikov, A. M. Butlerov, L. S. Tsenkovsky, A. G. Stoletov, brothers Kovalevsky and Beketov. K. A. Timiryazev was strongly influenced by the works of such great Russian revolutionary democrats as V. G. Belinsky, A. I. Herzen, N. G. Chernyshevsky, D. I. Pisarev and N. A. Dobrolyubov, who were interested in natural science and used scientific advances to substantiate materialistic views of nature. The evolutionary teachings of Ch. Darwin had a huge impact on the talented scientist. Timiryazev was one of the first among Russian scientists to get acquainted with Karl Marx's "Capital" and imbued with new ideas.

Upon returning to his homeland in 1871, Timiryazev K. A. successfully defended his dissertation "Spectral analysis of chlorophyll" for a master's degree and became a professor at the Petrovsky Agricultural and Forestry Academy in Moscow (currently it is called the Moscow Agricultural Academy named after K. A. Timiryazev) . Until 1892, Timiryazev lectured there in full on botany. At the same time, the scientist led an active and eventful activity. In 1875, Timiryazev became a doctor of botany for his work "On the assimilation of light by a plant." Since 1877, he began working at the Department of Plant Anatomy and Physiology at Moscow University. In addition, he regularly lectured at Moscow women's collective courses. He was the chairman of the botanical department of the Society of Natural Science Lovers, who worked at that time at Moscow University.

It is worth noting that from the very beginning of his writing activity, Timiryazev's scientific work was distinguished by strict consistency and unity of plan, the elegance of experimental technique and the accuracy of methods. Many questions outlined in the first scientific works of Timiryazev were expanded and supplemented in later works. For example, on the issues of decomposition of carbon dioxide by green plants with the help of solar energy, the study of chlorophyll and its genesis. For the first time in Russia, Timiryazev introduced experiments with plants on artificial soils, for which in 1872 at the Petrovsky Academy he built a growing house for growing plants in vessels (the first scientifically equipped greenhouse), literally immediately after the appearance of such facilities in Germany. A little later, Timiryazev installed a similar greenhouse in Nizhny Novgorod at the All-Russian Exhibition.

Thanks to outstanding scientific achievements in the field of botany, Timiryazev was awarded a number of high-profile titles: corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences since 1890, honorary member of Kharkov University, honorary member of St. Petersburg University, honorary member of the Free Economic Society, as well as many other scientific communities and organizations.

In the scientific community, Timiryazev was known as a popularizer of natural science and Darwinism. He devoted his whole life to the struggle for the freedom of science and sharply opposed attempts to turn science into a pillar of autocracy and religion. For this, he was constantly on suspicion of the police and felt a certain pressure. In 1892, the Petrovsky Agricultural Academy was closed due to the unreliability of its teaching staff and students, and Timiryazev was expelled from the staff. In 1898, he was fired from the staff of Moscow University for his length of service (30 years of teaching experience), in 1902 Timiryazev finished lecturing and remained head of the botanical office. In 1911, as part of a group of other teachers, he left the university as a sign of disagreement with the violation of the autonomy of the university. Only in 1917 was he reinstated in the rank of professor at Moscow University, but he could no longer continue his work due to illness.

Timiryazev's popular science lectures and articles were distinguished by their strict scientific content, clarity of presentation, and polished style. The collections Public Lectures and Speeches (1888), Some Fundamental Problems of Modern Natural Science (1895), Agriculture and Plant Physiology (1893), and Charles Darwin and His Teachings (1898) were popular not only in the scientific community, but went far beyond it. "The Life of Plants" (1898) became a model of a course on plant physiology accessible to any person and was translated into foreign languages.

Timiryazev K. A. is known all over the world. For his services in the field of science, he was elected a member of the Royal Society of London, the Edinburgh and Manchester Botanical Societies, as well as an honorary doctorate from a number of European universities - in Cambridge, Glasgow, Geneva.

Timiryazev K. A. has always been a patriot of the motherland and was glad to accomplish the Great Socialist Revolution. Until the last days, the scientist took part in the work of the State Academic Council of the People's Commissariat for Education of the RSFSR. Actively continued scientific and literary work. In 1920, on the night of April 27-28, the world famous scientist died and was buried at the Vagankovsky cemetery. A memorial museum-apartment of Timiryazev was created in Moscow and a monument was erected. Timiryazev's name was given to the Moscow Agricultural Academy and the Institute of Plant Physiology of the USSR Academy of Sciences. The area of ​​Moscow and streets in different cities of Russia are named in honor of the scientist.

: 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 given. 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.