The world of plants scientific discoveries of Timiryazev. Timiryazev Kliment Arkadievich. Contribution to the understanding of the nature of photosynthesis. Leaving Moscow University. public position

“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 (1843-1920), Russian naturalist, one of the founders 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). Professor of the Petrovsky Agricultural and Forestry Academy (since 1871) and Moscow University (1878-1911), resigned in protest against the harassment of students. Deputy of the Moscow City Council (1920). He revealed the patterns of photosynthesis as a process of using light to form organic substances in a plant. Proceedings on the methods of research of plant physiology, the biological foundations of agronomy, the history of science. One of the first promoters of Darwinism and materialism in Russia. Popularizer and publicist ("The Life of a Plant", 1878; "Science and Democracy", 1920).
Timiryazev Kliment Arkadyevich, Russian naturalist, plant physiologist, popularizer of science.
Timiryazev was born into an intelligent noble family. The origin of the Timiryazev surname is associated with the name of the Horde prince Temir-Gazi (14th century), whose descendants served in prominent military and civil positions in Russia. His father, a senator, was a man of republican views and an admirer of Robespierre. Mother - the daughter of an English baroness who emigrated to Russia, an energetic and enterprising woman who devoted a lot of effort to raising children. Timiryazev received a home education, common for noble families, with the study of several languages, was fond of chemistry, literature, music, and painting. At the same time, from the age of fifteen, he began to independently earn money for a living through translations. In 1861, Timiryazev entered the St. Petersburg University at the cameral faculty (trained officials in the management of state property), from which he soon switched to the physical and mathematical faculty. For participation in student unrest, he was expelled from the university, but in three years he graduated as a volunteer (1865) in the natural department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics, among whose teachers were A. N. Beketov, D. I. Mendeleev, A. S. Famintsin and other eminent scientists. Under the influence of the progressive views of his teachers and colleagues, as well as the revolutionary democratic movement of the 60s, Timiryazev became one of the prominent representatives of natural science positivism (in the spirit of O. Comte, whose philosophy had a great influence on him), an ardent supporter of democratic freedoms in university science. and public life. (Subsequently, Timiryazev accepted the October Revolution, and in 1920 sent his book "Science and Democracy" to V. I. Lenin with an inscription in which he spoke of happiness "to be his contemporary and witness to his glorious activity." Lenin replied that he "was right in ecstatic,” reading Timiryazev’s remarks “against the bourgeoisie and for Soviet power.”).
In 1868, Timiryazev was sent abroad (Germany, France) to work in the laboratories of R. Bunsen and G. Kirchhoff in Heidelberg and J. Bussingault and M. Berthelot in Paris (the latter Timiryazev considered his teacher). Period 1870-92 associated with teaching at the Petrovsky Agricultural and Forestry Academy (now the Moscow Agricultural Academy named after K. A. Timiryazev). From 1878 to 1911 Timiryazev was a professor at Moscow University, from which he voluntarily resigned in protest against the policy of the ministerial authorities. For the last ten years of his life he was engaged in literary and journalistic activities.
In terms of the breadth of his research program, Timiryazev approached those scientists-encyclopedists of the second half of the 19th century, whose interests could still be realized in various branches of science, scientific-organizational activity and the popularization of knowledge, while the general civic attitude was the desire to combine scientific knowledge with practice and democratic transformations. . Driven by a patriotic goal - to promote the rise of the agricultural economy in Russia - the first period of creative activity (1860-70s) Timiryazev devotes to the study of photosynthesis and drought resistance of plants. Proceeding from the position that the true physiology of plants can be created only on the solid foundations of physics and chemistry, he carried out original experiments to determine the constituent parts of the spectrum of sunlight involved in the assimilation of carbon dioxide by the plant and the formation of organic substances. Using a specially developed technique, Timiryazev showed a functional relationship between the green color of plants (the presence of chlorophyll) and photosynthesis, as well as subtle and careful experiments proved that it is not the yellow, subjectively brightest rays that are of primary importance (the conclusion of the American scientist J. Draper), but those that have maximum energy red. In addition, he found a different efficiency of absorption by chlorophyll of all rays of the spectrum with a consistent decrease as the wavelength decreases. Timiryazev suggested that the light-trapping function of chlorophyll evolved first in seaweeds, which is indirectly confirmed by the greatest variety of pigments that absorb solar energy in this particular group of plants. The results of photosynthesis research were presented in two dissertations: master's "Spectral analysis of chlorophyll" (1871) and doctoral "On the assimilation of light by a plant" (1875), published in domestic and foreign publications. Timiryazev summed up his long-term studies of photosynthesis in the so-called Krunian lecture “The Cosmic Role of the Plant”, read at the Royal Society of London in 1903. In his last article, he wrote that “to prove the solar source of life - such was the task that I set from the very first steps of scientific activity and stubbornly and comprehensively carried it out for half a century.
As a plant physiologist, Timiryazev dealt with the problems of drought resistance and mineral nutrition of plants, on his initiative in 1872 the first growing house was created in Russia.
Timiryazev carried out an analysis of all biological phenomena based on ideas about the unity of structure and function and the adaptive nature of evolution. The study of the evolution of specific adaptations has led to success in studies of photosynthesis and drought tolerance. These works define Timiryazev's place in the history of science as one of the creators of the evolutionary-ecological physiology of plants.
A special role belongs to Timiryazev in promoting and defending the Darwinian theory of evolution. He made the best translation (1896) of Ch. Darwin's book "The Origin of Species", which formed the basis of all subsequent editions, wrote a number of works on the essence of Darwinism and Darwin himself, whom Timiryazev visited in 1877 ("A Brief Outline of Darwin's Theory", 1865; " Charles Darwin and his Teachings", 1882; a series of articles in connection with the half-century anniversary of Darwin's main work). At the level of knowledge of that time, Timiryazev tried to convince a large audience that it was hereditary variability and natural selection that were the driving forces of biological evolution. The brilliant talent of a publicist and polemist inherent in Timiryazev contributed to the exposition and propaganda of Darwinism. A thorough scientific training and extensive knowledge of literary sources allowed him to reasonably and timely enter into discussions with domestic and foreign opponents of Darwinism, as well as supporters of vitalism. More than one generation of Russian evolutionary biologists was brought up on Timiryazev's printed and public speeches.
The name and authority of Timiryazev were unscrupulously used by T. D. Lysenko and his supporters in the fight against genetics and to assert their pseudoscientific constructions. Timiryazev gave ambivalent assessments of G. Mendel and Mendelism: he recognized the “tremendous importance” of Mendel’s work for Darwinism, but at the same time he doubted the universality of the laws discovered by Mendel, which he did not quite understand, and sharply criticized early Mendelism, in which he conceived the desire to replace Darwinism . Waving Timiryazev's name, Lysenkoites quoted some of his statements and were silent about others. Of scientific and historical value are Timiryazev's numerous articles and essays on the history of natural science, especially on the development of the biological sciences in the 18th and 19th centuries, essays on university life, and memoirs. His book Plant Life (1878) was repeatedly published in Russian and foreign languages as an example of the popularization of science. Timiryazev was a corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1890), a member of the Royal Society of London (1911), an honorary member and doctor of many Russian and foreign scientific societies and universities. In 1923, a monument to Timiryazev was erected on Tverskoy Boulevard in Moscow; his name was given to many scientific institutions, streets, etc.

article by A.B. Georgievsky from The Great Encyclopedia of Cyril and Methodius

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 thesis “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.

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 he was 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 an example 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.

Timiryazev Kliment Arkadyevich (05/22/06/03/1843, St. Petersburg 04/28/1920, Moscow), Darwinist naturalist, one of the founders of the Russian school of plant physiologists, corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1890). In 1865 he graduated from St. Petersburg University as a volunteer (in 1861 he was expelled from it for participating in student gatherings). The views of I. M. Sechenov and C. Darwin played an important role in shaping Timiryazev's worldview.

In 1868, Timiryazev 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 (G. Kirchhoff, G. Helmholtz, P. Bunsen, P. Berthelot, J. Bussingot, K. Bernard, V. Chamberlain). Of greatest importance for Timiryazev was his work with Bussengaud, whom he considered his teacher. In 1870 92 Timiryazev taught at the Petrovsky Agricultural and Forestry Academy (now the K. A. Timiryazev Moscow Agricultural Academy). In 1875 he became an ordinary professor.

From 1878 Timiryazev was a professor at Moscow University; in 1902 he was approved with the title of Honored Ordinary Professor. In 1911 he left the university in protest against the actions of the reactionary Minister of Education Kasso. In 1917, 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. He established that the assimilation of carbon from atmospheric carbon dioxide by plants 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. He showed 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 (Dependence of carbon assimilation on light intensity, 1889). Timiryazev summarized his many years of research in the field of photosynthesis. Timiryazev's discovery of the energy regularity of photosynthesis was a major contribution to the theory of the circulation of matter and energy in nature.

In plant physiology, along with agrochemistry, Timiryazev saw the basis of rational agriculture. In 1867, at the suggestion of Mendeleev, Timiryazev was in charge of an experimental field organized at the expense of the Free Economic Society in the village. Renevka, Simbirsk province, where he conducted experiments on the effect of mineral fertilizers on the crop. In 1872, on his initiative, on the territory of Petrovsky agricultural. Academy built the first growing house in Russia. In his lecture Plant Physiology as the Basis for Rational Farming (1897), Timiryazev shows the effectiveness of mineral fertilizers.

Timiryazev is one of the first promoters of Darwinism in Russia. He considered the evolutionary doctrine of Darwin as the greatest achievement of science in the 19th century, which affirmed the materialistic worldview in biology. From the standpoint of Darwinism, Timiryazev explained both the evolution of functions in plants, in particular the evolution of photosynthesis, and the universal distribution of chlorophyll in autotrophic plants. Timiryazev repeatedly emphasized that the modern forms of organisms are the result of a long adaptive evolution.

The popularization of science is one of the characteristic and brilliant features of Timiryazev's many-sided activity.

A classic example is Timiryazev's book Life of a Plant (1878), which went through dozens of editions in Russian and foreign languages. The combination of a deep analysis of modern problems of natural science with an accessible and fascinating presentation is also characteristic of other works by Timiryazev: Centenary results of plant physiology (1901), Main features of the history of the development of biology in the 19th century (1907), Awakening of natural science in the third quarter of a century (1907), Successes Botany in the 20th Century (1917), Nauka. Essay on the development of natural science over three centuries (1620 1920) (1920).

Timiryazev welcomed the Great October Socialist Revolution. Despite a serious illness, the 75-year-old Timiryazev participated in the work of the People's Commissariat of Education of the RSFSR and the Socialist Academy of Social Sciences, of which he was elected a member in 1918. In 1920, Timiryazev was elected to the Moscow Council.

A monument to Timiryazev was erected in Moscow and a memorial museum-apartment was created; the name of Timiryazev was assigned to the Moscow Agricultural Institute. Academy, Institute of Plant Physiology of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. One of the districts of Moscow and streets in many cities of the USSR are named after him. The Academy of Sciences of the USSR awards the prize to them every three years. Timiryazev for the best works on plant physiology and annually conducts Timiryazev readings.

Timiryazev was a member of the Royal Society of London (1911), an honorary doctor of the universities in Glasgow (1901), Cambridge (1909) and Geneva (1909), a corresponding member of the Edinburgh Botanical Society (1911), an honorary member of many Russian universities and scientific societies.

Timiryazev Kliment Arkadyevich - 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 thesis “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 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.