Arkady Klimentievich Timiryazev (Russian: Аркадий Климентьевич Тимирязев; 19 October 1880 — 15 November 1955) was a Russian

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

physicist and philosopher.

Biography

Arkady was the son of the prominent

agronomist An agriculturist, agriculturalist, agrologist, or agronomist (abbreviated as agr.) is a professional in the science, practice, and management of agriculture and agribusiness. It is a regulated profession in Canada, India, the Philippines, the Uni ...

and

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...

Kliment Timiryazev Kliment Arkadievich Timiryazev, sometimes Timiriazev (; – 28 April 1920) was a Russian botanist and physiologist and a major proponent of thought of Charles Darwin in Russia. He founded a faculty of plant physiology and a laboratory at the P ...

. He was closely associated with

Maxim Gorky Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (; – 18 June 1936), popularly known as Maxim Gorky (; ), was a Russian and Soviet writer and proponent of socialism. He was nominated five times for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Before his success as an aut ...

. Although he was deemed a professor of

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

Moscow State University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public university, public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, a ...

, he was derided as the "monument's son" by people who questioned his competence. He was an ardent defender of the

classical physics Classical physics refers to physics theories that are non-quantum or both non-quantum and non-relativistic, depending on the context. In historical discussions, ''classical physics'' refers to pre-1900 physics, while '' modern physics'' refers to ...

propounded by

Isaac Newton Sir Isaac Newton () was an English polymath active as a mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author. Newton was a key figure in the Scientific Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment that followed ...

and was particularly noted for his vitriolic denunciations of

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein (14 March 187918 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who is best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics. His mass–energy equivalence f ...

. He used his

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

ideology to attack other Soviet physicists such as

Abram Ioffe Abram Fedorovich Ioffe ( rus, Абра́м Фёдорович Ио́ффе, p=ɐˈbram ˈfʲɵdərəvʲɪtɕ ɪˈofɛ; – 14 October 1960) was a prominent Soviet Union, Soviet physicist. He received the USSR State Prize, Stalin Prize (1942), the ...

and Sergei Vavilov. However he gained acceptance from

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

, whose works he scoured for references to physics, which he would then cite. He wrote "Albert Einstein: ''Relativity: The Special and General Theory''" which appeared in 1922 in the first issue of ''

Under the Banner of Marxism ''Under the Banner of Marxism'' (, ) was a Soviet Union, Soviet philosophical and socio-economic journal published in Moscow from 1922 to 1944. It was published monthly, except for 1933–1935, when it was published bi-monthly. History In a lett ...

'' (''UBM''). This was a review of the Russian translation of Einstein's 1916 book '' Über die spezielle und die allgemeine Relativitätstheorie''. Here Timiryasev argued that: :"All conclusions from Einstein’s theory, which are consistent with reality, can be obtained and often obtained in a much simpler way using theories that contain absolutely nothing incomprehensible – nothing that is at all similar to the requirements presented by Einstein’s theory." Sixteen years later he wrote "The Theory of Relativity as a Source of Philosophical Idealism" which also appeared in ''UBM'' in 1938. Here he stated: :"The orthodox modern scientist does not dare to doubt Einstein's theory. For he regards it as an absolute truth. He holds definitely the view that the Copernican and the Ptolemaic systems are one and the same thing. This standpoint is inacceptable for everybody who does not succumb to fashion in science. The identification of the Ptolemaic and the Copernican system is not a conclusion that has been drawn by idealistic philosophers from the theory of relativity. This identification is the starting point of the whole Einsteinian theory. This theory has this starting point in common with Mach who chose it under the influence of his reactionary philosophy."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Timiryasev, Arkady 1880 births 1955 deaths