What was the purpose of Timiryazev's experiment. Timiryazev Clement Arkadievich. Contribution to understanding the nature of photosynthesis. Selected bibliography of Timiryazev's works

TIMIRYAZEV, KLIMENT ARKADIEVICH (1843-1920) - an outstanding Russian botanist and physiologist, researcher of the process of photosynthesis, supporter and popularizer of Darwinism.

Born May 22 (June 3) 1843 in St. Petersburg, in a noble family. His parents, who themselves adhere to republican views, passed on to their children a love of freedom and democratic ideals. K.A. Timiryazev received an excellent education at home, which allowed him in 1860 to enter the law faculty of the university, from which he soon transferred to the natural sciences department of the physics and mathematics faculty of St. Petersburg University.

His early years were fanned by the revolutionary ideas of the 60s, which were expressed by Herzen, Chernyshevsky, Dobrolyubov, Pisarev, which explains the unconditional acceptance of the October Revolution by scientists.
Among his teachers at the university were the botanist-taxonomist A.N. Beketov and the chemist D.I. Mendeleev. KA Timiryazev made a report on his first experiments on aerial nutrition of plants in 1868 at the I Congress of Naturalists in St. Petersburg. In this report, he already gave a broad plan for the study of photosynthesis.

After graduating from university, Timiryazev worked in the laboratories of France with the chemist P.E. Berthelot and the plant physiologist J.B. Bussengot, and in Germany with the physicists G.R. Kirchhoff and Bunsen and with one of the founders of spectral analysis, physiologist and physicist G. L. Helmholtz. Later, he had a meeting with Charles Darwin, whose ardent supporter Timiryazev had been all his life.

Upon his return from abroad, Timiryazev defended his dissertation at St. Petersburg University Spectral analysis of chlorophyll and began teaching in Moscow at the Petrovsk Agricultural Academy, which now bears his name. Later he became a professor at Moscow state university, from which he retired already in his declining years, in 1911.

The scientist welcomed the October Revolution. Despite his age and serious illness, he became a deputy of the Moscow Council.

Timiryazev worked all his life to solve the problem of plant aerial nutrition, or photosynthesis.

This problem goes far beyond the physiology of plants, since the existence of not only plants, but also the entire animal world is associated with photosynthesis. Moreover, in photosynthesis, the plant takes and assimilates not only carbon dioxide from the air, but also the energy of the sun's rays. This gave Timiryazev the right to talk about the cosmic role of the plant as a transmitter of the sun's energy to our planet.

As a result of a long study of the absorption spectrum of the green pigment chlorophyll, the scientist found that red and somewhat weaker blue-violet rays are absorbed most intensively. In addition, he found out that chlorophyll not only absorbs light, but also chemically participates in the very process of photosynthesis and the law of conservation of energy applies to the process of photosynthesis, and therefore to all living nature. Most researchers of those years, especially the German botanists J. Sachs and W. Pfefer, denied this connection. Timiryazev showed that they made a number of experimental errors. Having developed a very precise research technique, K.A. Timiryazev established that only the rays absorbed by the plant produce work, i.e. carry out photosynthesis. Green rays, for example, are not absorbed by chlorophyll, and photosynthesis does not occur in this part of the spectrum. In addition, he noted that there is a direct proportional relationship between the number of absorbed rays and the work performed. In other words, the more light energy is absorbed by chlorophyll, the more intensive is photosynthesis. Chlorophyll absorbs red rays most of all, so in red rays photosynthesis is more intense than in blue or violet rays, which are less absorbed. Finally, Timiryazev proved that not all of the absorbed energy is spent on photosynthesis, but only 1–3 percent of it.
The main works of K.A. Timiryazev: Charles Darwin and his teachings; Plant life; Historical method in biology; Agriculture and plant physiology.

Kliment Timiryazev was born on June 3, 1843 in the city of St. Petersburg. He received his primary education at home. In 1866 he graduated with honors from the natural faculty of St. Petersburg State University. An important role in the formation of Timiryazev's worldview was played by philosophical views A. Herzen, N. Chernyshevsky, the works of D. Mendeleev, I. Sechenov and especially C. Darwin.

During his student years, Timiryazev published a number of articles on socio-political topics and Darwinism, including: "Garibaldi on Caprera", "Famine in Lancashire", "The Book of Darwin, its critics and commentators." At the same time he wrote the first popular book outlining the teachings of Darwin, "Charles Darwin and His Teachings"; his book "The Life of Plants" was reprinted more than 20 times and aroused great interest both in Russia and abroad.

In 1868, to prepare for a professorship, he was sent abroad, where he worked in the laboratories of major physicists, chemists, physiologists, botanists. Returning to Russia, Timiryazev defended his master's thesis and took the position of professor at the Petrovskaya Agricultural Academy in Moscow, where he lectured on all departments of botany. At the same time he taught at Moscow State University at the Department of Plant Anatomy and Physiology, at the women's "collective courses". He headed the botanical department of the Society of Natural Science Lovers at the university.

Clement Arkadievich became one of the founders of the Russian school of plant physiology, having studied the process of photosynthesis, for which he developed special methods and equipment. In plant physiology, along with agrochemistry, the scientist saw the basis of rational agriculture. The professor was the first to introduce in Russia experiments with plant culture in artificial soils; arranged the first greenhouse for this purpose at the Petrovskaya Academy in the early 1870s.

In 1920, a collection of his articles "Science and Democracy" was published. The last 10 years of his life due to illness he could no longer teach, but continued to engage in literary and journalistic activities, participated in the work of the People's Commissariat of Education of Russia and the Socialist Academy of Social Sciences. Was elected as a Deputy of the Moscow City Council.

Timiryazev was a member of the Royal Society of London. He was an Honorary Doctor of the universities in the cities of Glasgow, Cambridge and Geneva; Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Edinburgh Botanical Society, also an Honorary Member of many foreign and domestic universities and scientific societies. Author of numerous articles, books, biographical sketches.

Kliment Arkadyevich Timiryazev died on April 28, 1920 in the city of Moscow. Buried at the Vagankovskoye cemetery.

In honor of the scientist, the following are named: a settlement in the Lipetsk and Ulyanovsk regions; Lunar crater; motor ship "Akademik Timiryazev"; Moscow Agricultural Academy, Institute of Plant Physiology RAS, State Biological Museum, library in St. Petersburg, Vinnytsia Regional Universal science Library in Ukraine, the Central Station of Young Naturalists and the Moscow Metro Station.

The film "Deputy of the Baltic" is dedicated to Timiryazev. Per best works on plant physiology are awarded the RAS Prize named after the scientist. A bust has been installed in the Museum of Geosciences of Moscow State University.

Large Timiryazev's contribution to the study of photosynthesis... Prior to the works of K. A. Timiryazev, the prevailing opinion was that the process of photosynthesis proceeds most rapidly in the yellow, brightest rays of the solar spectrum. However, the yellow rays are slightly absorbed by chlorophyll and therefore retain their characteristic energy even after passing through the plant leaf.

The process of photosynthesis in different parts of the light spectrum

The idea of \u200b\u200ba higher rate of photosynthesis in yellow rays did not correspond to the law of conservation of energy. KA Timiryazev proved the incorrectness of this position by means of a more accurate determination of plant photosynthesis in different parts of the light spectrum. To do this, he passed sunlight through a prism with a narrow slit (which made it possible to obtain monochromatic light) and cast it onto a hydrangea leaf. Monochromatic light. It turned out that in the area of \u200b\u200bthe leaf illuminated by red light, there was an abundant formation of starch, there was also a lot of starch in the blue-violet part of the spectrum, i.e., where the most intense absorption of light by chlorophyll takes place. This experiment showed that the law of conservation of energy also applies to the process of photosynthesis: the more intense the absorption of energy, the more absorbed carbon dioxide. The quantum theory of light developed by physicists explained the maximum intensity of photosynthesis in red rays. It has now been established that light propagates in the form of bunches of energy - quanta. The size of the quantum depends on the wavelength: the longer the wavelength, the smaller the value of the quantum. Long-wavelength red rays have a small amount of quanta, but their number is greater than in short-wavelength (blue-violet) rays, which have larger quanta. Thus, the red part of the spectrum, which carries a large number of quanta per unit time per unit surface, will be more photochemically productive than any other part of the spectrum. KA Timiryazev's studies also showed that not all the energy falling on the leaf is completely absorbed by it: part of it is reflected or passes through the leaf without absorption (green and extremely red rays of the spectrum). The amount of light reflected and transmitted without absorption is different for different plants.
The amount of absorbed and reflected light differs from plant to plant. It depends on the properties of the light-reflecting cuticle of the leaf, on the thickness of the leaf and the intensity of its green color, (more:). On average, it can be assumed that the leaf absorbs about 85-90% of the energy incident on it. But not all of the energy absorbed by chlorophyll is fully utilized in the process of photosynthesis. Most of the absorbed energy (up to 90% or more); turns into a thermal one, facilitating the transition of water to a vapor state during transpiration or increasing the temperature of the sheet. The utilization rate of radiant energy for education organic matter small and amounts to 1 - 5%, only in exceptional cases reaching 10%.

Prepared by: student AA-1-7-b

Neupokoeva Maria Yurievna

Head: Tsialkovsky Yury Ivanovich

Voronezh-2013

1. Biography of Kliment Arkadievich Timiryazev.

2. The doctrine of plant nutrition in the works of K.A. Timiryazev.

3. The role of K.A. Timiryazeva in the formation and development of the vegetation method in Russia.

Kliment Arkadievich Timiryazev (1843 - 1920) - world famous scientist, founder of the Russian school of plant physiologists, corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences since 1890.

K.A. Timiryazev was born in St. Petersburg into a progressive noble family. His father, Arkady Semyonovich, a republican in his views, held a major official position in the customs department, taught his son an unlimited love of truth.

K.A. Timiryazev graduated from St. Petersburg University in 1865 as a volunteer, since in 1862 he was expelled from it for participating in student gatherings. While still a volunteer at the university, in 1864 Kliment Arkadievich published an article about Darwin in his Otechestvennye zapiski, and in 1865 published the first edition of his book Charles Darwin and His Teachings. He graduated from the university with a candidate's degree and a gold medal. In the future, he continues serious scientific research in the field of plant physiology.

A deep understanding of the close connection between the foundations of agronomy and the study of plant life was manifested by K.A. Timiryazev already in 1867, when, having just graduated from the university, he took on the task of the Free Economic Society to conduct field experiments in the Simbirsk province with the use of ammonia fertilizer.

In 1868, he went abroad to prepare for a professorship. On a trip abroad, he worked in Heidelberg in the laboratories of Kirchhoff, Bunsen, Hofmeister, and in Paris he listened to lectures by Bussengo, whose student he called himself.

In the fall of 1870, Kliment Arkadievich was invited as a botany teacher to the Petrovsk Agricultural Academy. In 1871 he defended his master's thesis on the "Spectral analysis of chlorophyll" and was elected professor at the Petrovsk Agricultural Academy, and in 1875 he defended his doctoral dissertation on the assimilation of light by plants. In October 1877 K.A. Timiryazev was elected an extraordinary professor at Moscow University (but continued to remain professor at the Petrovskaya Academy until it was reorganized into the Agricultural Institute in 1892) and occupied the first department of plant anatomy and physiology at the university in Russia, organizing a physiological laboratory there, and, along with teaching, deepens in scientific work.

K.A. Timiryazev was an experimental scientist. Applying the exact methods of physics and chemistry to the physiology of plant nutrition, he had a significant impact on the development of the fundamental provisions of agronomic science. As the inspirer of scientific agriculture, he pointed to the need for the interconnection of field and laboratory research. The achievements of science should be tested in the fields, and observations in the field can only be explained by laboratory experiments.

K.A. Timiryazev, as a great citizen and patriot of his country, a guardian for the development of domestic scientific agriculture, constantly advocated the large-scale development of experimental work. Referring to one of the best representatives of scientific agriculture, Grando, who noted that all the tasks of agriculture are reduced to the definition and possibly strict implementation of the conditions for plant nutrition, Kliment Arkadyevich noted that a lack of understanding of this fundamental truth led to many mistakes, made it fruitless in relation to the main task farming whole directions in science.

Speaking for a combination of fundamental and applied research, he believed that scientific agriculture and plant physiology are border areas of knowledge and are linked by the general idea that without scientific science there would be no applied science.

As a popularizer of science, he certainly connected his ideas with caring for the domestic farmer, defending systems approach in solving the urgent tasks of the farmer. "... If we had not one experimental field per district, but dozens, hundreds of cheap experimental fields, then our peasant would know, the plant itself would tell him what he needs in each individual case," this is how Kliment Arkadyevich figuratively argued the need for widespread field research.

Already in 1867 K.A. Timiryazev as assistant to D.I. Mendeleev took part in staging the first experiments in Russia with mineral fertilizers, organized by the Free Economic Society, in 1868 - 1870. worked in laboratories in Germany and France.

I. Clement Arkadyevich provided significant influence on the development of an experimental business in Russia. Starting from the agrochemical experiments according to the plan of D.I. Mendeleev (1867), he paid much attention to the organization of demonstration experimental stations. V.L. Komarov (1948), describing the life and work of K.A. Timiryazev, noted that “just by advancing an experimental business into a backward agriculture Russia, he undoubtedly became one of those who deserve the gratitude of humanity "

Popularizing his ideas on the development of experimental work in Russia, on the application of plant physiology to agriculture, on the organization of experimental stations in Russia, which should be a place not only for conducting research, but also for demonstrating the achievements of science, K.A. Timiryazev noted that the country is predominantly agricultural, a country whose well-being is associated with the existence of a plant, has still done and is doing the least to study this plant. While there are people in England who donate millions to this cause, while Germany has lost count of its experimental stations, not a single one has arisen in our country during these half a century.

His bright propaganda speeches, as well as the publication of a collection of his lectures on the problem of "Agriculture and Plant Physiology" had a great influence on the development of agrochemical research in Russia in the XX century.

Clement Arkadievich highly appreciated the merits of Bussengo, especially as an experimental scientist, noting that instead of the semi-empirical, semi-a priori ideas about plant nutrition, from which Thayer proceeded, which ran counter to the facts acquired by science, Bussengo set a strictly scientific task: with the help of scales take into account the balance of matter for each agronomic process and for obtaining a plant product. And then K.A. Timiryazev wrote: "Nowhere, perhaps, is the identity of the goals and means of scientific agronomy and plant physiology more evident than in this half-century of Bussengo's scientific activity."

K.A. Timiryazev considered Bussengo the founder of the vegetative method, followed the rule of his teacher: “ask the plant's opinion” about the significance of this or that food source for him. To develop research work K.A. Timiryazev created a physiological laboratory and, together with I.A. Stebut in 1870 set up the first greenhouse in Russia for growing plants in artificial conditions (vegetation house) on the experimental field of the Academy.

K.A. Timiryazev combined a rare example of a talented scientist, a strict researcher, a brilliant public lecturer, who knew how to combine the general availability of presentation with the depth of thought. In his speeches, he paid much attention to the connection of theoretical research with the practical issues of scientific agriculture, always thinking about the farmer and the duty of the intelligentsia to him. He often ended lectures on plant nutrition with a reminder that raising peasant agriculture is the most urgent task that directly and indirectly affects every Russian citizen.

K.A. Timiryazev often gave public lectures on agronomic topics, responding to events in the life of the country (the drought of 1891 and the subsequent famine of 1892, which covered not only the southeast, but also the center of the black earth zone).

He constantly paid attention to the promotion of agronomic knowledge, as he believed that the farmer, engaged in agriculture, had to solve complex problems. "Nowhere, perhaps in any other activity, is it necessary to weigh so many different conditions of success, nowhere is such multilateral information required, nowhere can a fascination with a one-sided point of view lead to such a major failure as in agriculture."

The topics of his public lectures were also important scientific discoveries, from which Kliment Arkadievich drew conclusions for the practice of agriculture.

He highly appreciated the scientific theses of one of the founders of agrochemistry, J. Liebig, especially about the return of missing nutrients to the soil carried away with the harvest. In his work "Agriculture and Plant Physiology" Kliment Arkadievich very figuratively and easily wrote about the theory of mineral nutrition of plants by J. Liebikh. Speaking about ash elements, he emphasized: “Once extracted from the soil, they themselves will not come back, - they can be returned only by the same force that extracted them from there, ie. man. Hence, the ashes extracted by any plant, whether cereals or legumes, is the affected capital of the soil, which must be replaced in one way or another, if we wish to hand over the land to descendants as we received it from our ancestors. . This is the famous "law of recurrence" proclaimed by Liebig, and representing no matter how hard they try to limit its significance, one of the greatest achievements of science »

Clement Arkadyevich highly appreciated Bussengo's contribution to science, noting that he had done a tremendous amount of work, “to be able to say with complete confidence that in just four or five years this field received so much and removed so many kilograms carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, etc., it was a scientific feat, unprecedented until then, and therefore Dumas's opinion is completely true that Boussingo was in the field of agronomy what Lavoisier was for chemistry.

One of the most important ways of raising the productivity of agriculture in Russia, Timiryazev, considered clover sowing, as well as the expansion of sowing of other legumes. "... The peculiarity of peas and all legumes, which distinguishes them from cereals, is the ability to assimilate free nitrogen of the atmosphere due to the ability of their roots to become infected with known soil bacteria."

He praised the discovery of symbiotic nitrogen fixation by legumes, which he called "one of the brilliant newest acquisitions of plant nutrition."

Appreciating the achievements of agronomic chemistry and plant physiology, K.A. Timiryazev wrote in the 90s of the XIX century: “What marked the scientific successes over this last century, reflected in agriculture, completely changed its character, turning it from an incoherent collection of recipes and blind imitation of successful examples into more or less conscious intelligent activity? Of course, the emergence of two branches of knowledge: agronomic chemistry and plant physiology ... "

And then he cited the example of the greatest of the theoretical and practical authorities of the 19th century, J. Boussingo, who put three words in the title of his works: "Agronomy, agronomic chemistry, physiology." This is, in reality, their sequence: agronomy sets practical tasks, agronomic chemistry offers material means and scientific support for their application; physiology of plants, carrying out basic research on a living object of the agronomist's activity, gives a theoretical justification for the use of these funds. The successes of agronomic chemistry are associated with the improvement of research methodology, and this expands the field of science. Checking the scientific positions directly on the plant provides new information and leads the researcher to specific conclusions. Therefore, Clement Arkadievich concludes: “Agriculture has become what it is only thanks to agronomic chemistry and plant physiology; this is obvious arpop (forward, of course) and is proved by history itself "

For the first time in Russia, he began to study the physiological and biochemical role of trace elements in plant life. This is evidenced by the results of his experiments on the study of the effect of iron, nickel, manganese, cobalt and zinc on the conversion of phyloxanthin to chlorophyllin (Timiryazev, 1937).

In the last decade of the 19th century, Kliment Arkadyevich began to pay much attention to mineral fertilizers, with which he had to work even in his youth in experiments organized by D.I. Mendeleev in 1867

K.A. Timiryazev drew attention to the need for wider use of fertilizers in the fight against drought, especially after the disastrous consequences of the drought that befell Russian agriculture in 1891. In a public lecture (1892), he noted that among the external influences with the help of which a person can reduce unproductive waste of water by a plant, primarily the use of fertilizers. A plant that has received fertilization uses water with a relatively greater benefit, since for an equal amount of water it gives more organic matter in comparison with a plant that has not received fertilization.

From the first years of work at the Petrovsk Academy, K.A. Timiryazev, as the successor of his teacher Zh.B. Bussengo - the author of the vegetation method of research, together with I.A. Stebutom organized a vegetation house in Petrovsko-Razumovsky, which became the prototype of greenhouses at many stations in Russia. Another greenhouse under his leadership was built in 1890 for the same purposes at Moscow University (for lack of space - on the roof of the building).

In 1896, on behalf of the Ministry of Agriculture, Kliment Arkadievich arranged an experimental station at the All-Russian Exhibition in Nizhny Novgorod. According to his plan, a growing house was built, equipped with the necessary equipment and instruments purchased from Russian and foreign companies. In addition, he laid out small-plot field experiments in the greenhouse. All this was widely available to the public, since Kliment Arkadievich arranges a wide demonstration of experiments on plant nutrition.

In 1897, an elegantly constructed metal greenhouse was transferred to the Petrovskaya Academy at the disposal of D.N. Pryanishnikov, who for more than half a century (until his death in 1948) successfully conducted physiological and agrochemical research.

In a public lecture "Plant physiology as the basis of scientific agriculture" (1897) Kliment Arkadyevich noted that the use of plant physiology and agronomic chemistry, along with the development of the chemical industry, quadrupled the yields in the advanced countries of Western Europe compared to the medieval level. Here he spoke about the importance for agriculture of such sciences as agricultural meteorology and soil science, since they determine the living conditions of plants. Thus, a chemical analysis of the soil can be properly interpreted only in comparison with the readings of the plant.

In January 1901, Kliment Arkadievich delivered a speech at the university “Centennial results of plant physiology”, in conclusion of which he highly appreciated agronomic chemistry, noting their exceptional importance in agriculture: “The tree is known by its fruits. Chemistry and physics, having come to the aid of plant physiology, within one century gave mankind the opportunity to expand the "rights" of life and reduce the power of death - no knowledge can offer a greater sign of its usefulness "

K.A. Timiryazev highly appreciated the great achievement of science - the conversion of atmospheric nitrogen into nitrate using electricity. He noted that this is the most important of the fertilizing substances, the widespread use of which will change the fate of agriculture in the future. "The beneficent significance of this most important achievement of scientific technology can hardly be fully appreciated for the future of mankind." There were sufficient grounds for such a judgment. Already at that time, the need for agriculture in European countries for nitrogen fertilizers was provided mainly by the Chilean selim.

A masterful presentation of complex issues of mineral nutrition of plants in a form accessible to listeners, demonstration of experiments in greenhouses to thousands of visitors at the Nizhny Novgorod exhibition, propaganda of experimental stations created prerequisites for the further development of agrochemical research.

K.A. Timiryazev on the effective use of fertilizers great attention devoted to foreign experience. He translated into Russian a course of lectures by the German agrochemist P. Wagner "Fundamentals of Reasonable Fertilization", where in a simple form the meaning of fertilizers for various plants is stated. Agrochemical topics include A. Garwood's book “The Renewed Land. The Legend of the Victories of Modern Agriculture in America ”, which Clement Arkadievich translated from English.

Kliment Arkadievich showed constant concern for the growth of scientific personnel. Thus, he made a number of valuable proposals to the Academy Council aimed at improving the level of teaching. At his suggestion, persons who had graduated from the Physics and Mathematics Faculty of the University and had serious natural science knowledge were involved in the senior courses of the Academy in order to prepare them for professorship in agronomic disciplines. The first on university diploma works from among those who graduated from the university on a competitive basis were involved in graduate school P.S. Kossovich, D.N. Pryanishnikov, N.V. Sobolev, and later -

V.S. Butkevich, A.N. Lebedev, A.G. Doyarenko, P.I. Lisitsyn, E.V. Bobko, A.F. Tyulin and others.

Among the numerous talented students of K.A. Timiryazeva

D.N. Pryanishnikov, founder of the Russian agrochemical school. Under the leadership of K.A. Timiryazev, the skill of the researcher-agrochemist and teacher P.S. Kossovich; With his lectures and speeches, Kliment Arkadyevich influenced the formation of Professor A.G. Doyarenko. Famous students of K.A. Timiryazeva are: an outstanding physiologist, author of classic works on mineral nutrition of plants D.A. Sabinin, as well as prominent scientists V.L. Komarov, S.A. Novikov, E.F. Votchap and others.

For outstanding achievements in science, K.A. Timiryazev was elected an honorary member of many foreign academies, universities, schools, scientific societies. For example, he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Geneva as the successor of Senebier and Saussure, scientists dedicated to both plant physiology and agrochemistry (Torshin, 1993).

Academician I.P. Pavlov named K.A. Timiryazev (on the occasion of his 70th birthday), "a source of light for many generations" (Petersburg, 1946). The history of natural science, and in particular agrochemistry, has confirmed the correctness of these words.

Professor A.G. Shestakov (1940) in the article “K.A. Timiryazev and the Vegetation Method ”notes that the work of Kliment Arkadievich on the assimilation of solar energy and carbon dioxide by plants is one of the fundamental works in the field of plant physiology, and therefore his name deservedly enjoys the fame of a prominent physiologist. K.A. Timiryazeva is imbued with the idea of \u200b\u200bmaximum use of the achievements of physiology and other sciences for agriculture. Throughout his scientific and social activities, he fought for the development of experimental work, for the widespread use of vegetation and field experiments.

Kliment Arkadievich is an example of a social scientist. “A talented person who has achieved major success in the field of plant physiology, K.A. Timiryazev fought relentlessly to use the achievements of plant physiology in agriculture. Life and work of K.A. Timiryazeva are an example of purposefulness and understanding of civic duty ”(Shestakov, 1940).

In the memoirs of K.A. Dmitry Nikolaevich Pryanishnikov (1940) wrote about Timiryazev as his teacher that “in him we saw not only a rare example of a researcher who knew how to combine the elegance of presenting his scientific messages with the subtlety of an experiment, but also a brilliant lecturer, an energetic popularizer who introduced Russian society to the works and the life of the world's largest natural science lights ”.

D.N. Pryanishnikov was in close contact by the nature of his scientific activity with Clement Arkadyevich. He passed him master's exams in plant physiology (exams in agronomic chemistry - from N.E. Lyaskovsky). Kliment Arkadievich was a reviewer and main opponent for the master's and doctoral dissertations of Dmitry Nikolaevich. They had common scientific interests in the plane of contact between agricultural chemistry and plant physiology.

In conclusion of his memoirs, D.N. Pryanschnikov writes: “It remains for me to express my insistent desire for our youth to read Timiryazev in the original: you need to know Timiryazev, you need to remember what he lived and fought for, to which he devoted his entire bright life, and everyone should follow his example as best he can. ".

Literature:

V.G. Mineev, L.A. Lebedeva "History of agrochemistry and methodology of agrochemical research"

Moscow University Publishing House 2003

Nominated by user lyssi

Biology

Place of Birth: Petersburg

Activities and interests: plant physiology

In 1940. - the Prize of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR named after V.I. Timiryazev. In 1971. - golden medal VASKHNIL them. Timiryazev. More facts

Discoveries

He proved that the law of conservation of energy also applies to the process of photosynthesis, and therefore to living nature. Created the first experimental station. I came up with a greenhouse - a "growing house". He suggested practical methods for dealing with drought. The founder of the Russian scientific school of plant physiologists.

Biography

Born into a noble, but democratic-minded family in St. Petersburg.

1861 - entered the natural sciences department of the physics and mathematics faculty of St. Petersburg University.

1866 - graduated from training with a candidate's degree and a gold medal for the work "On liver mosses".

1868 - sent abroad by the St. Petersburg University (Germany, France).

1870 - 1892 - Teaches at the Petrovskaya Agricultural and Forestry Academy in Moscow.

1872 - builds the first "growing house" in Russia on the experimental field. He devoted his scientific works to the questions of the mechanism of photosynthesis, methods of studying plant physiology, the biological foundations of agronomy, and the history of science. Some of them ("Spectral analysis of chlorophyll" and "On the assimilation of light by a plant") brought the author world fame.

Despite a serious illness, he participates in the work of the RSFSR People's Commissariat of Education and the Socialist Academy of Social Sciences. He has always been a patriot of his homeland. On April 28, 1920, the world famous scientist died. Buried in Moscow at the Vagankovskoye cemetery.