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

Marxist Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

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 ...

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 (russian: Климент Аркадьевич Тимирязев, surname sometimes transliterated as Timiriazev; – 28 April 1920) was a Russian Imperial botanist and physiologist and a major proponent of the ...

. He was closely associated with

Maxim Gorky Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (russian: link=no, Алексе́й Макси́мович Пешко́в; – 18 June 1936), popularly known as Maxim Gorky (russian: Макси́м Го́рький, link=no), was a Russian writer and social ...

. Although he was deemed a professor of

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its 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 which r ...

Moscow State University M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...

, 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 is a group of physics theories that predate modern, more complete, or more widely applicable theories. If a currently accepted theory is considered to be modern, and its introduction represented a major paradigm shift, then the ...

propounded by

Isaac Newton Sir Isaac Newton (25 December 1642 – 20 March 1726/27) was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author (described in his time as a "natural philosopher"), widely recognised as one of the grea ...

and was particularly noted for his vitriolic denunciations of

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...

. He used his

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

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 Russian/Soviet physicist. He received the Stalin Prize (1942), the Lenin Prize (1960) (po ...

and

Sergei Vavilov Sergey Ivanovich Vavilov (russian: Серге́й Ива́нович Вави́лов ( – January 25, 1951) was a Soviet physicist, the President of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union from July 1945 until his death. His elder brothe ...

. However he gained acceptance from

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...

, 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'' (russian: Под знаменем марксизма, german: Unter dem Banner des Marxismus) was a Soviet philosophical and socio-economic journal published in Moscow from 1922 to 1944. It was published monthly, e ...

'' (''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