It is said that the time of universal geniuses is over. We believe that at least for the last 100 years, there have been narrow specialists in science, philosophy and the arts - each in their field of knowledge or cultural work. But is it really so?

Exactly 120 years ago, in 1897, a man was born in the Grodno province in Russia, who later became a famous scientist, philosopher, inventor, poet and artist. His name was - Alexander Leonidovich Chizhevsky.

From light to astrobiology

Ah, Chizhevsky… you say. Oh, yes, we know. Čiževského lamp - a very useful tool for health. Such a panacea for all diseases as often presented by dishonest distributors. But for those who suffer from bronchitis, asthma and other respiratory diseases, the thing can be said indispensable.

However, few people remember that world fame (and with it envy and persecution by colleagues, even some academics) did not bring light to Chizhevsky, but the creation of new directions in the study of space and its impact on the life of terrestrial organisms, including man - astrobiology and heliobiology. .

VI Lenin himself was interested in his views on the influence of solar activity on biological, even sociological processes. They were largely agreed and supported by KE Ziolkovsky, VI Vernadsky, VM Bechterev and many others. In 1939, Chizhevsky was nominated for a Nobel Prize, but instead of world fame, he was persecuted and stripped of all his posts and functions. But all right…

Fate of a Russian poet

In his youth, Alexander Chizhevsky could appear to his surroundings with anything but scientists, physicists. Foreign languages ​​- English, French, German and Italian, which he mastered perfectly, painting, extraordinary abilities that manifested himself at the age of seven, music, history, literature, architecture - this is far from a list of all Alexander's interests until 1916, when at the age of 19 he left for the front voluntarily.

During the fighting in Galicia, Chizhevsky was awarded the Georgievsky (military) Cross IV. degree. In 1917, he returned home to work at the Moscow Archaeological Institute due to injuries. In the next two years he defended three dissertations on completely different topics: “Russian Poetry XVIII. stor. "," Evolution of physical-mathematical sciences in antiquity "and" Research of the periodicity of the global historical process ". The last one brought him the title of Doctor of Historical Sciences at Moscow University, which no one before had obtained before he was 21 years old.

Scientific Council - in the center of AL Chizhevsky

It was in this work that theories of heliotaraksia (helios - sun, ataraxia - state of complete peace of mind) were included for the first time. The essence of this theory lies in the fact that the sun affects not only the biorhythms of the human body, but also the social behavior of groups of people. In other words: major social changes in history (wars, revolutions, etc.) are directly related to the energy activity of the sun.

Over the next few years, Chizhevsky, as an employee of the USSR Institute of Biophysics Narkomzdrava, dedicated his focus to the effect of negatively ionized air (aeroionization) on human and animal health. At that time, he made his new device - a lamp. This made it possible to saturate the air in the room with beneficial negative oxygen ions, which neutralized harmful positive ions and cleaned the air of pollen and microorganisms.

As an inventor, Chizhevsky dreamed of a time when "air aeroionization will receive the same attention and spread as electrification - which will lead to maintaining health, protecting against many infections, and prolonging the lives of a wide mass of people." Too bad it was just a dream.

As a painter, Chizhevsky painted paintings (mainly landscapes) and sold them. He then paid with money for attempts at aeroionization.

As a poet, Cijevsky composed poems (in his life, the world's light has seen a total of two collections, others years after his death). His poetic gift was highly valued by the then commissioner for the lighting of the AV. Lunacharsky. As a result, Čijevsky received the role of a trainer of the literary unit Narkompros.

A.L. Cizhevsky behind the scientific experiment

Thanks to his friendly relationship with KE Ciolkovsky, Chizhevsky was able not only to continue working on the application of aeroionization, but also to develop other directions of space exploration. In many respects, thanks to his work "Research of the global space with a reactive device", the world priority К.E. Ciolkovsky in the field of space rocket design.

The experiments in the field of aeroionization, which he had the opportunity to make in the laboratory of zoopsychology of Narcomprom, brought world fame to Čiževský as a biophysicist. Hundreds of letters offering to join the scientific society, become an honorary academic at a scientific institute, or just sell a patent for a lamp or other device, went to Tverskaya Boulevard in Moscow, where Alexander Leonidovich lived in the late 1930s.

However, he vehemently rejected such offers, claiming that all his inventions and scientific work "fell exclusively under the authority of the USSR government."

But could these rejections save him from the fate that the envious people had prepared for him? The last straw for them was, first the first International Congress of Biophysics and Biocosmology, which took place in New York in September 1939. Its participants proposed to nominate A.L. Chizhevsky for the Nobel Prize in Physics and was unanimously declared "Laonardo da Vinci XX. century ’.

Meanwhile, Chizhevsky was accused at home in his homeland of scientific ignorance and falsifying experimental results. Publishing and dissemination of his work was prohibited. In 1941, he was sentenced under No. 58 ("Anti-Revolutionary Crimes") to eight years in a camp he fought in the Northern Urals, then around Moscow and finally in Kazakhstan (Karlag).

Variations of the Chihuahua lamp

Are we all the "Children of the Sun"?

Chizhevsky himself later wrote that it was the diversity of scientific, historical and cultural interests that helped him survive in such inhumanly difficult camp conditions. He used all his free time to paint (anything for anything), to write verses, to think about the problems of biophysics and cosmobiology.

Even in the camps, even after liberation, his main idea and desire remained heliotaraksia.

"The people and all the faces of the earth are indeed children of the Sun," Chizhevsky wrote. "They are the creation of a complex world process, with its own history, in which our Sun occupies not a random but a legitimate place at the same time as other generators of cosmic forces."

Most notable in Chizhevsky's theory is that he included mathematics, physics and astronomy in the analysis of historical laws. In essence, this can be considered a bold and original attempt to create a whole new area of ​​human knowledge, based on current mathematical, physical, economic laws and political factors in the development of society.

Periodic increases in solar activity, according to the scientist, "turn the potential nerve energy of entire groups of people into kinetic, unsustainable and much-needed movement until discharged."

By increased solar activity is meant here an increase in the number of sunspots. Academician Bechterev, an ardent supporter of Chizhevsky, directly linked a serious increase in the number of spots to the dates of the greatest social upheavals - 1830, 1848, 1870, 1905, 1917. He even considered the possibility of creating what could be called a "political horoscope" based on the curriculum. solar activity.

If we mention the relatively recent events that have affected our country, we find another confirmation of Chizhevsky's theory. In the years 1986-1989, the political activity associated with perestroika copied the increase in solar activity. And with it it reached its peak in 1990-1991 - the economic and political crisis, the fall of Gorbachev, the coup, the creation of a community of independent states…

It may seem that the Sun "controls" people's social lives. Well, that's not the case. It just awakens the dormant energy of the great human masses. Where they direct it - to war or destruction or to science, work or creation - is determined by the people themselves.