Russian society of lovers of world studies

Plan of the estate "Peace". In the lower left corner for binding is shown the building of the rescue station. Here was born the idea of ​​creating a ROLM.

Society originates from the decision adopted by a group of diversified representatives of the St. Petersburg intelligentsia. Having gathered in the summer of 1908 at the dacha of Archpriest of the Orthodox Church of St. Catherine ^[1] Leonid Mikhailovich Tikhomirov ^{[2] [3]} in his estate "Mirnoye" in the village of Ollila (now Solnechnoye ), they decided to start organizing the Society and drawing up its charter ^[4] . The official foundation date of the Company is January 13 (26), 1909 , when it was entered in the register of companies of St. Petersburg. In fact, his activity began at a general meeting on January 30 of the same year in the apartment of the founding member L. M. Tikhomirov (located in the house of Admiral A. S. Greig , on the third floor of house 40 along the 1st line of Vasilyevsky Island ) ^[5] .

The Charter defined the objectives of the Company:

• To unite lovers of natural and physical-mathematical knowledge, to provide them with possible assistance in their scientific work and thereby raise the level and value of their work.
• To disseminate among the general population natural and physical-mathematical knowledge and arouse interest in the tasks of the Company in the public environment.
• Conduct scientific research and development of issues related to the field of natural and physical-mathematical sciences ^[2] .

The society had its own emblem - the ancient Egyptian image of the winged sun, as well as its own anthem , composed by S. V. Muratov and A. A. Chikin with the words: “Shine, winged sun, shine!” ^[6]

Founders

The founding members were:

Subsequently, eight meetings of the Company were held in the premises of the St. Petersburg Conservatory , provided thanks to the sympathy of the director of the Conservatory Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov . Subsequently, ROLM received a legal address in the building of the Lesgaft Institute ^[2] .

Sergey Vladimirovich Muratov ^{[7] [8]} was elected as the Chairman’s companion, which he was for three terms, after which, by the formation of the ROLM astronomical section in 1912 ( Gavriil Adrianovich Tikhov became its chairman), he became a scientific secretary.

Society Council

At the end of 1927, the Board of the Society included ^[2] :

• Morozov, Nikolai Alexandrovich , Chairman
• Turchinovich, Nikolay Terentyevich , fellow chairman
• Kazitsyn, Vladimir Alekseevich , Secretary
• Kuznetsov, Nikolai Nikolich , Treasurer
• Tikhov, Gavriil Adrianovich , Chairman of the Astronomical Section
• Muratov, Sergey Vladimirovich , Deputy Chairman of the Astronomical Section, Head. observatory
• Maltsev, Vladimir Alexandrovich, Secretary of the Astronomical Section
• Multanovsky, Boris Pompeevich , chairman of the section of geophysics and phenology
• Svyatsky, Daniil Osipovich , Deputy Chairman of the Section of Geophysics and Phenology, Editor of the Press
• Korchagin, Petr Vasilievich , Secretary of the Geophysics and Phenology Section
• Rudnev, Dmitry Dmitrievich , Chairman of the Geographic Section
• Eger Georgy Romanovich, Secretary of the Geographical Section
• Selivanov, Sergei Mikhailovich , Chairman of the Bureau of Scientific Observations
• Pryanishnikov, Vasily Iosifovich , Chairman of the Commission for the Dissemination of Scientific Knowledge
• Grave, Sergey Ludwigovich , Secretary of the Commission for the Dissemination of Scientific Knowledge
• Moshonkin, Mikhail Yakovlevich
• Pokrovsky, Konstantin Dorimedontovich
• Smirnov, Nikolai Alexandrovich
• Shanin, Nikolai Petrovich
• Sharonov, Vsevolod Vasilievich
• Shenkman, Alexander Timofeevich .

The scholars of the world used the favors of the philanthropist Maria Klavdievna Tenisheva . One of the scientific stations of the Society was an observatory located on the roof of the Tenishevsky School on Mokhovaya Street in St. Petersburg.

On September 1, 1919, S. M. Selivanov , chairman of the ROLM Scientific Observation Bureau, discovered a new comet . The People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs G. V. Chicherin reported this discovery to the whole world as one of the achievements of the Soviet regime ^[9] .

A special role in the study of the history of astronomy was played by Daniil Osipovich Svyatsky - one of the most active members of the Society, the largest expert on the history of astronomy and astral mythology.

The company carried out great popularizing work, participated in the anniversary exhibitions of the institutions of Glavnauka in Moscow and Leningrad. On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the October Revolution, the Leningrad exhibition held in the Russian Museum featured the work of all departments of society, its publications, photographs of two expeditions that observed solar eclipses of 1921 and 1927, and some historical documents. Three telescopes were displayed: a solar one, a coronograph, and A.A. Chikin's folding road equatorial . In 1918 there was an actual association of the ROLM with the astronomical section of the Natural Sciences Institute. P.F. Lesgaft both territorially (the ROLM Council had its residence in the same building on Torgovaya Street as the Lesgaft Institute), as well as with the single director of the institute, who was also the chairman of the ROLM Council, N. A. Morozov ^[10] .

At the beginning of the 1920s ... the turn of the Russian Astronomical Society (RAO) began towards unification with amateurs involved in astronomy. In this regard, the solemn meeting of RAO and ROLM on September 25, 1927, dedicated to the anniversary of the founder of RAO, Professor Glasenap, is characteristic. The rapprochement between the two societies was a consequence of the need to come close to the needs of a large army of amateurs, to bring knowledge to the masses, to conduct propaganda among the general population) ^[10] .

Personal contacts between members of these societies began much earlier. So, fellow chairman of ROLM S. V. Muratov joined RAO back in 1908 , and Professor S. P. Glazenap , chairman of RAO (1893-1905), was a member of the ROLM. The report of S. V. Muratov “Alpine Observatories in Europe and America” ^[10] was characteristic of RAO.

The Council of the Society organized work with scientific youth. The classes were conducted by the most experienced scholars: S.V. Muratov, D.O. Svyatsky, S.M. Selivanov, G.A. Tikhov, V.V. Sharonov.

I and II congresses of lovers of world studies

In 1921, the First All-Russian Congress of lovers of world studies was held in Petrograd ^[11] , and from July 25 to 30, 1928, the II Congress of lovers of world studies was held in Nizhny Novgorod . He accepted the proposal to organize a federation of amateur scientific organizations in world science.

Society Publishing

At the initiative of D. O. Svyatsky , the Izvestia ROLM magazine began to be published, renamed in 1917 as Mirology ( 1909 - 1937 , in 1938 it was merged with the journal Science and Life ^[12] )

The company issued other publications. In particular, the books by D. O. Svyatsky “Under the Arch of the Crystal Sky” were published, as well as the book “Astronomical Phenomena in Russian Chronicles” written on the advice of Academician V. I. Vernadsky with the appendix “The Canon of Russian Eclipses” computed by a young astronomer Villev . In this "Canon" all the data on solar and lunar eclipses in ancient Russia and pre-Petrine Russia from 1060 to 1715 were reported. The studies of Academician P. P. Lazarev on the influence of electron flows on human brain activity served D. O. Svyatsky for the scientific justification of the connection between sunspots and revolutionary events ^[13] .

During the years of devastation, the ROLM Council took effective measures to preserve the personnel of Russian science. So, on June 5, 1919, the ROLM Council accepted K. E. Tsiolkovsky into its members, and he, as a member of the scientific community, was assigned a pension ^[14] . This saved him from starvation during the years of devastation, since on June 30, 1919, the Socialist Academy did not elect him to its members and thereby left him without a livelihood. This fact, as well as V.P. Glushko’s membership in the ROLM ^{[15] [16]} , N. A. Rynin and V. P. Vetchinkin, served as the basis for the opinion that without ROLM there would have been no Russian cosmonautics ^[17] .

During the period of eviction of the former landowners and in the last period of the eviction of the kulaks, the Council of the Society carried out work that led to separate disruption of evictions on the ground ^[13] . Many ROLM members fell under the category of evicted, and the Society Council took them under their protection, providing them with appropriate certificates. Particularly noteworthy is the spirit of comradely mutual assistance, characteristic of scholars, manifested in concern for the fate of those arrested and the provision of material support to them. So, a member of the society V. A. Maltsev (arrested later than the events described) after Svyatsky was arrested, agreed to take his place at the Institute named after Lesgaft with the condition that the entire salary be given to the family of the arrested person ^[13] .

In the break between the Red Terror and the Great Terror ^[18] at the end of the 1920s , persecution of all kinds of creative societies, unions and circles began, which became a real threat to the ideology that was gaining the upper hand. Then, the world scholars ostentatiously elected Countess Sofya Vladimirovna Panina (former member of the Provisional Government as a deputy Minister of Education) as an honorary member of the Society in protest against her arrest and the demonstration of the First Soviet Political Process in December 1917 .

The ideology of the Society was largely determined by its social composition, because its "... permanent ideological ... leaders ... of 16 people by their social origin are all people from a socially alien environment (most nobles, from clergy, etc. ...)." In addition, a significant proportion of the members of the province (about 600 people), mainly interested in phenology, were strong landowners (“fists”) ^[13] .

According to their political convictions, almost all members of our group were committed to the monarchy, some, for example, Svyatsky, had a slight discrepancy ... but ... in everyday life we ​​were united and always acted unanimously. In particular, on all fundamental and political issues ... we, that is, our group, before raising the issue for discussion at the council, gathered illegally for a meeting in private apartments ... and at the council or meeting we held it ... All our proposals were usually made without objection ... Society absolutely did not engage in anti-religious propaganda ... we considered it shameful to engage in anti-religious propaganda, and even this is inconvenient for foreign scholars ... We also did not join the answer to the Pope, discussing this issue otherwise, we came to the conclusion that why would we join when the pope is right and the persecution of religion is evident in the Soviet Union ... At the same meetings that took place in private apartments, we also engaged in all kinds of anti-Soviet conversations, for example, it was said that Sovvlast was a bunch of rapists, that we had persecution of scientists, etc. ... We ignored all political campaigns conducted by Sovvlast ... In the journal Mirovedenie we published, we adhered to the same attitude, ... considering that politics P newspapers write mouth ... (according to the testimony of S. V. Muratov during the investigation of the ROLM case) ^[13]

In February 1912, the ROLM Council sent an address to the famous French scientist Camille Flammarion in connection with the 50th anniversary of his service to the great science of the universe. Flammarion, like none of the modern scholars of the world, was close in spirit to them, since he asserted, in particular:

... In space there is a dynamic principle, invisible and intangible, spilled throughout the Universe, independent of visible and significant matter and acting on it. And in this dynamic element the mind is built above ours ^[19] .

For world scholars who professed faith in the ultimate expediency of everything that happens in the world and seriously studied the history of the development of concepts about the structure of the world in astronomy and its predecessor, astrology, this position of Flammarion was quite acceptable. The world scholars did not deal with anti-religious propaganda in principle, considering it an attempt on human rights, in particular on freedom of conscience. Members of the society behaved loyally to the religious convictions of others, including their members ^[20] , and to the best of their ability, tried to give scientific justification for the known phenomena classified as unnatural ^{[21] [22] [23] [24] [25]} , which, for example, is evidenced by the fundamental “Christ” of Morozov ^[26] .

On behalf of the founders of ROLM, S. V. Muratov invited the famous populist , who was released from prison in 1905 under an amnesty, Nikolai Alexandrovich Morozov , who had the unspoken title "Shlisselburg Morozov" ^{[27] [28],} to the post of Chairman of the Society.

Morozov was elected on January 30 (February 12), 1910, and became his only Chairman for the entire period of the Society’s existence (until 1932 ) ^[29] . On the part of the ROLM Council, this act was caused not only by the recognition of Morozov’s merits to science. With this act, the world scholars (as the members of the society called themselves) unequivocally declared the citizenship of the members of the Society.

We, the pre-revolutionary intelligentsia, have always stood in opposition to the existing system, as it is absorbed into the flesh and blood by our parents

- Muratov S.V. Years and people ^[30]

By the beginning of the 30s, the Russian Society of Lovers of World Studies was living a full-blooded social and scientific life and had made great strides both in terms of the numerical growth of its members and in the expansion and deepening of the subject. So, if in 1909 the Society had only about twenty members, then by 1929 their number increased to 2400. By 1927, it consisted of 22 honorary members, a list of which speaks both of the breadth of coverage of the issues considered by the society and of its place in the intellectual life of the then society:

Honorary Members

Full members

The list of full members (total number 583) of the company included: S. P. Asenkov , I. S. Astapovich , A. A. Veselovsky , B. A. Vorontsov-Veliaminov , B. L. Dzerdzievsky , E. L. Krinov , D. D. Maksutov , V. A. Maltsev , D. O. Mokhnach , P. P. Parenago , Y. I. Perelman , N. A. Rostovtsev , N. N. Sytinskaya , V. A. Faas , V. В. Федынский , A. Е. Ферсман , В. Г. Фесенков , В. П. Цесевич , В. В. Шаронов , М. С. Эйгенсон , Е. Г. Яхонтов .

Члены-корреспонденты

Среди 17 членов-корреспондентов Общества имелись такие имена: В. П. Глушко , Н. А. Козырев , Б. В. Кукаркин , В. П. Ветчинкин , М. А. Величковский ^[31] , Н. И. Идельсон , Л. А. Кулик , Н. П. Смирнов , Г. А. Шайн .

Научные корреспонденты и наблюдатели

Число наблюдателей, научных корреспондентов и сотрудников, не состоявших членами Общества, составляло более 1000, из которых 495 человек и 39 организаций доставляли наблюдения более регулярно. Среди них выделяется имя В. А. Амбарцумяна ^[2] . 14 ноября 1919 года устав РОЛМ был зарегистрирован подотделом гражданских дел отдела управления Петроградского совета рабочих и красноармейских депутатов, и общество было внесено в реестр обществ и союзов под номером 53.

Русское общество любителей мироведения, несмотря на проводимую большую и должным образом документально оформленную практическую работу, результаты которой регулярно публиковались, имело характер европейского клуба по интересам , в котором установились дружеские неформальные отношения между членами. Это стало более несовместимо с его разросшейся структурой и численностью, а также взявшими верх тенденциями в развитии политической жизни государства.

В 1930-х годах РОЛМ прекратило своё функционирование из-за репрессий ^[20] . Поводом к этому послужил попавший в ОГПУ дневник ученого секретаря РОЛМ В. А. Казицина, в котором нашла отражение критика действий властей членами общества ^{[13] [32]} .

В 1931 году , по результатам проведенного следствия, охранительными органами было принято решение о существовании в руководстве Общества «контр-революционной группировки» и виновности ряда его членов в преступлениях, предусмотренных ст. 58-11 Уголовного кодекса. После этого дело было передано на коллегию ОГПУ для внесудебного разбирательства ^[13] . В результате ряд членов РОЛМ был направлен в лагеря, другие пошли в ссылку или же подверглись административным преследованиям. В дальнейшем, в годы Большого террора членство в обществе стало поводом для уничтожения. Так 20 января 1938 года был расстрелян Дмитрий Иванович Еропкин , учёный секретарь комиссии по исследованию Солнца ^[33] .

Многие из осуждённых были реабилитированы лишь в годы Перестройки посмертно. Судьба значительной их части неизвестна ^[6] . Морозов не был репрессирован, а отправлен в своё бывшее имение Борок . Само же Общество решением административного отдела Ленгубисполкома в 1932 году было закрыто ^[20] .

• Русское астрономическое общество
• Красный террор
• Great terror