Alexander Chizhevsky

Alexander Leonidovich Chizhevsky (7 February 1897 – 20 December 1964) was a Soviet-era interdisciplinary scientist, a biophysicist who founded heliobiology (study of the Sun's effect on biology) and aero-ionization (study of effect of ionization of air on biological entities). He was also noted for his work in cosmo-biology, biological rhythms and hematology. Chizhevsky used historical research (historiometry) techniques to link the 11-year solar cycle, Earth’s climate, and the mass activity of peoples. Born in Tsekhanovets, Russian Empire, he spent his youth in Kaluga. He met Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, a noted space scientist. In 1915, he hypothesized the effect of periodic changes in solar activity on the organic world. He fought in World War I, observing that battles tended to wax and wane with the strength of solar flares. In 1918, he graduated with a degree in archeology and began his doctoral studies. He lectured at Moscow University and the Moscow Archaeological Institute, and studied at the Medical Department of Moscow University while working at the Lazarev Biophysical Research Institute. Nobel Prize winner Svante Arrhenius invited Chizhevsky to work with him. Chizhevsky performed research on the influence of ionized air on animals, establishing the physiological action of negative and positive ions. In 1926, he worked with Tsiolkovsky on space biology. In 1929, he lectured at Columbia University. He set up the Central Research Laboratory for Ionisation in USSR. In 1935, he discovered the metachromasy of bacteria. In 1939, he was Honorary President of the International Congress of Bio-physics. In 1942, he was arrested for contradicting Soviet theories on the Russian revolutions and spent eight years in a gulag. After his release in 1950, he was resettled in Karaganda, Kazakhstan. He returned to Moscow and introduced aero-ionic therapy into medical establishments. Chizhevsky also was a painter of watercolors and composed hundreds of poems. He died in Moscow in 1964. An asteroid, 3113 Chizhevskij, is named after him. The Chizhevsky Science Center opened in Kaluga in 2000.