View source for Petr Lazarev

{{Short description|Russian biophysicist (1878–1942)}}
{{Expand Russian|topic=bio|date=April 2021}}
[[File:Lazarev_Peter.jpg|thumb|upright|Petr Lazarev]]
'''Petr Petrovich Lazarev''' ({{langx|ru|Пётр Петрович Лазарев}}; 14 April 1878 – 24 April 1942) was a [[biophysicist]] and a founder of the Soviet Institute of Physics and Biophysics (now [[Lebedev Physical Institute]]). He also founded the journal ''Uspekhi fizicheskikh nauk'' (later ''[[Physics-Uspekhi]]'').

== Early life ==
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Lazarev was born in [[Moscow]] where his father worked as a civil engineer. After studies at a Moscow [[Gymnasium (school)|Gymnasium]], he graduated from [[Moscow State University|Moscow University]] in 1901 with a medical degree. After passing the examination to become a doctor of medicine in 1902 he worked at an ear clinic. He then became interested in [[mathematics]] and [[physics]] and passed the university examination in 1903 after studying the subjects entirely on his own.

== Career ==
Lazarev's early research was on hearing and he noted that auditory sensations could be amplified by coordinated visual stimulation. He later studied other phenomena such as [[synesthesia]] and the effect of singing on vision. He began to collaborate with [[Pyotr Lebedev|P.N. Lebedev]] from 1903 and in 1912 he obtained a doctorate with a thesis ''Vytsvetanie krasok i pigmentov v vidimom svete'' ["The Fading of Colors and Pigments in Visible Light"].

In 1911, he joined Lebedev in protest against the policies of [[Lev Kasso|L.A. Kasso]] and quit [[Moscow State University|Moscow University]] to join [[Shanyavsky Moscow City People's University|Shanyavsky University]]. He began to study the [[ion]] theory of nerve excitation and confirmed [[Jacques Loeb|Loeb]]'s formula.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Lazarev, P. P. |year=1999|title= Historical essay on the 200 years of the development of natural sciences in Russia|journal= Physics-Uspekhi| volume= 42|issue=12|pages= 1247–1257|doi=10.1070/pu1999v042n12abeh000750 |s2cid=250892442 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ivanitskii|first=G. R.|date=2009|title=Ninety years of biophysics in Russia: The way it was|url=http://link.springer.com/10.1134/S1019331609040121|journal=Herald of the Russian Academy of Sciences|language=en|volume=79|issue=4|pages=394–401|doi=10.1134/S1019331609040121|s2cid=144842012|issn=1019-3316}}</ref> During World War I, he was involved in producing medical equipment, including [[thermometer]]s and mobile [[X-ray]] systems. After the [[Russian Revolution|1917 revolution]], he became a member of the [[Russian Academy of Sciences]].<ref>{{cite journal|author=Ivanitskii, G. R. |year=2019|title= X-men: humans with an unusual interaction between receptor systems who construct a world of new images within themselves (on the 140th anniversary of the birth of Academician P P Lazarev)|journal= Physics-Uspekhi|volume= 62| issue=7|pages=711–734| doi=10.3367/ufne.2019.01.038524 |bibcode=2019PhyU...62..711I|s2cid=198444490}}</ref>

In 1918, he was involved in the study of the [[Kursk Magnetic Anomaly]] and worked on [[geomagnetism]] with {{ill|Ernst Gustav Leyst|lt=E.G. Leyst|ru|Лейст, Эрнест Егорович|de|Ernst Gustav Leyst}}.

==Arrest and exile==

In 1929, a group of [[communist]]s failed to be elected to the [[Soviet Academy of Sciences]]. Lazarev objected to re-balloting them. He also publicly criticized [[Friedrich Engels]] writings about <math>\sqrt{-1} </math> ([[Imaginary unit]]) who said that is "not only a contradiction, but even an absurd contradiction, a real absurdity." As a result of this Lazarev was arrested on 5 March 1931 and removed from all of his academic positions. His institute was transferred to the [[Supreme Soviet of the National Economy]], the key personnel was sacked and most of the equipment destroyed. Lazarev's wife committed [[suicide]] on 13 June 1931.<ref name="repressions">{{cite web|title=Petr Lazarev|url=http://old.ihst.ru/projects/sohist/repress/academy/lazarev.htm|website=Repressions of the Academy of Sciences members}}</ref>

In September 1931 Lazarev was exiled to [[Yekaterinburg|Sverdlovsk]]. He returned to [[Moscow]] in 1932.<ref name="repressions"/> [[Aleksandr Mints]] was his student.

== References ==
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[[Category:1878 births]]
[[Category:1942 deaths]]
[[Category:Physicists from the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:Biophysicists]]
[[Category:Soviet physicists]]
[[Category:Full Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Political repression in the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Graduates of the 4th Moscow Gymnasium]]