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Mykola Chaikovsky

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Tomb of the Tchaikovsky family. at Lychakiv Cemetery in Lviv

Mykola Chaikovsky[1] or Chaykovskyi[2] (Ukrainian: Чайковський Микола Андрійович; 2 January 1887 – 7 October 1970) was a Ukrainian teacher, mathematician and writer.

In 1918 he wrote one of the first works of Ukrainian science fiction (За силу сонця, Za syly sontsia, By the Power of the Sun).

Biography

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He was born in Berezhany, Galicia on 2 January 1887. He was the first son of lawyer and writer, Andrii Chaikovsky [uk].[1] He studied in the local gymnasium (the Berezhany Gymnasium [uk]) from 1897 to 1905.[3] Next, he entered the in University of Prague, where he studied mechanics and philosophy.[3] After about two years, he moved to the University of Vienna, studying philosophy, although he was increasingly interested in mathematics. He graduated from Vienna university. receiving a PhD degree in 1911.[1][3] In 1913 he became a full member of the Shevchenko Scientific Society.[1]

From 1910 he briefly worked a Ukrainian school in Ternopil.[3] In 1912 he got married.[3] He also briefly worked at the University of Berlin and at a school in Austria.[3] During World War I he was a translator and educator at a camp for Russian prisoners of war in Vienna, and also worked as a teacher at a real school in Rava-Ruska.[3]

From 1914 to 1918 he was involved with the Union for the Liberation of Ukraine, and spend some time in Freistadt, Germany.[1] After World War I he became a teacher in Galicia (a Privatdozent at Kamianets-Podilskyi Ivan Ohiienko National University).[1][3] He also held a number of other positions: a teacher at a girls' gymnasium, and a teacher at a private university in Lviv.[3] From 1924 he was a director of a private gymnasium in Yavoriv, ​​and in 1927 - director of a another gymnasium in Rohatyn.[3] In 1923[1] or 1929[3] (sources vary) he became a professor at the a high school in Odessa (Institute of People's Education [uk] in Odesa - Одеський інститут народної освіти, ОІНО).[1][3]

In the 1930s he was persecuted by the Soviet authorities.[1] In March 1933, he was arrested as a "Polish spy" with alleged ties to the Ukrainian Military Organization and sentenced to 10 years in a labor camp. He spend the next 10 years as a prison laborer in Karelia and Arkhangelsk, surviving the gruesome working conditions during the construction of the White Sea–Baltic Canal.[3][4][5]

After his release, he worked first Tomsk, then in Semipalatinsk (now Semey, Kazakhstan), where from 1944 to 1947 he was a teacher[3] (or university professor,[1] sources vary) at the pedagogical institute,[1][3] and then at the Ural State Pedagogical University.[3] In May 1954 he returned to Ukraine. In 1956 he was rehabilitated[3] and became a professor at Lviv Pedagogical Institute, and from 1961 at Lviv University.[1]

He died in Lviv on 7 October 1970.[1] He was buried at the Lychakiv Cemetery.[6]

Works

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He published his first article (an academic article on mathematics) in 1908.[3] He wrote other academic articles, as well as textbooks on mathematics, and compiled a dictionary of mathematical terminology in Ukrainian (1924), In 1931 he published Ukrainian Scientific Mathematical Bibliography (1931).[1][3] In 1915 he published a book on solar and lunar eclipses.[3] He wrote 51 articles for the Ukrainian Soviet Encyclopedia.[3] His bibliography includes 193 scientific works in mathematics.[3]

As a scientist, his research concerned the topic of geometrization of school algebra.[3]

In 1918 he wrote one of the first works of Ukrainian science fiction, За силу сонця[7][8][9][10] (Za syly sontsia, By the Power of the Sun).[2] It was published by the Ukrainian Pedagogical Society[7] seven years later, in Lviv (then Poland). In it, Chaikovskyi imagined Ukraine as a world pioneer in solar power, with an intrigue about spies from other countries trying to steal Ukrainian technology.[2] It has been described as the first Ukrainian-language work of science fiction.[3][9] The work is also notable as one of the first works that described the concept of a radiotelephone.[3] The novel did not became well known in Ukraine, however;[2] as it was published in Poland, therefore it was neither republished nor mentioned in literary criticism in the Soviet Union, and was effectively sidelined during the formative stage of Ukrainian science fiction in the 1920s and 1930s.[9]

In 1926, he published an future studies essay entitled “Technology of Tomorrow”, also in Lviv.[3]

Remembrance

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Parliament of Ukraine (Verkhovna Rada) declared January 2, 2017, to be celebrated as the 130th anniversary of his birth.[11]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "Chaikovsky, Mykola". Encyclopedia of Ukraine. 1984. Retrieved 2025-05-10.
  2. ^ a b c d Clements, Jonathan (2023). "SFE: Ukraine". The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. Retrieved 2025-05-10.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Карацупа, Виталий (2016). "Чайковський Микола Андрійович" [Tchaikovsky Nikolai Andriyovych]. Архив фантастики (Archive of Science Fiction) (in Russian). Retrieved 2025-05-10.
  4. ^ ПЕТРУК, Олег; ПРИТУЛА, Ярослав; ПТАШНИК, Богдан; РОВЕНЧАК, Андрій; ГОЛОВАЧ, Юрій; ГОНЧАР, Юліан; КРАСНИЦЬКА, Мар’яна; АПУНЕВИЧ, Степан; НОВОСЯДЛИЙ, Богдан (2020-05-30). Leopolis Scientifica. Наука у Львові до середини XX століття: Частина IІ. Точні науки (in Ukrainian). Oleh Petruk. pp. 146–151. ISBN 978-617-642-493-2.
  5. ^ "Новини України: День в історії - народився математик і педагог Микола Чайковський" [This day in history - mathematician and educator Nikolai Tchaikovsky was born]. Гал-інфо. January 2, 2020. Retrieved 2025-05-11.
  6. ^ Krysa, Lubomyr; Figol, Roman (2006). Личаківський некрополь [Lychakiv Necropolis] (in Ukrainian). pp. 385–387. ISBN 978-966-8955-00-6.
  7. ^ a b "1925. Микола Чайковський. За силу Сонця - УкраїнсЬке Педаґоґічне Товариство - НФ: в-ва регіональні - Бібліотека - Аргонавти Всесвіту". argo-unf.at.ua. Retrieved 2025-05-10.
  8. ^ "Микола Чайковський «За силу сонця»". FantLab (in Russian).
  9. ^ a b c Nastetsky, Vyacheslav (June 26, 2015). "Первое украинское НФ произведение" [The first Ukrainian SF work]. FantLab (in Russian).
  10. ^ Smyrniw, Walter (2002). "The First Space Voyages in Ukrainian Science Fiction". Journal of Ukrainian Studies. 27 (1/2): 173–182.
  11. ^ "Постанова Верховної Ради України від 22 грудня 2016 року № 1807-VIII «Про відзначення пам'ятних дат і ювілеїв у 2017 році»". Archived from the original on 16 November 2018. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
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