Mykhaylo Maksymovych
Mykhailo Olexandrowytsch Maxymowytsch, (Ukrainian Михайло Олександрович Максимович; * September 3, 1804, † November 10, 1873 ) was a Russian and Ukrainian writer and scientist, Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg in Russia, the first rector of the Kiev University. He has made a contribution in the field of natural sciences and the humanities, especially in botany and zoology, and in linguistics, ethnology, ethnography, history, literature and archeology. He was a well-known Slavic and played one of the central roles of national revival in Ukraine in the nineteenth century. According to its name, the scientific library of the University of Kiev was named.
- 3.1 Literature
- 3.2 Natural Sciences
Life
Maxymowytsch was born in an old Ukrainian Cossack family who had a small estate in Poltava Gouvernment (now Tscherkasser area ) in the left-bank Ukraine. After the completion of the high school Novhorod - Seversky, he studied botany and philology at Moscow University, where he received his first degree in 1823. In 1827 he was also in Moscow, his second degree in 1832 and his third. After graduation, he remained at the University of Moscow and engaged in academic work. He taught biology and was a director of the botanical garden at the University. During this period he published mainly on botany, but also about the folklore and literature. He learned many key players in the bygone intellectual life in Russia, such as know poet Alexander Pushkin, who is considered today as the creator of the modern Russian literary language and prose writers of Ukrainian descent Nikolai Gogol, with whom he shared the interest in Ukrainian history and culture.
In 1834 he was appointed professor of Russian literature at St. Vladimir's newly founded university in Kiev. He was also the first rector of the university. Maxymowytsch works out far-reaching plans for the expansion of the university, which use possibly significant Ukrainian contemporaries such as Gogol, Taras Shevchenko, Mykola Kostomarow etc., in order to teach there, should. A short time later he was forced by his poor health and the pressure of the reactionary government of the Russian empire, the fear of the political conspiracies under the Polish student body had let his principals and professorship. Maxymowytsch tried to defend Polish students from the political repression, but had little success. Tsar Nicholas I closed the institution for an entire year. Maxymowytsch then lived in peace in his land in Mychailowa Hora in Central Ukraine and published most of the Ukrainian folklore, literature and history. He took some to return to the university, but the Ministry of Education of the Russian Empire prevented the fear of his ukrainophiles views.
In 1847 he was deeply impressed by the arrest, detention and exile by members of the Pan-Slavic and ukrainophiles Brotherhood of Cyril and Methodius, of which many, such as the poet Taras Shevchenko, his friends or students were. Thereafter he was mainly concerned with studies and publications.
In 1853 he married. In 1857 he went in hoping to improve its financial situation, to Moscow to find work. 1858 Shevchenko returned back from exile and visited him in Moscow. Shevchenko visited him once again when he returned to Mychailowa Hora. During this time, Shevchenko painted portraits of him and his wife Maria.
In his last years, Maxymowytsch devoted more and more of the story and took part in hot debate with the Russian historian Mikhail Pogodin and the Ukrainian historian Mykola Kostomarow.
Despite its isolation in the Ukrainian land, he took part in many scientific circles, and shortly before his death of Sciences corresponding member of the Academy elected. Around the time of his death paved the Ukrainian historian Volodymyr Antonowytsch and a Ukrainian Literature actor Oleksandr Kotljarewskyj remains a major three -volume edition of his complete works.
Work and ideas
Language
In 1827 was Maxymowytsch " Little Russian Songs" out. Another compilation entitled "Ukrainian Folk Songs" was published by Maxymowytsch in 1834. It was also written by him, "Voices of the Ukrainian Songs". In Kief he began in 1849 to prepare a more comprehensive edition entitled "Compilation of Ukrainian songs ."
It concerned itself with the study of Russian, and particularly the southern Russian language and published the " Critical and Historical Research of the Russian language " and " The Origins of Russian Philology ". In these works he compared the Russian language with the West Slavic languages. He was a great defender of the existence of the " southern Russian " language and was opposed to his colleague Pogodin, which concerned the question of the age of the Ukrainian language.
Maxymowytsch published his " Philological letters to MP Pogodin " from 1856 and "return letters to him " from 1857.
History
Throughout his life, he wrote and published over 260 works. Of particular importance are his researches on the subject of Cossacks. He was one of the first among contemporary Ukrainian and Russian historians, who showed the historical importance of the Khmelnytsky Uprising. His writings on Bohdan Khmelnytsky have largely critical character. So are his two extensive reviews of the essays NI Kostomarow ( " Bohdan Khmelnytsky " ) and WB Antonowytsch ( Acts of Cossacks ). He has published in the magazine " Osnowa " ( " the Event") " Bohdan Khmelnytsky letters about " (1861 ). Of particular importance are his studies " About Hetman Sahajdachnyj ", " Observations of the city regiments and squadrons ," " About the Bubnowskaja - hundred ", " About the Kolyjiwschchina " and many other smaller publications. He studied many archive documents and collected rare facts about the history of the towns and villages of Ukraine. As for the works written by him on the subject of archeology, is the article on arrows that had been found on the bank of Dnipro important.