Alexey A. Yakuta

The aim of the article is to carry out the analysis of the three unpublished critical reviews by A. K. Timiryazev professor of MSU Faculty of Physics. The above-mentioned reviews were discovered by the author of the article and are being introduced to the scientific discourse. The Course of Physics by professor V. A. Mikhelson, revised by a group of the leading physicists from the Physical Institute of the USSR Academy of Science, and the textbook “Mechanics” by S. A. Khaykin professor of MSU Faculty of Physics is the subject matter of all the three reviews. The author of the articles gives a brief overview of each review. A close study of those critical reviews enabled the author to conclude that A. K. Timiryazev claimed that those scientists promoted and popularized idealism in Physics. Professor A. K. Timiryazev announced that the course of General Physics should be presented from the point of view of dialectical materialism, though he himself inclined to Mechanism. The author of the article attempted to answer the question why these reviews had never been published in the long run. To find an answer to this question the author suggests that it is necessary to treat A. K. Timiryazev criticism as an instance of rivalry between “university” and “academic” groups of physicists in 1930‑s – 1950‑s of XX century which strived for dominance. This rivalry took place not only at a purely scientific level, but also manifested itself in the issue of the contents of textbooks in General Physics..