ANDRIY PETROVYCH SHYMKOV – PROFESSOR OF KHARKIV UNIVERSITY, OUTSTANDING ORGANIZER OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION, TEACHER, POPULARIZER OF SCIENCE AND PUBLIC FIGURE

The article summarizes information about the life path, scientific, pedagogical and public activities of the famous physicist A.P.
Shymkov, Honored Professor of Kharkiv University. While studying at Kharkiv University, he was a member of a secret student democratic-revolutionary society. He was arrested and temporarily imprisoned in the Alekseevsky ravelin of the Peter and Paul Fortress. He graduated from Kharkiv University as an external student in 1860. In 1864 he defended his master's thesis, and in 1868 -his doctoral thesis. In 1866–1867, he successfully completed a scientific internship at universities in Germany, Switzerland, and France.
For 32 years (from 1867 to 1899), he headed the Department of Physics and managed the Lab of Physics at Kharkiv University. He worked part-time at the Kharkiv Institute of Technology and the Kharkiv Veterinary Institute. He published “Course of Experimental Physics”, which was used for a long time as the main physics textbook in universities of the Russian Empire, and also compiled the textbook “Theoretical Physics”, which was the first textbook on theoretical physics published at Kharkiv University. He constantly worked on replenishing the collection of physics lab instruments. He introduced a progressive system of training physicists at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Kharkiv University, which was based on a combination of theoretical, experimental, and scientific and methodological training of specialists. He was one of the founders of the Society of Research Sciences at Kharkiv University. The most capable students of A. P. Shymkov were O. K. Pohorilko and M. D. Pylchykov, who, after graduating from Kharkiv University, on the recommendation of A. P. Shymkov, were left at the Department of Physics as fellows to prepare for teaching work. He translated and published several scientific and popular science books written by prominent foreign scientists. He edited the magazines “Svit” and “Khutoryanin”. While living in Kharkiv and Poltava, he was actively involved in public, educational, and charitable activities. He was a member of the Kharkiv and President of the Poltava Agricultural Society.