Nikolai Aleksandrovich Morozov (; 7 July 1854, Borok – 30 July 1946) was a Russian revolutionary who spent about 25 years in prison for revolutionary activities against the Tsarist government. He was also an academic, publishing works in various fields of science, and a pioneer of aviation in Russia.

Early life and revolutionary activities

thumb|250px|Morozov as a student

The son of a wealthy landowner and a serf woman who was bonded to his estate, Morozov was born in the village of Borok in the Governorate of Yaroslavl. He was initially educated at home before entering the second grade of the Second Moscow Gymnasium in 1869. At the gymnasium, he founded an informal self-education circle in the field of natural sciences, and from 1871 also attended lectures at Moscow University putting on a plaid and a leather forage cap, as was the custom among students at that time. Without finishing the fifth grade of a seven-year gymnasium, and not yet having managed to “discover new horizons in science,” Nikolai Morozov became a professional revolutionary, active in Russia and abroad. Showing an early interest in politics, he was on a police watchlist as a student. He joined the Circle of Tchaikovsky and was active in distributing propaganda among peasants in the Moscow, Voronezh, and Kursk governorates before police persecution forced him to return to Moscow. He moved to Saint Petersburg before departing for Geneva in 1874.

In 1875, he returned to Russia and was arrested at the border but released after his father paid his bail. He again devoted himself to revolutionary activities, distributing propaganda among the peasants of Saratov governorate. In 1907, he published The Revelation in Storm and Thunder in which he produced evidence for his hypotheses:

  • The Revelation to John can be dated astronomically to 30 September 395.
  • The author of the Revelation is identical with John Chrysostom ( – 407).

He was self-taught astronomer and, based on the astronomical records such as the Almagest, he speculated that much of human history has been falsified. Then the books "Prophets" (1914) and the seven volumes of "Khristos" (1924–1932) were published. His theory that the existing chronology of historical events is incorrect, and requires revision, attracted the attention of Anatoly Fomenko (1945- ), who built his own New Chronology upon it.

In his declining years, Morozov established a laboratory in his native Borok, north of Uglich, to monitor and study "inland waters". In 1932 he was named an Honorary Member of the Soviet Academy of Sciences. He was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor (1939) and two Orders of Lenin (1944, 1945).

thumb|Morozov estate, Borok

There is a popular myth in Russia that in 1942, at age 88, he briefly served in the Red Army as a sniper during World War II, becoming the oldest known combatant of the war.

Morozov died on 30 July 1946 at the age of 92.

His memorial house in Borok, close to his grave site, is open to the public. The asteroid 1210 Morosovia is named in his honor.

Notes

References

  • Morozow, Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Ed., vol. 16, Moscow, 1974, cols. 1727–1728.
  • Biography of Morozov at Spartacus Educational
  • Nikolai A. Morosow: "The Revelation in Storm and Thunder. History of the Apocalypses origin." (Откровение в грозе и буре. История возникновения Апокалипсиса. СПб.: Былое, 1907.)
  • Michael S. Kissell, "The Revelation in Storm and Thunder", Popular Astronomy, 48 (1940), 537-549 & 49 (1941), 13-24 - gives a summary of Morozov's 1905 astronomical dating of the Book of Revelation.
  • - gives a critique of Morozov's dating of the Book of Revelation.