On the Mechanics of Live Nature in the Works of V.P. Goryachkin

Abstract

The famous scientist, academician V.P. Gorjachkin (1868–1935), the founder of agricultural machinery industry in Russia, posed and developed a global problem “Human—Machine—Environment” in his works. A specific property of most agricultural machines, including modern ones, is the fact that a human operator is needed to control these machines. Starting from his very early works in agricultural mechanics and theory of agricultural machinery, Goryachkin explored working movements of a human operator in search for optimal forms of these movements, which would minimize the burden on arms and legs of an operator. When solving these issues, it was necessary to find appropriate relationships between operator’s movements and the physiology of the human being. This paper takes up three Goryachkin’s publications on the mechanics of live nature and his thoughts about application of the methods of classical mechanics in agricultural engineering and biology.