Family Memories

Serhii (or Sergei) Tymoshenko, born on February 5, 1881, in Bazylivka, Chernihiv region, died on July 6, 1950, in Palo Alto, California, was an architect and political leader, and the brother of Vladimir Timoshenko and Stephen Timoshenko. During his student years at the Institute of Civil Engineering in Saint Petersburg, he engaged with the Ukrainian Student Hromada and the Northern Committee of the Revolutionary Ukrainian Party. After graduating in 1906, he became renowned for promoting a Ukrainian architectural style, drawing inspiration from Ukrainian folk architecture and the Ukrainian baroque. His works include the Railway Ambulatory and the Pirogov Gymnasium in Kovel, the Yurkevych and Lavrentiev residences in Kyiv, and the Northern Donets Railway Administration's headquarters as well as the Popov and Boiko residences in Kharkiv. He also created designs for three towns in the Kharkiv region.

Following the February Revolution in 1917, Serhii became the commissioner for Kharkiv gubernia and joined the Central Rada. Between 1919 and 1920, he served as the minister of communications for the Ukrainian National Republic under Isaak Mazepa, Viacheslav Prokopovych, and Andrii Livytsky, participating in the Second Winter Campaign. From 1921 to 1924, he worked in Lviv, constructing churches in the suburbs and a Studite monastery in Zarvanytsia. Later, from 1924 to 1929, he held positions as a professor of architecture and rector at the Ukrainian Husbandry Academy in Poděbrady and the Ukrainian Studio of Plastic Arts in Prague. In 1930, he was appointed the chief architect of farm construction in Polish-ruled Volhynia and became active in the Volhynian Ukrainian Alliance, the Lutsk Brotherhood of the Elevation of the Cross, and the Lesia Ukrainka Society, leading the Alliance from 1935. He was elected to the Polish Sejm in 1935 and the Senate from 1938 to 1939. After residing in Lublin from 1940 and then in Germany from 1944, he emigrated to the United States in 1946. In America, he continued his architectural practice, designing four Ukrainian churches in Canada and one in Argentina.

Source     NY Times Obituary     Sergei's Architecture: One Two

Vladimir Timoshenko, born on April 25, 1885 in Bazylivka, Chernihiv region, and passed away on August 15, 1965 in Menlo Park, California, was a prominent economist and economic historian. He was a member of several prestigious associations including the American Economic Association, the Royal Economic Society, the Shevchenko Scientific Society, and the Ukrainian Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was also the brother of Stephen Timoshenko and Serhii Tymoshenko. Vladimir completed his education at the Saint Petersburg Polytechnical Institute in 1911 and subsequently worked in the economics departments of various imperial ministries such as Railroads, Agriculture, and Commerce and Industry. In December 1917, he moved back to Ukraine where he served as a consultant to the Ministry of Finance of the Ukrainian National Republic and as the director of the Institute of Economic Conjuncture at the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences.

In 1919, he was appointed as the economic adviser to the Ukrainian delegation at the Paris Peace Conference. During his tenure, he prepared and published several important memorandums regarding the Ukrainian economy and its economic relations with Russia and France in both French and English. After the Ukrainian National Republic fell, Timoshenko continued his career in the West. He lectured on economic geography at the Ukrainian Free University and the Ukrainian Husbandry Academy in Poděbrady and wrote textbooks such as "An Introduction to the Study on the World Market" (1923) and "Study on the World Economy" (1923).

In 1925, he received a Rockefeller Fellowship to pursue further studies in the United States. He earned his PhD from Cornell University in 1927 and taught economics at Cornell and the University of Michigan from 1928 to 1934. He then worked as the senior agricultural economist at the US Department of Agriculture in Washington, DC from 1934 to 1936, followed by a professorship at Stanford University until 1950.

Timoshenko's scholarly work primarily focused on agricultural economics, international trade, Soviet agriculture, and market theories and functions. His major English-language publications include "The Role of Agricultural Fluctuations in the Business Cycle" (1930), "Agricultural Russia and the Wheat Problem" (1932; reprinted in 1972), "The Soviet Sugar Industry and Its Postwar Restoration" (1951), and "The World’s Sugar: Progress and Policy" (1957, co-authored with B. Swerling). He also contributed articles on the Ukrainian economy and the economic theories of Mykhailo Tuhan-Baranovsky.

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As a teenager during World War I and the concurrent Soviet Revolution, Gregory Timoshenko took on the role of an intelligence courier at the young age of 14-16. During this tumultuous period, his mother led the Kiev underground intelligence network, and Gregory carried vital information through the front lines of various armies, including German and Red forces. The city of Kiev was a focal point of conflict, being attacked and conquered multiple times by different armies.

Following his dramatic wartime experiences, Gregory eventually made his way to Germany to study physics at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute, (now Max Planck Institute,) under prominent figures such as Max Planck, Enrico Fermi, Max Von Laue, Walther Nernst, and, lastly, Einstein, whose flamboyant, rather impertinent teaching style Gregory witnessed first-hand, in a yearlong Seminar.

After immigrating to the United States, Gregory's degree from Germany proved to be unrecognized, prompting him to earn a second PhD in electrical engineering in just one year—a testament to his intellect and determination. He later contributed significantly to academia as a founding professor of UConn’s engineering department, creatively funding educational expenses through military research.

John Timoshenko's academic journey began with the support of his grandfather, Stephen Timoshenko, whose generosity funded John's undergraduate education at MIT from 1960 to 1964. After completing his bachelor's degree, John pursued a Master's in Mechanical Engineering at UConn, benefiting from a tuition-free arrangement facilitated by his father, Gregory Timoshenko, one of the founding professors of UConn's engineering department. This setup was part of an innovative plan that balanced faculty time between military research and teaching, ensuring that profits from the research could cover educational expenses for students.

Following his graduate studies, John embarked on a career in which he would make significant contributions to aerospace engineering. At Pratt & Whitney, he was instrumental in designing the first fiber-reinforced, high-speed jet engine fan blades. Initially working with boron, John later shifted to carbon (graphite/epoxy) materials, which offered better performance at a fraction of the cost. He tackled the complex challenge of applying fiber reinforcement to the intricate geometries of multi-directional blades, a task that required him to develop entirely new mathematical models as no existing scientific literature could aid him. His innovations not only enhanced the efficiency of Jumbo Jet engines but also contributed to critical improvements in the SR-71 Spyplane, addressing persistent issues with engine vibrations. Through his work, John Timoshenko exemplified the innovative spirit inherited from his forebears, continuing the family's legacy of significant contributions to science and engineering.

Images below: Pratt and Whitney's JT9D Jet Engine (left) - Wikipedia used in Boeing 747 (middle). Fiber-reinforced fan blade designed by John (right).