"CBNExtra" Journal, 23.07.2003, p.8

ONCE Tofik's uncle bought a new TV, and, after bringing it home, he set off back to work. When he returned in the evening, he saw to his dismay that his 12-year old nephew was sitting in front of the TV, which he had completely disassembled. Naturally, his uncle got really upset, yet, two hours later, he was totally shocked -his nephew fully restored the TV to working order.

Tofik's Imamaliev family has always been connected with science. His father, an honorable teacher of Azerbaijan in charge of the chemistry and biology labs at the high school, and his mother, a forensic scientist, tried hard to educate their son.

While in high school, Tofik studied math on an advanced level, and, after finishing high school, he set off to Saint's Petersburg, where he was accepted into the space studies institute. While learning there, he created his first invention as the part of his final work at the university.

However, the university was not able to register his invention, because, at that time, universities were not allowed to legally take out a patent. After returning to Baku, Ismayilov proceeded to gain authorization for his patents.

So on July 4, 1982, the invention called "The effect of the formation and sustainable growth in the zone of electrolytes chemically not interacting with the electrolytes of zones" later on effected the further development of electrochemistry.

How did you come up with this idea?

This idea didn't even come to my mind. It appeared as an additional result of the experiments during the elaboration of a colored display.

Why do you think your inventions are beneficial to mankind?

I think that at some point mankind had already relaxed a little bit too much. For two thousand years, they've been cracking their heads over the idea of their origins.

It is a fundamental and well known fact that electrical processes lie at the base of any living organism. It is hard to link this to the origins of human life, but it has been proven through experiments.

Could you name any of the experiments that prove your theory?

There is a theory which explains how an organic molecule can be created through the electrical discharge of storms. We can replicate this electrical discharge.

How could this invention be effectively used for the benefit of mankind?

For example, this invention is based on that discovery. This is a method of creating acid indicators.

What does that mean?

These are Ph measures used in biochemistry and medicine and are also quite often used in the food industry. These are the components, which change the colors depending on the level of acid in the product. For example, if the milk gets spoiled, its Ph level changes - and the milk is no good to use.

What inventions were made on the basis of your discoveries?

There were a couple of them. One of them is a method used in the fermentation and decomposition of albumen and the second one is the method for making acid indicators.

It may seem that these are different areas, but they are based on the same principle of zone formation. Before electrochemistry, it was thought that the space in the electrolyte between the electrodes in an electrochemical cell is permanent. Yet we have proven it is not permanent, and we made the mistake made in classical electrochemistry. Michael Faraday, for example, was too carried away with quantity measures of element emissive electrodes and didn't consider the zone formations.

How would the union of inventors react to your invention?

Actually, we were very much welcomed, as our inventions could be developed into a whole series of other inventions.

Natasha Loshkova

PARENTS have been asking their children the same riddle for ages -what came first, the chicken or the egg? Regardless of how one looks at the question, we can never get to the bottom of the mystery. But there is a group of scientists and scholars who claim to have found an answer to this eternal question over 10 years ago in Azerbaijan.

Tofik Imamaliev, President of the Inventors' Society of Azerbaijan, decisively affirms that the egg came first, and that he knows precisely where from.

"Tofik, how much time do you have for an interview?" I asked, walking into his oversized laboratory/apartment, packed with various test tubes and measuring glasses of all shapes and sizes.

"I have a lot of time - my whole life," he said, closing me door behind him. "Here, miracles happen."

• "Inventions?" I asked.

"Over in the wardrobe are three boxes of patented inventions. Which do you want to hear about?"

Tofik opened the wardrobe doors and arbitrarily pulled out a slip of paper with an official seal. He began to speak about me invention, and then slowly raised his eyes to mine.

"Papers need sensations," he said. "Sit and listen."

"Beneath the calm waves of an ancient ocean, on the shore of a warm sea, home to many ancient tribes," says Tofik. "There was an electric potential that gave birth to the first life on Earth.

"During the outcropping of me land masses, diverse zones automatically formed in the shape of eggs.

"The lesser pan carried the characteristics of yolk and this part contained the acid region. The larger part carried the alkaline region.

"There is the distinct membrane and mere is a space to create the shell. With this scheme, there needs only to be the formation of the organic molecule.

"According to the hypothesis of the academician Oparin, organic molecules can be formed during the electrical discharges of a storm.

"1) From the sphere of fauna: Many animals and birds carry eggs. Birds, crocodiles, snakes, and even some mammals -duckbilled platypus - and fish are born from eggs.

"2) From the life of man: Until this day, we have two types of digestion: upper -stomach (acidic) and lower - intestinal (alkaline).

"3) Religious sphere: On many icons, we see me image of the aura in (he shape of an egg, which consists concisely of two parts: the upper nimbus is gold, and the overall aura, which creates the entire egg form."

Angels are pictured as creatures without an upper aura, possessing only me lower part, the remaining parts being formed as wings. Imamaliev said also that the angels with an aura in the shape of wings and without a golden aura over the head are very frequently illustrated in the Bible. These he stales have no personal influence on people and don't have any self-will. The archangels, however, are considered to have a will. Quite frequently me archangels - Gabriel, Michael, Rafael and Israel - are pictured with a full aura.

This also the fundamentalism of our discovery and our nature has the electric essence. This is proven on the cellular and organic levels. My inventions have been made on this basis.

Natasha Loshkova