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On the subject of interesting/eccentric Russian/Soviet scientists, I recently learned about Nikolai Morozov[1] who spent 25 years in prison for fighting against
by agency 4y ago
On the subject of interesting/eccentric Russian/Soviet scientists, I recently learned about Nikolai Morozov[1] who spent 25 years in prison for fighting against the Tsarist government before becoming a pioneer of aviation in Russia. He also had some weird ideas about history which became the basis for a popular Russian conspiracy theory[2]. And finally at age 88 became the oldest known combatant in World War II when he insisted on enlisting as a sniper in the Red Army to field test a telescopic sight of his own design. What a life!
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Alexandrovich_Morozov https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Alexandrovich_Morozov
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_chronology_(Fomenko) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_chronology_(Fomenko)
- renewiltord 4y agoThat name and history made me think his son was https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pavlik_Morozov https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pavlik_Morozov but of course they're not related.
- nuccy 4y ago"Father" of the soviet rocket program - Sergey Korolev was also imprisoned in 1937 for false charges, put into labor camp, tortured, moved to a prison for scientist and engineers, and finally released in 1944. Charges were not dropped for him up until 1957 when Sputnik 1 was launched [1]. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Korolev https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Korolev
- TeMPOraL 4y agoThat's one of those things about history that still don't add up in my mind. How come that so many breakthroughs were made by Russian/Soviet researchers who were tortured, imprisoned, or sent to a gulag, sometimes in the middle of working on those major achievements? You'd think that with the political climate in Russia/USSR in the 19th and 20th century, there would be near-zero scientific output coming from there - but it turns out the opposite was true. I first started thinking about it when I read about Korolev. I can't imagine continuing to do any kind of work after spending years in prison and almost dying in a gulag.
- nuccy 4y agoThe stimuli may have been different than today - while a person is in prison (or abroad for a conference, collaboration, research or whatever trip) the family remains under close supervision of the special services, and the person is being reminded about that.
- p1esk 4y agoI don't think it was about family. When you're in prison, you will want to have an opportunity to do useful and interesting work, instead of either doing nothing, or doing hard labor.
- jacquesm 4y agoI know someone who has been in that situation and in their case it definitely was the not-so-subtle reminder that their family was vulnerable that caused them to cooperate with the regime.
- hattmall 4y agoBecause with Soviet Communism you don't have to worry about anything other than doing your work and the gulag. If you're not in the gulag and are in an inherently rewarding field you can really get stuff done. Capitalism prevails but the overhead for everyone is orders of magnitude more than under communism for the chosen.
- brabarossa 4y agoYuri Kondratyuk - Soviet engineer and mathematician, who developed the first known lunar orbit rendezvous. In 1927 he built a 13,000 ton wooden grain elevator without a single nail. The lack of nails in the structure was used as evidence that he had planned it to collapse. Convicted of "anti-Soviet activity", Kondratyuk was sentenced to three years in a GULag. The building stood 60 years before burning down in middle 1990. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuri_Kondratyuk https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuri_Kondratyuk