Golden Names of Russia

An epidemic of a mysterious disease, a previously unknown form of encephalitis, was raging in the Russian Far East. A scientist who identified its carrier is now righteously called the father of Soviet immunology. Yet, the medic was accused of spreading the deadly infection via water supply systems and declared a public enemy.

The discovery of an antibiotic that cured pneumonia, septicaemia and meningitis is now attributed to the British, with 3 scientists sharing a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their work. So how come Russian medics, who had discovered the drug 70 years beforehand, were left out of the picture?

Some 170 years ago, whilst Great Britain and France – the leading Western-European powers – had already made it through the Industrial Revolution, Russia was seriously lagging behind. The ruling elite, still living the memories of the early-19th-century military victories, could not grasp the actual size of the gap. Driven by their illusions of the invincibility of the army and navy, they let the country lose the Crimean War. The defeat, however, forced the government and Emperor Alexander II himself, coronated in 1856, to look into retooling and upgrading the structure of the military industry. The Russian Empire’s best engineers and scientists were assigned to this task.

Pavel Preobrazhensky, a former minister in Kolchak’s government, is primarily known for discovering the world’s largest deposit of potassium salts. Nowadays, it serves as a source of raw material for Uralkali.

Once Ivan Gubkin, a Soviet petroleum geologist, was asked about his work before 1917, and he replied by saying that he ”was increasing Russia’s petroleum wealth”. This ambitiousness was quite common amongst Mining University graduates, which is better understood if considering the historical context.

When merchant and trader Alexander Baranov accepted the offer to become the first governor of Russian America, he probably had no idea what he would end up doing. Fighting fierce wars with Alaska Natives, establishing Fort Ross in California, copper smelter in Alaska, and improving trade links with Hawaii — that is what followed.

For many years, he, who can be rightly called the ”father” of space robotics, was left unknown, as his name was kept classified. The creator of the first-ever lunar rover, the Mars lander vehicle, and author of numerous unique inventions — he became known only with the fall of the USSR. There is even an asteroid that was named after him. Alexander Kemurdzhian was born in 1921 in Vladikavkaz. He is a craftsman and inventor of impossible machines and mechanisms. No one would have suspected at the time that this childish hobby would make the boy a world-famous constructor.

The first AGL was created in the 1930s by a young designer who had not even graduated from university. The cruel irony is that in 1941, he was accused of plotting the production of technically unfinished and unsatisfactory weapons systems and was executed by shooting. And in 1967, the US Navy kick-started the production of an analogous weapon, which is still exported to dozens of countries.

1910’s Russia-wide Festival of Aeronautics was marred by a tragedy: an aeroplane went to pieces whilst in the sky, and the shocked spectators observed the death of a pilot, all happening right in front of their eyes. This was the first-ever air crash to have occurred in the Russian Empire. Strangely enough, but this is what inspired a Russian actor from St. Petersburg to invent the knapsack parachute.

In mid-June 1866, Alexander II approved the new charter of the Mining Institute. It was an event of particular importance to the institution, being inferior only to its foundation, which dates back to October 21, 1773. What changes did the Emperor of Russia, known for abolishing serfdom and reorganising the country’s judicial system, make?