Parents:

Father - Vladimir Viktorovich Timofeev-Resovsky (1850-1913), railway engineer.

Mother - Nadezhda Nikolaevna, nee Vsevolozhskaya (1868-1928).

The Timofeyev-Resovskys clan in one line goes back to the Petrine noblemen of the "8th class" Timofeev, on the other line - the Resovskys (Ryasovskys) - comes from the clergy.

Studies:

1911-1913 - at the Kiev I Imperial Alexander Gymnasium.

1914-1917 - at the Moscow Flerovskaya gymnasium.

1916-1917 - at the A. L. Shanyavsky Moscow Free University.

1917-1922 - at the First Moscow State University. He did not receive a university diploma.

During the Civil War, he studied irregularly, since he fought in the Red Army, suffered from typhus.

In 1920-1925 he was a teacher of biology at the Prechistensky working faculty in Moscow.

In 1922-1925 he worked as a researcher at the Institute of Experimental Biology under the direction of N. K. Koltsov. Lecturer in Zoology at the Biotechnical Faculty of the Practical Institute in Moscow.

1924-1925 Assistant at the Department of Zoology with prof. NK Koltsov at the Moscow Medical Pedagogical Institute.

1921-1925 Researcher at the Institute of Experimental Biology as part of the State Scientific Institute under the People's Commissariat for Land (GINZ).

Work:

Since the early 1920s, he took part in an informal seminar organized by S. S. Chetverikov's group at the NK Koltsov Institute ("Drozsoor", or "joint shouting about Drosophila"), from which many Soviet geneticists emerged.

After a year of work in the genetic laboratory of the Institute of Experimental Biology, Nikolai Vladimirovich received interesting scientific results: while studying the mechanisms of gene expression, he came to the conclusion that a single mutation can cause multiple changes in the external appearance of the organism.

As a talented and promising researcher, in 1925 he was recommended by N.K.Koltsov and N.A.Semashko to Oskar Vogt for work in the brain research laboratory he created in Berlin.

In 1925, at the invitation of the German Society of Kaiser Wilhelm, Timofeev-Ressovsky and his wife moved to work in Berlin. Initially, he worked as a research assistant, but soon became the head of the department of genetics and biophysics at the Institute for Brain Research in the Berlin suburb of Buche.

In the 1930s, together with the future Nobel Prize laureate Max Delbrück, Timofeev-Ressovsky created the first biophysical model of the structure of a gene and proposed possible ways to change it. In the late 1930s, he took part in the seminars of the Niels Bohr group and, together with B.S.Ephrussi (with the support of the Rockefeller Foundation), assembled a small international seminar of physicists, chemists, cytologists, geneticists, biologists and mathematicians discussing fundamental problems genetics and theoretical biology. Later, informal schools in genetics were held wherever he worked.

In the spring of 1937, the Soviet consulate once again refused to renew Timofeev-Resovsky's passports, thereby urging them to return to the USSR. However, according to Timofeev-Resovsky, NK Koltsov warned him that upon their return they would most likely face "big troubles." In 1934, 1937 and 1938, two brothers of Nikolai Vladimirovich - Dmitry and Vladimir - were arrested on various occasions and shot in 1938.

Timofeev-Resovsky refused to return to the Soviet Union and continued to live and work in Nazi Germany, for which, after World War II, he was convicted in the Stalinist USSR for treason as a defector.

The research activities of Timofeev-Ressovsky in pre-war Germany made a fundamental contribution to a number of areas of modern biology. Here he discovered and substantiated the fundamental provisions of modern developmental genetics and population genetics. He also took part in the creation of the foundations of modern radiation genetics.

During World War II, Timofeev-Resovsky's son Dmitry became a member of an underground anti-Nazi organization called the Berlin Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), created by N.S. Bushmanov. Dmitry was arrested by the Gestapo and died in a concentration camp. Nikolai Timofeev-Resovsky himself issued various certificates to "Ostarbeiters" who had fled from factories.

In the spring of 1945, Timofeev-Resovsky refused the offer to transfer his department to the west of Germany and retained the entire staff and equipment until the arrival of Soviet troops. In April 1945, the Soviet military administration appointed him director of the Institute for Brain Research in Buch (after the departure in the spring of 1945 of the former director, Professor Spatz).

On September 13, 1945, Timofeev-Resovsky was detained by the NKVD operative group in Berlin, convoyed to Moscow and placed in the internal prison of the NKGB.

On July 4, 1946, the military collegium of the Supreme Court of the RSFSR sentenced him to 10 years in prison on charges of treason.

He was serving time in one of the Ural Gulag camps. But in 1947, in connection with Soviet work on the creation of an atomic bomb, as a radiation genetics specialist, Timofeev-Resovsky was transferred from the camp to Object 0211 in the Chelyabinsk region (now the city of Snezhinsk) to work on radiation safety issues. By this time he was dying of hunger. Since 1947, Timofeev-Resovsky was in charge of the biophysical department of "Object 0211", in 1951 he was released from prison, and in 1955 his criminal record was cleared. In 1955, he signed the Three Hundred Letter.

In 1955-1964 Timofeev-Resovsky headed the department of biophysics at the Institute of Biology of the UFAN USSR in Sverdlovsk. At the same time, he read several cycles of lectures on the effect of radiation on organisms and on radiobiology at the Faculty of Physics of the Ural University and worked at a biological station he founded on Lake Bolshoye Miassovo in the Ilmensky Reserve.

Timofeev-Ressovsky was able to defend his doctoral dissertation in Sverdlovsk only in 1963, and received his doctoral degree in 1964 after Khrushchev's dismissal and the rehabilitation of genetics.

In 1964-1969, Nikolai Vladimirovich was in charge of the department of radiobiology and genetics at V.

Since 1969 Timofeev-Resovsky worked at the Institute of Biomedical Problems in Moscow.

His incredibly complex and unique biography was the basis for the documentary novel "Bison" by Daniil Granin. The history of the laboratory in Berlin-Buch forms the basis of Elly Welt's novel Berlin Wild, where all the participants, although quite recognizable, are bred under assumed names. The music library in the city of Pushchino-on-Oka contains a collection of tape recordings with oral stories by N.V. Timofeev-Resovsky, some of which have been published in the form of memoirs.

In 1987, after the publication of Daniil Granin's novel, the youngest son of Timofeev-Resovsky, Andrei, and representatives of the scientific community demanded the rehabilitation of the outstanding geneticist. But the Main Military Prosecutor's Office, after conducting an additional investigation, instead of rehabilitating the scientist, brought forward a new charge, which was not imputed to him by either the investigation or the Military Collegium in 1946 - deserting the enemy's side - and in July 1989 issued a decision to terminate the proceedings due to the lack of grounds for rehabilitation of Timofeev-Resovsky. The decree stated that Timofeev-Resovsky, personally and together with his employees, was actively engaged in research related to improving the military power of Nazi Germany, thereby committing treason in the form of going over to the side of the enemy.

On February 4, 1991, the USSR Prosecutor's Office canceled this decision of the Main Military Prosecutor's Office on the grounds that the conclusion that Timofeev-Resovsky conducted scientific research of military significance was insufficiently reasoned and instructed the Investigative Department of the KGB of the USSR to conduct another additional investigation. As follows from the certificate of the Investigative Department of the KGB dated October 16, 1991, according to its results, "no additional information was obtained regarding the crime against Timofeev-Resovsky."

On October 16, the Prosecutor General of the USSR submitted a protest in the case to the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the USSR for the termination of the case due to the absence of corpus delicti in Timofeev-Resovsky's actions. However, the protest was not considered in connection with the liquidation of the USSR Supreme Court. Timofeev-Resovsky was rehabilitated only in June 1992 by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation.

The medal, established in memory of the outstanding naturalist, is awarded by the Scientific Council of the Center to Russian and foreign scientists for achievements in the field of radiobiology, radiation genetics, evolutionary studies and environmental protection. The honorary list of those awarded with the medal includes 35 names. In accordance with the decision of the General Conference (November 11, 1999), UNESCO took part in the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of N.V. Timofeev-Resovsky in 2000.

The merits of Timofeev-Resovsky in the field of genetics, radiobiology, local and continental radioecology, as well as evolutionary doctrine should be especially noted. These areas of knowledge are widely recognized by scientists around the world. At the same time, up to the present time, the layer of natural science knowledge in the field of theoretical biology and space ecosystems that he raised continues to remain out of sight. The problem of eternity, which characterizes the interaction of the biosphere and humanity, deserves special attention. Nikolai Vladimirovich formulated it while working at the IMR of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences (1968) and to this day it attracts human minds, providing an endless field for research. In 2000, the name of N.V. Timofeev-Ressovsky, in connection with the 100th anniversary of his birth, by decision of the General Conference of UNESCO entered the chronicle of international memorable dates for 2000-2001.

Membership in scientific societies and scientific awards:

Full member (academician) of the German Academy of Naturalists in Halle (GDR) - Leopoldina.

Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in Boston (USA).

Honorary Member of the Italian Society of Experimental Biology (Italy).

Honorary member of the Mendelian Society in Lund (Sweden).

Honorary Member of the British Genetic Society in Leeds (UK).

Honorary member and founding member of the All-Union Society of Geneticists and Breeders named after V.I. N.I. Vavilova (USSR).

Scientific member of the Max Planck Society (FRG).

Full member of the Moscow Society of Naturalists, the All-Union Geographical Society, the All-Union Botanical Society.

Laureate of medals and prizes Lazzaro Spallanzani (Italy), Darwin (GDR), Mendelev (Czechoslovakia and GDR), Kimber (USA).

The twenties were followed by the notorious 30s, when not only people, but also some areas of science were subjected to repressions. Genetics was considered the most provocative and ideologically unrestrained at that time. And along with her cybernetics. What kind of sciences are these, the laws of which do not obey the decrees of the party? However, what scientists are, such is science, the fathers of the nation reasoned and undertook to re-educate the obstinate know-it-alls. What are they worth without their laboratories, for example? But more often they resorted to more reliable methods of influence: exile, hard labor. And, as the most reliable - execution.

Many were scattered then by fate. But there is an amazing example of when knowledge really turned out to be a force that turned out to be too tough even for such monsters of that time as Stalin and Hitler. In 2010, this incredible man would have turned 110 years old. Compatriots first learned about him from the novel by Daniil Granin, written immediately after the beginning of perestroika. The title of the novel accurately characterizes the personality of the hero. The novel is called "Bison", the name of the hero is Nikolai Vladimirovich Timofeev-Resovsky. He entered the history of science as one of the founders of such areas as molecular biology, radiation genetics, radiobiology. He was an extraordinary personality, titanic, bright and free! No iron "curtains" existed for him and could not exist.

When the novel was published, and thousands and thousands of people learned about Timofeev-Resovsky, many thought that the hero of the novel was a collective image. Although, of course, this was not at all the case.

Legends were made about Timofeev-Ressovsky. In 1925, as one of the world's leading geneticists, he was invited to Germany to "advance science" together with his German colleagues. Meanwhile, "dark days" began in Russia: two brothers of Nikolai also became victims of repression.

Vladimirovich, who were shot. Realizing that he was facing the same fate, he preferred science to death. And - stayed in Germany.

During the war years, until 1945, the scientist continued his scientific research, remaining a citizen of the USSR, about which he publicly liked to remind others. They say that when Berlin turned to dust under the rain of Soviet bombs, Timofeev-Ressovsky went out to this very "rain" and bellowed Russian songs. And no one dared to stop him. They also say that not only the house where this frantic Russian lived, but also the institute where he worked, the bombs flew around as if they had been charmed.

It was in 1945, immediately after the war, that Timofeev-Resovsky decided to return to Russia, although it was clearer what a tasty prey he would be for the "organs".

The Soviet rulers solved the problem of selection in a fundamentally different way than the Germans: they filled the gas chambers, in their opinion, with defective human material so as not to spoil the offspring. Our genetics from the authorities destroyed the best.

It is clear that in the homeland of the scientist, the wide-open gates of Butyrka were awaited, where he arrived in what he was.

Having not lived in Russia for a long time, Timofeev-Resovsky did not even know how to behave during interrogation, and tried to wrap him up.

as a joke. From the outside, his conversation with the investigator was more like an interview of a certain gentleman with an annoying journalist. The latter thrust a piece of paper with the gentleman and demanded an "autograph", which in the context of this conversation would mean that the "interviewee" was an English spy. Timofeev-Resovsky was not a spy. However, having entered the position of an investigator, he graciously agreed to a compromise: he would sign his autograph in exchange for being recognized as a Chilean spy. He does not care what people say about him after his death.

In order not to waste time in prison, Timofeev-Resovsky proposed to create an institute right there.

But the real work unfolded in a laboratory hidden in the Ilmen reserve in the Urals. Soon, information about who runs this secret laboratory was leaked to the people, and walkers reached out to the unwitting hermit. To get to the teacher, they had to cross a mountain pass on foot. Only at the Timofeev-Resovsky station, and nowhere else, could you hear lectures on genetics and the theory of microevolution.

in science. In his laboratory "on chicken legs", he dealt with the issue of decontamination of water and soil. Thirty years later, it was these developments of his that were used to clean soil and water in the area of ​​the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident.

When in the 50s there was a huge leak of radioactive waste at one of the enterprises near Chelyabinsk, Timofeev-Resovsky proposed to organize a radiological center in this region to study the problems of radioactive contamination. And (how unpatriotic!) - to make this radioactive reserve accessible for study by specialists from all over the world. Well, the academician of six world academies did not understand that radiation has specific features for this region: it is "limited" by political principles.

Bogdanov, Doctor of Biological Sciences, who knew Timofeev-Resovsky well, who happened to work at the famous Ural biological station of the scientist, says that Timofeev-Resovsky was unique precisely because he was not only a great scientist. At the distant Ural station, he told young talents not only about genetics, but also lectured about Levitan, the impressionists, music and the Itinerants. Real science is the privilege of only people who are very healthy in spirit and in body, he would

l am convinced of this.

It was his colossal erudition that allowed him, long before any apparent reason, to talk about environmental problems associated with human economic activity. Whether mankind wants it or not, the scientist said, it will have to deal with the problems of the biosphere associated with the need for a general increase in the bioproductivity of the earth.

It is customary to think that science explains something, and that science is knowledge, - he told his students. “But science and knowledge are different things. In the history of mankind, there have been many truly great scientists who argued that science does not provide any real knowledge. It only helps to systematize our information about the world,

Timofeev-Resovsky died in 1981. Unforgiven. Unrehabilitated. That's how it is, genetics in the Soviet way.

Deciphering the genetic code of a human chromosome can lead to unpredictable results. Unpredictability is in the people who will get this knowledge. Just think - to read the genome of a single person, as they say, it will take 100 years! Who knows what all this "complex" and "complex" audience is capable of? Now, if only the genes of Timofeev-Resovsky were "connected" to the genes of Ivan Ivanovich ..

Valery Soifer

Communicating during my student holidays with Professor Sergei Sergeevich Chetverikov in the then city of Gorky, and during school time in Moscow with Academician Igor Evgenievich Tamm, I heard from them the name of Nikolai Vladimirovich Timofeev-Resovsky (I will continue to write T.-R.). He was a student of Chetverikov in the 1920s and from 1925 he lived in Germany, where he ended up under non-trivial circumstances. After Lenin's death, someone in the Soviet government decided that he should have a specially arranged genius brain (however, it was soon found that the tissues of Lenin's brain were irreversibly deformed and even reduced as a result of a serious illness). In the USSR, Oskar Vogt, director of two German institutes, the Kaiser Wilhelm Brain Research and the Neurological Institute at the University of Berlin, were invited from Germany. As Chetverikov told me, Vogt, having arrived in Moscow at the beginning of 1925, agreed to help organize a comprehensive study of Lenin's brain in the USSR, but for now, without delaying matters, suggested starting the necessary research in Berlin. According to the staff of the Institute of the Brain in Moscow today, Lenin's brain is still stored in their building in room 19.

Vogt was so inspired by Chetverikov's achievements in genetics that he asked him to recommend one of his students for a temporary move to Berlin in order to raise the level of genetic research in Germany. Chetverikov told me that he announced such a possibility, and his student Kolya T.-R. expressed a desire to go to Germany with his wife Elena Aleksandrovna (nee Fiedler), whom her husband called Lelka for decades. Soon, another of his closest students, Sergei Romanovich Tsarapkin, went to Germany under the patronage of Chetverikov. These negotiations and the recommendations of Sergei Sergeevich are also evidenced by his letter to Vogt, sent on June 3, 1926.

According to various recollections, since the mid-1930s T.-R. more than once tried to return to the USSR. But he was sent by diplomatic mail (as T.-R. told me, through the Swedish ambassador) a letter from N.K. better to stay in Germany. Now there are indications that N.I. Vavilov also transmitted T.-R. similar advice. As a result, T.-R. with his wife and son, just like the Tsarapkins, they lived in Germany until the end of World War II.

T.-R. in the years of his life in the West, he became a famous geneticist, especially in the field of radiation and population genetics, established friendly relations with many scientists, including Niels Bohr. At first, he simply used radiation as a tool to induce mutations, then he got involved in the study of the damaging effects of radiation. His closest friend Nikolaus Riehl (the son of a German engineer invited by Siemens to work in Russia at the end of the 19th century and married to a Russian woman) studied until 1927, first at the St. Petersburg Polytechnic, and then at the Humboldt University of Berlin. He was an expert in nuclear chemistry, was involved in the German atomic bomb project and often came to the Timofeevs' home, where they communicated on a wide range of scientific and human problems. Thus, let formally T.-R. and was not involved in the German uranium project, but he had a very close acquaintance with this project, especially since his studies of the processes of damage to the hereditary structures of living organisms by various types of radiation were important to nuclear physicists. Working together with T.-R. in Berlin, I.B. Panshin testified that Riel immediately after the war transmitted to the USSR a huge amount of information about German atomic developments and was immediately included in the Soviet atomic program (he was even awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor, twice he was awarded the Stalin Prize, and then the Lenin Prize ; after a ten-year stay in the USSR, he repatriated to Germany). Beria's deputy for the leadership of the Soviet atomic program of the USSR, A.P. Zavenyagin, knew T.-R. and when he, sentenced to ten years and placed in a prisoner camp, was already close to death, ordered in 1947 to transfer him from the camp (Timofeev once told me that he was at that moment in a camp in the Pamirs) in the location of the "sharashka" in Sungul near Kasli in the Urals, where the Soviet authorities in 1946 began to deploy a research center as part of the Soviet atomic program. A plutonium production plant was built here, later called the Mayak Combine. Nearby, in the center of the Ilmensky reserve, a secret camp for prisoners-scientists, "sharashka", was also created, where they brought barely alive T.-R. (“He could not stand on his feet, he was brought into the body on a sheet”). In this "sharashka" were not only Russians, but also captured German scientists who once worked with T.-R. in Germany, - Karl Zimmer, Nikolaus Riehl, Hans Born, Alexander Kach and others.

Hearing about T.-R., I fired up the dream of getting to summer practice in his laboratory, which I told both Tamm and Chetverikov. Together with me, students of the Biophysics Department of the Physics Faculty of Moscow State University, where I moved in December 1957 from the Timiryazev Academy, wanted to go - Valery Ivanov, Andrey Malenkov, Andrey Morozkin and my closest friend from Timiryazevka Sasha Egorov. Thus, I managed to put together a company of five people.

But how do you get there? Tamm was familiar with T.-R. (in 1956 he invited him to come from Sverdlovsk, where he was in charge of a laboratory as part of the Ural branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences, to Moscow for a Kapitsa seminar at the Institute of Physical Problems and spoke with him in front of a huge crowd of people, causing a surge of rage in Lysenko, about which he told me told at one of our meetings), but Tamm did not have a direct connection with him, and he could not help in organizing the trip. True, Igor Evgenievich immediately told me that he would give Sasha Egorov and me money for train tickets from Moscow to the Urals and back and for our life in the Urals, for which I was very grateful to him.

Therefore, it was necessary in some other way to get through to T.-R., but how to do it, I did not know. Soon after I shared this dream with Chetverikov, I received a caring, completely dear letter from him, in which my desire was approved. He wrote to me, in particular:

Dear Valery Nikolaevich! You must feel how deeply and ardently I must be interested in both your own fate and the business you have undertaken. I am very attached to you and every event in your life, every success or failure deeply pleases or saddens me; therefore, do not forget me, the old man, and although I cannot provide you with almost any direct business support, let your soul feel that somewhere out there, in Gorky, there is a person who is closely and with great participation watching your fate…

Sincerely Loving you
WITH. Chetverikov

Later I learned that Chetverikov wrote to T.-R. a letter with a request to accept us for practice.

A month later, a letter came from Chetverikov (dated May 28, 1958), in which he informed that T.-R. “I heard something good about the physics students in Moscow from Academician Tamm” and agrees to host us on a summer base in the Ilmensky Reserve. We got ready for the road and on July 2, 1958, and early the next morning, we got to Miass. There we found the building of the directorate of the Ilmensky Reserve, asked if they had any information about the car that should have been sent for us from the biological station, and learned that there was no car and no one had heard anything about it. After that, we threw our backpacks behind our backs and went on foot through the reserve along the road indicated to us. We had to walk about 15 km, it was early morning, and we decided that we would get to the place by lunchtime.

Three hours later we reached the bank of some narrow river and decided to have a short break and breakfast here. I have photographs of that breakfast, as well as a photograph of Sasha Egorov, who, bowing his head to the river, drank water from it.

By lunchtime, we really got to the biological station, where we were already worried about where we had disappeared. Nikolai Vladimirovich came out to us, who, despite the clouds of mosquitoes, sported his naked torso, exposing his heroic chest with gray hair to the fresh air and sun. His first question, asked in an alarming and imperative tone, concerned whether we stopped on the way to the station, and if so, where. When I told how we made a halt on the bank of a river, he was noticeably worried.

I hope you haven't drunk the water from this river? he asked me.

How could they not drink, drink, and how! - Not understanding his concern, I replied.

My words greatly alarmed Nikolai Vladimirovich. Only after some time did I understand what was the matter. It turns out that the Techa River flowed through the Ilmensky Reserve, in the upper reaches of which secret cities were built with enterprises for obtaining enriched nuclear fuel and fuses for atomic bombs, and all the waste was poured into this river for years, therefore the level of radioactivity in those places is thousands of times, and sometimes and more exceeded the maximum permissible doses for humans. In 1957, a year before our arrival, at the Mayak plant, there was also a large-scale Kyshtym accident that affected the entire planet, when one of the storage facilities for highly concentrated radioactive waste with an amount of more than 20 million curies took off. The particles that shot up into the atmosphere formed a monstrous radioactive cloud and additionally polluted the Techa River. The defeat covered a huge territory of 23 thousand km 2 (the so-called East Ural radioactive trace appeared), radioactive fallout reached France and Sweden. It was dangerous to drink water from the river, but the deed was done.

The main scientific problem studied by the colleagues of Nikolai Vladimirovich was precisely the damaging effect of radiation. Later he presented me with a thick collection of papers from his laboratory, published by the Ural Branch of the Academy of Sciences with a dedication, containing mainly radiobiological research. Apparently, his laboratory remained the only center in the country where they did not stop working on real genetics. The work was carried out under the patronage of nuclear physicists, the laboratory was classified, and physicists perfectly understood that radiation exposure requires a real genetic analysis.

A few years later, a trip to T.-R. I found myself at dinner next to Doctor of Sciences G. A. Sereda. In the conversation, I mentioned the name of Nikolai Vladimirovich, and suddenly Sereda told me that he knew him very well, since he was the director of an extremely secret scientific institution in which Timofeev worked. He told me that T.-R. He did not know how to keep the state secrets given to him to himself, and when Sereda handed over a secret plan of research that would need to be dealt with to his group, he learned a few days later that secret information had been communicated to all members of the group and had spread throughout the facility.

Nikolai Vladimirovich told me, - Sereda said, - that without getting acquainted with the general plan of the study, it is impossible to expect from the employees an interested and thoughtful performance of the work. That each participant should know what to strive for and what is the ultimate goal of the work.

Sereda also told me about a curiosity. Before the new year, team leaders were instructed to apply for the instruments and chemicals that will be needed in the coming calendar year. T.-R. filed such an application, indicating 15 grams of one of the dyes for cytological studies. This dye was not produced in the USSR, but since the secret "sharashka" was attributed to the highest state category, applications from it were considered absolutely necessary. The typist who finally typed the pivot table, instead of the abbreviation "r", put the sign "t" (that is, "tons"). The summary data was not given to anyone for verification, by the required time a special line was erected at another secret enterprise to produce the required connection, and a separate carriage loaded with fifteen tons of dye went to the Urals. This amount of paint was not needed on a planetary scale, with the help of this "chemical muck" it was possible to paint all the rivers and lakes on Earth.

So, back to the story about our arrival in Miasovo. We were shown a site not far from the shore of the lake where we had to put up a tent, we set it up, and our wonderful practice began. Nikolai Vladimirovich began the next morning by giving us a lecture on nature conservation. In those years the country was still dominated by Michurin's slogan "We cannot wait for favors from nature, it is our task to take them from her", and nature was spoiled on a national scale (which, however, cannot be compared with today's pollution). T.-R. even then he realized the destructiveness of such an approach, angrily and colorfully told about the capital consequences for centuries of thoughtless destruction of forests, washing away and deterioration of soil, massive water pollution. It is not surprising that one of his charges - Alexey Vladimirovich Yablokov - later became such a passionate fighter for the environment.

A day later, Timofeev showed us how to raise Drosophila flies, how to prepare food, how to euthanize flies with ether, and count mutations. In the next lesson, he gave an overview of the main types of mutations in Drosophila, then talked about the giant chromosomes of the salivary glands and showed us how to prepare preparations of these chromosomes. The workshop was interesting and useful. On July 8, he began to give us a course of genetics of 15 lectures. Each lecture took a total of two hours (sometimes a little more) and was read every other day, and in the intervals between them, the professor-mathematician from Moscow State University Alexei Andreevich Lyapunov began to read a course of lectures on mathematical group theory, set theory and their role in cybernetics. At that time, in the USSR, cybernetics, like genetics, was banned, and Lyapunov showed courage, popularizing the forbidden science (he became perhaps the most prominent mathematician, openly and honestly defending this science) and at the same time developing the scientific foundations of this discipline. So we are very lucky in this respect as well.

Lectures by T.-R. included the following sections (I will list them all in the form in which he himself formulated them, although I understand that many readers are not familiar with all the terms):

1. Cytology of heredity. Meiosis. Mitosis. Phases of the cell cycle, the process of identical reproduction, gender equality in heredity. Mendel's rules.
2. The development of traits of organisms, the polygenicity of many traits, the gene and potential for the development of a trait, sex-linked traits, reciprocal crosses, the interaction of autosomes and heterochromosomes, the possibility of chemical sex changes in fish.
3. Crossing over. Crossover interference. The interaction of genes and traits (physiological or phenotypic genetics). Bar- mutations in Drosophila and unequal crossing over. Position effect. “Each gene is in combination fields of activity neighboring genes, ”he said.
4. Phenomenology of gene manifestation. Penetrance (% of gene expression) and expressiveness (degree of expression of a trait). Expression of a trait in monoploidy, diploidy and heteroploidy. Lethal effects. Pleiotropy and polarity in the variability of elementary characters.
5. Sectoriality of somatic mutations. Morphogenetic connections, the role of hormones and other substances in the expression of genes.
6. Mutational process. The role of inbreeding in identifying true mutations. Clean lines. Genetic foundations for breeding varieties.
7. Factors affecting the occurrence of mutations in spontaneous mutagenesis. The rate of evolution and the rate of mutation. Chetverikov's ideas regarding the accumulation of recessive mutations in genomes. Activation factors for spontaneous mutagenesis. Chromosomal mutations in Drosophila. Genomic mutations.
8. Role of heterochromatin in chromosome elongation. Analysis of the mutation process by laboratory methods. Target theory. Effect-dose curves. Time effects of the application of mutagens. Saturation curves.
9. Reverse mutations. Types of ionizing radiation (electrons, neutrons, protons, deuterons and alpha particles). Photoprocesses. Linear ionization density and hit effects. Formal effective lesion volume and absorption energy.
10. Spontaneous mutational process and microevolution. The prophetic views of S. S. Chetverikov on the role of the accumulation of recessive mutations in evolution. After how many divisions can the effect of mutations be revealed at the phenotypic level? Stability of genetic structures and external factors (in particular, temperature).
11. Possible ways of genotype evolution. The presence of data that contradict the idea of ​​the chromosome as a carrier of a continuous hereditary molecule (gene continuum). Allelism, homologous attraction in conjugation. Gradual disruption of chromosome homology in evolution. Step alleles and pseudo alleles.
12. Microevolution. Intraspecific struggle. Quantitative analysis of genomic transformations according to Chetverikov. The main results of the study of Drosophila species in vivo by Chetverikov's group in the Caucasus and other species by Timofeev-Resovsky and his wife Elena Alexandrovna in Europe.
13. Continuation of the lecture on microevolution. Elementary evolutionary phenomena. The concept of the species and the main features of the species. Populations as representatives of a species in certain areas. Panmixia. Stabilizing crosses.
14. Elementary evolutionary factors. The statistical nature of the evolutionary process. "Waves of Life" by Chetverikov.
15. Natural selection. Divergence of genes. Tail selection. Selection rates.

The most important feature of the lectures was that Timofeev not only tried to convey to us the basic scientific ideas, but also arranged them chronologically and sprinkled them with the names of scientists who entered the study of certain processes at different times. Several hundred names were named. Since he met many of those named in the West personally, the story about the history of the development of genetic views appeared vivid and vivid. Nikolai Vladimirovich did not have any notes in his hands, he read spontaneously, but such a volume of information was retained in his memory that it became quite clear: we have before us an absolutely unique person of encyclopedic knowledge on the history of genetics, who understands the genesis of genetic views as deeply as, probably, few others in the world. He often used chalk and drew diagrams on the blackboard. It was noticeable that because of his blindness he was doing a lot, in fact, without seeing his drawings, but from memory, but nevertheless, all the drawings and diagrams turned out to be clear and clear. Several times I visited Nikolai Vladimirovich's office in the laboratory building and saw that for reading he took a huge magnifying glass, probably twenty centimeters in diameter, and with its help tried to read the text line by line. But he walked around the summer base without glasses, knew how to distinguish all those around him, and if he did not know that he saw extremely poorly, then it was difficult to notice his blindness.

We were so impressed by the course of lectures given to us in Miasovo that I offered help in organizing Nikolai Vladimirovich's speech in Moscow at the Physics Department of Moscow State University, and also said that I was closely acquainted with, probably, the most outstanding writer at that time, who published many books about the largest Russian scientists - Oleg Nikolaevich Pisarzhevsky. Three months later I received the following letter:

24.XI.58

Dear Valery!

We only returned from Miasovo for the holidays, where we worked a lot and wrote with Nick. Vl. several articles. He is still busy with all sorts of things and adding works. Therefore, I answer you.

From here we will go one of these days to Leningrad, where Nick. Vl. from 3.XII to 20.XII he will teach the course "population genetics and microevolution" at the University (at the Department of Genetics) and, in parallel, "the basics of radiation genetics" at the Institute of Physiology. Pavlova! We will be in Moscow from 25. XII and, apparently, until 10 January. At this time, Nick. Vl. with pleasure he will read to you, as he is just telling me, "as many reports as you like and about anything, everything that interests you." In Leningrad we will stay at Anna Benediktovna Gedova, B. Pushkarskaya, 34b, apt. 2, tel. B-2-51-89. Write or call us there - when you will arrange the reports of Nikolai Vladimirovich.

Something incomprehensible came out with the letter of Pisarzhevsky - it was lying around in the reserve for so long that Nick. Vl. received it already here, where it was sent from Miasovo. Please apologize to Oleg Nikolaevich on behalf of Nikolai Vladimirovich and tell him that Nick. Vl. very much wants to meet him and talk in detail about all sorts of things during our stay in Moscow (in Moscow we will live with Nadezhda Vasilievna Reformatskaya (Kompozitorskaya st., 25, apt. 2, v. G-1-30-50).

Good luck. Tell all of us biophysicists, including Cucumber and Gosha.

Yours E. Timofeeva-Resovskaya

Nikolai Vladimirovich called my friend from the Timiryazev Academy Sasha Egorov a cucumber for his strong elastic figure, who invariably enjoyed the special sympathy of a scientist.

Elena Alexandrovna did not write to me about a very important event that happened on that visit to Leningrad. At a meeting of the Academic Council of the Botanical Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences T.-R. in December 1958 he defended his thesis for the degree of Doctor of Biological Sciences (the awarding of this degree was prevented by the Higher Attestation Commission of the USSR due to the false political denunciations of the Lysenkoites). It should be noted that in the 1950s T.-R. was nominated by several Western scientists for the Nobel Prize, but to the request of the Nobel Committee to the Soviet government about whether this scientist was alive, no answer was received from Moscow, and the question of awarding the prize was removed from consideration, because these prizes are not awarded to those who have died.

Apparently, he really wanted to speak at the Physics Department of Moscow State University, because two weeks later I received a new letter written by Elena Aleksandrovna:

Leningrad
9.XII.58

Dear Valery!

Nikolay Vladimirovich asks to write to you, that in view of the large number of lectures and reports that he will have do here - we will linger here a little and will be in Moscow only 27. XII in the morning. How and when will you give talks in Moscow - it depends on you - we will stay in Moscow is about two weeks old. See you soon. Nikolay Vladimirovich sends you and all your heartfelt greetings.

Yours E. Timofeeva-Resovskaya

Head of the Department of Biophysics at Moscow State University L.A. Blumenfeld, to whom I conveyed all the information received from the Timofeyev-Resovskys, together with Associate Professor S.E. took place in the Large Physical Auditorium on Vorobyovy Gory (it accommodated several hundred listeners and was packed to capacity). In addition, I made an agreement with Dmitry Dmitrievich Romashov, who worked in the Moscow Society of Nature Experts, for the section of genetics and selection to give Timofeev a lecture in their auditorium in the very center of Moscow (on the then Herzen Street). The interest in both performances was huge.

Already after the departure of the Timofeev-Resovskys from Moscow to the Urals, Academician Tamm talked with Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences V.A. to academicians of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. But still strong in influence in the USSR, Lysenko's members launched a vigorous activity to discredit the scientist as an alleged enemy of the Soviet state. Only after Khrushchev was removed from the position of the head of the Bolsheviks T.-R. in 1976 he successfully defended his doctoral dissertation on a set of works, but he never became a member of the academy.

In 1975, the famous geneticist Oke Gustaffson from Sweden came to the USSR (he was closely acquainted with T.-R. in previous years), I was appointed responsible for receiving Gustaffson in the USSR and proposed to the President of the Academy of Agricultural Sciences (VASKhNIL) P.P. Lobanov arrange a meeting with a Swedish scientist. Lobanov agreed, and I invited T.-R. to this meeting. He arrived with A. V. Yablokov and violated all the rules of the "official ceremony." Lobanov behaved perfectly, accepting all sorts of escapades of Nikolai Vladimirovich without irritation. I remember how at some point he said that scientists are just sitting on the neck of the state, and there is nothing from them, except to spend money not earned by their labor on the satisfaction of internal interests. Lobanov began to object, to which Timofeev retorted with a wonderful phrase that engraved forever in my memory: "Only ballet dancers, circus performers and taxi drivers earn by their labor." Everyone laughed, and the president of the academy only nodded his head in disappointment.

When the meeting was over, and we went out into the foyer, Timofeev and Gustaffson hugged, Nikolai Vladimirovich snuggled up to his old friend, grabbed him by the lapels of his jacket and began to tell him (slowly choosing his words) that he was tired of living, that after the death of his wife, his existence here seems him wasted and unnecessary. He cried at parting and, without wiping away his tears, only repeated more than once: “I want to be with Lyol'ka” (“I want to see Lyolka”). Now, left without a wife, I perfectly understand Nikolai Vladimirovich.

Valery Soifer,
doct. phys.-mat. sciences, foreign member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine,
Honorary Professor of Moscow State University, Emeritus Professor Emeritus George-Mason University (USA)

Sat. "Scientific heritage", 2002, v. 28, ed. "Science", pp. 220–222.

December 29, 1990 daughter-in-law S. R. Tsarapkina sent me the following letter in response to my request to tell more about the life of Russian scientists in Germany: “Sergei Romanovich Tsarapkin was a geneticist with a good knowledge of mathematics, especially variation statistics, which helped him a lot in his scientific work ... After graduation, he began working at the Institute of Experimental Biology, where he worked under the direct supervision of N.K. Koltsov. In 1926 he was seconded to Germany to work at the Brain Institute. There he met NV Timofeev-Ressovsky, who had arrived again earlier. From the very beginning, even when they were studying in the group with S.S. Chetverikov, their relationship did not develop friendly, and then they completely deteriorated. In 1932 T.-R. participated in the International Genetic Congress in the USA. Sergey Romanovich and other employees of the laboratory T.-R. gave him their materials for presentation at the congress, T.-R. presented them on his own behalf, without mentioning other authors. After his return, a scandal erupted, even Vogt himself publicly expressed his opinion on this incident. There were other episodes characterizing the discrepancy between the opinions of Sergei Romanovich and T.-R., which led to the fact that T.-R., being the head of the laboratory, practically did not give any opportunity to work, constantly changing and canceling the topic on which Sergei began Romanovich to work. Then these directions reappeared in the laboratory, but at the suggestion of T.-R. For forced reasons, Sergei Romanovich and T.-R. ended up in the same place in the USSR, in the camp and p / I 33/6. Relationships have not improved, but rather the opposite. Ultimately T.-R. received a laboratory in Sverdlovsk, and the Tsarapkin family was sent to the city of Kostanay to continue their exile. Sergei Romanovich could not do science, he worked as a teacher of all subjects. In 1957, after serving time, the Tsarapkins moved to Ryazan, where they were allowed to leave. This link finally undermined the health of my father-in-law and on January 15, 1960, after another heart attack, he died ”(quoted from a letter from K. A. Tsarapkina).

See interview with him in Repressed Science, pp. 252-267.

See the magazine "Uralskaya nov", 2002, No. 13.

In the mid-1930s, a theory was formulated describing the kinetic dependences of either the activating or mutagenic effect of ionizing radiation - the so-called "target theory". The most important experiments that became the basis of this theory were carried out in the period 1931-1937. several researchers, among whom was Nikolai Vladimirovich Timofeev-Resovsky, who became one of the founders of the quantitative biophysics of ionizing radiation.

Timofeev-Ressovsky developed the ideas of N. Koltsov, who assumed that molecular hereditary structures are formed through matrix synthesis. He conducted research on the biophysical analysis of the mutational process, which subsequently led to the formation of molecular biology as a new synthetic discipline. Timofeev-Resovsky showed that mutational changes affect a relatively limited group of atoms in the chromosome. This discovery brought the mutational process to the molecular level of understanding for the first time.

Also Nikolai Vladimirovich is considered one of the founders of radiobiology. He managed to establish how the radiation dose affects the intensity of the mutation process. He discovered the phenomenon of low-dose radio stimulation and analyzed the primary triggering mechanisms of mutations under the influence of radiation.

This researcher was the first to point out that in addition to the direct consequences of exposure to ionizing radiation (i.e., malignant neoplasms, burns, radiation sickness), there is a serious risk of harmful mutations occurring and their accumulation in populations.

One of the most important components of the quantitative theory of the mutational process was the research of the Russian scientist on the probabilities of the occurrence of direct and reverse mutations.

In 1934, Timofeev-Resovsky conducted a series of brilliant experiments that showed for the first time that the combination of several recessive mutations, each of which separately reduces the viability, can lead to an increase in the viability of individuals - carriers of these combinations. These studies made it possible to fully understand the evolutionary significance of the phenomena of recessiveness and dominance.

Together with M. Delbrück (later Nobel Prize winner) Nikolai Vladimirovich Timofeev-Resovsky carried out work on modeling the structure of genes. In the same period, in collaboration with the physicist R. Rompe, he discovered and described the "amplifier principle" in biology, which became one of the most important general principles of modern theoretical biology. According to this principle, a single change is capable of changing the properties of a whole individual and triggering forces that are several orders of magnitude greater in terms of energy expended.

The IV International Conference "Contemporary Problems of Genetics, Radiobiology, Radioecology and Evolution", dedicated to the 115th anniversary of NV Timofeev-Resovsky and his international scientific school, was held in St. Petersburg from 2 to 6 June. The IV readings in memory of V. Korogodin and V. Shevchenko and a working meeting of the International Union of Radiobiologists "Ideas of radiobiology in radioecology: mechanisms and effects of radiation" were held within the framework of the conference. The conference brought together over 150 participants from Armenia, Germany, Kazakhstan, Canada, Norway, USA, Ukraine, France, Japan, JINR and Russian scientific centers.

NV Timofeev-Resovskiy made a decisive contribution to the formation and development of several areas of modern biology: evolutionary and population genetics, the study of gene structure, patterns of the mutation process, radiobiology, radiation genetics and radioecology. In 1925, on the recommendation of his teacher NK Koltsov, he was sent to Germany to the Kaiser Wilhelm Brain Institute, at the invitation of O. Vogt, to "improve" genetics there. At the Institute of the Brain, he worked from 1925 to 1945, from 1936 - Director of the Department of Genetics and Biophysics of this Institute. After returning to the USSR and being arrested in 1945, he worked at several radiobiological research centers. In the 1960s, having received permission to visit large cities of the country, he made a huge contribution to the preparation of the restoration of genetics after the period of Lysenkoism. His studies of the influence of ionizing radiation on all living things, the genetic effects of radiation laid the foundations of radiation ecology - the protection of the habitat from radiation damage, formed the basis for work on genetic safety (genetic toxicology). It was Timofeev-Resovsky who defined the population as a unit of the evolutionary process, hence his interest in the genetics of populations in general and in the effect of radiation on natural populations. Scientific achievements and bright individuality of N.V. Timofeev-Resovsky had a huge impact on domestic and world genetics and molecular biology. Posthumously rehabilitated.

When physicists understood biologists

The conference was opened by the Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Director of the St. Petersburg branch of the Institute of General Genetics S.G. Inge-Vechtomov:"On behalf of Zh.I. Alferov, I greet you on behalf of the St. Petersburg Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, as well as on behalf of the Council for Genetics and Breeding of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Department of Genetics and Biotechnology of St. and as a teacher, disseminator of knowledge in the field of genetics, ecology, radiobiology. Once I came to Obninsk, asked Nikolai Vladimirovich. “But he is not. - And where he? - Gives lectures on ecology in a sponsored collective farm ... ". While working in Germany, he paid much attention to the gene problem, published his famous" Green Notebook. "He presented the problems of biology so simply that they were available to physicists. E. Schrödinger is impressed that at first he lectured on its basis, and later wrote his well-known book “What is life from the point of view of physics.” The significance of this conference is completely determined by the scale of Timofeev-Resovsky's personality, about which one can endlessly. He stood at the origins of our genetics, and then its revival after the Lysenko period, but the truth is not born by a majority of votes.

When Watson, Crick, and Wilkins received the Nobel Prize for the structure of DNA, they actually showed what immortality is. Immortality without any mysticism. This is the rational basis for immortality, since DNA is genes that are reproduced from generation to generation. Hence, it turns out that immortality is a collective concept, although death is an individual concept. "

I was lucky to see and hear Nikolai Vladimirovich, - said the chairman of the Vavilov Society of Geneticists and Breeders of Russia N.A. Tikhonovich.- I studied at the Department of Genetics and listened to his lectures. He was a wonderful lecturer, but also a tough opponent - then there were heated discussions about the varieties of the population. In his lectures on genetics, he wrote: "The devil's abyss of all factors, and no one knows which one to study." Since then, science has moved forward. In a sense, Nikolai Vladimirovich can be pleased that we are developing his teaching and that there is a movement forward. I am confident that the next generations will treat the legacy of Timofeev-Resovsky with the same respect, but also critically.

Timofeev-Resovsky's contribution to evolution is that he discovered: at a certain stage, ionizing radiation accelerates evolution, - noted M. Roseman(Germany). - It was a model of neutral, natural evolution and mutation. This trend continues Mendelism. We increasingly recognize that there is inheritance from one generation to the next, based not on mutations, but on epigenetic changes. And these mechanisms are very important for the quick response of the organism itself to those changes that occur in the environment.

The acquaintance of our family with the Timofeev-Resovskys has been going on since 1915, - the art critic began her memoirs M.A. Reformatskaya(Moscow). - My father and Nikolai Vladimirovich ended up at the same desk at the Flerov gymnasium in Moscow. They made friends, appreciated each other's vitality and ability to get carried away in completely different areas. A craving for science, a sense of purpose in character, despite the violent manifestations of youth, all the time were indicated in their lives. Nikolai Vladimirovich left a mark on himself even when he left for Germany in 1925. Probably, if not every day, then every week, some stories related to it were recalled. And so in 1954 we received a letter with the stamp of a secret institution, "mailbox". Opening it, my father saw the familiar sweeping handwriting in the postscript to the main letter written by Timofeev-Ressovsky's wife. The fact is that by this time Nikolai Vladimirovich, after being arrested in 1945, passed through the Karaganda camp, which very few people could withstand. His powerful body and sense of humor helped him survive, but he lost his sight. "They are alive, but they cannot come to us," the father said. They received permission to come to Moscow when the "mailbox" in the Urals was closed, the laboratory was transferred to Sverdlovsk and a wonderful auxiliary laboratory was obtained in Miassovo in the Ilmensky Reserve. After the work was established in these laboratories, the Timofeevs gathered in Moscow. They were met on the platform by their former high school friends, the meeting was absolutely wonderful, and its spirit, it seems to me, was very well conveyed in the novel "Bison" by Daniil Alexandrovich Granin.

German colleagues became interested in the history of Timofeev-Ressovsky and his family, his archives related to life in Germany. Sociologist and Scientist Rose-Louise Winkler: In the mid-1970s, our Science Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the German Democratic Republic conducted research at our institutes, including the Central Institute of Molecular Biology and Medicine. In it, the sector of biophysical research was headed by Professor H. Abel. This is how I got to know Timofeev-Resovsky's laboratory, but, unfortunately, not with him personally. When we were doing this research, we did not even suspect that he was still alive, that he lived not far from Moscow, and that we could come to him. Already in 2000, when the 100th anniversary of Timofeev-Resovsky was celebrated in Berlin-Buch, Professor Abel asked me to study the fate of this family. I met my youngest son Andrei, with the people who surrounded Nikolai Vladimirovich, I realized that I needed to work thoroughly with the documents.

Graduate student Eliza Schmitt(Berlin Natural History Museum) deals with the history of science and specializes in the history of the modern theory of evolution: Before I started to deal with these issues, I thought that the modern development of biology took place in the USA and Great Britain. And while doing my research, I learned that Timofeev-Ressovsky in Germany developed this direction for a very long time. Arriving in Berlin in 1925, he immediately organized a seminar on genetics, in which he involved not only Russians, but also German specialists. It seemed to me especially interesting that he brought together specialists from different fields of science in one seminar in order to understand what evolution is. The more I study various documents, diaries, letters, the more I am surprised at how broad the scientific interests of Timofeev-Resovsky were and at what high level he worked in all directions. This is rather rare today. I was particularly surprised that this seminar on genetics, which was held quite regularly, published the results that were obtained in the United States many years later. And then everything was interrupted by the war, and much was forgotten.

M.Roseman: It is interesting that Timofeev-Resovsky was invited by Professor O. Vogt, who knew that the Russian scientific school of genetics was the most advanced at that time. This was an example of the most successful brain drain to Germany, since this research was conducted at the worst level in our country.

R.-L. Winkler, S. G. Inge-Vechtomov, M. Rosemann.

M.A. Reformatskaya: It seems to me that this brain drain did a lot to save the scientific tradition, to save Nikolai Vladimirovich himself, who during the 1910-1930s was an ideal candidate for a landing.

M.Roseman worked in the commission for the rehabilitation of Timofeev-Resovsky. Rehabilitation was required because back in the 1980s, the USSR Prosecutor General's Office sent a request to Germany: "What experiments did Timofeev-Resovsky do all these 20 years, and especially during 12 years under the Nazis?" M. Roseman worked in the archive with the reports of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society, checked all the publications - Timofeev-Ressovsky did not conduct any experiments to test the racial theory of the Nazis.

Specialists from Russia and Germany, fascinated by the fate of Timofeev-Resovsky.

"He was cramped in the audience ..."

I. E. Vorobtsova(Russian Scientific Center for Radiology and Surgical Technologies of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation): We switched to research in the field of oncological genetics for the early diagnosis of various tumors, in particular, bladder and prostate cancer. And before that, 25 years were devoted to radiobiological research. They began a very long time ago and when absolutely no one believed that the offspring of irradiated animals, having only half of the genome as irradiated, could have some kind of disturbance. It always boiled down to the fact that these are congenital malformations of development, early intrauterine death, in humans - stillbirth. It was believed that everything that was phenotypically normal was normal and in general. For the first time, we began to engage in the fact that, with the help of various loads on this offspring, we forced to manifest its physiological status - whether it is good or bad. Of course, these were the methods of the past and the century before last: we made these mice starve, run, swim, irradiate them, and so on. Therefore, it was quite difficult at that time - just the beginning of the heyday of molecular genetics.

It all started when Russell showed that there is a linear dependence on the dose of the release of recessive mutations. After graduating from the Department of Genetics at Leningrad State University and having come to graduate school at the Central Research X-ray and Radiological Institute of the USSR Ministry of Health, I began to work in the laboratory of distant radiation pathology. There at that time received a linear dose dependence of the yields of leukemia in mice. They say to me: "You see, it means that leukemias are caused by point mutations. - This cannot be, because point mutations do not appear in a heterozygous state," I said, trained at the Department of Genetics. "Let's check it out!" So I started with a desire to refute this statement. And when I presented at the department my first data on Drosophila: the offspring of irradiated males are inferior - they have a lower life expectancy, they tolerate stress worse, and so on, - Mikhail Efimovich Lobashov, who headed the department, criticized me very much. But fortunately, Nikolai Vladimirovich was at this lecture. He said: "Misha! Not everything that seems to us is BSK (bullshit is an abbreviation for Timofeev-Resovsky). Let the girl work!" It made an impression on me and somehow inspired me, because, in general, no one believed in it, and it was difficult to publish. But data on fruit flies, mice, and rats gradually accumulated, and I have already devoted my doctoral dissertation to the physiological inferiority of the offspring of irradiated animals. Vladimir Ivanovich Korogodin sent a very good review of the abstract, other genetics also supported, VA Shevchenko was my opponent.

And now, when all this begins to repeat itself at a different methodological level, no one even refers to what we did 40 years ago. It is not for nothing that they say that every idea goes through three stages: first, this cannot be! Then - there is something in this. And finally, how could it be otherwise? Now is the third stage. Nevertheless, when Chernobyl burst out, these data were in great demand. They were obtained in the 1960s-1980s, and after Chernobyl it became clear that many people were irradiated, the effect can be massive. I myself worked in Chernobyl in 1987, however, we examined only the liquidators, later we began to examine the descendants of the irradiated liquidators.

In my report at the conference, I said that, firstly, the data obtained on animals were confirmed, and secondly, we made great progress with biodosimetry: it turned out that in vitro calibration curves used for dose reconstruction underestimate them. Thirdly, we have a rather original approach to the study of the bystander effect, because in the West they use microbeams - this is an expensive equipment, with which it is necessary to irradiate one cell, and watch the effect in neighboring ones. We proposed a simple model - this is the joint cultivation of male and female cells, and the preparations show where the chromosomal aberrations are in the irradiated cell or in neighboring cells. It was possible to show, according to two criteria - the adaptive response and the level of chromosomal aberrations - that this effect really exists. But now we have almost stopped this research, because there is not enough funding, everyone is making money, and we have begun to engage in the diagnosis of cancer. There is also something to work on, but even with self-supporting activities it is very difficult with reagents, equipment, so that you can do fundamental things. But young people now also want to do this more than cytogenetics, cell genetics. My conviction: at the current stage we have made great progress in terms of methodology, but in terms of conceptualism, not very much, because, in principle, we need to move on to understanding what all these molecular changes in cells mean for the biology of a cell, tissue, organism in in the end.

Do you remember any other moments of communication with Nikolai Vladimirovich?

These were the 1950s when genetics was coming out of the underground. Mikhail Efimovich Lobashov invited all the leading figures to give lectures, we listened to Timofeev-Resovsky, Prokofiev-Belgovskaya, Rapoport, even Möller, who was visiting Moscow at that time. Timofeev made an extraordinary impression: a man of the planet, he felt cramped in our small classrooms, he walked from wall to wall, deduced formulas on the fly. He felt the deepest knowledge, as they say, about everything. We, of course, sat with our mouths open. We also listened to Prokofiev-Belgovskaya, an absolutely charming woman, beautiful until the very last days of her life. In this regard, Lobashov was a great fellow, because he introduced students to all these wonderful people, whom it would have been impossible to see or hear later. Many of the previous generation went to Timofeev in the Urals in Miassovo.

Carmel Mathersil(McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada): Different people are exposed to low doses of radiation, but the biological response is different for everyone. Previously, they were primarily concerned with the effects of large doses associated with atomic explosions, and then these data were extrapolated to small doses. What are we doing? We show that the mechanisms that work in the human body when exposed to high doses do not work at low doses. And what signals are sent by cells irradiated with low doses, for example, fish to their unirradiated counterparts, is very important. And we are studying these mechanisms, signaling what is happening to the cell. If we understand how they work, then we can somehow interfere with the biological response mechanism, and this is important for protection from radiation, in order to make an assessment of radiation risks. And if we understand the mechanisms of the biological response, then we will be able to use this knowledge for radiation therapy of oncological diseases - to build treatment much more efficiently.

Does Canada know about the works of Timofeev-Resovsky?

Yes, he is very famous, because his "Green Notebook" became practically the first book on radiobiology. She linked the mutation to radiation and carcinogenic effects. Experts know him very well.

Yu.E. Dubrova(University of Leicester, UK): Radiation, like chemical mutagens, causes mutations. Both factors cause DNA damage. Irradiated or exposed to a mutagen, a cell first of all stops in its division - under no circumstances should it allow DNA carrying damage to get into replication, because then a cascade of errors will begin. We know at what level, but we do not fully understand how the cell makes the following decision: I have enough resources to repair (restore) all damage, - and it goes along the path of repair, or it decides that there are not enough resources for repair, and then she commits the noble act of suicide. The vast majority of DNA lesions are repaired, and only a small percentage of lesions are poorly repaired or not repaired at all. Further, the cell requires at least one cell division for the damage to turn into mutations. Mutations are improperly repaired or unrepaired lesions that have passed into replication. This is the basis of mutagenesis.

The problem is this. We more or less decently imagine what is happening in somatic cells. If there is a group of people who have received a dose, I take their blood and look at the amount of damage in the lymphocytes. Since cancer is a disease of accumulation of mutations, then people who have received a non-lethal dose are likely to develop radiation-induced oncology. Examples of this are dark - the beginning was laid by research in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But there is a second side of the coin - sex cells. We have no reason to believe that they are any special. If mutations arise there and are passed on to descendants, then anything can be. And here a very tricky paradox arises. In the late 1920s, Möller in the United States first discovered that exposure to X-rays leads to a significant increase in the frequency of mutations in offspring, for which he received the Nobel Prize. Methods for evaluating this in mice emerged in the late 1950s.

An interesting thing happens with a person. The Americans were the first to look at how much hereditary pathology is observed in the descendants of people who survived the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Similar work was later carried out among children of patients who received radiotherapy in childhood. Both studies have shown the absence of any significant shifts in the incidence of hereditary pathology among the offspring of irradiated parents. On the one hand, we can say that radiation has no effect on the occurrence of mutations in germ cells. But the fact is that if we look at the entire volume of hereditary pathology in humans (stillbirth and severe malformations), then the contribution of new mutations is only 5 percent, and the remaining 95 are environmental influences and long-standing mutations. The problem is that, based on the frequency of occurrence of pathologies, we cannot estimate the frequency of occurrence of mutations in germ cells. We need to look for new methods. Over the past twenty years, there have been repeated attempts to invent something new. Now a completely unique situation has developed: we are living in a post-genomic era that has come after the decoding of the human genome. The work on decoding the genome gave not only a colossal amount of information, but also a powerful impetus in the development of technology. And we have now got our hands on several methods, using which we can evaluate everything that happens in the entire genome. First of all, this is parallel sequencing, or the determination of the sequence of the entire genome in one pass. This is what we tried to do for the first time on the germ cells of mice and showed that a substantial dose of paternal radiation leads to an almost eightfold increase in the yield of mutations found in offspring. Moreover, very large DNA rearrangements predominate among them, that is, we are talking about millions of base pairs.

If this is extrapolated to a person, then an interesting thing arises. Among children with severe developmental defects and hereditary mental retardation, you will find very many carriers of such large genetic breakdowns. According to our preliminary data, if you want to assess the clinical consequences of radiation exposure, then look at how many mentally retarded children are among the offspring of irradiated parents. Nobody did it. To summarize, we first tried to use methods for assessing the induction of mutations at the level of the entire genome. According to our data, the methods are working. A simple conclusion: it is now possible to take DNA samples from non-irradiated and irradiated parents, if available, to compare and obtain results that, in the end, will show whether mutations are induced in the germ cells of irradiated parents. And if so, how many of them arise - two mutations per Gray or fifty? This is the next question.

Hanford - Ozersk - Chernobyl - Fukushima

Yuchi Ondo(Research Center for Isotope Dynamics and the Environment, Fukushima, Japan): Assessing the level of reports by young scientists, we can say that these scientific areas have good prospects. These are quite active young people who speak good English. This conference is attended by a large group of scientists from Japan, but most of them are not involved in radioecology. This does not mean that this topic is not important in Japan, on the contrary, these studies are very relevant. In connection with Fukushima, it is very important, and, most likely, in the future it will become the main one, will remain at the peak of interest.

V.N. Golosov(Moscow State University): I would like to clarify. Radioecology has two sides: the study of the mechanism of the transfer of solid particles, which is what Yuchi and I are doing, and how this transfer affects biological components. Initially, we were not even radioecologists, but fluvial geomorphologists (my interlocutors study water flows and sediments in the river system - O.T.). Before Fukushima, in his case, and Chernobyl in mine, we used radionuclides as tracers to assess the processes under study. We did not consider ourselves radioecologists, but after the well-known events we found ourselves involved in this activity for the simple reason that the main lateral transport of those radionuclides is associated with water and with sediments carried by this water. Our knowledge of the movement of these particles has proven to be very important for the understanding of all processes. Today, in the discussion, the question arose: what is taken out into the Black Sea, as a result of which changes occur in the biota? In principle, this is a matter of lateral migration, but in fact, of fluvial geomorphology. An amazing thing, before Fukushima, Yuchi did not deal with radioecology, and after that he headed all monitoring in Fukushima.

Is it possible, in that case, to find out the latest data on the situation around Fukushima?

Yuchi Ondo: The situation is such that some local events, for example, the last release of radioactive water, do not affect the general situation, we are talking only about the zone adjacent to the station, which is contaminated for a long time, and nothing can be done about it. As for the situation as a whole, since this is a mountainous territory, in contrast to Chernobyl, the processes there are faster. Organized monitoring, on the one hand, gave an idea of ​​how quickly the sediments move and other processes occur, but it remains the main topic, because you need to understand what changes will be in the future. In general, the situation is similar to the Chernobyl one, but monitoring must be continued in order to have a complete picture, especially in Japan the situation is more unstable both in terms of precipitation and other factors, and some extreme events can seriously affect the entire system. The typhoon in 2011, after the accident, was very powerful, with a lot of precipitation, but could potentially be even stronger.

V.N. Golosov: I will add on my own, but I regularly work at the same institute in Fukushima on issues related to the movement of radionuclides from the zone, and it is already clear that most fish, with the exception of the station zone, do not receive such a dose that would prevent their use. So far, the situation is generally positive.

The report "Plutopia: the great Soviet and American plutonium disasters" was made by Kate Brown(University of Maryland, Baltimore, USA):

I investigated the radiation emissions at Hanford and at the Mayak plant in Ozersk. Why don't people know about Hanford in the USA, while in Russia they don't know much about Mayak? Of course, these were closed military installations. When I became interested in this story, I found out that radioactive contamination in these places was made on purpose to check their impact on the environment. At Hanford in 1959, up to 9,000 Ci of radioactive waste was dumped into the Columbia River every day. What for? To create nuclear weapons quickly and cheaply. But the people who worked and lived there, and their children grew up there, remained completely unaware of the danger they were exposed to.

Why did I call the talk "Plutopia"? Good places were created, almost a utopian paradise: in Hanford, separate houses were built for each family, free education and medical care were provided, and all this in the far from wealthy west of the United States. They lived in a closed territorial entity, which Beria later reproduced in the USSR, lived very well, considered themselves to be the chosen people. And in Ozersk, they also built houses and dachas for employees, Stalin told Kurchatov in 1949 that these people need to be provided for everyone. Ozersk had its own theater, orchestra, even a yacht club. And there and there lived only parents with children without grandparents and other relatives. This means that they had to be provided with nurseries, kindergartens, and various household services. I read in archival documents in both places that some of the funds allocated for the creation of special containers for contaminated waste were transferred to the needs of the city. How many years have passed since these disasters, and there is still very little information, and it seems to me that they are trying not to think about or forget about these dangers. Even after Fukushima - and this is very bad.

Did you work directly in the archives of Ozersk?

In the Chelyabinsk archive, in Ozersk, I am not allowed. There are good archives in Chelyabinsk - the regional, city archives of Ozersk and the Ozersk city committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. And from the materials it is clear that these topics have been repeatedly discussed. And the production archives are in Ozersk, I have not seen them. There are two historians, both from Ozersk - Tolstikov and Novoselov, they published their books in the mid-1990s. From them I learned a lot about the documents they found in the archives.

How did you get started on this topic at all?

I am a historian, I studied the Soviet period. My first book is about Ukraine in the 1930-1940s, and it mentions the territories on which the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was later built. And when, some time after the accident, tourism began to the exclusion zone, I arrived there. I wanted to see the same villages, but after the disaster. I wrote an article about the trip, and the editor told me: you can write a book about Chernobyl, but there is such a plant "Mayak", which was more polluted than Chernobyl. And if I wrote only about "Mayak", then English-speaking readers would think: oh, these Russians: first "Mayak", then Chernobyl - always something happens to them, but everything is fine with us. But I already knew about Hanford.

Will you continue this research?

Now I have an idea to write a study on the Pripyat bogs. These are the largest swamps in Europe now. During the First World War, tanks could not pass there; during the Second World War, a lot of people died. There is a lot of water, few people - and it was necessary to build a nuclear reactor there? And there was a project to create 10 reactors there, a reactor-park! I want to drive around the swamps and understand how people there were able to endure and survive, how they learned the art of survival on our planet, which is already almost destroyed in the ecological sense. I try to write stories that give hope, not just upset people.

S.A. Geraskin(Institute of Radiology and Agriculture, Obninsk): The St. Petersburg conference brought together very interesting lecturers, a very wide geography. It must be said that it was especially difficult for the organizers to draw up the program of the radioecology section, because a lot of extremely interesting theses were submitted. If we look at the final program, the representation is very wide: the President of the International Union of Radioecology François Bresignac, the representatives of the United States K. Brown and T. Mossé, Japan - T. Imanaka, Italy - Arigo Signa, Armenia - Ruben Harutyunyan. Russia is also represented quite widely. Here is Moscow - Academician A.V. Yablokov, Tomsk - L.P. Rikhvanov, Yura Kutlakhmedov came from Ukraine - now this is a rare case, unfortunately. Ukrainian Dima Gudkov, a good radioecologist, was supposed to participate and lead one of the sections, but, unfortunately, he could not come. Tatiana Maistrenko from Komi made a very interesting report, Zhenya Pryakhin from Chelyabinsk, Lena Antonova from Yekaterinburg. S.B. Gulin (Institute of the Southern Seas) from Sevastopol represented a scientific school with great traditions, which was once headed by Academician Polikarpov. The color of world and Russian radioecology was collected, so the organizers' idea was a success. All high-level reports, not always biased, provoked wide discussions. And it is very good when different opinions collide, so the truth, in general, is obtained.

I think this conference was a success. This is not the first conference in the series, and here we must thank Victoria Korogodina. I know how much time, nerves and energy she spends on organizing such conferences, and I bow to her for that. Thanks to her efforts, we have the opportunity to get together and discuss our pressing problems. I must say that this is one of the few conferences that gathers a very strong composition of participants, it is nice to discuss different things with professionals here. I have a lot of experience, I often go to conferences and, from my point of view, the composition that was assembled here is stronger than in Kyoto at the world congress of radiation research.

Microevolution on the go

To recall Timofeev-Ressovsky, I asked the academician I.A. Tikhonovich(All-Russian Research Institute of Agricultural Microbiology, St. Petersburg, in the picture on the right):

Who was he and who was I? I am a student and he is a lump. It was very interesting to talk with him, because he had his own point of view on everything. For example, if you sit with him at a banquet, then he could talk about the merits of the cuisines of Moscow and St. Petersburg, that pies in Moscow have always been better ... He was, on the one hand, a very friendly person, and on the other - very tough. When he started a discussion, and if something didn’t suit him, then he didn’t spare the opponent very much, didn’t look for academic expressions. We had discussions at the Department of Genetics, at that time they tried to find, catch, explain microevolution, including those who deal with varieties. The variety must be leveled, all sorts of microevolutionary processes in it only interfere. And many of our researchers wanted to show that these processes are also going on in the "cross-hairs". Which is true: they really go there, and the variety needs to be stabilized. And Timofeev-Resovsky did not deny it, he always demanded clarity in definitions. He was always angry when they gave some incomprehensible definitions, and said: "You can't define a table in this way - a table is such a chair and so on."

He had wonderful lectures, he spoke very simply about very difficult things - the person listened to him and lit up, understood what to do. And then, the romantic flair that surrounded this person - he worked in Germany, communicated with luminaries, created people himself ... One of those who are related to the discovery of the structure of DNA. While working in Berlin-Buch, he retained a Soviet passport, rescued the necessary specialists from the concentration camp. His son, who participated in the Resistance, died in the dungeons of the Gestapo. He returned here - he ended up in places not so distant, thank God, Zavenyagin saved him ... So he had a veil of romance on him. It would be necessary to devote a separate lecture to him here ...

... A memorial round table will be held on the last day.

Well, probably, this somehow compensates for everything, because we know something about him, and young people need to be told. This is a good example, especially now, when we rush from one extreme to another - we must invite everyone from the West here and organize life here in a new way, then we are blocking all bridges.

And how, in your opinion, are the main directions proposed by Timofeev-Resovsky developing now?

For example, what is microevolution? It would seem a very simple thing. Timofeev-Ressovsky considered ladybirds. In the fall there were, for example, 90 reds, 10 blacks, in the spring - 50 to 50. This change occurred due to the fact that someone was selectively killed. Interesting? Yeah interesting. But these were some academic questions and, as it were, the aftereffect of evolution. Yes ... But now it is clear, especially in microbial populations, in the interaction of microbes and plants: in order to get into a plant, microbes need to go through some stages of the microevolutionary process, they must change their genotype. And the fact that plants are able to interact with microbes feeds us - they save nitrogen, save chemistry, and allow us to organize what is now called organic farming. It turns out that this interaction is based on microevolutionary processes. What is our stomach? This is a field for germs. As soon as we took the antibiotic, we laid down all the microflora. Then it randomly arises, but under the influence of our genes it stabilizes and becomes the same. This is microevolution, as they say, on the go. Therefore, from the purely contemplative - think of counting ladybirds - we moved on to things that determine our ability to survive, eat, and so on.

The teacher of biology of school №30 also took part in the conference E.A. Mikhailova(Chelyabinsk): Recently, Timofeev-Resovsky's laboratory "B" was declassified. Now we, ordinary people, can go there and see. The laboratory has survived, the park has also survived, and I have an idea, if I have enough strength, to restore this park in the form it was in the time of Nikolai Vladimirovich - with flower beds and greenhouses. His dacha was also well preserved, and we had an idea to organize a Timofeev-Ressovsky museum there, but so far the site remains closed. When I called to Snezhinsk and said that we were already carrying tourists, they answered me: in fact, no one gave you permission. Nevertheless, some restrictions have been lifted, and we can show the dachas of foreign specialists who worked with Timofeev-Resovsky. I would like to master Bolshoye Miassovo, a house and a laboratory have been preserved there, but it is part of the Ilmensky Reserve - this is also a problem.

R.M. Harutyunyan(Yerevan State University, Armenia): These conferences continue the work begun in the 1980s - in 1983, two years after the death of Timofeev-Ressovsky, a conference in his memory was held in Armenia for the first time. Then memorable readings were held in Armenia, and ten years ago - the next conference dedicated to Timofeev-Ressovsky. And now, together with him, we honor Vladimir Ivanovich Korogodin and Vladimir Andreevich Shevchenko. I myself studied with Academician Bochkov, and he is a student of Timofeev-Resovsky, worked with him in Obninsk. That is why participation in this conference is so dear to me. We in Armenia are developing ecological, toxicological, radiation genetics, and therefore here I received a huge positive charge and new contacts.

I was often invited to Dubna to conduct seminars at JINR on the problems of mutagenesis and antimutagenesis. We were very friendly with JINR Director Academician Alexei Sissakian. One of the audiences of YSU Biological Faculty is named after his father, the famous biochemist and organizer of science Norayr Sissakian. One of the greatest scientists of our time, Academician Yuri Oganesyan, works in Dubna, who led the discovery of new elements of the periodic table. The last time we were in Dubna with Anna Boyadzhyan, director of the Institute of Molecular Biology, at the conference "Actual problems of general and space radiobiology and astrobiology", in memory of N.M.Sissakian and A.N.Sissakian. The pioneering work of the JINR LRB on modeling the cosmic origin of life was presented at this conference. Radiobiologists used the unique capabilities of Dubna accelerators to produce heavy ions, which bombarded the reaction mixture. This is a shining example of the use of nuclear research in biology.

Final slide of the report M. S. Gelfand(Institute for Information Transmission Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences) contained a list of good deeds of the Dynasty Foundation of D.B. Zimin, on the eve of the Ministry of Justice declared a "foreign agent", and public organizations that supported the foundation. Chairman of the meeting academician S.G. Inge-Vechtomov remarked: "The Dynasty Foundation is a good and useful thing in relation to us. I propose to send DB Zimin a telegram of support with the following content:" Dear Dmitry Borisovich! Thank you for the financial support for the participation of Professor M. Lynch (USA), who was invited to give lectures on evolutionary genetics in Moscow and St. Petersburg and to participate in our conference. "The conference participants supported this proposal.

"... With soul and without bestial seriousness"

The final day of the conference began with an award ceremony. The Timofeev-Resovsky Medal "Biosphere and Humanity" was awarded to the conference participant, President of the International Union of Radioecology Francois Brechignac (France), who, in particular, said: "I am very proud of this award. Russia has a long tradition of scientific research. The basic principles of ecology were laid by VI Vernadsky, genetics and radiobiology - NV Timofeev-Resovsky ". Professor H. Abel (Germany) was awarded the same medal for his contribution to the study of the biography of Timofeev-Resovsky and the propaganda of his achievements. Then the winners of the competition for young scientists in memory of V.I.Korogodin and V.A. Shevchenko were awarded. The V. I. Korogodin Phenomenon of Life medal was awarded to A. A. Nizhnikov (St. Petersburg), A. G. Lada (St. Petersburg - USA), I. V. Kulakovsky (Moscow), K. P. Afanasyeva (Dubna). The V.A.Shevchenko medal "For success in radiation genetics" was awarded to A.V. Korsakov (Bryansk), M.V. Modorova (Yekaterinburg). Diplomas of the Vavilov Society of Geneticists and Breeders, the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Timofeev-Resovsky Society were also awarded.

The conference ended with a round table "NV Timofeev-Resovsky: Science without Borders". It was opened by an academician A. V. Yablokov:“This happens with all major scientists - the more time passes, the clearer, brighter we see what they have brought into our lives. Timofeev-Resovsky attracted an incredible number of people. This phenomenon can be explained quite simply: unlike most scientists, Timofeev-Ressovsky was open to everyone. He was less interested in writing a scientific work than speaking, chatting, encouraging, screaming. Young people were very attracted to him, because everyone found something - something interesting for himself. ”Yes, he could irritate, guide the bumps, but at the same time he distributed fruitful ideas to the right and to the left.

A few words about his great achievements in those areas that are close to me. In the field of general genetics, he introduced the concepts of expressiveness and penetrance, the principle of hitting and target theory, in evolutionary theory - the doctrine of microevolution, in the general theory of biology, I would single out four main levels of functioning and organization of living things. A month before his death, we spoke at a hospital in Obninsk. Suddenly he said: "Probably the most important thing that I have done in science is the principle of the amplifier." And in fact, what he formulated in relation to mutations, when an insignificant mutation leads to great consequences, he applied not only to genetics. He was a wonderful methodologist, his approaches to scientific research are applicable everywhere. The first is to distinguish the essential from the non-essential. In endless conversations it sounded differently, for example, there is no need to study the fortieth leg in a centipede. Second: the world is not jelly (in the sense - discrete). Hence the need to establish a hierarchy of events, factors, allowing you to define elementary phenomena. The third I do not find scientific equivalents, but Nikolai Vladimirovich repeated it thousands of times: you should never do what the Germans can do better than you. "

G. Erzgreber(Germany) recalled the meetings with Timofeev-Resovsky in the 1960s in Obninsk: "It was interesting to talk with him about everything - science, art, philosophy. His laboratory was a special place in Russia." G. Ertsgreber also worked at JINR - together with Timofeev's student V. I. Korogodin in the sector of radiobiological research.

The "unscientific" part of Nikolai Vladimirovich's life was presented by an art critic M.A. Reformatskaya(Moscow State University). "He made an explosive impression. In him was very strongly expressed the type of person who began to form from the times of Peter the Great: inquisitiveness, perseverance, recklessness, the habit of speaking in the Peter's manner, using words from the Peter's vocabulary, he could sometimes sharply scold opponents. He appreciated not only ancestral genealogy, but also scientific.He knew how to communicate with people of completely different levels - with Niels Bohr, colleagues at work, schoolchildren and even guardians ...

Koltsov is very close to it and was very worried about him, knowing the explosive nature of Nikolai Vladimirovich, therefore, probably, he organized this business trip to Germany ...

Timofeev-Ressovsky liked how AI Solzhenitsyn portrayed him in the novel "The Gulag Archipelago", including in the chapter dedicated to him, which describes a circle of scientists in cell No. 75 of the Butyrka prison ...

He experienced great difficulties with his scientific work and with a dissertation, which he could not defend the first time. As he jokingly said: "If there weren't for a small October coup - Khrushchev's displacement, which weakened Lysenko's position, this dissertation would still be gathering dust in the Higher Attestation Commission."

About the life and death of the eldest son of the Timofeyev-Resovskys Dmitry and meetings with the younger - Andrey told R. Winkler(Germany). Another participant of the round table, scientific secretary of the society "Biosphere and Humanity" N.G. Gorbushina(Medical Radiological Research Center, Obninsk) presented AV Yablokov: "We are all very grateful to him, his role in the last years of Nikolai Vladimirovich's life is very important. And it is thanks to Nikolai Grigorievich that the NV Timofeev-Resovsky Society is maintained." He presented the project of the monument to the scientist, which is planned to be created in Obninsk. I recalled how Timofeeva, after another collision of life, invited OG Gazenko to work at the Institute of Medical and Biological Problems, to which Nikolai Vladimirovich replied: "You cannot fly into space from a good life!" And Timofeev-Resovsky also liked to repeat: "Science must be done with a soul and without bestial seriousness."

Concluding the round table and the conference, A.V. Yablokov expressed deep gratitude to Victoria Lvovna Korogodina and everyone who helped her for the titanic work in organizing the conference. "I would like to devote the next conference to how the ideas thrown by Timofeev-Ressovsky in passing or seriously discussed developed."

Instead of a postscript

Every morning we went up to the conference room along a wide staircase under the stern gaze of Emperor Peter the Great, who met everyone from the mosaic picture of Lomonosov, beating the Swedes near Poltava, during breaks I talked with the conference participants, sitting on ancient sofas under portraits of reigning persons and the first academicians, it seemed , the spirit of history and the academic atmosphere have reigned here for two centuries. After all, the St. Petersburg Scientific Center, which hospitably received this conference, is housed in a building specially built for the St. Petersburg Academy in the 1820s by the architect G. Quarenghi, and the building has been preserved in its original form. Until 1936, it housed the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences. In tsarist Russia, the presidents of the Academy of Sciences were appointed by the emperor. The last president was Grand Duke K.K. Romanov, who died in 1915. In 1918, the first presidential elections of the Academy of Sciences were held; geologist A.P. Karpinsky became him. Under him, the administration of the Academy began to move from Leningrad to Moscow. When everyone had already moved, Karpinsky alone remained in Leningrad, dragging on the move. Stalin asked if the academician had any special wishes about where to live in Moscow? Karpinsky replied: he doesn't care where to live, he just would like the windows of his apartment to face the Neva.

After 1991, the St. Petersburg Scientific Center was opened in this building, headed by Academician Zh.I. Alferov. The center has united more than 40 St. Petersburg academic institutes. The story continues.

Olga TARANTINA, St. Petersburg - Dubna, photo by the author.
Translated by Svetlana Chubakova and Valentin Golosov.