Table Of Contents

Science | Technology | Music | Ballet | Philosophy | Literature | Cinema/TV | Sport | Art

SCIENCE   Georgy Gamov "GEORGY ANTONOVICH GAMOV (b. March 4, 1904, Odessa, Russia [now in Ukraine]--d. Aug. 19, 1968, Boulder, Colo., U.S.), Russian-born American nuclear physicist and cosmologist who was one of the foremost advocates of the big-bang theory, according to which the universe was formed in a colossal explosion, billions of years ago. In addition, his work on deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) made a basic contribution to modern genetic theory. Gamov attended Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) University, where he studied briefly with A.A. Friedmann, a mathematician and cosmologist who suggested that the universe should be expanding. At that time Gamov did not pursue Friedmann's suggestion, preferring instead to delve into quantum theory. After graduating in 1928, he traveled to Göttingen, where he developed his quantum theory of radioactivity, the first successful explanation of the behaviour of radioactive elements; some of which decay in seconds while others decay over thousands of years. His achievement earned him a fellowship at the Copenhagen Institute of Theoretical Physics (1928-29), where he continued his investigations in theoretical nuclear physics. There he proposed his "liquid drop" model of atomic nuclei, which served as the basis for the modern theories of nuclear fission and fusion. He also collaborated with F. Houtermans and R. Atkinson in developing a theory of the rates of thermonuclear reactions inside stars."

Roald Sagdeev University of Maryland, College Park "Sagdeev has made fundamental contributions to a broad range of fields ranging from plasma physics to planetary science, astrophysics, and arms control. He is responsible for the Soviet space missions to Venus and Comet Halley and is a strong promoter of international cooperation in space research." East West Space Science Center

Abrikosov, Alexei A.   Argonne National Laboratory "Abrikosov proposed the type-II superconductors concept and the lattice describing their magnetic behavior. He predicted gapless superconductivity. His semimetals theory explains lattice and electronic features, infrared transparency, and excitonic phase transitions. He invented finite temperature field-theoretical methods and contributed substantially to plasma kinetics, compressed matter, quantum fluids, spin glasses, and semiconductors."

Aharonov, Yakir University of South Carolina "Aharonov is known for monumental contributions to theoretical physics: specifically, for the Aharonov-Bohm and Aharonov-Casher effects, for pioneering work in measurement theory, the nature of quantum correlations, superselection rules, and geometric phases, and for his deep insights into the covariant description of quantum mechanics."

Otto Struve   Biography

Vladimir Nikolayevich Ipatieff (1867-1952) "Chemist, born in Moscow. An officer in the Russian army, he was professor of chemistry at the Artillery Academy in St Petersburg (1898--1906). He synthesized isoprene, the basic unit of natural rubber, and made contributions to the catalytic chemistry of unsaturated carbons, of great value to the petrochemical industry. During World War 1 he directed Russia's chemical industry. He emigrated to the USA in 1930, and became professor at Northwestern University (1931--5), where he developed a process for making high-octane petrol."

TECHNOLOGY Igor Sikorsky "The success in the field of rotary-wing aviation was due almost entirely to a man living in America named Igor Sikorsky. Sikorsky was a Russian who had fled from the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 to France (Sadler 2). After years of private development, he encouraged the United States Government to agree to a considerable budget of two million dollars for rotary-wing research in 1938 (Sadler 2). The government ended up choosing a joint Sikorsky-Vought effort to be funded, and the project evolved into the VS-300 model helicopter. It formed the most tangible link between the early design concept of rotary-wing aviation and the practical aircraft that is capable of military operation (Sadler 2). The machine was indeed quite different from earlier models. It was an incredible advancement in helicopters, but others soon followed."   One of Sikorsky's earlier models. Courtesy of "History of Helicopters".   Helicopters

Vladimir Zworykin "Zworykin, Vladimir Kosma (1889-1982), American physicist and electronic engineer, known for his developmental work in television. Zworykin was born in Murom, Russia, and educated at the Institute of Technology in Saint Petersburg, the Collège de France, and, after his immigration to the United States in 1919, at the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He became an American citizen in 1924. In 1929 he became director of the Electronic Research Laboratory of the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) at Princeton, New Jersey. Important contributions were made by Zworykin to both the transmission and the reception of television. He was largely responsible for the development, during the 1920s and '30s, of the television camera and picture tube. He also directed the group that in 1939 successfully produced a powerful electron microscope." Biography and Contributions

 

MUSIC Igor Stravinsky "In 1939, following the deaths of his eldest daughter, wife, and mother, Stravinsky left France for the United States, where he became a citizen in 1945. He delivered lectures at Harvard University and sought comfort in a longtime acquaintance, Vera de Bosset. The couple married in 1940 and moved to Hollywood, California, where Stravinsky found calm respite in the warm climate and a strictly regimented schedule. He continued to produce neoclassical works through World War II but succumbed to a major creative depression when he realized that the music world was moving beyond neoclassicism to more avant-garde forms. With the help of Roger Craft, a young composer who joined Stravinsky's household in 1948, Stravinsky reemerged as a new force in modern composition, experimenting with Serialism in works such as Cantata (1952), Septet (1953), and In Memoriam Dylan Thomas (1954). His later works of the 1950s and 1960s melded both his earlier influences with the new style, and he created pieces of unrivaled density and complexity before his death in 1971." Igor Stravinsky

Sergey Rachmaninov "In the wake of the October Revolution and the end of World War I, the Rachmaninoff family moved first to Stockholm, then to Copenhagen, and then, with the possibility of major financial gain on the horizon, to New York City. The man once known for his composing became an instant success on the concert circuit, giving 40 performances in four months throughout the United States and signing a recording contract with the Victor Talking Machine Company (soon to become RCA-Victor). Having secured his position as one of the premier performers in the U.S., Rachmaninoff and his family moved to Los Angeles and built a house mimicking the best of Russian culture, entertaining Russian guests, employing Russian servants, and observing Russian customs. It was as though the great composer of the East needed his muse transplanted in the West. This was 1921. Rachmaninoff's non-stop performance schedule during the next 20 years heightened the musician's fame, though it allowed little time for the composer/pianist to enjoy his family and his (ever-dwindling) fortune. By 1940, Rachmaninoff began to slow down. His last compositions, Variations on a Theme of Corelli, Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, and the third symphony (No. 3 in A Minor), were all well received, but the creative fire that had sparked the earlier classics had been sorely replaced by the economic fire of capitalist competition. In 1942, Rachmaninoff announced the upcoming touring season to be his last. Plagued by lumbago, arthritis, and extreme fatigue, the 69 year-old performer gave his last concert in Knoxville, Kentucky. Upon returning to the house in Beverly Hills and consulting local doctors, the overworked Rachmaninoff was diagnosed with cancer. He died in his sleep on the morning of March 28, 1943." Biography

Sergey Prokofiev "With the onset of the cataclysmic 1917 Russian Revolution, Prokofiev moved to the United States, where he was quickly indoctrinated into the capitalist-driven market of classical music. Reeling in enthusiasm, he was quickly contracted to write a new opera, The Love for Three Oranges (1919). For the first time in his life, however, the prolific composer was struck with writer's block. After dropping all other obligations to focus on The Love for Three Oranges, finances grew tight and, "with a thousand dollars in my pocket and an aching head," Prokofiev returned to Paris to re-find his muse. There, he completed his Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Major (1921). He left shortly thereafter, though, for Southern Germany, where he spent over a year and a half in the Bavarian Alps." Biography

Vladimir Horowitz   (Oct 1, 1903 - Nov 5, 1989) "He was probably the most famous pianist of the 20th century. His teachers included Sergei Tarnowsky (1882-1976) and Felix Blumenfeld (1863-1931). He left Russia and went to the United States in 1925. He never returned to Russia until 1986, when he gave two sensational recitals there." Biography

George Gershwin "Gershwin* was born on September 26, 1898, in Brooklyn, New York, to Russian Jewish immigrants. Originally named Jacob, he was the second of four children. Growing up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, George was a wild and energetic child who preferred roller skating and fighting to doing schoolwork. As a result, he had repeated problems at school, where he misbehaved in class and earned poor grades." Biography George Gershwin Quiz

  

BALLET Mikhail Baryshnikov "Born in the former Soviet Union, dancer/actor Mikhail Baryshnikov came to ballet at the advanced age of 15. Because of his extraordinary leg-muscle strength, Baryshnikov was permitted to join Leningrad's Kirov Company, in which he worked his way up to featured soloist. During the Kirov's Canadian tour in 1974, Baryshnikov disappeared for several days, and when he resurfaced it was in the United States and he was asking for political asylum. The decision had as much to do with aesthetics as ideology; in Russia, even a ballet star could only go so far socially and financially. Baryshnikov joined the American Ballet, but later in what was considered a controversial move he switched to George Balanchine's New York City Ballet." Baryshnikov/L.A.Times Article Biography

George Balanchine "George Balanchine, (1904-1983), the Russian-born American choreographer, is one of the foremost choreographers in the history of ballet, particularly in the neoclassical style. The son of a composer, Balanchine was born Georgy Melitonovich Balanchivadze in Saint Petersburg, Russia. He was trained at the Imperial Ballet Academy and studied composition at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. His early works, for the 1922 series Evenings of Young Ballet, were criticized as too avant-garde. In 1925, while touring in Europe with his small company, he joined the Diaghilev Company in Paris as a choreographer. After the impresario Sergei Diaghilev died in 1929, Balanchine choreographed for several companies, and in 1933 he organized his own group, Les Ballets. At the invitation of American ballet patron Lincoln Kirstein, Balanchine moved to New York City and together they founded the School of American Ballet in 1933 and the American Ballet Company in 1935." Balanchine

LITERATURE Vladimir Nabokov "Nabokov, Vladimir (1899-1977), Russian American novelist, poet, and critic, whose highly inventive writings earned him critical acclaim as a major 20th-century literary figure. Nabokov's novels demonstrate great stylistic and compositional virtuosity, and his astonishing imagination often took a morbid or grotesque turn. He is best known for his novel Lolita (1955). Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia, into a prominent and wealthy aristocratic family. His father was politically active in Russia before the family fled to western Europe in 1919, in the wake of the Russian Revolution of 1917. Nabokov attended school in England and graduated from the University of Cambridge with highest honors in French and Russian literature in 1922. He then moved to Berlin, Germany, where his family was living. That same year his father was accidentally shot and killed. In Berlin, Nabokov wrote for the Russian émigré press under the pseudonym of Vladimir Sirin. He moved to France in 1937 and began to write in English. In 1940 he moved to the United States, where he was a professor of English literature at Wellesley College from 1941 to 1948 and a professor of Russian literature at Cornell University from 1948 to 1959. In 1945 he became an American citizen." Biography

Isaac (Ajzek) Azimov   "For more than 45 years, Isaac Asimov has been a professional writer ofrenowned versatility. The Russian-born scientist and author, who hasbeen called a genius and "the nearest thing to a human writingmachine," is perhaps best known as one of today's major sciencefiction writers. His broad range of works includes histories,childrens' books, collections of articles, mysteries, and booksconcerning the Bible, literature, geography, and nonfiction sciencematerial. Asimov was born (officially) January 2, 1920, in the town of Petrovichi (pronounced peh-TRUV-ih-chee), then in the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic (czarist Russia no longer existed, while the USSR hadn't formed yet) and now in Russia. It can be found at latitude 53.58 N, longitude 32.10 E, about 400 km. southwest of Moscow and some 16 km east of the border between Belarus and Russia. His family left the Soviet Union on January 11, 1923 and arrived in New York City February 3."

Joseph Brodsky "Joseph Brodsky (1940-1996): Russian-American poet, Nobel Prize Winner: Author of half a dozen volumes of poetry in Russian and English (with many self-translations). Essayist, Professor of Literature at the Five Colleges. Was briefly a member of the editorial board of METAMORPHOSES before his death." Biography Biography and Poems

ART Vitaly Komar and Alexander Melamid "With a delicious sense of humour and a tongue-in-cheek approach, Russian-born artists Vitaly Komar and Alexander Melamid have spent the last twenty-five years collaborating together to explore popular notions of what art is. In 1994 they tackled the question of popular tastes in art directly by commissioning a public-research polling firm to conduct "The People's Choice", the first poll on artistic taste in the United States. Using the data collected in the survey, they painted a pair of canvases of classic proportions ("the size of a dishwasher," the preferred choice according to the poll) and called them America's Most Wanted and America's Most Unwanted, including in each painting what the respondents said they wanted or did not want in a painting. America's Most Wanted features a historical figure (George Washington) and wildlife (two deer, a hippo, and some trees), but mostly blue water and sky, which cover 40 percent of its surface; and America's Most Unwanted consists of dozens of overlapping triangles and squares of different sizes and colours (mostly pale yellow, orange, and blue), surrounded by a soft border in black. The survey and the resulting paintings come from the artists' interests in examining people's underlying attitudes about art and what that art might look like, while also challenging the faith that our society puts in statistics. If these paintings are a joke, the joke is on us." Background and Paintings Most and Least Wanted Paintings

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