Zhores Medvedev
Zhores Medvedev | |
---|---|
Жорес Медведев | |
dissident movement in the Soviet Union | |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Agronomy, biology, gerontology |
Zhores Aleksandrovich Medvedev (
.Biography
Early life and education
Zhores Medvedev and his twin brother Roy were born on 14 November 1925 in
Biology research in the USSR
He became a junior research scientist in the Agrochemistry and Biochemistry Department at Timiryazev Academy and he was promoted to senior research scientist in 1954 and remained at the academy until 1963. Beginning in 1952, Medvedev had focused his attention on the problems of aging, concentrating on the turnover of proteins and nucleic acids. In 1961, he published the first paper suggesting that aging is the result of an accumulation of errors in the synthesis of proteins and nucleic acids. In 1962, Medvedev wrote his book on the history of
In 1963, Medvedev moved to Obninsk to the Institute of Medical Radiology, where he was appointed head of the molecular radiobiology laboratory. He published two books, Protein Biosynthesis and Problems of Heredity Development and Ageing[4] and Molecular Mechanisms of Development.[a]
Dissident writings
Medvedev was dismissed from his position in 1969. Between 1968 and 1970, Medvedev wrote two more books: International Cooperation of Scientists and National Frontiers
In 1971, Medvedev was given the job of senior scientist of the Institute of Physiology and Biochemistry of Farm Animals in Borovsk, in the Kaluga region.
London
In 1972, Medvedev was invited for one year's research by the
Publication of information about the Kyshtym disaster
In 1977, Medvedev published Hazards of Nuclear Power, which mentioned the Kyshtym nuclear disaster in passing. At the time, the disaster was essentially unknown, and his work was dismissed as baseless propaganda even by his Western colleagues.[2] Medvedev responded by publishing Soviet Science in 1978, which assembled evidence from Soviet publications that taken together comprised conclusive evidence of the disaster's occurrence. He followed this with the book The Nuclear Disaster in the Urals in 1979, and a further critique The Legacy of Chernobyl (1990), which connected the two disasters as being a product of the same attitudes toward science and engineering in the USSR.[2]
Further work
In London, Medvedev acted as his brother Roy's representative, managing his publishing contracts and financial affairs. In 1975 he created a small publishing house, "T.C.D. publications", for the purpose of publishing the Russian-language version of Roy Medvedev's samizdat journal XX Century.[7] The two brothers also coauthored Khrushchev: The Years in Power (1978) and several other books, the last one The Unknown Stalin (2007).
Medvedev died in London on 15 November 2018, one day after his 93rd birthday, with his family by his side.[8][9] In 2019, his memoirs posthumously appeared in Russian under the title A Dangerous Profession.[10]
Legacy
Medvedev published about 170 research papers and reviews, about sixty of them during his time in London. In 1973 he was one of the signatories of the Humanist Manifesto.[11] He received the Aging Research Award from the United States Association of Biogerontology in 1984 and the Rene Schubert Prize in Gerontology in 1985.
According to
Notes
References
- ^ a b Steele, Jonathan (23 November 2018), "Zhores Medvedev obituary", The Guardian.
- ^ a b c d e f Gordin, Michael D (6 February 2019). "Zhores Medvedev and the battle for truth in Soviet science". Aeon. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
- Wikidata Q109407986.
- ^ 1963; English translation 1965 Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh
- National Library of Medicine.
- ^ "World: Protesting Spiritual Murder". Time. 29 June 1970. Archived from the original on February 4, 2013. Retrieved 12 July 2011.
- ^ Barbara Martin, Dissident Histories in the Soviet Union: from de-Stalinization to Perestroika. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2019.
- ^ "В Лондоне умер Жорес Медведев". Novye Izvestia. Retrieved November 16, 2018.
- ^ "Ушёл из жизни Жорес Медведев". IA Red Spring. 16 November 2018. Retrieved November 16, 2018.
- ^ Zhores Medvedev, Opasnaia Professiia, Moskva: Vremia, 2019.
- ^ "Humanist Manifesto II". American Humanist Association. Retrieved October 9, 2012.
Works
- Protein Biosynthesis and Problems of Heredity, Development and Ageing. New York: Plenum Press, 1966. Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd Ltd, 1966
- Unknown Stalin: His Life, Death, and Legacy (with Roy Medvedev, Ellen Dahrendorf - Translator) (ISBN 1-58567-644-6
- Legacy of Chernobyl (ISBN 0-393-30814-6
- Soviet Agriculture (W. W. Norton & Co Inc, 1988), ISBN 0-393-02472-5
- Gorbachev (W. W. Norton & Co Inc, 1987), ISBN 0-393-30408-6
- Andropov (W. W. Norton & Co Inc, 1983), ISBN 0-393-01791-5
- Nuclear Disaster in the Urals (1980), ISBN 0-394-74445-4
- Gorbachev (1986), ISBN 0-631-14782-9
- Molecular-Genetic Mechanisms of Development (1970), ISBN 0-306-30403-1
- Medvedev Papers: Fruitful Meetings between Scientists of the World (1971), ISBN 0-333-12520-7
- Ten Years after Ivan Denisovich (1974), ISBN 0-394-71112-2
- Hazards of Nuclear Power (with Alan Roberts) (1977), ISBN 0-85124-211-1
- Secrecy of Correspondence Is Guaranteed by Law (1975), ISBN 0-85124-128-X
- Soviet Science (1978), ISBN 0-393-06435-2
- Stalin and the Jewish Question: New Analysis (2003, in Russian), ISBN 5-7712-0251-7
- Solzhenitsyn and Sakharov: Two Prophets (with Roy Medvedev) (2004, in Russian) ISBN 5-94117-065-3
- The Rise and Fall of T. D. Lysenko (translated by ISBN 0-231-03183-1
- Medvedev Papers: The Plight Of Soviet Science, ISBN 3-331-25207-7
- A Question Of Madness (with Roy Medvedev), ISBN 0-14-003783-7
- Nuclear Disaster In The Urals (trans. George Saunders), ISBN 0-207-95896-3
- Khrushchev: The Years In Power (with Roy Medvedev), ISBN 0-8357-0154-9
- National Frontiers / International Scientific Cooperation (Medvedev Papers), ISBN 0-85124-127-1
- Nutrition and Longevity (2011, in Russian), publ. "Vremya" Moscow, ISBN 978-5-9691-0513-3
- Nutrition and Longevity (in Russian), 2007, ISBN 978-5-7712-0380-5
- Polonium in London (in Russian), 2008, Molodaya Gvardia, Moscow:ISBN 978-5-235-03160-9
Articles
- Medvedev, Zhores (May 1994). "Abroad". .
- Medvedev, Zhores (26 January 1987). "Andrei Sakharov's return ..." The Scientist.
- Medvedev, Zhores (October 1994). "Chernobyl: eight years after". PMID 21236894.
- Medvedev, Zhores (September–October 1979). "Russia under Brezhnev". New Left Review. I (117): 3–29.
- Medvedev, Zhores (9 January 1986). "Sakharov's scientific legacy". S2CID 4337731.
- Medvedev, Zhores (July 1976). "Since Khrushchev". .
- Medvedev, Zhores (28 July 1977). "Soviet genetics: new controversy". Nature. 268 (5618): 285–287. doi:10.1038/268285a0.
- Medvedev, Zhores (March 1991). "Technological glasnost". Nature. 350 (6316): 283. doi:10.1038/350283a0.
- Medvedev, Zhores (21 February 1976). "The defeat of Russian dissent". The Spectator: 8–9.
- Medvedev, Zhores (March 1990). "The legacy of Andrei Sakharov". .
- Medvedev, Zhores (4 November 1976). "Two decades off dissidence". New Scientist. 72 (1025): 264–267.
- Medvedev, Roy; Medvedev, Zhores (1976). "Krushchev's secret speech". Australian Left Review. 1 (52): 34–37.
- Articles on poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko.
- Medvedev, Zhores (2007). Polonium-210 in London (A5). Vol. 96 (Legacies of Harm). )
- Coates, Ken; Chomsky, Noam; Medvedev, Zhores A. (2007). Coates, Ken (ed.). Legacies of Harm. Coronet Books Inc. p. 96. ISBN 978-0-85124-747-2.
External links
- Interview with Zhores Medvedev, 18 July 2017