Who killed the Russian "Tesla" - the scientist Mikhail Fillipov?

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

In 1903, the Russian professor Mikhail Mikhailovich Filippov announced the invention of a weapon that was terrible in its effect. With its appearance, according to the scientist, wars will become impossible and the long-awaited and lasting peace will come on the planet. However, soon after this statement, Filippov was killed, and all his manuscripts concerning the invention disappeared without a trace.

I wanted to abolish wars

On June 11, 1903, the editorial office of the St. Petersburg Vedomosti newspaper received a rather unusual letter from the famous professor Mikhail Mikhailovich Filippov. In it he wrote: “All my life I have dreamed of an invention that would make wars almost impossible. Surprising as it may seem, but recently I made a discovery, the practical development of which will actually abolish the war. We are talking about a method I have invented for electrical transmission over a distance of an explosion wave, and, judging by the method used, this transmission is possible over a distance of thousands of kilometers, so that having made an explosion in St. Petersburg, it will be possible to transmit its effect to Constantinople. The method is amazingly simple and cheap. But with such a conduct of war at the distances I have indicated, the war actually becomes madness and must be abolished. I will publish the details in the fall in the memoirs of the Academy of Sciences. The experiments are slowed down by the extraordinary danger of the substances used, partly very explosive, and partly extremely poisonous."

Apparently, this frank letter, containing information about some epochal discovery, became fatal for the scientist. The next morning he was found dead on the floor in his laboratory. The widow Lyubov Ivanovna said that the day before, Mikhail Mikhailovich was going to work late in the laboratory and spend the night there. At night she did not hear anything suspicious, so she went to visit her husband only in the afternoon.

The door to the laboratory was locked, her husband did not respond to her persistent and loud knock. Suspecting something was wrong, she called her family, the door was opened and they saw the scientist lying face down on the floor. He was dead. Abrasions were visible on Filippov's face, it seemed that he suddenly fell as if knocked down. After examining the deceased, the doctor concluded that the scientist had died from sudden cardiac arrest caused by overwork and nervous strain. The forensic expert did not find anything criminal in the death of Filippov.

Investigations into the strange death of the famous scientist have not been carried out. However, the police from the Petersburg security department seized the entire archive of Filippov, the manuscript of his last book with mathematical calculations and the results of experiments "blasting at a distance", as well as all drugs and equipment from the professor's laboratory. After this, the scientist was allowed to be buried.

Scientist, writer and revolutionary

The grave of Professor Filippov turned out to be next to the graves of Russian writers, and this is not surprising, because he was also engaged in literary work. It is worth remembering that his novel "Besieged Sevastopol" at one time aroused admiration of such world-famous masters of the pen as Leo Tolstoy and Maxim Gorky. Was widely known in scientific and literary circles and the journal "Scientific Review", founded and published by Filippov. It published articles by many prominent scientists and writers. For example, the publications of Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky appeared there more than once. Chemist D. I. Mendeleev, psychiatrist V. M. Bekhterev and many other famous scientists actively collaborated with the journal.

For some time it was even assumed that under the pseudonym “V. Uhl, Vladimir Ulyanov-Lenin himself was published in the magazine, but this was not confirmed. However, the leader of the world proletariat was clearly interested in the works of Professor Filippov, because the famous words about the inexhaustible nature of the electron in Lenin's work "Materialism and Empirio-criticism" were borrowed from one of the works of the scientist. It is worth noting that Filippov was a convinced Marxist and did not hide this, despite the possibility of certain repressions. As a true revolutionary, he tried to convert all the people he knew to his faith, including Leo Tolstoy. Because of his convictions, the professor was under special police surveillance.

Perhaps such a scientist was worth keeping an eye on, because he was a genius and at the same time a revolutionary. This, especially in the case of Professor Filippov, was a rather explosive combination. Long ago, at a young age, the future scientist read somewhere that the appearance of gunpowder reduced the bloodshed of the wars waged on the planet. Since then, he was possessed by the idea of creating such a powerful weapon that all wars with its use would become a real madness, and then, according to Filippov, people would simply abandon them.

It should be added to this that because of his Marxist convictions, Mikhail Mikhailovich dreamed of freeing the peoples of the world from the capitalist yoke. He wrote: "The use of such a weapon in the revolution will lead to the fact that the peoples will revolt, and wars will become completely impossible." By the way, his last manuscript, seized by the police, was titled "Revolution Through Science, or End of Wars." This clearly could have alerted the authorities.

Mysterious death rays

There is no doubt that Mikhail Mikhailovich Filippov was a wonderful person, just at that time many famous and respectable people were imbued with revolutionary ideas. None of them then even imagined how the revolution would end for them. Not everyone managed to find themselves and survive under the new government. Some left their homeland, others were shot or ended up in camps.

Could he really have invented a weapon that, even now, if a number of states had atomic bombs, would pose a very serious danger? Filippov graduated from the Faculty of Law of St. Petersburg and the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Odessa Universities. The scientist was engaged in the study of electromagnetic waves, he was a brilliant inventor and, without a doubt, could achieve sensational results in his work.

Of course, then, at the beginning of the 20th century, after the death of Professor Filippov, journalists wrote a lot about his mysterious invention. They proposed many different versions, up to the point that the scientist could wishful thinking and in fact there was no superweapon. However, in an interview with St. Petersburg Vedomosti, Professor A. S. Trachevsky, who was friends with Filippov, expressed complete confidence in the reality of the invention. When he talked with Filippov, he told him: “It's so simple, moreover, it's cheap! It's amazing how they haven't figured it out yet. " In addition, Mikhail Mikhailovich added, "this problem was approached in America, but in a completely different and unsuccessful way." Most likely, he was referring to the experiments of Nikola Tesla.

The great chemist DI Mendeleev also spoke out in defense of the scientist's honest name: "There is nothing fantastic in the main idea of Filippov: an explosion wave is available for transmission, like a wave of light or sound." By the way, according to Trachevsky, Professor Filippov told him that the idea had already been tested in experiments, and successfully. Ten years after the mysterious murder of a scientist, the journalists of Russkoye Slovo managed to establish that in 1900 the professor visited Riga several times, where, as the newspaper wrote, “he made experiments on blowing up objects at a distance”.

Subsequently, journalists began to write about some mysterious death rays of Professor Filippov and even that he had invented laser weapons. Most likely, they are exaggerating. There were no beams, and the scientist did not invent a laser. Here is what he reported in one of his letters: “I can reproduce the entire force of an explosion with a beam of short waves. The blast wave is completely transmitted along the carrier electromagnetic wave, and thus the dynamite charge, detonated in Moscow, can transmit its effect to Constantinople. The experiments I have done show that this phenomenon can be caused at a distance of several thousand kilometers."

Murder or Accident?

Almost all, without exception, materials about Professor Filippov and his invention say that the scientist was killed, but no evidence of this is provided. The body of the scientist was first discovered by his wife and relatives, they would hardly have begun to hide if it had knife or bullet wounds on it. Hence, they were not. The door to the laboratory was closed from the inside; however, an open window is mentioned through which the killer could have entered. But how did he kill the scientist? Hit something heavy on the head or injected him with poison with a syringe?

It was not possible to find any mention of a broken head, it was only said about abrasions on his face and that the scientist fell as if knocked down, not even having time to put his hands forward. Maybe there was no murder? By the way, the professor's experiments with electromagnetic radiation could well affect his health, including the cardiovascular system. Then no one knew about the negative effect of electromagnetic radiation on the human body, and Filippov, not sparing himself, conducted numerous experiments for at least three years.

By the way, in the laboratory of the scientist there was a piece of paper on the table on which he wrote the following: “Experiments on the transmission of an explosion over a distance. Experience number 12. Anhydrous hydrocyanic acid is required for this experiment. At the same time, caution should be the greatest! It is known that hydrocyanic acid is the strongest poison. Suddenly the tired scientist, so to speak, lost his vigilance and accidentally poisoned himself? The version of the accident should not be ruled out.

Of course, the version of the murder appeared due to the fact that the professor, who did not complain about his health, mysteriously lost his life immediately after he announced his invention of a superweapon. If he actually died naturally, then undoubtedly this is a unique coincidence that is difficult to believe. Who killed the scientist if his death was in fact a violent one?

The French popularizer of science Jacques Bergier, world famous for a number of his very interesting books, believes that M. M. Filippov was killed by agents of the tsarist secret police on the direct orders of Nicholas II. According to him, in this way, not only was the dangerous revolutionary eliminated, but also the world was saved, which was on the verge of death due to the invention of the scientist.

Bergier wrote: “If Filippov had time to publish his method, it would undoubtedly have been perfected and used in the First World War. And all the major cities in Europe, and possibly America, would have been destroyed. And what about the wars of 1939-1945? Wouldn't Hitler, armed with the Filippov method, have completely destroyed England, and the Americans - Japan? I'm afraid we might have to give an affirmative answer to all these questions. And it is possible that Emperor Nicholas II, whom everyone condemned amicably, should be numbered among the saviors of mankind."

And here is his opinion on the use of such weapons by revolutionaries: “Imagine a group of people dissatisfied with the existing regime, who would not plant explosives under the doors of houses, but would blow up the Elysee Palace or Matignon using the Filippov method! Filippov's invention, whether the military or the revolutionaries use it, is, in my opinion, one of those that can lead to the complete destruction of civilization."

It is believed that Nicholas II ordered the destruction of all papers and equipment of the inventor. Otherwise, Filippov's "death rays" would have fallen into the hands of the Bolsheviks after their seizure of power and could have been used to carry out a world revolution. Although, given the chaos that reigned in the country during the revolution, the professor's manuscripts could get lost. It is possible that they are still gathering dust in some archive.