Great Russian scientists who left their homeland and migrated to the USA

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

The revolutionary events in Russia in 1917 became one of the most controversial, complex and confusing moments in the country's history. The worst thing is that at this time there was a colossal outflow of the country's population, including due to migration. Among those who left their historical homeland there were many outstanding minds who later worked in the United States and helped make our world the way we know it today.

1. Otto Struve

Outstanding scientist.

In 1916, a descendant of the famous dynasty of astronomers, Otto Struve, dropped out and went to the First World War. During the bloody Civil War, Struve nevertheless graduated from the university, but very soon he joined the ranks of Denikin's White Guard army. In 1920, it became clear that the war was lost, Otto's brother and father died, and there was no longer any point in staying in the country. As a result, Struve emigrated to the United States.

In 1923 he defended his thesis on spectroscopic binaries. Subsequently, the scientist will develop a way to determine the speed of rotation of stars, and also create a theory of detecting planets by the Doppler oscillations of the star around which they revolve.

2. Georgy Gamov

The recognition didn't come immediately.

Georgy Gamov managed to do a lot while still a resident of the USSR, but the bulk of his works still fell on the foreign period of work, when he became a defector. In 1934, the scientist simply did not return from a trip abroad. At first, Gamow did not want to completely break off relations with his homeland and tried to obtain the status of working abroad (he went to Denmark, then to France, then to the USA).

It was Georgy Gamov who created the theory of stellar evolution and the model of the "hot Universe", the theory of red giants, and also worked in molecular biology, contributing to the creation of a model for the work of the genetic code.

3. Theodosius Dobrzhansky

He made a huge contribution to science.

In 1920, Dobrzhansky went on an internship abroad, already there he received a Rockefeller Foundation scholarship, as a result, the trip turned into emigration. According to Theodosius himself, the Red Terror of 1919, when he was still a student, said the decisive word in his desire to emigrate. Dobrzhansky's emigration was associated with gross violations of US law, but his case was defended by American scientists. Rumor has it that they reached President Hoover himself.

The scientist will lay the foundation for the construction of a synthetic theory of evolution, write a book "Genetics and the Origin of Species", and will also do much more for the development and popularization of genetics. By the way, it was Dobrzhansky who proved that all people are representatives of one species, thereby debunking speculation about the superiority of one race over another.

4. Stepan Tymoshenko

Without it, there would be no modern construction.

Stepan Timoshenko made a successful scientific career back in the days of Tsarist Russia. Participated in the founding of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences in Kiev. However, the revolutionary chaos did not reflect in the best way on the possibilities and prospects of science in the country. As a result, the scientist emigrated first to Yugoslavia, and then left for the United States.

Timoshenko made a huge contribution to the theory of elasticity. Developed the theory of stability of elastic systems and the theory of bending of rods and plates taking into account shear deformation. Even today, the term "Timoshenko beam" is used in structural mechanics.

5. Igor Sikorsky

Created a helicopter.

The career of an aircraft designer began in 1912 in the Russian Empire. The first multi-engine aircraft "Russian Knight" and "Ilya Muromets" were created by him in 1913-1914. Sikorsky was a staunch monarchist and did not accept the revolution. As a result, the engineer emigrated to the United States through France. At first, my career did not work out there. For some time, the outstanding engineer worked as a teacher in an evening school. However, in 1923 he managed to create the Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation and the first helicopter to fly into the sky in 1942.

6. Vladimir Zvorykin

There would be no TV without him.

Zvorykin began his career at the Officer Radio School. During the Civil War, he tried to evade conscription, which forced him to flee from Moscow to Omsk, which soon became the center of the white movement. In 1919, he was sent on a business trip to the United States, but it soon became clear that it was dangerous to return - the White movement fell, and Zvorykin could have been shot for aiding.

In the United States, the engineer first founded the Westinghouse company, and later became the fathers of television, creating a kinescope and an iconoscope, which became the basis for television.

7. Boris Bakhmetev

Outstanding diplomat and researcher.

Bakhmetev ended up in the United States in 1917 as a diplomat from the Provisional Government. There he negotiated a loan for the purchase of agricultural machinery. However, the contribution of Boris Bakhmetev as a scientist is important to us, and not as a politician? The engineer made a huge contribution to the development of aerodynamics. In particular, he created the fundamental work "Mechanics of Turbulent Motion".