Ivan Efremov. The story of a great seer

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

There are many examples of science fiction writers who have left their mark on science. They are biochemist Isaac Asimov, inventor Arthur Clarke, philosopher Stanislav Lem, geographer Jules Verne. But what can I say, the founder of the genre, Herbert Wells, himself was a doctor of biology. But Ivan Antonovich Efremov (1908-1972) occupies a special place in this cohort.

The influence of parents on his formation was small, the main impetus for the development of personality was given by books. His father, a native of the Trans-Volga Old Believer peasants, was a tall and strong man, he went to bear with one spear. As a merchant, he was engaged in timber trade and had the rank of titular adviser. The father had a tough disposition, in their yard instead of a dog, a bear caught in the forest ran along a wire. The foundations were traditional in the family, his mother was mainly engaged in his sickly brother Vasily, Ivan grew up on his own.

He learned to read early, and at the age of six he was already mastering his father's library. Jules Verne, Haggard, Roney Sr., Conan Doyle, Jack London and HG Wells are the "gentleman's set" for a young romantic.

During the revolution, the parents divorced, and the mother and children moved to Kherson, having married the commander of the Red Army.

The children remained in the care of a relative, but she soon died of typhus. Further care "about the young Soviet generation" was taken over by the Department of Public Education, and then Ivan joined the 2nd author of the 6th Army.

Once, during the bombardment of Ochakov, a White Guard shell fell very close, there were many killed. Ivan was concussed by a blast wave and covered with sand. A slight stuttering remained for the rest of his life, so he was not a very talkative person and a professor who never taught systematically.

In the author, Ivan Efremov studied the device of the car to the subtleties, and learned to drive it. Both will be useful in his future expeditionary life, and his passion for the car will remain for life.

After the war, their part was disbanded, and he, demobilized, went to Petrograd. At first he was engaged in unloading firewood and logs from wagons and timber barges. Then he worked as a driver and mechanic, and later entered school. Here he was again covered with a passion for reading. He read works on the theory of evolution.

Among the books on biology, adventure and research he came across an article by the zoologist Pyotr Petrovich Sushkin "Evolution of terrestrial vertebrates and the role of geological climate change." Out of excess of feelings, he wrote a letter to the academician. An answer came with a proposal to meet. Most of the conversation with the scientist took place in the museum. Ivan saw for the first time a cast of the skeleton of a diplodocus, the skeleton of indricotherium and much more, which largely determined his further path to science.

However, the time for archives and scientific symposia saturated with book dust had not yet come for him - the thirst for travel was taking its toll. In 1923, the young man passed the exams for the co-pilot of coastal voyages at the Petrograd nautical classes, and the following spring set off for the Far East, hiring as a sailor on the motor-sailing ship "III International".

Making the crucial choice between travel and science was not easy.

Ivan was looking for his own way and, in order to resolve the doubts that tormented him, decided to talk to his captain Lukhmanov, who was also the author of sea stories.

“We sat at his house on the Sixth Line, drank tea with jam,” Ivan Antonovich recalled. - I spoke, he listened. I listened attentively, without interrupting, you know, this is a great gift - to be able to listen! - then he said: "Go, Ivan, to science! And the sea, brother … well, you will never forget it anyway. Sea salt has eaten into you."

On the recommendation of Sushkin, Ivan Efremov entered the Biological Department of the Physics and Mathematics Faculty of Leningrad University. The passion for travel was filled with new content, now it was serious academic research. He had to visit Central Asia, the Caspian Sea, the Far East, the vastness of Siberia, Mongolia. His Far Eastern and Caspian maritime impressions years later were reflected in stories.

Publications in scientific journals, searches for Early Triassic labyrinthodonts in coastal-marine sediments … Efremov is gradually becoming a great scientist, his thought did not stop for a moment, and there was not enough time for everything. Upon returning to Leningrad, scientific work was added to the usual work of the preparator. Ivan Antonovich publishes the first scientific article in Proceedings of the Geological Museum of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

It was this work that laid the foundation for the future taphonomy. In fact, Ivan Antonovich discovered a completely new branch of paleontological science.

In 1928, Peter Sushkin died, and the labyrintodont from Sharzhengi - the first taxon described by Efremov - was named Bentosaurus sushkini Efremov.

A year later, after getting acquainted with the basics of historical geology and geotectonics, Ivan Antonovich suggested that oceanic troughs, like continents, have a complex relief. Seamounts are devoid of a thick layer of sediments and their magmatic basement is available for study. The article was sent to "Geologische Rundschau" and although it received a devastating review, time has shown that Efremov was right in the end.

The industrialization of the country required new sources of raw materials. Soon Ivan Antonovich headed a geological survey team to study the Kargalinskiy cuprous sandstones. It was a period of accumulation of paleontological and geological experience. In 1931 he was the head of a detachment of the Nizhne-Amur geological expedition of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. From Khabarovsk, the detachment went down by steamer to the remote taiga village of Perm, surveyed the valley and the mouth of the Gorin (or Goryun) river and the area of Lake Evoron. After a while, construction of Komsomolsk-on-Amur began on this site.

Later, Ivan Efremov worked on the section from Olekma to the village of Tynda. The expedition was delayed at the start. Therefore, 600 kilometers of path through the mountains and taiga had to move at maximum speed. The last third of the way, Efremov and his companions walked through deep snow, and the frosts were strong, up to -40 degrees. One of the sections of the BAM is laid along this path.

Based on the results of two field seasons, the article "From Aldan to the Upper Chara" was written and a geological map was compiled. Later, a map of this hard-to-reach area was used to compile a large Soviet "Atlas of the World".

The seasons of 1932 and 1934 undermined Ivan Antonovich's good health. But the experience gained in geological expeditions, not only scientific, but also life, opened the doors to literature for him.

It was there that the plots of most of his early stories were born. As Yefremov himself said, "Loach Podlunny is a chronicle and accurate description of one of my Siberian travels."

He later wrote: “Twelve years after it was written, three diamonds from the first ones mined in the pipe lay on the writing table at which the story was written, although to the south of the scene of the Diamond Pipe, but exactly in the same geological setting as described in story.

"Competent authorities" even made claims to Ivan Antonovich, they say, he knew and kept silent, and through an open press issued a state secret. But Efremov, who had never been a member of the CPSU, was not afraid of "competent authorities". What was the then "competent authorities" to him, if during the war, taking care of the safety of the scientific heritage, he wrote a letter to Stalin himself.

The letter emphasized the invaluableness of the collections, which are the pride of Soviet science, the need for their urgent deployment for the geological congress. In addition to Ivan Antonovich, the letter was signed by leading experts. And as a result, the Mineralogical Museum got a normal room, ideally suited for this kind of work in terms of functionality.

Predicting the location of kimberlite pipes with diamonds is not the only insight of Efremov.

He predicted the discovery of a large deposit of mercury ores in the Southern Altai in the story "The Lake of Mountain Spirits"; gave the concept of holography in the story "Shadow of the Past"; reflected the peculiarities of the behavior of liquid crystals in the story "Fakaofo Atoll"; described three-dimensional television with a parabolic concave screen in the Andromeda Nebula, talked about an exoskeleton ("jumping skeleton") that allows people to overcome increased gravitational attraction, and talked about a microcybernetic healing device swallowed by patients. With the story of the Cutty Sark, he influenced the fate of the famous British sailing ship, now restored by enthusiasts and standing on the banks of the Thames.

Many of Efremov's skills could be envied by the current "effective managers". In "The Razor's Edge" Efremov points out: “The boss is the one who, in difficult moments, is not only on an equal footing, but ahead of everyone else. The first shoulder under the stuck car is the boss, the first into the icy water is the boss, the first boat across the threshold is the boss, that's why he and the boss, because intelligence, courage, strength, health allow you to be ahead. And if they don’t allow it, there’s nothing to do.”

Efremov has disciples and followers, some of whom later became prominent scientists. The researcher himself had no time to write a Ph. D., but according to the totality of his works he was awarded the scientific degree of Candidate of Biological Sciences.

And again expeditions and research, and although his good health had already been undermined by numerous "unfavorable conditions", science remained his guiding star.

In March 1941, Efremov defended his doctoral dissertation on the topic "Fauna of terrestrial vertebrates in the middle zones of the Permian of the USSR." The cycle of works marked a new stage in the development of paleontology in Russia.

When the war began, Efremov asked to go to the front, but he was sent to the headquarters for the evacuation of the values of the Paleontological Institute.

Returning from another expedition, he fell ill with a fever. In 1942, employees of the PIN moved from Sverdlovsk to Alma-Ata. Efremov's fever recurred. During his illness, he began to write the first stories.

In early 1943, Efremov reached the city of Frunze, where he had to continue his scientific work. In the same year he was awarded the title of professor of paleontology.

In late autumn, Ivan Antonovich, as part of the re-evacuation headquarters of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, returned to Moscow. He returned not only as a paleontologist, but also as a writer. He brought with him "Meeting over Tuscarora", "Hellenic Secret", "The Paths of Old Miners" and even "Olgoi-Horhoy", although at that time he had not yet been to Mongolia. Next year, all this, except for the "Hellenic Secret", will be published in the "New World", in the cycle "Stories of the Extraordinary".

In the Mongolian Gobi, under the clear night sky, the idea of a cosmic future is born. About the Great Ring of the worlds of the Universe and about beautiful, "insatiable in heroic deeds" people.

The novel "The Andromeda Nebula" was published in 1957 and determined the life path of many people - from devotees of alternative pedagogy to astronauts.

The future described in the book is quite communist by those standards - at least without private property, the market and professional managers. But it was very different from the generally accepted primitive designs. Efremov was able to simply show that there is a world in which people have more worthy occupations than "making money" or "approving the party's policies."

Alexey Tolstoy was the first to notice the stories of Ivan Efremov: "How did you manage to develop such an elegant and cold style?"The intuition of Alexei Nikolaevich allowed him to notice this sense of language, "which grew not from classes in literary salons, but from childhood and the embodiment of his essence through difficulties and work on himself."

The Union of Writers of the USSR elected Ivan Antonovich as its member. This was the only time in the post-war history of the Writers' Union when the election took place without any preliminary statements and recommendations. Tolstoy's opinion played a decisive role here.

At the same time, he did not give up his studies in science. For paleontological research in Mongolia, he was awarded five times by the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

But he never went to field work anymore. His post-war paleontological work "The fauna of terrestrial vertebrates in the Permian cuprous sandstones of the Western Urals" summed up paleontological and geological research for more than 100 years.

Having published a book about cuprous sandstones, Ivan Antonovich set to work "The Way of the Winds", about the Mongolian expedition of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR - the most autobiographical work. Only in it all the heroes are called by their proper names. Finishing a book about Mongolia, he took up a novel. "The Antromeda Nebula" was published in an abridged form in the journal "Technics for Youth", and then as a separate book. This is his most famous, published and twice-filmed book - until 1987 it was published 83 times in 36 languages.

An incurable disease made me count the time literally by the minute. Each book that Ivan Antonovich worked on seemed to him the last.

Thirteen years after the publication of The Andromeda Nebula, Efremov wrote its sequel, a dystopia, The Hour of the Bull.

This book was simply banned: shortly after the publication of the novel in 1968-69, there followed a note to the Central Committee of the CPSU signed by the chief of the KGB Andropov with a resolution of Suslov - for a special meeting of the Secretariat of the Central Committee on November 12, 1970. The book was withdrawn from all libraries and shops.

The highest ideologues of the USSR perceived the novel as "a slander against Soviet reality."

After "Hour of the Bull" Efremov wrote the historical and philosophical novel "Tais of Athens", dedicated to his friend and wife, Taisiya Iosifovna.

And at the end of his life, the writer began working on the novel "The Bowl of Poison". Based on Vernadsky's idea of the noosphere, he wanted to trace the paths of "poisoning" the consciousness of man and mankind. “I want to say,” explained Efremov, “about what needs to be done to cleanse the Earth's noosphere, poisoned by ignorance, hatred, fear, mistrust, to show what needs to be done in order to destroy all the phantoms that rape human nature, break his mind and will."

Ivan Efremov died of acute heart failure on October 5, 1972. He did not live to see the end of the publication of the novel "Thais of Athens". A month after his death, a search was carried out in his house. According to the writer's wife, the search lasted almost a day, and the officers of the KGB Department conducted it to find “ideologically harmful literature.” It was only thanks to the determination of his wife that the “experts” did not open the urn with Ivan Antonovich's ashes, which was not yet buried and was in the apartment.

In a conversation with the writer's widow, the investigator was especially interested in what were the injuries on her husband's body, and "asked everything: from birthday to death." And the prosecutor's office asked how many years she had known Efremov. When asked directly what the writer is accused of, the KGB officer replied: "Nothing, he is already dead."

Only in 1989 was it possible to obtain an official written response from the Investigative Department of the Moscow KGB Directorate to an inquiry about the reasons for the search from Efremov. It turns out that the search, as well as "some other investigative actions" were carried out "in connection with the suspicion of the possibility of his violent death. As a result of these actions, the suspicions were not confirmed." However, given the atmosphere at the time, it is easy to understand that the search was done "cumulatively."Meanwhile, the search had extremely negative consequences. A five-volume collection of works signed for publication was thrown out of the publication plan, The Hour of the Bull was removed from libraries, and the title of the novel disappeared from print for a long time. It appeared and was reissued only 20 years later. The surname Efremov was deleted from the list of scientific works. In the printed abstracts of reports for the XX session of the All-Union Paleontological Society, dedicated to taphonomy, his name, the founder of a whole scientific direction, was erased. The number of former friends has dropped dramatically. The writers also left those who constantly enjoyed his hospitality and signed their books: "To dear teacher Ivan Antonovich …". And only one writer - Kazantsev stood up for his comrade and sent a letter to the Central Committee of the CPSU.

But Efremov is not only a scientist, but also a seer. His insights into the general development of civilization are no less significant than his special studies, which were ahead of their time.

It was not for nothing that he warned about the dominance of technical monoculture, and it was not without reason that he tried to find ways to purify the information space, which distorts the basic principles of the development of an individual microcosm and the noosphere as a whole. He developed a futuristic concept for the future of humanity. Today Efremov is put on a par with outstanding scientists and philosophers, comparing him in terms of personality with Plato, Thomas More, Lomonosov.

The urn with the ashes of Efremov was buried near Leningrad, in Komarovo. The slab of dark basalt is topped with a labradorite polyhedron. From time to time, a toy dinosaur appears among the flowers that are brought to the grave of a scientist, writer and science fiction writer …