Their names are in the history of science

About "the independence of a man"

Comments on D.A.Granin's novel "The Bison"

D.A.Granin Foundation and the St. Petersburg publishing house "Rostok" have been publishing a collection of works by the famous Soviet writer D.A.Granin for several years. The writer's books are not only modern, but also relevant. "Going Inside a Storm", "This is Strange Life", "The Bison" tell about the life of scientists and are of particular interest to us. We publish this book in the belief that today it is still relevant and interesting to a new generation of scientists. Nearly forty years have passed since the publication of the book (1987). It is difficult for most modern readers to imagine how this work was perceived in those days. The documentary book served as a complete rehabilitation of the scientist and made people remember the concept of "human independence".

Granin Foundation / Marina D.Chernysheva
Publishing house "Rostok", St. Petersburg

Students, colleagues and friends have always surrounded Nikolay Vladimirovich Timofeev-Resovsky. During the Great Patriotic War, they were Germans, he worked at the Berlin-Buch Research Centre. Working with the Germans left a shadow of suspicion of treason to the motherland of the "defector". Despite the prohibitions, after his death (1981), friends and students began to organize readings in memory of the scientist (Yerevan, 1983; Chernigov, 1986 and later). The novel of Daniil Aleksandrovich Granin "The Bison" (magazine "New World", 1987, No. 1, 2) for the first time documented the life of Timofeev-Resovsky in Buch, filled with scientific research and daily assistance to refugees. Personality of N.V. made an impression on everyone, most of the negative attitude towards the "defector" was removed.

Readers began to think about what the familiar words "patriotism", "decency", "humanism" meant. In the book, such questions arise in different situations and the author allows the reader to determine his own position. However, as the author notes, personal emotions often make it difficult to take into account different aspects of actions and events.

The book shows different periods in the life of the scientific environment in Russia and Germany. Why does this happen, what explains the changes? It is unlikely that scientists can change the life of their environment. On the contrary, the environment changes people. Against the backdrop of a changing life, the Bison - Nikolay Vladimirovich Timofeev-Resovsky is shown. He does not run away from the changing environment, he remains the Bison. He was often asked the same question, why the Germans and he, along with them, endured repression, fascism. He could only ask the same question about the repressions of the Soviet people. No one has got an answer yet.

D.A.Granin cites the very "stories" of Timofeev-Resovsky, stories of casual friends, documents about anti-fascist resistance and assistance to refugees in Germany. Nikolay Vladimirovich, Elena Alexandrovna, the eldest son Foma took part in the rescue and assistance to refugees. The biography of Timofeev-Resovsky has been supplemented. Memoirs, articles have been written, documentaries have been filmed. They show the cruelty of life and the extent of the Bison's personality.

The contribution of Timofeev-Resovsky to science is well known. Today, his discoveries are the basics that schoolchildren know. The purpose of these comments, following the book, is to show the changing life in Germany and the Soviet Union and against this background the rare "independence" of the Bison, as well as the perception of life by the writer himself.

Twenties. The novel begins with the civil war and the post-war years. In those times, Timofeev-Resovsky was Kolyusha, a zoology student at Moscow University and also, at times, he participated in the battles as an ordinary Red Army soldier. The life of students in those years: "they fought, then philosophized, then they got something to eat for themselves." Kolyusha became either a conscientious zoologist or a dashing warrior. He worked as a shepherd and a loader. He managed to listen to Bryusov and Andrey Bely, Grabar's lectures on the history of painting and sang in the choir. In winter, he lectured on zoology.

N.K.Koltsov became Kolyusha's teacher. Koltsov and his scientific supervisor M.A.Mensbier had science and knowledge of the mysteries of nature at the forefront of their lives. However, decency and honor were even higher than science. Koltsov's practice gave freedom in everything and everyone that wished, became a researcher. In this environment, Drozsoor - "a joint yelling about Drosophila" arose. At the same time, Elena Alexandrovna Fidler came to Koltsov's practice and appeared in Kolyusha's life. It was the time of assimilation of the Koltsov school.

Kolyusha was engaged in one thing - working out the practices he was interested in and listening to the courses he needed. He did not take any state exams. In the first half of the twenties there was no bureaucracy. When in 1925 Kolyusha left for Buch to work, N.K.Koltsov gave him a letter of recommendation. It replaced all references.

The twenties simultaneously tempered and gave liberties. The Koltsov school taught to freely discuss ideas and to carry out experimental work.

Thirties. In Buch, N.V.Timofeev-Resovsky expanded his research, he was engaged in radiation genetics, evolution and invited the physicists Max Delbruck and Carl Gunther Zimmer. By 1935, a range of investigations with Zimmer and Delbruck laid the foundations for modern molecular biology (Grune Pamphlet). Together with Zimmer, the size of the gene was estimated. In the evenings, they gathered at Timofeev-Resovskys. N.V. entered the Borovsky circle, the Borovsky colloquium was developed.

Meanwhile, in Germany, fascism was becoming commonplace. Jews quitted and left. Life in Buch was closed, its own order, its own customs were preserved. However, the misunderstanding, the division of people became more and more severe. D.A.Granin wrote about the Borovsky circle: "It was a circle of people that once attracted me. They were supposed to change the world for the better... Now, I looked at them without admiration. The war separated them on different sides of the front. Bison did not escape the common fate." But we understand that nothing and no one will stop the development of science, despite emotions and prohibitions. Despite the narrowing of the circle of contacts, N.V. maintained friendly relations with physicists and biologists of Western countries.

In the Soviet Union in 1929, the laboratory of S.S.Chetverikov was destroyed. Newspapers and magazines published devastating articles about the "Morganists" - famous biologists Yu.A.Filipchenko, G.A.Levitsky, G.D.Karpechenko. They forced Koltsov to leave University. Koltsov advised N.V. not to return to Russia. In 1937, Hermann Muller left the Soviet Union. In 1940, N.I.Vavilov was arrested, later, N.K.Koltsov died. T.Lysenko and I.Present became powerful.

The Second World War. At this time, Ribbentrop shook hands with Stalin, Molotov said: "Germany is in the position of a state striving for an early end to the war and for peace, and England and France ... stand for the continuation of the war ...". N.V. was summoned to the embassy and was offered to urgently return to his homeland. N.V. refused. He retained his Soviet passport and renounced German citizenship. Many began to condemn him as a defector.

D.A.Granin expressed his misunderstanding of N.V.'s position of removal from what was happening. The answer of the Bison was this: how did you endure everything? Why did you endure? This is reminiscent of a conversation and dispute on the same topic between N.V.Timofeev-Resovsky and M.E.Lobashev, at which D.A.Granin was present (S.G. Inge-Vechtomov "Retrospective of genetics". Course of lectures 2020, p.234).

N.V. participated in a secret action of German scientists, he arranged Jews for work, helped more than a hundred refugees to get a job. Another group of German anti-fascists helped the escaped prisoners of war. There were denunciations to the Gestapo on N.V. He was not touched because by that time, he was considered the most famous geneticist. N.V. told D.A.Granin about his eldest son Foma: "Foma was in an underground group. There were several such underground groups, mostly, Russians from the emigration. The rest were Germans, sons of high officials. There was a provocateur in their group. Then, about fifty young people were arrested. It was in 1943. Foma was threatened with death and N.V. started going to church to pray. Despite the fear of losing Foma, he did not stop helping the refugees. Elena Alexandrovna took out documents on racial usefulness.

The war separated people more and more and it was not clear how to unite them. In 1944, the son of Max Planck was arrested and shot. Scientists of Buch hastily left. Buch was empty and terror intensified. Granin writes how difficult and even impossible it is for people on opposite sides of the war to understand each other. He saw himself "only shooting". N.V. still believed that his job was not to throw grenades, not to kill, but to save people. Despite the division, Granin writes about the brotherhood of scientists: scientists invited the Timofeev-Resovskys to America where their friends Delbr?ck, Gamow and Morgan worked.

Ril, Rompe and others met the arrival of the Russian military in Buch in the basement of Timofeevs' house. A.P.Zavenyagin that supervised the problem of radiation shield, instructed Timofeev to be head of the institute until the issue of their moving to the Soviet Union was resolved. In those days, N.V. turned out not to shake hands, as he worked for the Germans. He was arrested and taken to prison. Zavenyagin found Timofeev in Karlag only at the beginning of 1947. He was in serious condition, with the last stage of pellagra.

Life in Germany and in the Soviet Union turned into harsh repressions, concentration camps and executions. The Timofeev-Resovsky family was not spared the repressions. However, N.V. carried out further research, helped refugees and was in friendly relations with Western colleagues.

Fifties, Ural. In the Urals, by agreement with Zavenyagin, N.V. was supposed to study the effect of radiation on living organisms. Elena Alexandrovna and Andrey came from Buch to the Urals. They studied the pathways of radioisotopes in plants and animal organisms, later, in natural biogeocenoses at the biostation in Miassovo. In the evenings, they sat by the fire and sang songs. Guests came from Moscow, Leningrad and other cities. In Miassovo, they talked about forbidden genetics and cybernetics. In the late fifties, genetics was declared "a pseudoscience generated by imperialism." In 1956, N.V. was invited to make a report at P.L.Kapitsa, at one of the "kapichniks". This was taken as the beginning of the restoration of biology.

Despite the prohibitions, N.V. was engaged in science and in Miassovo, new students reached out to him. Young V.I.Korogodin, G.G.Polikarpov and other biologists, famous nowadays, that later were students in Russia, Ukraine, Armenia, were among them. Pupils of students adopted the orders of scientific schools of N.V. genetics, radiobiology (Moscow, Obninsk, Dubna) and marine radioecology (Sevastopol, Kyiv, Ukraine).

Seventies, Obninsk. In Obninsk, they gathered at the apartment of the Timofeev-Resovskys. In the evenings, N.V. organized seminars on the history of music and the arts in general at his home. The order has not changed since the time of Drozsoor, in Berlin and in the Urals everything was the same. Afterwards, the seminars were closed. They offered to fire the director from the institute. He was fired.

Saying goodbye to friends, N.V. said that his life was happy thanks to the good people that surrounded him and Lelka.

After all the vicissitudes of life, N.V. remained the same, as he had been. He did not fight for his beliefs, he simply followed them in any conditions. D.A.Granin writes: "Everything is changing - interpretation, explanation, relations, concepts of the gene, cell, laws of heredity. Yet, there are things that remain from departed scientists. Their moral actions, their moral rules, the laws of their decency. A few ones manage to establish a school..."

In 1965, the Bison was awarded the Kimber Medal "For outstanding work in the field of mutation." Before that, he had been awarded medals: Darwin (GDR), Mendeleev Prize (Czechoslovakia), Lazaro Scalanzani medal (Italy). He was Full Member of the German Academy, Honorary Member of the American Academy, of the Italian Society of Biologists, of the Mendeleev Society in Sweden, of the British Genetic Society and of the Max Planck Scientific Society in Germany.

For the first time, D.A.Granin presented the life of scientists in Germany, against the background of the growth of totalitarianism and fascism and in the Soviet Union, during the transition from free scientific research to the ban on home lectures on art. The versatility of situations and different destinies made us think about the ambiguity of the "standard" concepts of "patriotism", "humanism" and even "decency". The slogan "Science without borders" appeared. It was Daniil Alexandrovich's book that gave us the image of the Bison that became a model of the scientist's self-reliance.

***

V.I.Korogodin sent me to get acquainted with Granin. At the first meeting, D.A. asked me what "human independence" was? Apparently, he was pleased with our acquaintance. We were in contact with each other two or three times a year, starting in the late 1990s. He did not impose his point of view, reserving the right to make mistakes.

Traits of some people are passed on to others, not necessarily to students. Timofeev-Resovsky and Granin were "sowers" of independence and freedom of choice.

Viktoria KOROGODINA

Additional sources about the life of N. V. Timofeev-Resovsky

Elena S.Sakanyan 1988-1991. Trilogy about the Bison: 1. Next to the Bison; 2. Bison hunting; 3. Heroes and traitors. Documentaries. Creative Association "The Fourth Dimension"

Vladimir I.Korogodin. 1990. Teacher. Nature No.9, pp. 85-94.

Nikolai Vladimirovich Timofeev-Resovsky. Essays. Memories. Materials. 1993 / comp. and ed. Nikolai N. Vorontsov. M: Science. Series "Scientists of Russia. Essays. Memories. Materials". 394 p. ISBN 5020057061, 9785020057067

N.V.Timofeev-Resovsky. 2000. Stories told by himself, with letters, photographs and documents. / M: Consent. Comp. and ed. N. Dubrovina. 890 p. ISBN 5-86884-080-1Manfred Rayevsky. 2016. Nikolai Vladimirovich Timofeev-Resovsky. Per. V. L. Korogodina. Letters to the Bulletin of VOGIS "History of Genetics" pp.1-16. https://sites.icgbio.ru/vogis/download/history_of_Genetics/appx_3.pdf; Manfred Rajewsky: Nikolai V. Timofeeff-Ressovsky (1900-1981), published in: Geneticists in Berlin-Buch, by the Max Delbruck Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC), May 2008.

Sergey N.Kulikov. 2022. Elena Alexandrovna Timofeeva-Resovskaya at the forefront of radiobiology in the XX century. IJRB. V. 98, Issue 3: Women in radiobiology, p 288-296. DOI: 10.1080/09553002.2021.1941381