The Making of a Soviet Scientist: My Adventures in Nuclear Fusion and Space From Stalin to Star Wars - Hardcover

Sagdeev, Roald Z.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0471020311 ISBN 13: 9780471020318

Publisher: Jossey Bass, 1994

Synopsis

The critically acclaimed memoir that rips the curtain of secrecy off the world of Soviet science

"Revelations and insights about the Soviet space program . . . It is good that such a wise man will live among us for a while." ––The New York Times

"A rare, valuable, insider′s look at the Soviet military industrial machine."––Publishers Weekly

"I found it fascinating . . . important not only to scientists, but also for those who fashion government politics generally."––Herman Feshbach Institute Professor Emeritus Massachusetts Institute of Technology

"A real contribution to the literature of the space age."––Chicago Sun–Times

"This is a powerful yet charming account of the Soviet Union′s scientific, space, and military enterprise, characterized by Sagdeev′s frank and insightful style mixed with delightful humor and humanity."––Charles H. Townes Nobel Laureate in Physics University of California, Berkeley

"For all who are interested in the interaction of science and society, and in the nature of the Soviet Union as seen by a keen observer who was at the same time an ′insider′ and a dedicated humanist, this book is highly recommended." ––Physics Today

About this title

About the Author

ROALD Z. SAGDEEV is Distinguished Professor of Physics and director of the East–West Center for Space Sciences at the University of Maryland. As director of the Space Research Institute, the eminent physicist led the joint U.S.–Soviet Apollo–Soyuz mission and the international missions to Halley′s Comet. In addition to his scientific career, Dr. Sagdeev played a major political role during the first five years of perestroika, serving as an advisor to Mikhail Gorbachev at the Geneva, Washington, and Moscow summits.

From the Inside Flap

Roald Z. Sagdeev, a top–ranked international scientist, has written a classic memoir that rips the curtain of secrecy off the world of Soviet science. Dr. Sagdeev was the youngest full member of the USSR’s prestigious Academy of Sciences. As director of the Space Research Institute, he led the joint U.S.–Soviet Apollo–Soyuz mission, the Venera series to Venus, and the international missions to Halley’s Comet. Boris Yeltsin bestowed on him the Soviet Union’s highest award for achievement. Born in 1932, he had grown up in the elite culture of the technical universities and done pioneering work on the behavior of hot plasma physics in controlled thermonuclear fusion at the beginning of the cold war, a time of fierce competition between east and west in nuclear science. From his vantage point at the pinnacle of Soviet science, he observed first–hand the inner workings of its secretive military–industrial complex. Now, as the first top decision maker to leave the "complex," he is finally free to expose the extraordinary extent to which the scientific community was used to foster the objectives of the Communist party and the military establishment. His account of the corruption and hypocrisy of the Brezhnev era and its impact on Gorbachev and his failed perestroika provides an unprecedented portrait of the era. Writing with extraordinary candor, Dr. Sagdeev reveals startling details of the most politically sensitive scientific issues of the Cold War years. He identifies the key players in the Soviet nuclear weapons program (nearly all of whom he worked with) and recounts the internal battles over SDI technology and his own role in killing Russia’s own "Star Wars" program. He explains how Gorbachev was deceived about Soviet technical capabilities by his own people and how the arms talks in Geneva were jeopardized as a consequence. He describes the military–space community’s farcical attempt to cover up Soviet technical inferiority during the joint Apollo–Soyuz flight. And he tells the real reasons why Andrei Sakharov was exiled to Gorky. In a style that Time has described as a "mixture of wit, charm, and trenchant observation," Roald Z. Sagdeev recounts his extraordinary career and his struggle to do honest science. The result is a landmark scientific memoir, full of provocative insights into the making of a world–class scientist in our times.

Edition details

• Publisher: Jossey Bass
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0471020311
• ISBN 13: 9780471020318
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 340