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

Roald Z. Sagdeev

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0471020311 ISBN 13: 9780471020318

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, 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 Back Cover

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.

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.

Reviews

Sagdeev, a physicist who directed the former Soviet Union's Space Research Institute from 1973 to 1990, played a crucial role in restraining a Soviet counteroffensive to the U.S. "Star Wars" program, thereby helping to forestall an acceleration of the nuclear arms race in space. This modest, anecdotal memoir provides a rare, valuable insider's look at the Soviet military-industrial machine. Working on the U.S.S.R.'s abortive controlled-fusion program in the 1950s, Sagdeev witnessed Stalin's destructive interference with the scientific community. Providing close-ups of Brezhnev, Gorbachev and physicist/dissident Andrei Sakharov, his narrative shows how space projects of real scientific value were hobbled while top priority was given to costly, prestige-oriented feats meant to rival those of NASA. Sagdeev is now a physics professor at the University of Maryland; his wife, Susan Eisenhower, the book's editor, is Ike's granddaughter, adding a twist to this Cold War account.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The West's understanding of science under communism is painted in broad strokes: the horrors of Lysenkoism, the house arrest of Peter Kapitsa, the banishment of Sakharov, and innumerable accounts of persecution and consignment to asylums or gulags for dissidents, and even nondissidents if they were Jews. Sagdeev's story is different. Born in 1932 he was the gifted son of Tatar parents, his father having been plucked from the peasantry to become a mathematician and teacher. Sagdeev graduated from Moscow State University and proved worthy of mentorship under the likes of Lev Landau, Igor Kurchatov, and Kapitsa himself. What follows next is a career line in which Sagdeev demonstrated his gifts for science and administration, first in research on controlled fusion--an area where Russian research has been outstanding--and then in space science. Sagdeev was director of the Space Research Institute in Moscow--the civilian space agency. There, and in his earlier positions in the academic city founded in Novosibirsk, Sagdeev fought a constant battle with the military-industrial complex, party functionaries, and the KGB. Sheer wit, intelligence, and bravado enabled him to win more often than not--over assorted villains with nicknames like the ``Big Hammer'' or ``Big Oleg.'' This fighting within the system opened the way to international communications, travel, and scientific collaboration--a pre- glasnost glasnost. It makes for remarkable reading, often laced with insights into Russian thinking and humor. It is not without interest that Sagdeev's editor and the cause of his ``heart'' drain to America (where he teaches physics at Univ. of Maryland) is his present wife--Susan Eisenhower, granddaughter of the man who coined the term military-industrial complex. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

World-class scientist Sagdeev, currently distinguished professor of physics and director of the East-West Center for Space Science at the University of Maryland, has written an autobiography of his professional career. (The work has been edited by his wife, the granddaughter of President Dwight D. Eisenhower.) While the reader learns little of his personal life, this account offers great insight into the politics of Soviet science and the impact of the Cold War in shaping scientific research-East and West. As director of the Space Research Institute for the Soviet Union, Sagdeev practiced perestroika before the term came into usage; he eventually served as summit adviser to Mikhail Gorbachev and his science adviser. With its clear and easy-to-read style, absence of technical jargon, and wit and charm-even the footnotes are enjoyable-this book is highly recommended.
Elizabeth Fielder Olson, Archer & Greiner, Haddonfield, N.J.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Americans first widely encountered Sagdeev during the Apollo-Soyuz project of 1975, when the Soviet physicist headed up the Space Research Institute. Later, during the transitional glasnost period, he made television appearances here, so readers fascinated with the history of spaceflight know his name and should be interested in anecdotes about his career within the Communist system. The bright prot{‚}eg{‚}e of Lev Landau, the famed world-class theoretician and survivor of Stalinist persecution, Sagdeev specialized in the physics of ultrahot plasma. In 1973, he moved from conducting experiments to managing the interplanetary missions of the Soviet space program, a role that required him to report to bosses at the pinnacle of the nomenklatura, and his recounting of commands from all-powerful but scientifically ignorant apparatchiks echo the exasperation evident in the numerous memoirs from the Brezhnev "era of stagnation." Discursive but replete with stories on bureaucrats, arms control, and missions to Mars and Venus, these memories reflect the awkwardness of conducting a noble enterprise under ignoble conditions. Gilbert Taylor

Edition details

• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
• Publication date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0471020311
• ISBN 13: 9780471020318
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 339
• Editor: Susan Eisenhower