September 13: In memory of writer Alexander Kazantsev
On September 13, 2002, 96-year-old inventor and writer Alexander Kazantsev, one of the founders of Soviet science fiction, died in Peredelkino. An engineer, a veteran of the war, and the author of the hypothesis about the extraterrestrial nature of the Tunguska meteorite, he coined the word "alien" and remained a staunch communist until his death.
Science fiction is not a prophecy. It is merely a mirror reflecting reality at its best. The dream of our time.
From a merchant family in Akmola
Alexander Kazantsev was born in Akmola (now Astana) in 1906. He came from a wealthy merchant family. His father, a disabled veteran of the Civil War, worked as the director of a prosthetic workshop during the Soviet era. His mother, a music teacher, taught her son to play the piano virtuously.
Engineering School
At 24, Kazantsev graduated from the Siberian Technological Institute. He was appointed chief mechanic at the Beloretsk Metallurgical Plant, where he received "a real engineering education." He later transferred to the All-Union Research Institute of Electromechanics. In 1939, he represented the industrial department of the Soviet pavilion at the New York World's Fair.
War and the "Kazantsev mines"
During the Great Patriotic War, he was called up to the front. He fought in a sapper battalion, where his engineering talent was quickly recognized. He worked as chief engineer at one of the first Soviet factories and institutes, No. 627. He developed wire-guided "land torpedoes" (Kazantsev mines), which were used to break the siege of Leningrad.
In 1945, he was appointed commissioner of the State Defense Committee. He dismantled Austrian factories and sent them to the USSR as reparations. He was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 2nd Class, and the Order of the Red Star.
The Tunguska meteorite and the "Burning Island"
Kazantsev entered literature before the war. In 1940, in his novel "The Burning Island," he was the first in the USSR to propose the hypothesis that the Tunguska meteorite was an exploding alien spacecraft with a nuclear engine.
In 1946, after the bombing of Hiroshima, he wrote the story "Explosion." In it, he discussed the similar nuclear effects of the Japanese and Tunguska explosions.
They turned out to be as similar as twins
His hypothesis gave new impetus to years of scientific research into the Tunguska meteorite. Dozens of expeditions were sent to the explosion site, including a team led by designer Sergei Korolev.
Science fiction that anticipated inventions
Kazantsev's other science fiction novels—Arctic Bridge, The Severny Pier, and The Ice Returns—depicted the construction of an underwater tunnel between the USSR and America, a massive ice dam in the Arctic, and the threats of the Cold War.
In 1962, his novella "Planet of Storms" ("Grandchildren of Mars") was adapted for the screen by director Pavel Klushantsev; the film rights were acquired by Hollywood studios. In 1971, he published a warning novel to earthlings, "Phaetians," about the destruction of the fictional planet Phaeton by nuclear war.
Kazantsev was called a "typical Soviet utopian," one of the pioneers of ufology in the USSR, and a "Russian prophet" of science fiction. He was one of the prototypes characters of the works Strugatsky brothers - Arkady Strugatsky called him the "leader" of Soviet science fiction.
His novels anticipated many inventions, such as the first Soviet lunar rover. Kazantsev coined and introduced over 100 new words into the Russian language, including "alien." He was also one of the developers of cardiac pacemakers.
The scope from fairy tale to precognition
From lizards to distant stars.
It takes us to distant lands
Fantasy of the mind and dreams
("Ode to Fantasy", 1978)
Loyal to the party
Kazantsev remained a loyal communist throughout his life. On his initiative, the Moscow Writers' Community condemned the "enemy of the people" Boris Pasternak in 1958:
Here the question is: “Who needs it?” It seems to me that we should say that we don’t need it, and we should ask the government to draw a conclusion.
Moreover, in 1972, he was the only writer to speak out in defense of the memory of Ivan Efremov, author of The Andromeda Nebula, when the KGB posthumously searched his home. He remained loyal to the Communist Party even after the collapse of the USSR.
I vote only for the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.
Kazantsev was also known as a chess composer and Olympic champion in chess studies. By the age of 90, he had mastered the computer and worked until he went blind.
The fate of truth seekers is not easy,
But their shadow will reach the clouds for centuries!
