На четвертой лекции поговорим о науке в тюрьме. Шарашки, работы в застенках НКВД (на примере биографии Вавилова), которые так и не увидели свет и были засекречены, но о самих работах мы знаем.

“Science in Prison” — the fourth lecture from Simkha Borman’s series “Survival Instructions (Through the Example of Science)”

The idea of science as a “pure and independent” human activity, detached from politics, is highly romanticized and far from reality. Using the work of biologists from the Russian Empire, the USSR, and Russia in the 20th and early 21st centuries as examples, we will explore how it was technically possible — from designing experiments to publishing results — to continue doing science under conditions of wars, repression, imprisonment, political persecution, forced emigration, and the Iron Curtain.

The fourth lecture will focus on science in prison. We will discuss the sharashka system, research conducted within NKVD prisons (using the biography of Vavilov as an example), and scientific works that were never published and remained classified — yet whose existence and significance are known today.