“What else can prevent someone from doing science and publishing?” — the fifth and final lecture of Simkha Borman’s series “A Survival Guide (Using Science as an Example)”

“What else can prevent someone from doing science and publishing?” — the fifth and final lecture of Simkha Borman’s series “A Survival Guide (Using Science as an Example)”

Science has never existed in a vacuum. Throughout the 20th century, Russian and Soviet scientists faced not only wars and repression — sometimes it was enough to have the “wrong” nationality, the “wrong” background, or to disagree with the dominant scientific paradigm.

In the final lecture we will discuss less obvious, yet no less destructive obstacles: how the biologist Beritashvili was forced to publish under the Russified surname “Beritov,” and what happened to those who dared to challenge official science — illustrated by the cases of Koshtoyants and Sakharov.

Throughout the series, we examined how — technically, from designing an experiment to publishing results — it was possible to continue doing science in conditions of war, repression, prison, and the Iron Curtain.
The fifth lecture concludes this discussion.