People
Cosmonauts, scientists, leaders, engineers and artists — the lives of the people who shaped the era.
Lev Landau: Why Quantum Liquids Won the 1962 Nobel Prize
Why did Lev Landau win the 1962 Nobel Prize? A clear guide to liquid helium, superfluidity, quasiparticles and the documents behind his scientific recognition.
Nikolai Vavilov: Why Crop Diversity Was Worth Collecting
Explore Nikolai Vavilov’s work on crop diversity, the purpose of seed collections, his imprisonment and how historical samples support modern research.
Sergei Korolev: the chief designer of the Soviet space programme
The man who put the USSR into space first. He survived Stalin's camps, launched the first satellite and Gagarin — yet during his life his very name was a secret.
Alexei Leonov: the first human to walk in space
On 18 March 1965 Alexei Leonov became the first person to walk in space. The story of a feat that nearly turned to tragedy, a night in the taiga and a historic handshake in orbit.
Vladimir Vysotsky: the voice of an era, with a seven-string guitar
A poet, singer and actor called "the voice of the heart of a nation." How Vysotsky became a nationwide idol even though the authorities barely recognized him in his lifetime.
Andrei Sakharov: from the hydrogen bomb to the fight for human rights
The physicist who created the Soviet hydrogen bomb and then became the USSR's most famous dissident and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate. The story of "the conscience of mankind."