On February 28, what did "Komsomolskaya Pravda" report? A flight to Venus and poems by Yevgeny Yevtushenko.
1936
Academician Pavlov passed away. He was the first Russian scientist to receive the Nobel Prize (awarded in 1904 for achievements in physiology and medicine).
The significance of this great physiologist has been fully recognized by the Soviet state. The notes poignantly emphasize the bitterness of loss and the scale of the scientist's talent. Among them is a brief biographical overview:
“Ivan Petrovich Pavlov was born on September 27, 1849, in the city of Ryazan. He came from a family of a priest. Ivan Petrovich received his secondary education at the Ryazan Theological Seminary. In his youth, he was greatly influenced by the popular science articles of Pisarev, which propagated the works of Büchner and Voigt. Under this influence, Ivan Petrovich enrolled in the natural sciences faculty at St. Petersburg University. A book by Sechenov titled “Reflexes of the Brain” made a strong impression on him during his youth. This attempt to find a material basis for mental activity was later assessed by Pavlov as a “genius leap of Sechenov’s thought.”
“The overwhelming majority of the leading physiologists of the USSR came from Pavlov's school. It is hardly possible to find a scientist in the history of science who has trained such a large number of qualified specialists.”
“I. P. Pavlov died at the age of 86. Yet he remained youthful until the last days of his life. He maintained phenomenal productivity and the clarity of his genius until the end of his days.
Pavlov departed not as an old invalid. He died at the height of his scientific career. The thread of life was severed, but his work will live on.”
1961
The front page reports on our cosmic achievements:
“Tens of millions of kilometers of cosmic emptiness separate our Earth from the nearest planet. This colossal distance is currently being traversed by an automatic interplanetary station (AMS) sent to Venus by the will and efforts of the Soviet people.
On February 12, 1961, a heavy satellite carrying a space rocket, which housed the AMS, was launched into orbit around the Earth. Upon command from Earth, at a precisely designated moment and location, the space rocket was launched from the satellite. When the rocket exceeded the second cosmic velocity, its engine shut down, the AMS separated, and it flew toward Venus by inertia.”
“The AMS radio transmits scientific information back to Earth. Currently, the instruments on the AMS are studying cosmic rays in interplanetary space, magnetic fields of the universe ranging from a few gamma units to several tens of gamma units, measuring solar particle streams and charged particles of cosmic gas, and recording micrometeoroids. Externally, the AMS has a hermetically sealed cylindrical body. Inside, there are instruments, blocks of chemical batteries. Outside the body are sensors of scientific equipment, two solar panel arrays, thermal regulation system shutters, and elements of the orientation system. Additionally, four antennas are mounted on the outside. Inside, the temperature is maintained at a constant level by the thermal regulation system.
On board the AMS is a pennant featuring the emblem of the USSR. Inside the pennant is a commemorative medal, at the center of which is depicted a map of the solar system with the orbits of Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars.
The spherical pennant is housed in a special protective shell, the outer surface of which is made of pentagonal elements of stainless steel featuring the State Emblem of the USSR and the inscription “Earth - Venus. 1961.”
2015
The year 2015 has been declared the Year of Literature in Russia. A great friend of "Komsomolka" and a renowned poet, Yevgeny Yevtushenko, sent his new poems to the editorial office. One of the poems is dedicated to Yevtushenko's wife, Maria.
MARIA VLADIMIROVNA
Beloved -
it sounds in Russian like родимая,
But what if there are countless family quarrels in the house?
What did I do to offend you,
Maria Vladimirovna,
and the previous kind Masha couldn’t save you?
Is love forever -
has it really exhausted itself and gone extinct?
And here I am, unable to spend even a day without you,
as if someone has taken you out of my life,
Maria Vladimirovna,
And if you are not with me,
then I do not exist.
Wrinkles from quarrels - they are the most indelible.
And a house filled with disputes, is it even a home?
Let’s go
in search of the lost Masha,
and let’s convince ourselves to forgive
and bring us home.
February 20, 2015.
Other poems by Yevtushenko — exclusively for “KP,” read on the website.