As a world-renowned academician at almost 90 years of age, he defended his homeland

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

In the winter of 1942, a new shooter arrived in the infantry battalion, which participated in clashes with the enemy near Leningrad. The soldiers of the unit were very surprised to see in front of them an intelligent elderly man with round glasses and a neat beard. No one had any idea that this 87-year-old old man with not the sharpest eyesight would perform difficult sniper tasks. But anticipating the questions of the newly minted colleagues, the man said that he had successfully completed the sniper courses and was shooting without missing a shot.

Tsarist opposition and endless imprisonment

Nikolai Morozov was born in the Crimean War (1854). As a high school student, he joined a group of populists and soon joined the ranks of the founders of the terrorist association "Narodnaya Volya". After participating in the organization of the assassination attempt on Alexander II, in order to avoid arrest, he went abroad. There Morozov met K. Marx. In 1882, he tried to return home unnoticed, but was captured and severely convicted. In Russia, terrorism was punishable by life imprisonment.

The next decades of Morozov's life were spent in prison. First, he ended up in the Alekseevsky ravelin of Petropavlovka, and then in the Shlisselburg fortress. But even in the most severe conditions of detention, Nikolai Alexandrovich used his time with benefit. During the period of imprisonment, Morozov reached brilliant scientific heights. He learned at least a dozen foreign languages, including the ancients, wrote many research papers in the exact sciences, touched on historical aspects and even aviation issues. In addition, he created talented poems, stories in the genre of science fiction and extensive memoirs. In total, the hardworking political prisoner prepared 26 handwritten volumes.

It should be borne in mind that being behind bars in the former prison for the Decembrists (Peter and Paul Fortress) was not at all comfortable. In the first years alone, 11 out of 15 convicts died from severe acquired ailments, together with Nikolai. Morozov also had scurvy and tuberculosis. The prison doctor who examined him in 1883 had already reported to the authorities about the impending end of the prisoner. But the latter not only miraculously recovered, but also lived brightly for more than 60 years.

Revolution, Mendeleev's Recommendations and Lenin's Criticism

Nikolai Morozov was released from prison with the arrival of the revolution - under an amnesty. For valuable chemical discoveries in the conclusion he was immediately awarded the degree of Doctor of Science, and not just like that, but with a recommendation visa from Mendeleev himself. Yesterday's prisoner was also noted in the business of aeronautics on balloons and airplanes. Once during the next flight, the gendarmes became interested in him, fearing his terrorist past. But during a search of the apartment, no bombs, which he supposedly could have dropped on the sovereign, nor even a hint of this were found.

And they lagged behind Morozov. But not for long: in 1911 he was again detained for a collection of poems, having been kept under arrest for a whole year. Then there was another arrest for rebellion in 1912 and a new amnesty in 1913. Some historians claim that on the eve of 1917, Nikolai Morozov collaborated with the cadets, who offered him the post of deputy minister of education. Morozov did not immediately agree with the Bolsheviks, considering socialism an untimely phenomenon. He assured the public of the bankruptcy of the social revolution in Russia at that time and argued with Lenin that there would be no proletariat without the bourgeoisie.

Scientific work and front-line aspirations

During the Soviet period, Nikolai Alexandrovich delved into science. For many years he chaired the Council of the Russian Society of Lovers of World Studies. From 1918 until the end of his life he was the head of the Leningrad Natural Science Institute. Following Tsiolkovsky, Nikolai Morozov trampled the first paths for Russian cosmonautics. He was the creator of the prototype of the space suit - a high-altitude hermetic suit. In 1932, Nikolai Alexandrovich was elected an honorary member of the Soviet Academy of Sciences.

Before the revolution, this scientific title was conferred exclusively on members of the imperial family and their individual dignitaries. Under the USSR, only 10 times became an “honorary academician”. For a complete list of scientific and career achievements of Morozov, multivolume reports are needed. But it will not be an exaggeration to say that for his era he was the second Lomonosov. One can only imagine the reaction of the military commissars, at the doors of which this authoritative 87-year-old old man entered in 1941 with a strict demand to go to the front.

A dozen Germans in a few weeks of sniper

The Honored Academician of the USSR, while in Leningrad, in the first minutes of the declared war, wrote a statement to the military registration and enlistment office demanding that he be sent to the front line. He was immediately refused, but Morozov was more than determined, attacking the recruiting offices with letters and calls. He explained that he must fulfill his main duty and get even with the Nazis for Leningrad and its inhabitants. Finding no understanding among the military leadership, the scientist decided to cheat. He stated that he was developing a fundamentally new sight for a sniper rifle and further work required experimental tests in combat conditions. Moreover, for refusal, he threatened with a complaint to Stalin himself. The military surrendered, giving the respected scientist a month.

Finding himself among the rank and file soldiers of the Volkhov Front, he assured the young amazed battalion commander that he did not need discounts for age and status. All Morozov demanded was to provide him with a separate sniper position. With the first accurate shot, the aged sniper killed the German officer, whom he watched in the sight for a good two hours, barely breathing. After the first, others followed. The honorary academician made at least ten notches on his rifle. As a scientist, he carried out his business with a scientific approach: he took into account the strength and direction of the wind, the humidity of the air. Officers and fighters from other units came to see the miracle sniper. But the front-line epic of the elderly volunteer quickly ended.

A month later, as agreed, Morozov, despite his categorical protest, was sent to the rear to continue scientific research. In 1944, Nikolai Morozov was awarded the medal "For the Defense of Leningrad", and a little later - the Order of Lenin. Having lived to see Victory, Nikolai Alexandrovich Morozov died in the summer of 1946.

In the Soviet Union, being a scientist was sometimes dangerous. So academician Lev Zilber, who defeated the outbreak of the plague, ended up in prison.