Птушенко В.В.
Научно-исследовательский институт физико-химической биологии имени А.Н. Белозерского Московского государственного университета имени М.В. Ломоносова, Москва, Россия
Институт биохимической физики имени Н.М. Эмануэля РАН
Ляпунова Е.А.
Институт биологии развития им. Н.К. Кольцова РАН, Москва, Россия
DOI: 10.24412/2076-8176-2021-4-150-168
Публикуются выдержки из переписки семьи Ляпуновых: математика Алексея Андреевича Ляпунова, его дочерей — биологов Елены Алексеевны и Натальи Алексеевны Ляпуновых, и биолога Николая Николаевича Воронцова — мужа Е.А. Ляпуновой. Письма охватывают период с 1955 по 1962 г. В переписке нашла отражение история трудного преодоления лысенковщины и возрождения генетики в нашей стране, а также другие ключевые события жизни науки тех лет: становление кибернетики, создание Новосибирского академгородка, радиационная опасность ядерных испытаний. Выдержки были отобраны Н.Н. Воронцовым и предназначены для книги «Зубр» Д.А. Гранина, однако в текст книги не вошли и опубликованы не были.
Ключевые слова: генетика, кибернетика, Н.Н. Воронцов, Н.В. Тимофеев-Ресовский, дело сестёр Ляпуновых, лысенковщина, Зоологический институт АН СССР, Новосибирский академгородок.
The history of Russian science through the correspondence of the Lyapunov family (1955–1962)
Vasily V. Ptushenko
A.N. Belozersky Institute of Physico-Chemical Biology of M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University; N.M. Emanuel Institute of Biochemical Physics of Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
Elena A. Lyapunova
N.K. Koltzov Institute of Developmental Biology of Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
DOI: 10.24412/2076-8176-2021-4-150-168
Excerpts from the correspondence of the Lyapunov family are published here for the first time. Soviet mathematician Alexey A. Lyapunov (1911-1973) is known mainly as the founder of Russian cybernetics. At the same time, due to his versatile erudition, profound interest in biology, and active civic engagement, Lyapunov and his family members (his daughters Elena and Natalia, who became biologists, and their husbands, zoologist and evolutionary biologist Nikolai Vorontsov and geneticist Yuri Bogdanov) were direct participants in the history of difficult overcoming of Lysenkoism and revival of genetics in the Soviet Union. This history and some other important events and concerns in Soviet science (the formation of cybernetics, creation of the Novosibirsk Akademgorodok, and radiological dangers of nuclear weapons testing) are reflected in this correspondence. The overall atmosphere of the time is also reflected in the dramatic events that affected the Lyapunov family, such as the ‘personal case’ of the Lyapunov sisters: the interrogations and persecution of E.A. and N.A. Lyapunovs by Moscow State University’s party leaders for studying genetics.The excerpts, made by N.N. Vorontsov in 1980s, were intended for Daniil Granin’s book “The Bison: A Novel about the Scientist Who Defied Stalin,” devoted to Nikolai Timofeev-Resovskii (Timofeeff- Ressovsky), but have not included in this book and never been published before.Despite the publication since then of an extensive literature concerning the history of genetics in the USSR, these excerpts have not lost their relevance and may be of great interest to historians of science. This publication is accompanied by detailed comments, including brief biographical information about the persons mentioned in the letters, references to and excerpts from cited literature, etc.
Keywords: genetics, cybernetics, N.N. Vorontsov, N.V. Timofeeff-Ressovsky, trial of the Lyapunov sisters, Lysenkovshchina, Zoological Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Novosibirsk Akademgorodok.