Professor Yefremov's KGB Files
Ivan Antipovich Yefremov (1908-1972) led a life full of adventures, scientific research and accomplishments, discoveries, and hard work.
He was born in a village in 1908 (the true year of his birth), the son of a peasant’s daughter and a Russian government official. As a teenager, lost in the war-torn land, he joined the Red Army, was adopted by a motor transport company during the Civil War and he was badly wounded by a shell from a British gunboat.
Countless other Soviet boys (and adults), including the author of this article, for years had read his stories about explorers and scientists; and loved Yefremov’s bold science fiction novels, too. He was a distinguished scientist; geology and paleontology were his main fields of applied research. Doctor of biological sciences, Ivan Yefremov had written more than 100 scientific works (unfortunately, only few of them were published in languages other than Russian ), a brilliant sci-fi writer, and a bold visionary.
Professor Yefremov’s favorite Western authors were H. G. Wells, H. Rider Haggard, Joseph Conrad, Jules Verne, and Jack London.
This was a human being who loved to help and assist people any way he could. His kindness and goodwill were combined with toughness, for he knew how to defend his point of view; yet he always remained respectful, and mindful of the dignity of other people.
Let us look briefly what Yefremov accomplished between the time he left the Red Army and 1972. He worked as a sailor in the mid 1920s (in the Far East and the Caspian Sea); was a driver; participated in zoological expeditions, and began his scientific education in paleontology.
He was no bookworm! Yefremov, a physically powerful individual with a sense of humor, was adept in anything he did; according to his son, the man could do the work of a carpenter, a lathe operator; and repair any device.
From 1929 on he dedicated himself fully to academic studies, and participated in the paleontological expeditions to remote areas of the Urals, Central Asia, and Siberia. Ivan had a keen eye, and took detailed notes; later, he authored stories about his travels and work. He was a capable student, too, and received his Ph. D. in 1935 (at the Leningrad College of Mines). Then, in 1937, in a very bloody year of Soviet history, Yefremov became the director of the laboratory of low vertebrates of Moscow Paleontological Institute. Finally, he received the Doctor of Science degree in the spring 1941.
A talented paleontologist, Ivan Yefremov coined the term taphonomy and founded the study of taphonomy in 1940 (and by doing so has turned paleontology into exact science). Taphonomy (“laws of burial” in Greek) is the science that studies the process of decay and fossilization. By using the methods of taphonomy it is easier for scientists to find the dinosaur bones.
Young Russian scientist Yefremov used such methods during his Mongolian paleontological expeditions.
When Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union, Yefremov was sent to carry out the defense-related projects in the Urals ( but he wanted to go to the front, to fight the invaders…). There he began his writing career by writing and publishing wonderful short stories and science fiction novels. Looking back now, it is uncanny that Yefremov was able to predict the discovery of diamond deposits in Yakutia; it is fascinating to realize that because of his ideas a Soviet scientist some years later was able to discover practical holography. What is also uncanny is that the KGB later whined that Yefremov knew where the diamond deposits were located but would not tell the authorities and instead revealed the state secret through his story.
YEFREMOV’S WORLDS
His imagination ranged between mysteries of ancient history and depiction of a distant future. His novels include the wonderful The Land of Foam, the story about friendship among escaped slaves (Africans, Greeks, Semites and others) set in ancient Egypt, subtropical Africa, Crete and Greece; he enthralled Soviet readers with his description of Minoan Crete, and other ancient sites. His novel Tais of Athens described chronicles of the protagonist’s life from meeting Alexander the Great, to her travels through the Hellenic world to her reign as queen of Memphis in Egypt. It was a superbly researched novel describing the history, customs and geography of oecumena, the populated ancient world; it also carried mention of ancient and lost scientific devices …such as medical machine used in China for accurate diagnosis, and Babylonian telescopes.
He loved Earth and had faith in humanity’s potential, but knew of the dangers that could destroy both. Long before it became an issue and fashionable, Professor Yefremov demonstrated concerns about ecology of the planet, and harm to the environment during the nuclear arms race.
Yefremov believed that Man is part of vast Nature whose redoubtable essence no one is able to determine to the fullest extent. His protagonists are beautiful, highly moral, superbly trained people, both physically and psychologically. Yefremov was convinced that a human personality can be fully established in the process of physical, emotional, and spiritual development.
