Book: My memories

But, of course, the most interesting diving on the Great barrier reef. As a Moslem should make a pilgrimage to Mecca, so the diver should at least once in your life to dive on the Great barrier reef.

What unites the scientist and artist, inventor, and artist? What is common among the people, giving ourselves to creativity? Continuous search for new - new forms and new facts, new patterns and new means of expression. All of them have in common the desire to understand what no one knows, to show his contemporaries and descendants the world the way no one still could not see.

Indeed, the Museum is a wonderful place for shooting and when I was talking about Plisetskaya, I thought it would be good to remove it in the Hermitage. But Maya does not fit the Hermitage, she is not a woman of the eighteenth century, it should be removed in another interior, and then it occurred to me to do it in the Pushkin Museum. <...> Me not so scared of the conversation as what I have to move - the long staircase of the three marches, a long walk with a great dancer, which movement can Express everything, but I can not help. The moment of the shooting is approaching. Finally, the command: "Action!" We went. I was terribly worried, but I feel that Maya M. is wrong - it knows and does best. I have boldly come together and lead the so-called casual conversation. Fortunately, the sound is not recorded, but a passage. We get to the middle of the stairs, and suddenly - "Stop!" We were stopped from the side entrance came the cleaning lady with a bucket and a broom. The frame was broken. We returned to the original position, everyone was upset: the shooting starts with lining. Have to go again, now we have easier and we have something to talk about. Maya tells me that the same story she had in the film in a Russian village. The Director was a Frenchman. During filming in the background there is a kind of unplanned character. The Director stopped the camera and asked through an interpreter to say that, well, ask the gentleman in the background to leave the set. Translator via the loudspeaker announces it - zero attention. The Director once again urged the Lord to leave the area. Again, zero attention. Meanwhile, we continue to climb up, we are already quite close to the camera. Then the translator takes over and says: "Hey you there, come here..." - and I Maya says loudly, clearly articulating. I turn to her and say, "you Know, Maya, one percent of our viewers - deaf who can read lips..." And under that line we came out of the frame. This frame and put it in gear, and we received dozens of letters from deaf and dumb: "How did you let Maya Plisetskaya to say so on TV!"

We have put together two programs about how to save the country through innovation and radical changes. <...> on Monday there was a meeting of the Board of the state planning Commission on the economy of Siberia, to which were invited Aganbegyan. Was made by Baybakov, and half of his speech was devoted to curses against Aganbegyan, well, partially me. He said that the transfer of this - a completely irresponsible thing, we revealed state secrets, misinformed the Soviet people about the state of our economy, having committed ideological sabotage. The result was organized by two commissions: one from the KGB - on the issue of disclosure of state secrets, and the second side of the Central Committee - an ideological error on the Central television. Come these commissions, and they present a full transcript of the transfer with the visa and seal of the state planning Committee! Right hand does not know what the left is doing! And nobody demanded from us with this visa, I just had a happy Epiphany. The investigation began commissions. <...> When it was necessary to draw a line under the investigation of commissions, us - me-Nikolaev - was summoned to the Chairman of the radio and television Vladimir Ivanovich Popov. I knew him, we played tennis. We came to his office, and he was us talk like the boys who burned fizkabinet, broke the window and did something completely inappropriate. "You irresponsible! The country is in such a position! Why are you getting into the economy? Tell better about your galaxy and dandelions". <...> When we went to exit via the huge Cabinet with double doors he went out to escort us, do not understand this courtesy. And when I was walking out of the room, the priests patted me on the shoulder and said, "you Know, Sergey, you did the right thing". Then it was incomprehensible, was in power Chernenko.

I am often asked whether we have censorship. And was was not. I've already told you how they were arranged censorship in Galilee. Now, that's exactly what happened with us. The show was kind of a sworn statement that the materials there is nothing contrary to faith and Fatherland and a statement of the special Commission of experts that the transfer satisfies such requirements. These requirements were a fact, and the experts know them in that area, which answered. I remember, for example, that it was impossible to show in the frame of Mature crabs. Because then it was different legislation concerning crawling and floating marine creatures. While crabs swim, they fish, and when they crawl, that's different. And because sexually Mature crabs can crawl and swim, it is unclear what it is and what rules apply to them. I came across this because our underwater film was crabs. When I was invited to work in television, I said, "You know all about Mature crabs, etc., and you have to answer for everything and we will for you to watch." This is the most sensible system, and I have almost never had serious difficulties with censorship, except that one time with the military, when I was talking about boosters, then powerful accelerators were considered as a space weapon. I said, "You broke it, it was impossible to tell about it". "Well, show that it was impossible to speak?" "No, can't, it's a secret." On this we parted. Such were the times.

We started the conversation. It lasted a little over an hour and provided very interesting and instructive conversation between two experienced experts in their field. Both Leontiev and Foreigners, were absolutely accurate in your conversation. The main point was that there are two economies: the planning and policy - making, and market. Vasily offered a beautiful image: the market economy is a sailing ship at sea. If you rely solely on the wind, the ship entered a completely wrong place. The art of captain in the fact that using natural force of wind to steer the ship in the right direction. This was his main thesis - driven market economy.

In preparing the book ["Life science"] I was having doubts whether to involve in it the execution of Lavoisier. Lev Andreevich [Artsimovich] argued that, even about the unpleasant events of the past to write directly, giving them a clear assessment, to be able to see the thing and be above the petty passions. He formulated the final stage in the biography of the great chemist: "In the period of the Jacobin dictatorship Lavoisier, together with 27 other tax farmers were arrested. He was sentenced by court to death and three days later, on may 8, 1794, guillotined, despite all the attempts of his wife and influential friends to save the scientist. Lagrange, who was present at the execution of his friend, said: "At one point we lost his head, and will pass, perhaps another 100 years until another such". At sentencing, the judge, driven, apparently, and even a sense of personal revenge, said that "the Republic does not need scientists, and justice must take its course".

Another case was in Germany, in Munich. There is a wonderful Museum "Deutsches Museum" ("German Museum"), the Museum of history of science and technology, proving very sure that Germany is the Motherland of elephants. It in the end of XIX century was founded by Dr. Muller, he said that every German boy must to visit at least once in the "German Museum". It is really the temple of science, the bulwark of German science and technology, so Ohm's law is dedicated to an entire room. Our Polytechnic Museum is in some way a copy of the "Deutsches Museum", he even looks very similar to him. In this Museum I was looking for portraits of German scientists in particular wanted to find Einstein, but found only two pathetic pictures. I asked the Keeper why? "Well, you see, were the circumstances..." But this is 1972!

A curious episode I needed a portrait of Hooke, the contemporary of Newton, who wrote a book about the basics of microscopy "Micrographia". Looking for in the literature - was of no portrait of Hooke. Although the iconography of Newton - his contemporary - contains 37 portraits. And Guk - no. I wrote to the Royal society of London, which Hooke had founded. I replied, Yes, indeed, portraits of Hooke's nowhere to be found, nor sculpture, nor picturesque, because when he died, Newton, who at the time was President of the Royal society, he ordered all his portraits burn. Had to put the portrait of Hooke title page of his works. Newton was generally obnoxious man would not tolerate anyone near him. Why not set up the school, there was one - all. This led to the fact that the British science after Newton went into decline for the whole of the eighteenth century. Newton lived a very long time, more than 80 years, and at the end of life engaged in theology, and it seemed like heresy: he doubted the doctrine of the Trinity. At that time in England was a struggle with the papacy and the approval of the Anglican Church, and those who made the slightest criticism of the Church, mercilessly exterminated - it was like Trotskyism us. Newton lived and worked in Cambridge, they understand its value, and transferred him to London, where they could see that he never had to go into valinomycin. He was appointed a member of Parliament he spoke only once, asking to close the window from which the barrel. Then brand him as an honest man was made Director of the mint. Newton's talent was evident in this field: it has strengthened money circulation, and it is almost five-fold increase in the production of coins and in his examination of seven counterfeiters were hanged. But science, he suppressed, thinking that he's already done that, and nothing else.

When Lenin was expelled from the country on the steamer one hundred philosophers and social scientists, who did not suit him for ideological reasons, everyone was shouting: Oh, how awful, what he did! And when tens of thousands of travelers of educated scientists were forced to leave the country, it is not considered an extraordinary event. Almost all of the middle generation of scientists knocked out.

The exams were different anecdotal cases. <...> once almost the entire thread has solved the problem with the same error. It was obvious that there was a leak of information. We have to figure out what's going on, and found that students started the radio and passed the task of radio. Such a operation. A few hours after the end of the exam at MIPT came a formidable Commission, armed with some special devices. It turned out, the KGB listened to the signal, which contained all sorts of technical details, somehow traced where we are, and ran to look for intruders.

We swam around the island of Putyatin. This island is named after Vice-Admiral Putyatin, who in the mid-nineteenth century was annexed to the Russian Empire Peter the Great Bay and marked the beginning of trade and diplomatic relations with Japan. <...> Arriving at the place, we found out that we catch squid completely pointless: they are there to catch tons. This protein food to feed foxes on fur farms. Moreover, one time I decided to try to catch the squid. I got into the network, where they are caught, but could not see any squid. They are instantly disguised as environmental conditions become transparent, I felt like they sneak past me, but didn't see anything. To catch them is like trying to catch a net of Swifts, flying in a hot air balloon. And we focused on the filming of the movie.

Was a lovely day, clear the distance field, where the stubble field we were hunting for quail. They flew on a compressed field and eat the grain before the flight to the South. In this classic hunting, the arrows are on the field and in front of them runs a Shuttle dog, sugawa game that is a flight shooting. I was walking behind academics who had yet to get a Nobel prize. Suddenly, everything changed. Appeared in front of hare. The rushed after him. Afterwards ran the hunters on the go recharging of the gun with becasina on the fourth the number of shot, I was bringing up the rear. The dog had already caught up with the hare, when he suddenly rushed to the telephone pole standing in the middle of the field. Then the rabbit turned into a cat and nimbly climbed to the top of the pole. Apparently, the cat had myshkoval on the field where the mouse was attracted by the same seed that quail.

I do believe that to hide something by censorship actions is pointless: people will still learn, but the "telephone" often leads to false notions about the world, and having direct access to the materials, you much better understand what is happening.