Valery Alekseyevich Legasov (Russian: ; 1 September 1936 - 27 April 1988) was a Soviet and Russian inorganic chemist and a member of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union.He is now mainly remembered for his work in containment of the Chernobyl disaster and presenting the investigation findings to the International Atomic Energy Agency . He is now mainly remembered for his work in containment of the Chernobyl disaster and presenting the investigation findings to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna. [1], The conference was a public relations triumph for the Soviets as it reassured Western governments and scientists that the disaster was being contained[26] and that the Soviets could competently manage nuclear power in the future. One of the first to grasp the scale of the catastrophe, Valery Legasov was on hand to mitigate the consequences. Just hours after he reported to the Chernobyl disaster
Following his brilliant thesis work, Valery received an offer to do a Ph.D. at the Kurchatov Institute of Atomic Energy, but didnt accept the offer right away - he was eager to go to the Siberian Chemical Plant in Tomsk (aka Seversk) to work on the development of plutonium for nuclear weapons. It is strange and impossible to imagine, how nobody thought
David R. Marples has suggested the adversity of the Chernobyl disaster on his psychological state was the factor leading to his decision to take his own life[6] and that Legasov had become bitterly disillusioned with the failure of the authorities to confront the design flaws. Even though one was only allowed to spend a maximum of two weeks at the site, Legasov spent four months (!) [11], There are several theories concerning Legasov's motivations and state of mind. His report was noted for its great detail and relative openness in discussing the extent and consequences of the tragedy,[24] disclosed to Western media some defects in the RBMK reactor design such as the positive void coefficient, as well as problems with operator training. Essentially everything he did at the trial was done by Dyatlov in real life. By signing up, you agree to our User Agreement and Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement. In Chernobyl, which was created and written by Craig Mazin and directed by Johan Renck, the material culture of the Soviet Union is reproduced with an accuracy that has never before been seen in Western television or filmor, for that matter, in Russian television or film. So my father went to Vnukovo [airport] and left for Chernobyl the same day.. Besides, if we told them that they were leaving forever, it would
Tagged: Chernobyl, Anatoly Dyatlov, Labor Camps, Prison. Two weeks later, on August 25, Valery Legasov, wearing a gray suit and striped tie, his face puffy and haggard behind thick glasses, took the floor on the opening day of the special . Valery Alekseyevich Legasov was born on September 1, 1936, in Tula, Russian SFSR, into a family of civil workers. 27) and worked on mitigating the consequences of the reactor explosion. Whatever they are, they are not the truth. Vasily Ivanovich Ignatenko was born on 13 March 1961, in the Brahin District of the Gomel Region of the Byelorussian SSR. So, even if he didn't necessarily speak about that, did he say any notable things in his tapes? At that time, Legasov went ahead and masterfully absolved Soviet science in front of the world in Vienna conference by being somewhat transparent about the operations of Soviet nuclear industry. That is how an RBMK reactor core explodes. [7], Legasov married Margarita Mikhailovna and had two children, Inga Legasova and Aleksey Valeryevich. "[5] At one point, Antoshkin scolded Legasov for taking too many personal risks when he was key to the operation. [1] Legasov recorded his memoir The Legasov Testament using audio tapes[7][30] where he described his involvement with the Chernobyl liquidation. His life was never the same. Legasov was the one who pushed for honesty and
In fact, Legasov would have lived in an entirely different kind of squalor than the fireman did. It was not the first time that he attempted suicide. I cant think of one anyway. [38], His wife Margarita wrote a considerable number of articles and books to preserve his legacy. Valery Legasov. She also gets herself arrested and then immediately seated at a meeting on the disaster, led by Gorbachev. [1] Around June 1987, he attempted suicide but was saved by his colleagues. The series begins with Legasov's suicide which is . Those tapes sound like rambling of a very depressed man suffering from PTSD, because that's exactly what they are. "[5], Legasov researched hydrogen energy as a byproduct of nuclear energy, nuclear energy strategy, energy generation safety and synthesis of unusual compounds, which he regarded as a neglected niche within the institute's activities. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. )", "Chemist, investigator of Chernobyl nuclear accident dies at 51", "Legasov suicide leaves unanswered questions", INSAG-7 The Chernobyl Accident: Updating of INSAG-1, "A bust of Hero of Russia Valery Alekseevich Legasov will be installed in Tula", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Valery_Legasov&oldid=1140547362, Chief Scientific Advisor of the commission investigating the Chernobyl disaster, This page was last edited on 20 February 2023, at 15:52. The depiction of Valery Legasov (played by Jared Harris) is mostly accurate. [5], the information I had convinced me that not everything was well in the development of nuclear energy, as it seemed to me Science organizations began to weaken, not strengthen. In the first episode, for example, during an emergency meeting of the Pripyat ispolkom, the towns governing council, an elder statesman, Zharkov (Donald Sumpter), delivers a chilling, and chillingly accurate, speech, urging his compatriots to have faith. We seal off the city, Zharkov says. [Screams from intense radiation burns to hand] ". A lady is nothing very specific. [7] Legasov was impressed by the operation of the KGB in the area but considered the Civil Defence group to be in shambles. Although not a reactor specialist, he became a key member of the government commission formed to investigate the causes of the disaster and to plan the mitigation of its consequences. For her other books, Alexievich interviewed people about their experience of the Second World War, the Soviet war in Afghanistan, and the dissolution of the Soviet Union. cover up the causes of the disaster. There was such unpreparedness, such disorder, such fear. It being television, and very well-received television at that, it is the series, rather than the books, that will probably finally fill the vacuum where the story of Chernobyl should be. I was reading some portions of it but it felt as if he was mainly speaking on what happened and his experiences. Chernobyl is a 2019 HBO miniseries based on the nuclear accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in 1986. He saw his main goal was not in justifying the Soviet Union and hide certain information, but, on the contrary, to educate the world community on what to do in such situations, Inga told Russian newspaper, MK. [19] Legasov had the opportunity to visit nuclear power plants in the West, such as the Soviet designed Loviisa Nuclear Power Plant in Finland, and was shocked at the higher safety standards, better equipment, a containment structure and superior construction. [5] During 1953, he proposed reforms to the Komsomol committee to address what he perceived as indifference and passivity of its members. [1] Spending four months in and around Chernobyl,[23] he received a high dose of radiation. evacuation of the town of Pripyat, at a time Soviet officials were trying to
If you believe that any Site Content infringes upon your copyright, please notify us by email support@quotecatalog.com. For two years he worked as a released secretary of the VLKSM committee, he was elected to the bureau of the Soviet District Committee of the Komsomol and to the Moscow City Committee of the Komsomol. The real Valery Legasov. Despite his significant work, Valerys specialty wasnt in nuclear reactors. He led the commission that investigated the catastrophe. Allegedly, Mikhail Gorbachev crossed his name out of the list of those to be awarded for the response work at Chernobyl, noting that other scientists dont recommend it. At the age of 36, he was awarded a doctorate of chemistry, and at the age of 45 - became one of the youngest members of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS). It has the complete transcript of the tapes in english. Svetlana Alexievich, the Russian-language Belarusian writer who won the Nobel Prize for Literature, in 2015, for her work with oral history, has said that the book she found easiest to report was her book about Chernobyl. The city that does not exist. Lies. One would think that a vacuum created by lies could be filled by truth. In his personal life, he composed poetry and encouraged its publication. Valery was born in Tula, Soviet Union. Neither Tass nor the evening television news broadcast Vremya on Friday gave the cause or place of death. Meta The Harvard historian Serhii Plokhys 2018 book on Chernobyl reconstructs the sequence of events and assigns blame. Alexievichs book about Chernobyl was published in Russian in 1997, more than ten years after one of the reactors at the Chernobyl power plant exploded, in what was probably the worst nuclear accident in history. We hardly see any of the evacuees at all, and we are given only one indication that some people resisted and refused to leave: an old woman who, at the beginning of Episode 4, obstinately continues milking her cow after she is repeatedly ordered to move. [7] He opposed a plan to extend the underground cooling system outside the reactor 4 building, as well as other projects he considered to be redundant. But when she asked survivors about Chernobyl they accessed their own stories more easily, because the story hadnt been told. person behaved in another, etc., it is impossible to find a single culprit, a
Valery Legasov Real Quotes & Sayings. [1] The institute members denied Legasov the position which was perhaps surprising given his seniority and public visibility. The final episode of Chernobyl also contains a scene that encapsulates the Soviet system perfectly. The biggest fiction in this scene, though, is Khomyuk herself. [19], In the public sphere, he still kept to the official position that nuclear power was safe. (She lied about it.) Photo: Liam Daniel/HBO. [5] Since December 1978, the Legasov family kept a high-bred pet chow-chow. Ignatenkos monologue in Alexievichs book is some of the most memorable reading I have ever done. Valery Alekseyevich Legasov was a Soviet inorganic chemist and a member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. I know that in the miniseries he speaks of the cost of lies, but I know that the miniseries isnt very accurate sometimes. Work was the man, almost the only meaning of his life. The Legasov tapes are kinda useless for finding cool quotations. At the time, Soviet Union
G. Alimov interview with Legasov, Izvestia newspaper, 1987. International Nuclear Safety Advisory Group, Last edited on 20 February 2023, at 15:52, D. Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology of Russia, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Mendeleev Moscow Institute of Chemistry and Technology, State Committee for Science and Technology, Nuclear and radiation accidents and incidents, Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster, " , ", "Valery Legasov: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know", "Who was Valery Legasov, the Soviet scientist that saved the world from Chernobyl? A. Ustynyuk said of Legasov: "His main quality, which set him sharply apart from all the great organizing scientists I knew, was his exceptional dedication to the cause. But this caused a storm in the Ministry. Before I get to what the series got so terribly wrong, I should acknowledge what it got right. Obviously " you'll be begging for that bullet by the morning" And along those lines of how quickly death would arrive. He allegedly committed suicide. The Soviet media disseminated very little information about the disaster. He was praised for his openness in discussing the causes
[1] Mikhail Gorbachev was furious and accused the nuclear designers of covering up dangerous problems with the Soviet nuclear industry for decades. He was hospitalized with severe radiation poisoning, and
In this episode Zeinab Badawi travels to Angola, DRC and Congo in central Africa to bring the history of the great Kongo Empire.She hears about the critical role played by women in We're committed to providing the best documentaries from around the World. Unlike other characters, she is made upaccording to the closing titles, she represents dozens of scientists who helped Legasov investigate the cause of the disaster. All rights reserved. Valery Legasov is the 31st most popular chemist (down from 25th in 2019), the 117th most popular biography from Russia (down from 90th in 2019) and the 3rd most popular Russian Chemist. I would very much like to ask to make such a statement that, as of today, we do not have safe nuclear energy, or a concept of safe nuclear energy, or even a concept of a safe nuclear reactor that is completely ready[7], He had a lengthy stay in hospital during the fall of 1987, including experiencing acute appendicitis,[31] during which he attempted suicide. Two years later, he ended his own life unexpectedly. The deputy director of the Kurchatov Institute, Valery Legasov is among the men selected to travel to Chernobyl in the immediate aftermath of the explosion as part of a government commission to contain the effects of the disaster. The most notable thing he said was: After I had visited Chernobyl nuclear power plant, I came to the conclusion that the accident was the inevitable apotheosis of the economic system which had been developed in the USSR over many decades. [7], After 10 May, the situation had somewhat stabilized and Legasov was able to spend less time at the accident site but still frequently visited. On 27 April 1988,[32] the day after the second anniversary of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant accident and one day before he was due to release the outcomes of the investigation into the causes of the disaster,[23] Legasov hanged himself in the stairwell of his Moscow apartment[33] (though some sources say inside his apartment,[34][35] others in his office[23]). [22] The report ran to 388 pages and was presented by Legasov to the conference in a 5-hour presentation, which many in the audience found disturbing. Leaders of the Party rightfully accused the scientific community for the disaster behind closed doors. The viewer is invited to fantasize that, if not for Dyatlov, the better men would have done the right thing and the fatal flaw in the reactor, and the system itself, might have remained latent. In the great-men version of history, only the powerful have speaking parts. This is what I was passionately working on, mainly figuring out the dangers in sources of energy alternative to nuclear energy. At least 31 people died in the explosion and its aftermath, in the world's . governments, our ideologies, our religions - to lie in wait for all time. The total amount of materials dumped on the reactor weighed about 5,000 tons, including about 40 tons of boron compounds, 2,400 tons of lead, 1,800 tons of sand and clay, and 600 tons of dolomite, as well as sodium phosphate and polymer liquids (Bu93). Thank you!! He discovered what . In the popular HBO mini-series "Chernobyl," early episodes show scientists Valery Legasov, played by Jared Harris, and Ulana Khomyuk, a composite character played by Emily Watson . He was a patriot and grieved for what that happened, for the country, for people that suffered His empathy was disturbed and, it seems, it did eat him up from the inside., Plus, as she recalls, the radiation sickness didnt make it easier. I wanted to include quotes from the real tapes of Valery Legasov. "He wasn't meant . For some reason, many believe that my father was disappointed by the fact that he wasnt awarded. Legasov continued his attempts to introduce reforms in academic chemistry by establishing an interdepartmental council to try to overcome stagnation in the field. Share this quote: Chernobyl accident. [1] Ustynyuk called Legasov at 22:30 on the same day saying he might still prevail with support from other top scientists that had not been consulted on the decision. I know that it can be difficult; you need to endure, wait it out. Clothes, objects, and light itself seem to come straight out of nineteen-eighties Ukraine, Belarus, and Moscow. Anatoly got a call via the vertushka [the nickname for a closed state telephone line]. the chemistry of noble gases. According to his daughter, Inga
Legasov was the one that brought in buses and trains for the
He can be a philosopher, historian, an engineer"[5] The school now bears his name, and his bronze bust stands at the entrance. A happily married father of two grown children, Valery Legasov was 49 years old at the time of the accident and approaching the pinnacle of his career at the top of the Soviet scientific . [1] Even before the Chernobyl disaster, Legasov was known to stress the need for new security and safety methods to prevent large catastrophes. When one considers the chain of events, it is impossible to find a single culprit, a single initiator of events, because it was like a closed circle.. The case of Valery is mysterious and unsettling to this day. Is this really the way it all works? Here are some quotes for you to read about the Chernobyl incident as described in the series. Valery Legasov Quotes & Sayings. Eighteen years ago, we published an article about the life and death of Valery Legasov. Craig Mazin tried to warn us. This, at last, is the gift of Chernobyl." Answer (1 of 2): 1. Sooner or later, that debt is paid. [1] One senior scientist wrote "Legasov was a clear representative of that scientific mafia whose political leanings instead of scientific leadership led to the Chernobyl accident.
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