Ivan Antonovich
Efremov
1908-1972
Ivan Antonovich Efremov was a Soviet science fiction writer, paleontologist and popularizer of science. He was born on April 10 (23), 1908 in the village of Suida, Tsarskoye Selo district, St. Petersburg province. According to another version he was born on April 9 (22), 1907 in the village of Vyritsa. He moved to Berdyansk with his family in 1914 and became an orphan when his mother parted with his father in 1919. During difficult times, he was rescued by a Red Army volunteer, who saved him from starvation and provided him with food. In 1921, Efremov moved to Petrograd and graduated from high school before entering the Biology Department at Leningrad State University. He later became a well-respected scientist and paleontologist, conducting research expeditions in Central Asia, Siberia, and the Far East. Efremov was married twice, first to Ksenia Svitalskaya and later to paleontologist Elena Konjukova. His works, including “The Hour of the Bugbear” and “Andromeda”, are celebrated for their imaginative storytelling and exploration of scientific concepts. In 1935, Ivan Yefremov graduated from Leningrad Mining Institute with a PhD degree. In 1941, he became the Doctor of Biological Sciences. During the Great Patriotic War, after a serious illness Yefremov wrote the article “Taphonomy” which laid the foundation for a new branch of paleontology that studies the patterns of fossil finding. In 1947-1954, Yefremov wrote popular science-fiction stories that became well-known in Soviet literature. His novel “Andromeda Nebula” (1957) was the first large-scale work of science fiction set in the future and marked the beginning of a new era of science fiction in the USSR. The novel remained one of the most popular works in the 1960s and continued to be read by many people. During the 1960s, Yefremov continued writing fantasy novels and short stories, including “The Long Dawn”. However, his novel “Hour of the Bull” (1969) is considered to be his most famous work. This work, which turned into a dystopia, received severe criticism from the party authorities but also attracted attention from a young audience. In 1972, he wrote his latest novel, “Thais of Athens”, dedicated to the life of a strong woman, the wife of a great man, who embodied the idea of strong individuals in history. The books of I.A. Efremov, especially the novel “Andromeda Nebula”, continue to influence the development of Soviet and Russian science fiction. In memory of the writer, a memorial plaque has been installed in Moscow.
Address: Moscow, Bolshoy Spasoglinishchevsky lane, 8
