Eric Lusito
A journey through time, space and science.
Over the last hundred years, science and technology have deeply transformed our societies. The USSR appeared to be the most exalted by the power of science, up to the point of irrationality. The Soviets promoted the cult of science as an ideological tool to unseat the religion and rapidly modernize the country. The USSR spent lavishly to build ever bigger and more sophisticated machines, and eventually became a technological superpower. These utopian worlds of Soviet modernity were embodied in “big science” projects involving up to several thousand people. Science flourished but the research work, designed mostly for the military, was carried out behind closed doors in an atmosphere of complete secrecy.
The status of scientists, once prestigious, changed radically after the collapse of the system. During the turmoil of the 1990s, the institutes were virtually abandoned with no funding. The extremely low salaries — sometimes as little as $5 per month — led to disillusionment and a brain drain. Despite the hardships they faced, some scientists resisted and devoted their lives to saving their facilities and continuing their research – even in wartime.
Syhcrotron, high-voltage laboratory, nuclear research reactor, radio telescope, cyclotron, stellarator... These monumental installations could have been taken straight from the pages of a comic book or graphic novel, or from the works of science fiction writers such as Jules Verne and H. G. Wells. Their gigantic control panels and mysterious machinery bear witness to our never-ending quest for knowledge.
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Specific publications on the consequences of the war for Ukrainian scientists:
-Physics World (UK): Physics in Ukraine: scientific endeavour lives on despite the Russian invasion
-Science (US): A shattered window to the radio sky - Amid Russian attacks, Ukrainian astronomers fight to salvage a unique observatory
