Text 8. Russian scientists

The Russian Academy of Sciences was established in 1726 and has since produced great results. Students the world over learn about the conditional reflex experiments on Ivan Pavlov’s puppies, and about Dmitry Mendeleyev’s 1869 discovery of the periodic table of elements. Yet you may be surprised to hear from locals about Russia’s invention of the electric light and radio (didn’t you know?).

In the USSR science, hampered by secrecy, bureaucracy and a lack of technology, was dependent on the ruling party. Funding was sporadic, often coming in great bursts for projects that served propaganda or militaristic purposes. Thus the space race received lots of money, and even though little of real scientific consequence was achieved during the first missions, the PR was priceless. In other fields, however, the USSR lagged behind the West; genetics, cybernetics and the theory of relativity were all at one point deemed anathema to communism.

Physics - especially theoretical and nuclear - was supported and Russia has produced some of the world’s brightest scientists in the field. Andrei Sakharov (1921-89), ‘father of the H-bomb’, was exiled to Gorky (now Nizhny Novgorod) in 1980, five years after receiving the Nobel Peace Prize for his vocal denunciations of the Soviet nuclear programme and the Afghan War. He was one of the most influential dissidents of his time.

Assignment: Texts 9–14. Translate the text into English. Compare your variants with analogous authentic texts in English given below. Explain the peculiarities in naming Russian tsars.

Text 9. Marc chagall

One of the most important names in 20th-century art, visionary Marc Chagall (1887-1985), often grouped in with the surrealists, was born in Vitsebsk on 7 July 1887. He spent from 1897 to 1910 in what is now the Marc Chagall House Museum (vul Pokrovskaja 11), now charmingly kitted out with early-20th-century Jewish knick-knacks and photos. To get there, turn left when exiting the bus or train station, walk one block, then turn right onto vul 1-ja Krasina. After a block you’ll see a fanciful monument to the artist; turn left here onto vul Pokrovskaja.

Chagall left Vitsebsk to go on to greater fame in St Petersburg and Moscow, finally settling in Paris from 1923, where he lived until his death, churning out fantastically poetic and often humorous murals and artwork. Many of his pieces reflect the Jewish country life of his childhood largely influenced by his beloved Vitsebsk.

Nestled in a pretty park, the Chagall Museum has two floors filled with 300 original, colourful lithographs (all donations), as well as reproductions of some of his famous paintings, including the infamous murals he did for the Moscow Jewish Theatre, considered so mesmerising that they were banned from the stage for distracting the audience.

There would be more originals at the museum had Soviet authorities accepted Chagall’s offer to donate some to the city of his birth; they didn’t think much of his art and declined. To get to the museum from Vitsebsk’s Regional Museum, head north along vul Suvorava to vul Uritsoho make a left and walk to the end; the museum will be on your right.