The history of one handshake: N.V. Timofeeff-Ressovsky and L.A. Artsimovich
The significance of the personality of the outstanding geneticist N.V. Timofeeff-Ressovsky for the Russian culture goes significantly beyond science. Due to his human makeup, scientific “genealogy” and amazing biography, Timofeeff-Ressovsky was a “bridge” between Soviet and foreign scientific traditions, as well as between the different epochs of the Russian/Soviet history. The attitude to the personality of Timofeeff-Ressovsky has become a vivid manifestation of the attitude to the achievements and crimes of the Soviet communist empire, both for the personal worldview and the state policy. This is evidenced by the heated debates engaging general public during the rehabilitation of Timofeeff-Ressovsky three decades ago, as well as during nowadays attempts to perpetuate his memory in the toponymy of modern Russia.In the view of this acute attitude, Timofeeff-Ressovsky’s relations with the other iconic figures of the Russian culture are of particular importance. Thus, of the special interest is the history of relations between Timofeeff-Ressovsky and L.A. Artsimovich, the leader of the Soviet research program on controlled thermonuclear fusion. They first met in Germany in May 1945. According to the widespread story, Artsimovich refused Timofeeff-Ressovsky’s handshake. This legend often serves as an argument for forming an attitude towards Timofeev-Resovsky. Artsimovich is known as one of the most free-thinking scientists of the USSR, hence his attitude could be considered as his personal one rather than a tribute to the official Soviet ideology. However, the degree of accuracy of this tale is not evident. In the paper, we analyze the sources of information about this meeting and the further evolution of the relations between N.V. Timofeeff-Ressovsky and L.A. Artsimovich. Some of the oral evidence we have found suggests that the refused handshake is just a literary device.