Vladimir Valentinovich Alexandrov

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Vladimir Valentinovich Alexandrov ( Russian Владимир Валентинович Александров ; Ukrainian Володимир Валентинович Олександров Volodymyr Walentynowytsch Oleksandrow * 1. January 1938 in Ukraine , disappeared on 31 March 1985 ) was a Soviet physicist and climatologist who may have been kidnapped and murdered.

Life

Vladimir Alexandrov was born the son of farmers on New Year's Day 1938 in a small town in Ukraine.

He studied at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology , where he graduated in 1961, to then work in the field of the military application of experimental physics .

He initially conducted research in the field of plasma physics , and was particularly concerned with the analysis of plasma and ionized gases that are formed when a projectile enters the atmosphere . In 1972 he was subordinate to Nikita Moiseev (Никита Николаевич Моисеев), the deputy director of the Dorodnitsyn Computing Center of the Soviet Academy of Sciences.

Moissejew commissioned Alexandrov to design the climate aspect of an earth model developed under his leadership, for which he was provided with a large staff and powerful computers.

In 1977 Aleksandrov had at a conference on climate research in Tashkent first contact with American scientists, among them at the Oregon State University working Larry Gates . In 1978 Alexandrov traveled to the United States for the first time, where he sought contact with scientists in Colorado because of the high complexity of atmospheric models in order to run his model on a Cray supercomputer, as this American computer was more advanced than the previous ones Soviet Union supercomputers .

In total, Alexandrov made eight trips to the United States, where he made many contacts with American scientists.

As the American press took up the issue of the nuclear winter in 1983, the CPSU leadership encouraged Alexandrov to speak publicly about this anti-nuclear sentiment so that his eloquence would keep the issue in the public eye.

For example, between 1977 and 1984, Alexandrov spoke to Senator Kennedy, among others, and traveled with an international delegation to the Vatican to present the Pope with a report on the nuclear winter; in addition, he appeared on American television together with Carl Sagan . According to his family, Alexandrov was fascinated by American luxury and technology.

Towards the end of his six-month visit to Oregon State University, Alexandrow's wife, Alja, was allowed to visit him in the United States, a rare privilege for a Soviet scientist working abroad.

When simulations in 1984 suggested that a nuclear winter would not be as extreme as the initial studies had suggested, Alexandrov strongly opposed that assessment in public and stuck to the earlier apocalyptic scenario.

In April 1984 Alexandrov attended a meeting of about 100 scientists at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in Cambridge . He and four other Russian scientists traveled to Sicily in August , where they attended an international conference on nuclear war in Erice and presented to Alexandrov a computer simulation of smoke and dust thrown into the atmosphere.

In January 1985, Alexandrov was sent to the United States for the last time before his disappearance, the official purpose of the visit being to ensure that Soviet scientists' pessimistic view of the nuclear winter was included in a report for the International Scientific Committee on Environmental Problems has been recorded. He traveled from America to Japan in February and attended conferences in Tokyo and Hiroshima .

He flew from Tokyo to Moscow, where his wife informed him that she was probably suffering from cirrhosis of the liver . But Alexandrov was still under pressure:

It was planned for April that he should present his scientific findings to a specialist committee in order to obtain a Soviet doctorate, which is why Alexandrov was obviously concerned that he, who had spent the past year on a worldwide lecture tour, could not present any current research results.

In late March 1985 Alexandrov traveled to Spain for a brief conference from which he was not to return.

Disappear

Vladimir Alexandrov disappeared in Córdoba on March 31, 1985 after giving a lecture in Madrid on the nuclear winter and planning to return to the USSR .

Reports of his science colleagues about the last days before Alexandrov's disappearance described him as a man who seemed to be in dire straits because it excessive alcohol and, for example, tried drank to jump out of a moving car as he felt persecuted.

By the United States Department of State an extensive series of interviews with witnesses of the last days Alexandrov was performed. His American and European colleagues were interviewed for this. Alexandrov arrived at Madrid-Barajas airport a day late and explained this by having visa problems.

Although José Moreno, an employee of the Cordoba City Hall, had been sent to the airport to pick up Alexandrov, he met an official from the Soviet embassy who received Alexandrov and withdrew with him to the Soviet embassy for about half an hour . When he returned from the embassy, ​​according to Morenos Alexandrov, behavior should have changed radically. Although he was otherwise known for his restraint, he got heavily drunk and slept on the five-hour drive to Cordoba.

On the afternoon of the next day, Alexandrov went into town alone, with reports suggesting that he was again getting seriously drunk. Cordoba City Hall officials contacted the Soviet embassy in Madrid and reported Alexandrov's unusual behavior, after which they were asked to take Alexandrov to the embassy.

When the conference was over, Alexandrov asked his driver, Delgado, to take him to the airport. However, he drove him to the Soviet embassy on the instructions of the employees of the city hall of Cordoba. As the taxi approached the embassy, ​​Alexandrov became violent and tried to break the passenger door open with a wrench while driving, ripping off the handle. When the car stopped in front of the embassy, ​​Alexandrov ran away across the street, but was caught again by an embassy employee.

From then on his track is lost.

Web links

• A Cold War Climate Mystery Endures: the Vanishing of Vladimir Alexandrov Article in Science Digest, accessed January 21, 2016