Аннотация: Heroes of the world's first vaccine. A sketch about the history of science.
Heroes of the world's first vaccine. A sketch about the history of science.
If we are talking about the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century, then we see three main forms of scientific activity.
This is a laboratory (Thomas Edison), this is a scientific institute (Gleb Krzhizhanovsky), this is a scientific project (for example, we take the Manhattan project (USA) and the space project by Korolev (USSR) and remember up the people connected with them).
Russia, with its feudal scientific structure, is stuck at the stage of scientific institutes. Elon Musk, if he sees someone from the Russial academicians, he smiles and launches more and more new projects, new and new spaceships. And Donald Trump entered a history as the president, during whose term American science and technology made a huge leap, breakthrough into the future.
Scientific institutes are such scientific and bureaucratic organizations in which there are bosses and subordinates, and in which, starting from about the 70s of the 20th century, scientific efficiency has decreased more and more.
But scientific institutions cannot exist without any result!?
Recently, the public learned about the creation in Russia of the world's first vaccine against coronavirus (this is how this information is presented in the media).
Who created this vaccine?
I, personally, imagine this process in such a way. A task was put in front of a scientific institute. This institute has archives and old personnel accumulated from the 20s - 30s of the 20th century. That is, if it is difficult to do something fundamentally new, then you can at least raise archives, call on old cadres, and follow the beaten path.
The director calls the subordinates and, using the accumulated experience and old, tested schemes of activity, distributes the task between the subordinates.
Department number one deals with analysis. Department number two deals with synthesis. Department number three brings it all together. Department number four is checking the results. Department number five is responsible for registering the received scientific product. (This is a conditional, schematic and illustrative image of the organization of the scientific process).
As a result, scientific success was obtained.
Let's return to the question posed. Who created the vaccine?
Accordind logic, it turns out that the vaccine was created by (approximately) 500 to 50 people.
But we know two surnames.
One of them is on everyone's lips, and it is difficult not to recall it (no one has forgotten this surname).
The second surname is hard to remember, this is the director of the Institute in honour of Galileo (Sorry for the joke. It's just that I know something about Galileo since school. But about the person after whom the institute is named, despite all the fuss around the world's first vaccine, to us, to ordinary people, no one bothered to tell about this person. So Galileo sits in a memory. - It's strange - the whole Academy of Sciences is functioning, but they forgot about such a detail. But they could have lifted their bodies out of their chairs, to write a couple of scientific and historical essays).
We do not know anything about all the other participants in the vaccine. For example, if you strain yourself, you can recall Murashko, Golikova, Sobyanin, Mishustin ... But did they personally work on the vaccine?
So, in nature (in Russia) there is a team of 500 to 50 people. These people - according to the Russial version - saved the world from the coronavirus.
This is a good news. But I want to make sure it is correct. If there are saviors of humanity, then there is an official list of these saviors. There are state awards, huge bonuses have been paid to all. The saviors of mankind live in excellent mansions, drive in expensive cars, relax in prestigious resorts, surrounded by stars ...
What if a few young talents decide to take a chance? To challenge fate? To put their talents and money on a card? What, if they received a huge sums of money and invested means into their own labs (like Thomas Edison did it)? And started to shine on the world scientific horizon (like Elon Musk)? Will they walk on TV screens and computer monitors and look frome above down on everyone? That will be joy and pride for the citizens of Russia !!! And we are not worse than others!
If there is no list, awards, huge money, then either there is actually no vaccine, or there is a vaccine, but the very existence and future successes of Russial feudal science are in question.
However, the prospects of Russial science have long been questionable, already ...
In the meantime, we know two surnames. One - for sure. And the second - he is the director of the Institute ... named after Galileo?
And one more thing ... It seems, that some a large purchases of this vaccine are expected ... Has anyone already sat down to cash flows?
August 15, 2020 18:00
Translation from Russian into English: August 15, 2020 18:32.
Владимир Владимирович Залесский 'Герои первой в мире вакцины. Скетч об истории науки'.