My Fifteen Years at IKI, the Space Research Institute: Position-Sensitive Detectors and Energetic Neutral Atoms Behind the Iron Curtain

Author: Gruntman Mike

Number Of Pages: 328

Details: This is a personal story of a young physicist in the Soviet Union, a country distinctly different from the Western world. Mike Gruntman worked primarily in space physics and on particle detectors and science instrumentation. He was among the early pioneers in the emerging field of imaging of space plasmas in fluxes of energetic neutral atoms (ENAs). Today, multiple space missions operate ENA imaging instruments.

The events in this book unfolded during the Cold War in the 1970s and 1980s. At that time, the Iron Curtain stood firmly in place during the epic struggle between the dark forces of communism and the free world. Gruntman describes the life and work of a scientist in the totalitarian Soviet Union, including elite education in physics and engineering, the disfunction and ideological control of a centrally planned state, collaboration with scientists abroad, and the impact of foreign radio broadcasts. These, and other glimpses into the realities of the Soviet past, serve not only as background to the story; they also inform us about the nature of neo-Marxism, which is gaining popularity in the free world today.

Release Date: 30-01-2022

Package Dimensions: 22x231x490