Life and death of the Hero of Russia. Academician Valery Legasov

Career before Chernobyl

Scriptwriters of the western "Chernobyl" presented the great scientist Valery Legasov as a deep reflective person, but in many respects devoid of a solid inner core. It is not true. While still in school, being a high school student, Valery showed considerable initiative, which even attracted the attention of the special services. This happened at the Moscow school No. XXUMX (now it is named after a heroic graduate) at the beginning of the 54-s, when the young Legasov offered as much as possible to rewrite the charter of the Komsomol. Moreover, he even prepared his own version, characterized by freedom of views that was dangerous at that time. Such a politically active secretary of the Komsomol organization could not fail to attract the attention of the state security organs, but the school director stood up for him. Of course, the pedagogue’s intercession would hardly have helped, but then Stalin died, easy liberalization happened, and Legasov, obviously, simply didn’t get his hands on his hands.

Legasov in movies (actor Jared Harris) and in life

School director Peter Sergeevich Okunkov told the parents of Valery who graduated from school:

“This is an adult, a future statesman, a talented organizer. He can be a philosopher, a historian, an engineer ... "

By the way, young Legasov after school seriously thought about a literary career and even asked for advice on this matter from the famous poet Konstantin Simonov. Valery came to him with his poems and asked about the desirability of entering the Literary Institute. Fortunately, the master of national poetry advised the young man to get an engineering or science education first, and only then devote himself to poetry.

As a result, Valery, who graduated from school with a gold medal, successfully entered the prestigious university - the Moscow Institute of Chemical Technology named after DI Mendeleev. In those days, this educational institution specialized in training for the young nuclear industry. The faculty graduate of the school chose a physico-chemical profile, where he became one of the most successful students - after graduation he was planned to be left in graduate school to defend his Ph.D. thesis.

Here it is worth making a reservation and separately say about the specialty of the future academician and Hero of Russia. Legasov was not a nuclear physicist in his pure form, he was not engaged in the design of atomic reactors and, moreover, did not develop weapon mass destruction. The main area of ​​research interests of Valery Legasov were noble gases (xenon, argon, and others), which for a long time were considered completely inert, that is, they did not react with anything. But the scientist was able to prove that it is not quite so, and such substances may well react, for example, with fluorine. In the 60s, this was one of the most pressing problems in chemistry. The result of many years of research of the future academic was his Ph.D. thesis, defended in 1967, and the effect of N. Barlett - V. Legasov, which he discovered with university colleague in the West, which was included in university textbooks around the world. Actually, already at that time Legasov worked at the level of leading world scientists.

Valery Legasov at the age of six


Young university graduate. Start 60's. Work at the Siberian Chemical Combine

But let us return to the budding graduate of the RHTI Valery Legasov. It would seem that behind the back of a serious capital university, there is an invitation to graduate school - stay and learn. But Valery Alekseevich leaves for 1961 in the year in the closed city of Tomsk-7 - to the Siberian Chemical Combine, where he occupies the post of chemical engineer. Three years later, Legasov returned to Moscow and is working on his thesis at the Institute of Atomic Energy. I. V. Kurchatov. In those days, it was hard to imagine a more prestigious place of work for a scientist, and the future academician for all 100% used this chance. In 1966, Valery Legasov received the honorary title “Inventor of the State Committee on the Use of Atomic Energy of the USSR”. And in 36 years, Legasov was already a doctor of science and a corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Academician Aleksandrov himself, director of the Atomic Energy Institute, appoints the young scientist as his deputy for science.

Tula schoolchildren at the monument to the great countryman, installed at the school where Valery Legasov studied in Moscow

The authority of Legasov is becoming ever more weighty, not only at the institute, but throughout the entire space of the Soviet Union. Events in the scientific career of a scientist are developing rapidly - in 1976, the synthesis of the research and the physicochemical properties of the noble gas compounds of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the USSR Council of Ministers awards the State Prize to Valery Legasov. And in the 1984 year, a few years before the Chernobyl disaster, Legasov became the winner of the Lenin Prize. One of the areas of work of the academician, along with studies of noble gases, was the problem of combining hydrogen and nuclear energy. Valery Legasov proposed to use the thermal energy of a nuclear power plant for the synthesis of hydrogen from water.

I must say that the academician lived modestly enough for his regalia and influence. Of course, not the way it is shown in the film “Chernobyl” - in a cramped and cramped furnished apartment. Legasov had a personal car GAZ-24 "Volga", which he bought for considerable for those times 9 333 rubles.

This is the picture that Valery Legasov was one of the first to see in April 1986 of the year.

Valery Legasov in the end of 70-x a lot of time devoted to industrial safety of nuclear facilities. Of particular relevance to this problem was the accident at the American Three Mile Island NPP in 1979. According to the memoirs of L. N. Sumarokov, Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, who worked in the Legasov team, the academician closely followed the global energy industry:

“... struck Valery Alekseevich's performance. Among the qualities inherent in the academician, I want to mention the inquisitive mind. I am connected with information by type of activity, I had to observe how Valeriy Alekseevich interested the question, what caused the reduction in the construction of nuclear power plants in some countries ... We did a lot of analytical work, reviewed the literature, examined foreign sources, data banks and found that, for example in the US, about the operation of nuclear power plants was imposed near 200 restrictions ... We began to understand, and already then, in 1978, the prospect of Chernobyl began to appear ... "

A little later, Legasov directly warns of the possibility of a Chernobyl-like disaster. So, in the journal Priroda from 1980, the academician and his colleagues wrote:

“Under certain circumstances, despite the presence of safety measures, nuclear power plants may cause conditions for an accident with core damage and air emissions of a certain amount of radioactive material ...”

Six years remained before the accident at the Chernobyl NPP ...

Last two years of life

26 April 1986, Valery Legasov, along with a government commission, flew to Chernobyl. This day finally and irrevocably changed the fate of the scientist. From this point on for several months, Academician Legasov exercised direct scientific leadership in eliminating the consequences of the disaster. Why in general was the inorganic chemist forced to solve purely physical problems? Why not send someone from the high society of nuclear physics? The fact is that the president of the Academy of Sciences Anatoly Alexandrov personally asked the academician about this. Time was running out, and Valery Legasov was simply the closest. In addition, Alexandrov took into account outstanding organizational skills, dedication and perseverance of the academician. And I must say, I was not mistaken.

In the first days, Legasov, as a chemist, proposed to extinguish the emergency reactor zone with a mixture of boric acid, lead and dolomite. Physicists, by the way, suggested simply removing burning graphite from the zone. How much it would cost lives, nobody knows. Also it was Valery Legasov who insisted on a complete and emergency evacuation of the population of Pripyat. Constant monitoring of the elimination process required the scientist to stay around the clock in the zone of radiation contamination. When he 5 May returned for a couple of days to Moscow, his wife Margarita Mikhailovna, saw a person with obvious signs of radiation sickness: baldness, “Chernobyl sunburn”, weight loss ... Formally, Legasov could refuse and in May 1986 of the year did not take further part in the elimination accident, but he returned and received an even greater proportion of radiation. Perhaps it was precisely this that undermined not only his physical, but also his spiritual health. 13 May Legasov returned to Moscow for the second time with new signs of the disease: nausea, headaches, loss of appetite and a nagging dry cough. In total, the academician flew to the emergency zone seven times, while working on 12-15 hours a day.

At the end of August 1986, Valery Legasov spoke in Vienna to the IAEA experts with a report “Analysis of the causes of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and liquidation of its consequences.” For three months, the scientist prepared the 380-page work without any traces of the tragedy, and for five hours he announced it to the audience, in which there were at least 500 world-class researchers and engineers from 62 countries. Was it possible to mislead them and provide knowingly false facts? The Chernobyl accident was not the first in the world stories, the scientific community has already learned to analyze the causes. Nevertheless, rumors of Legasov’s insincerity are still denigrating the memory of the great scientist. It is from a report at the IAEA meeting that Academician Valeriy Legasov becomes world famous - he is one of the ten most popular scientists in the world at the end of 1986. But Mikhail Gorbachev, after his performance in Vienna, struck out Legasov from the list of awards for liquidating the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

Working moments of liquidation of the Chernobyl accident

In the autumn of 1987, a scientist is invited to a "tour" in the cities of Germany, where he gives lectures, one of which states the following:

“Humanity in its industrial development has reached such a level of using energy of all kinds, has built such an infrastructure with a high level of concentration of energy capacities, that the troubles from their accidental destruction have become commensurate with the troubles from military operations and natural disasters ... The automatism of correct vigilant behavior in such a complicated technological sphere not developed yet. An important lesson that follows from the Chernobyl tragedy is the absolute lack of technical readiness of all firms and states to operate in such extreme conditions. Not a single state in the world, as practice has shown, has a full range of behavioral algorithms, measuring instruments, efficient robots, effective chemical means of localizing an emergency, the necessary medical equipment, etc. ... The development of complex and potentially dangerous technologies can no longer be carried out in a closed manner, within a closed community of its creators. All international experience, the entire scientific community should be involved in the risk assessment of designed facilities, a system of inspections (international) should be created that continuously monitors the correct execution and functioning of hazardous facilities!..”

And that was an understatement. Legasov openly stated that the situation at the nuclear power plant was very similar to 1941 for a year: no one expected and was not ready for an accident even at the elementary level. There were not enough respirators, special dosimeters, iodine preparations ...

Monument at the tomb of the academician

There are many reasons that led the academician to commit suicide at the age of 52. Among them are the conspiracy of the special services, which did not forgive him the truth about the causes of the accident, and the pressure of the leadership of the Academy of Sciences due to elementary envy. After all, it was Legasov who was to become the successor of Academician Aleksandrov as director of the institute. But he was not from the "atomic" elite. "Upstart", who achieved world fame on the tragedy - so thought about him in scientific circles. This annoyed many. He was oppressed at his native institute, openly criticized, and many initiatives were simply turned off. The realization of the importance of genius in Russia did not come soon. After a decade of the Chernobyl accident, the President of Russia posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation to academician Legasov Valery Alekseevich.

But the academician Valery Alekseevich Legasov was awarded with a commemorative medal for his participation in the work on eliminating the consequences of the Chernobyl NPP accident. Attached to the medal are the signatures of the NPP director M. P. Umants, as well as employees B. A. Borodavko, V. A. Berezina, S. N. Bogdanov. Were late only to hand in person, we had posthumously ...

Comments

[yehat]

PPC want to describe a normal Soviet scientist - why are you breaking into a screech about his heroism, sacrifice and genius?
Buddha and Christ in one bottle.
The Soviet people usually perceived prosperity differently than they do now. Often more important was "status", social position than a specific car
or cottage. Stalin had even less property than Legasov.
About genius. Yes, this man has done hard, difficult and extremely unpleasant work - but what does genius have to do with it?
Why can’t you just say that you did the job as a true professional and hero?
Why this false, superfluous and therefore worthless pathos about genius?
And these passages about "could refuse"? Why did the author not tell what it meant to give up not for society - for a simple successful Soviet scientist?
And yet - the author did not reveal a number of important points, reducing the life of this person to some everyday assessments.
For example, why it was worth being one of the best and staying that way.
Scientists in the USSR worked not for 8 hours - but often for 10-14 and SAMI, no one forced. I saw this with my own eyes.
Without disclosing the reasons for this, readers will never understand who Legasov and many other scientists are.

[Evgeny Fedorov]

And here is a genius? 1. Legasov had to solve problems unusual for his profession and he coped with it successfully. 2. The academician was in a situation that NO one had come across to him before and the lives of millions of people depended on his decisions (this is without pathos now). 3. He did not work in a cozy office or laboratory, but in extremely harsh conditions that threaten his life. 4. He was able to quite successfully bring together all the data on the Chernobyl accident. 5. After the accident, he tried to turn the established system of industrial safety. If this is not considered a genius, then you and I have different ideas.

Yes, this guy did a hard, difficult and extremely unpleasant work.

Feelings now that you are a little demeaning the role of the scientist. Hero of Russia, by the way.

Scientists in the USSR did not work 8 hours - and often on 10-14 and SAMI, no one forced

Not everything and not always, believe me. And not in the conditions, when the NPP that was torn apart is about 200 meters away.

[bk316]

Scientists in the USSR worked not for 8 hours - but often for 10-14 and SAMI, no one forced.

Real scientists work like that now. It's just that a scientist (not an individual with a piece of paper about a degree) is a special person, he thinks about science all the time until he sleeps, and maybe when he sleeps. At the same time (and maybe from this) they can solve several problems at once, they can make surprisingly accurate conclusions with a minimum of information and it is very interesting to talk with them on any topic.
I was lucky to work with such people ....

[Evgeny Fedorov]

I think we are talking about enthusiasts who are in any industry. The ability to work effectively on 10-14 watches is inherent not only to scientists, but also to writers, artists, engineers, teachers, doctors, and many more. It is these people who make progress. Unfortunately, we have not so many now.

[bk316]

You are absolutely right, I'm just not a writer or a doctor.
By the way, I know such doctors, they really work for 15 hours. First a detour, then 8 hours of surgery, then scribble, then home and read the literature on surgery. And so every day.
I just pay attention wrote REAL scientists, a real scientist is always an enthusiast.

[Reptiloid]

Quote: Yevgeny Fedorov

I think we are talking about enthusiasts who are in any industry. The ability to work effectively on 10-14 watches is inherent not only to scientists, but also to writers, artists, engineers, teachers, doctors, and many more. It is these people who make progress. Unfortunately, we have not so many now.

And not only this question, a lot or not. Do they find support in their jobs?
I read the article with interest, learned new. Very timely article. Thank.

[tihonmarine]

We write about some kind of jesters like Galkin and Koroleva, and we forget about their scientists, people who give all of themselves to their homeland, and even obkhayut the deceased. Kingdom of Heaven Valery Legasov the worthy son of Russia.

[Alex_You]

Thanks HBO.

[210ox]

Nonsense and complete nonsense Your HBO

[Alex_You]

Read the post below.
Many learned about Legasov from the Chernobyl series.
And about Chernobyl from the game, the stalker.

[210ox]

Once again, this series is false. I say this as a participant in these events.

[Aristarkh Lyudvigovich]

After the release of the Chernobyl series, Muscovites bring flowers to the grave of Academician Legasov at the Novodevichy Cemetery. It is significant, however.
https://www.samara.kp.ru/daily/26990/4051333/

[210ox]

Please do not connect this nonsense shown by HBO and the flowers on the grave of the academician. Although there may be a younger generation and found out about this scientist.

[Operator]

Legasov, as a chemist, proposed extinguishing the zone of the emergency reactor with a mixture of boric acid, lead and dolomite

The chemist Legasov was absolutely incompetent in nuclear physics, so the vast majority of his recommendations in the Chernobyl zone were not thought to be implemented. The advice to throw the inside volume of the reactor opened by the explosion with boric acid, lead and dolomite was carried out in practice, but it didn’t lead to anything (except for the radioactive destruction of helicopter pilots and decommissioning of aircraft covered with dust from the reactor), because the reactor was empty after the explosion - graphite masonry and most of the nuclear fuel was thrown out by the explosion, and the rest of the fuel burned through the bottom of the reactor and froze in the basement.

Using Legasov’s incompetence in physical matters, he was used in the dark both domestically and abroad - to divert attention from the guilt of the leadership of the Ministry of Energy and the State Committee for the Supervision of Nuclear Industry, encouraging uncontrolled experiments at nuclear power plants by the hands of their production personnel, and transferring arrows to developers of RBMK reactors and scientific consultants who were not guilty of criminal acts by the personnel of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, who knowingly violated the operating instructions and from lyuchivshih all types of protection higher hazard class object.

Legasov committed suicide just because of the reaction of his colleagues at the academic institute - the entire scientific staff of the institute at the general meeting refused to award the State Prize for participating in the liquidation of the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster, and one Legasov declared his right to receive it. The minutes of the general meeting were sent to the Secretariat of the CPSU Central Committee, where they decided to exclude everyone, including Legasov, from the prize. The latter did not find himself on the list of winners, published the next morning in the newspapers, and shot himself in the evening.

[Evgeny Fedorov]

Shot yourself? That's for sure?

[Operator]

Amendment - hanged himself.

[Evgeny Fedorov]

totally incompetent in matters of nuclear physics

The deputy director of the Institute of Atomic Energy did not understand the issues of nuclear physics? Something you are very skeptical about the personnel decisions of Academician Aleksandrov.

[Operator]

The old Aleksandrov therefore contributed to the appointment of the relatively young chemist Legasov as his deputy, because he was not afraid of competition from the latter regarding the leadership of the physical institute.

And Legasov therefore rushed to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant because he wanted to curry favor to raise his chances for taking the place of the head of the institute. After that, he began to water the scientists and designers of RBMK reactors illiterate right and left, removing from the blow the true culprits (leadership of the industry), on which his future appointment depended.

But nuclear physicists outplayed Legasov at the level of the CPSU Central Committee Secretariat, which needed specialists in the nuclear industry, not careerists like Lysenko.

[Doctor]

Once I spoke closely with an employee of NIKIET named after N.A Dollezhal about Chernobyl, so she presented your version with Legasov one-on-one. Are you by any chance not from this reputable institution?

[Operator]

I’m generally from another industry, but I don’t know what industry instructions, technical regulations and responsibility for their implementation are - I wrote, controlled and held accountable.

[Andrey VOV]

Are you a nuclear physicist specialist in nuclear reactors?

[Operator]

Are you a telepath?

[Aristarkh Lyudvigovich]

Quote: Operator

The chemist Legasov was absolutely incompetent in nuclear physics, so the vast majority of his recommendations in the Chernobyl zone were not thought to be implemented. The advice to throw the inside volume of the reactor opened by the explosion with boric acid, lead and dolomite was carried out in practice, but it didn’t lead to anything (except for the radioactive destruction of helicopter pilots and decommissioning of aircraft covered with dust from the reactor), because the reactor was empty after the explosion - graphite masonry and most of the nuclear fuel was thrown out by the explosion, and the rest of the fuel burned through the bottom of the reactor and froze in the basement.

This was necessary because the temperature of the reactor was so high that the glow of heated uranium and graphite was recorded. We tried to lower the temperature. The temperature there was such that the lead evaporated from the reactor was found even in Pripyat. The discharge was really necessary to reduce the exorbitant temperature of the reactor. In the first days, the instruments recorded neutron fluxes from the collapse of the reactor, which indicated the occurrence of an uncontrolled chain reaction that heated the reactor. So, in addition to the cooling components, the helicopters dropped boron compounds into the reactor to make it impossible for the SCR to occur. Something could have been done better and more optimally, but as one of the leaders of the operation correctly said: "This has never happened on our planet." There was no experience in how to eliminate such accidents. Therefore, many decisions were made by trial and error: they tried, got the result - great, did not get it - tried something else. If they ran away, they would most likely have waited for a new explosion or would have dirtied a much larger area with radiation. Could then and really molten fuel residues go into the groundwater. In reality, the base did not melt because the SCR was stopped and the reactor was cooled by discharges from helicopters.

[Greg Miller]

This is the picture that Valery Legasov was one of the first to see in April 1986 of the year.

This photo was taken much later. The already removed roof is visible ....

[Operator]

Quote: Aristarkh Ludwigovich

the glow of heated uranium and graphite was recorded

There was no glow from the word at all due to the absence of graphite and uranium in the reactor.

In addition, graphite in the air, long before heating to the state of luminescence, completely burns out at a temperature of 400 degrees Celsius.

[Andrey VOV]

Have you seen it yourself? And where does the telepath come from? I have a father, the kingdom of heaven, was an officer and took part in the liquidation .. so you stop your insinuations here

[Operator]

You, your father, as well as other liquidators, do not interfere with the careerist Legasov.

[M. Michelson]

Legasov used the accident for self-PR. Immediately called the culprit: the system! A man of a hysterical warehouse (from which, probably, he committed suicide). By the way, his diagnosis of what happened was incorrect.
About him well in the d / f "Liquidator".

[Cry]

The roots lie in the RBMK-1000, promoted by Aleksandrov, from the moment when Legasov became his deputy for science and took up the RBMK-1000 project at that time. The project did not meet the criteria of the invention, but was forced through VNIIPGE, as it was cheaper to manufacture in comparison with nuclear reactors with a high degree of protection, for example, in a lead shell. VNIIPGE stood up against the chemical zamdir, since there were no signs of invention in the RBMK-1000, as Nauka i Zhizn wrote about at that time. The deputy director for science and Aleksandrov personally pushed the project through the lobby in the Kremlin, so instead of a nuclear reactor, they received a can, which burst to shreds.

[prior]

Aleksandrov’s guilt in the Chernobyl accident is substantial and undeniable.
When the accident was liquidated, Aleksandrov hid behind Legasov.

[Naz]

I just have one question. Why did the foreign film "help" us remember about the liquidation heroes? Why not our Russian?

[Engineer]

Because our directors remove only the answers to Hollywood, domestic fast and the furious T-34s, drafts of Strange, our Crimea and Christmas trees.

[yehat]

Quote: Evgeny Fedorov

And what is genius here? 1. Legasov had to solve problems uncharacteristic of his profession and he coped with it successfully.

like thousands of other scientists from the USSR.
for example, one academic from the atomomprom was a soil scientist.

[yehat]

Quote: Evgeny Fedorov

If this is not considered genius, then we have different ideas

You are probably one of those people who call the child who first folded 2 and 2 a genius.
people in their lives encounter thousands of problems that they have not solved before.

[Ural-4320]

I read the article and comments, but did not understand about the person. Who is he in fact: a real hero or a careerist from the system?

[Engineer]

In the very first days, Legasov, as a chemist, proposed extinguishing the area of ​​the emergency reactor with a mixture of boric acid, lead and dolomite.

A completely wrong decision: as shown by the study of the reactor room in particular by Checherov Konstantin Pavlovich, this filling did not reach the goal, nothing fell into the reactor shaft, but only raised a huge amount of radioactive dust that scattered around the station. In addition, helicopter pilots died while carrying out this assignment. It is also worth recalling the heroic work of miners laying a tunnel in the subreactor space to create a nitrogen-cooled pillow there to stop the penetration of the core melt into the ground. The miners were irradiated simply in vain, since the melt did not even cross the concrete bottom of the bubbler pool. Reinsurance with human lives. About the decision to clean the roofs of 18-year-old soldiers in general I am silent. What about the flag? Idiocy.

Legasov made a report to the IAEA experts in Vienna ... Could they be misled and provide knowingly false facts?

Yes, but he did not know that he was lying then ... The author does not for some reason mention his first attempt at suicide sleeping pills when he was pumped out. He came to this decision when he learned about the results of a study of the reactor room after the construction of the sarcophagus. It became clear that the decisions made were incorrect, and his report to the IAEA was based on incorrect data. The Minatom website has an electronic library. Those who wish can read Legasov’s report and other reports that follow.
Of course, it is easy to retroactively judge the correctness of the decisions made, but the facts remain facts.

Awareness of the significance of genius in Russia did not come soon.

Loud, unsubstantiated words. Your desire to show the depravity of the system and make Legasov a fighter against it is understandable. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the search for such geniuses was carried out very intensively. A new state was being built on anti-Soviet principles and it was necessary to justify the collapse of everything and everyone. But the basis of the current atomic industry, atomic energy is the merit of those "irritated scientific circles". And whether someone likes it or not, the potential of that system has not yet been exhausted, and nothing new has been invented.

[Operator]

Quote: Engineer

the melt did not even overcome the concrete bottom of the bubbler pool

The melt not only did not overcome, but simply froze in the basement under the reactor. But on the other hand, it was still necessary to verify this with the help of laying the drift by the miners, so the decision to lay was reasonable. The drift was laid in the thickness of the concrete foundation under an empty reactor, so the radiation doses from the miners were within normal limits.

Throwing the reactor mixture with the help of helicopters was recommended by Legasov purely specifically for the show-off, since visual reconnaissance from the air immediately established the absence of graphite masonry residues and nuclear fuel in the reactor.

[Doliva63]

Quote: Alex_You

Read the post below.
Many learned about Legasov from the Chernobyl series.
And about Chernobyl from the game, the stalker.

For a long time, I was "doing some magic" with the commander and navigator of the helicopter, army, both went through Chernobyl, healthy, already took envy. And there was a reason - there were two of them left from the squadron. And they knew, but they flew there anyway. From the very beginning. Let Legasov be a Hero of Russia, but where is he without these guys who did their dirty work not for money, but out of a sense of duty? And what is he a Hero for? For the fact that someone risked their lives, but it was not he who risked. Perhaps a real scientist, perhaps a good organizer, but a Hero? Not available to me.

[depressant]

Age...
Fifty-two is the age when people say either "Life is good!" Or "Well, okay, I'll be like everyone else!"
Legasov could not be like everyone else, he was too passionately anxious to take off and was not ready to accept not just a fall - a possible disgrace from which you could never leave. Plans collapsed and took on the shape of a life catastrophe. Against the background of the Chernobyl experience and exposure, the blow was too strong, and the man was not strong enough to bear it. And there was nobody who would shoulder up, console, admonish, inspire optimism. Because internally lonely natures perceive comforters as a reminder of the horror that you want to get away from. Death is the best form of loneliness, where you are not pursued by ill-wishers and comforted by unnecessary, disgusting hypocritical goodwill.
In the USSR, an appeal to a psychologist was not practiced. And now it’s not widely practiced. It was possible to see the military returning from the Second Chechen. I hope there were good souls who supported them. In addition, there were many returnees. The spontaneously developing military fraternity is always support. But you need to be prepared for it. There must be a desire to talk to people like you. Legasov was lonely. He and everyone else. Yes, reflection. Is it his fault? No! Feature of nature.
The population did not know anything about Legasov. They knew Alexandrov, they knew Keldysh, they knew many scientists, but Legasov didn’t. Maybe the name flickered, but he was not famous. Very sorry person.
And who do we know from the current ones?