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A Cosmologist's Progress
From Nothing to Something
..and Back Again

Dr. Leonid Marochnik

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From the Foreword, by John Payne

This rich and engaging book, the personal memoir of Leonid Marochnik, a ground-breaking astrophysicist and cosmologist who emigrated to the United States in 1992, gives us a unique and vivid insight into a world largely hidden from outside gaze: the intellectually and socially rich world of the non-party elite in the post-war Soviet Union. 

A striking feature of Leonid’s world is how leading figures from both the sciences and the creative arts form deep friendships and associations, a defense, perhaps, to what Leonid at one point describes as the Orwellian world around them, but also because of a deep concern for each others’ lives and projects. Through stories, photographs and poetry, we learn about a multitude of characters, their successes, tribulations and arguments, and their personal lives. Here there is everything from dangerous mountaineering escapades to encounters with the Soviet security apparatus.

As we proceed through Leonid’s life, we meet some of the most important artists and poets of the post-war Soviet Union. Several of their artistic works are reproduced in the book, as are English translations of a selection of poetic works which are in one way or another connected with the author.

 The thread running through this memoir is, of course, Leonid’s own life and career. Those who are interested in the science itself will find much to inspire them. The areas of astrophysics and cosmology to which Leonid has made highly original contributions are breathtakingly wide-ranging: we are taken from the structure of comets and the Milky Way galaxy to gravitational waves, dark energy and the overall evolution of the universe. Non-scientists should not be afraid: the science is explained accurately but in a way which will be totally accessible to any educated reader.