In memory of B.M. Firsov (1929—2024). A Little Known Side of B.M. Firsov

Abstract

On the 18th of January we lost Boris Maksimovich Firsov (1929–2024), a scientist of exceptional magnitude and a person of extraordinary civic courage. He most certainly can be regarded as a man of different eras with rich and diverse life experience. Early on in his career he held high-ranking management positions, and he would later go on to conduct complex scientific and organizational operations in the field of sociology. His research covered various strata, states of mass consciousness, the history of sociology, and in more recent years — social history. Boris Firsov is responsible for establishing the Sociology institute of the RAS, he was the founder and first rector of the European University at St. Petersburg. He was frequently mentioned by his colleagues in their writing, and in the year 2021 a book by V. Vyzhutovich titled “Boris Firsov” came out as part of the “Life of remarkable people. Biography continues” book series. The author of this article had been a friend and colleague of Firsov for half a century, and as such is in a position to detail certain aspects about the life of Mr. Firsov and his scientific research that are not well known to the public. The article goes into B. Firsov’s involvement in the world of theater: his significant contribution to putting together a play called “Springtime at the LETI” [Leningrad Electro-Technical Institute] (1953) which was an early symbol of the political thaw; the script he wrote for a play called “The Death of Vazir-Mukhtar” (1969) that never got to be shown on television and was based on a novel by Yuri Tynyanov; him participating in a one-of-a-kind project known as “Sociology and theater” (1973–1989).