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INTERNATIONAL

interests. However, in my opinion 3) While you were drifting, did the 41
this was a wrong step, because in all bears come up to you?
cases, humanity is obliged to cherish During the year of our drift, 15 bears
the atmosphere of our planet Earth. visited us. Since it is forbidden to kill
them the only way is to escape from
2) You spent a lot of time on expedi- them. Mostly you have to be careful
tions. What was the most dangerous in spring when a bear awakes from
and terrible moment for you? hibernation. It is very hungry and
In my recently published book, "My starts looking everywhere for food.
Polar Years", there is a description Some journalists came to the station
of such a moment - this is the break in the spring. Unseen, a bear, who
of the ice island on which our drift- was obviously hungry, surprised us
ing station was based. In 1968, in the at the camp. Unfortunately, he had
Arctic basin, our ice reconnaissance to be shot, as there was a real danger
detachments discovered an ice island, for one of the journalists - the bear
the area of which reached 100 square was ready to attack him. After this
kilometres. (13 km in length and 7 incident, 14 more bears came to us,
km in width). It was decided to land but here we were already on the alert
our station on this island. At the same and, flashing rockets into the air,
time, no one doubted that our drift drove them away from the camp.
would be completely safe. When we
passed the safety training, the instruc- 4) And what is the most ridiculous
tor told us that the most terrible thing moment you remember for your po-
at the drifting stations were faults and lar activities?
fires. However, he was sure that the We celebrated the birthdays of our
faults would not threaten us, so we drift comrades in very interesting them to be more versatile and armed
only talked about preventing fires. and "theatrical" ways. For example, with different knowledge. It is neces-
Our ice island was quite strong: as my birthday was celebrated in the sary to study nature from all points
it turned out later, its thickness was form of a comic court session. I per- of view, and if we try to change it, we
about 30 meters and so no one wor- formed the duties of oceanologist- must first carefully consider what the
ried about us. Even experienced po- hydrochemist and astronomer at the consequences of this change may be.
lar explorers said that being on such station. And the collective decided
an island is a pleasure and that such to "judge" me for pseudo-scientific 6) Concluding our conversation,
islands do not break. We landed on experiments in alchemy and astrol- I would like to know how you feel
the island and built a station. But as ogy. I did not suspect anything, but about the climate in Geneva.
the island drifts, various obstacles can in the evening a policeman came into The Geneva climate, in general,
be encountered. Such an obstacle for my house in uniform, saying that thanks to the lake is very good. There
our drifting island was an underwater everyone had gathered in the ward- is only one unpleasant phenomenon
mountain, rising from the ocean floor, room where the court was waiting for - a periodic cold north wind (bise),
the top of which was at a depth of 25 me. It was like a real court room: the even mentioned in a poem by Ty-
meters from the surface of the ocean. judges in robes, the prosecutor, the utchev, the famous Russian poet and
Our ice island, thirty meters thick was witnesses of the "charge" and the de- diplomat of the XIX century. The
also submerged in the ocean to a depth fence. As a result, I was "condemned' explanation is simple: Geneva is lo-
of 25 meters. When the island col- and the punishment was a bottle of cated in the depression between the
lided with the submarine mountain, cognac at my own expense, which we Alps and Jura, and these ridges cre-
the front edge fell off and triggered a and the judges drank to the glory of ate a narrowing channel in which the
fault. Fortunately, we were on the larg- science. We had fun. airflow of the northern direction in-
est part of the island, but nevertheless, creases sharply. However, the vagar-
our situation was very difficult: the 5) What counsel would you give for ies of the Geneva weather are more
power plant was turned off and we future generations? than paid off by the Geneva hospital-
were in total darkness. But there was To prevent the impact on our lives of ity and soulful attitude of its inhab-
no fear; there was only a desire to do any natural phenomenon, we must itants. Geneva has become home to
everything possible to save scientific try to understand it. For the young many international organizations.
equipment, food and fuel for the con- generation, especially those who go Thank her for that!
tinuation of our scientific research. on to study science, I would advise

INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMAT - DIVA