Me and Perelman biography. Works by Y.I.

Yakov Isidorovich Perelman was never a scientist in the truest sense of the word. He did not make scientific discoveries, did not have titles and degrees. However, he devoted his whole life to science.

Yakov Isidorovich Perelman never considered himself a writer. But his books were published in such gigantic circulations that any most successful writer could envy them. Paradox? Undoubtedly. And in order to understand it, it is worth starting from afar.

In the former county town of Bialystok in late autumn (old style) or early winter (new) - another paradox! - In 1882, the second son, Yakov, was born in the family of a modest accountant of one of the cloth factories. The family rented a small apartment and, with their father's meager salary, struggled to make ends meet. Soon the father died, and the whole burden of the maintenance and upbringing of the sons fell on the mother's shoulders. A small, fragile elementary school teacher coped with this truly heroically. Only thanks to her labors and cares, first, the eldest son Osip, and then Yakov, successfully graduated from the Bialystok real school, and later from the St. Petersburg Forestry Institute.

But they did not become foresters. Osip, choosing the pseudonym "O. Dymov", gained considerable fame as a fashionable novelist and sharp feuilletonist. Yakov, keeping his family name intact, eventually became a brilliant popularizer of science.

A test of writing in this noble field took place in 1899, when Yakov Isidorovich was not yet seventeen years old. In the newspaper Grodno Gubernskiye Vedomosti, his essay "About the expected fiery rain" was published. In it, the young and unknown author dared to enter into an irreconcilable polemic with a certain master, who claimed that in November 1899 "the end of the world would come." Perelman's article occupied three large columns and made a solid impression. Moreover, the well-chosen form of casual conversation was very successfully combined with accurate calculations, vivid comparisons, and historical digressions. So for the first time the style was tested, which would later become the hallmark of Ya.I. Perelman.

Already a student at the Forest Institute, Yakov Isidorovich began to collaborate in the journal Nature and People. He worked there for nearly seventeen years. And during this time, more than five hundred of his essays, articles, notes were published on the pages of the journal.

Much of what was published in the journal was later included in the first book of Ya.I. Perelman "Entertaining Physics". She saw the light in 1913. Neither the author nor the publisher even imagined that the book would be such a stunning success. Meanwhile, a bright kaleidoscope of original paradoxes, various facts, and memorable examples created by Perelman on its pages literally fascinated readers.

Scientists and educators, not to mention ordinary readers, vied with each other in praise of "Entertaining Physics" and insistently demanded new books. They appeared: "Entertaining geometry", "Entertaining arithmetic", "Entertaining algebra", "Entertaining astronomy", "Entertaining mechanics", and also - "Tricks and entertainment", "Physics at every turn", "Riddles and Curiosities in the World of Numbers, etc., more than a hundred titles in all. In a word, a whole popular science library.

And this is another of the paradoxes, as with such a huge work, and the work to create books was undoubtedly titanic, Perelman managed to do a million more different things.

He taught, created new curricula, edited journals, participated in the work of scientific societies, constantly made presentations.

Perelman has a lot of other very interesting undertakings on his account.

So, working in 1916-1917. in the Petrograd "Special Conference on Fuel", he was the first in Russia to propose moving the clock forward an hour in order to save fuel, which was carried out without delay.

In the early thirties, Perelman developed a project for the first Soviet anti-hail rocket.

And in the mid-30s, he conceived and, together with like-minded people, created an amazing museum - the "House of Entertaining Science". It is well known that any self-respecting exposition is full of warning signs: “Do not touch with your hands!”, “Do not go beyond the fences!”. Here, everything was the opposite - be sure to touch with your hands, twirl this way and that, even try to break it, if possible, in a word - work with might and main with exhibits, most of which came from Perelman's books on mathematics, physics, astronomy.

There were absolutely unique things in the museum, there were also the most ordinary ones. But they also amazed tourists with their capabilities. So, simple trading scales could easily guess any conceived number and surname.

Even the buffet of the House of Entertaining Science was arranged with various quirks. Along with the usual glasses, saucers, teaspoons, there were also "perelman" dishes. Boiling tea was poured from a bottle standing in broken ice, and the teaspoon melted faster than the sugar it stirred. Only later was it explained to the astonished visitors that the bottle was a Dewar vessel (the most perfect thermos), while the spoon was made of Wood's alloy, melting at a temperature of 68 degrees Celsius.

Naturally, there was no end to the excursions. The exposition of the museum constantly grew. The organizers were preparing to open new halls. But their plans were not destined to come true - the Great Patriotic War began.

The museum was destroyed during the blockade.
Its creator, unfortunately, shared the fate of his offspring.

The war ended in 1945. In 1957 the first artificial earth satellite was launched. In 1959, the first in the history of cosmonautics photography of the far side of the Moon was obtained from the Luna-3 automatic station, one of the craters of which was later named after Ya.I. Perelman. The name of a man who was never a scientist and never considered himself a writer.

The works of Ya.I. Perelman

"Entertaining Science"

In 1939, Ya.I. Perelman wrote an article "What is an entertaining science?". Here is how he answered this question: “We stop being surprised early ... To draw attention to too familiar objects, you need to show them in a new light, reveal unfamiliar sides. A thing falling from top to bottom is not a curiosity, another thing is a parachute taking off from the bottom up, or an object itself climbing up the slope ... Such paradoxes spur curiosity, sharpen interest, and where there is interest, the gates are wide open for new perceptions, new knowledge " . These words define both the purpose and objectives of any of the following books: ENTERTAINING ALGEBRA. - M.: LLP "Triada": LLP "Litera", 1994. - 199 p.: ill. ENTERTAINING ARITHMATICS. - M.: LLP "Triada": LLP "Litera", 1994. - 199 p.: ill. ENTERTAINING GEOMETRY; ENTERTAINING ASTRONOMY: [Book-folder]. - M.: VAP, 1994. - 288; 208 p.: ill. ENTERTAINING MATHEMATICS: Math. stories and essays by Lasswitz, Wells, Verne, Ahrens, Simon, Pen, Benediktov and others from 25 figs. - M.: Izd-vo MGIK, 1993. - 97 p.: ill. ENTERTAINING PHYSICS: [In 2 books]. - M.: Nauka, 1991. DO YOU KNOW PHYSICS? ENTERTAINING MECHANICS: [Book flip]. - M.: VAP, 1994. - 256; 172 p.: ill.

"Gymnastics for the Mind"

In the books collected in this section, "Perelman's ingenious idea of not turning science into fun, but, on the contrary, gaiety, ease, and, of course, paradoxicality, directing the reader to comprehend scientific truth" (G.I. .Mishkevich). FUN CHALLENGES: Two hundred puzzles for young mathematicians. - M.: Ed. Rusanov's house: Pilgrim, 1997. - 286 p.: ill. - (Interesting science). LIVE MATHEMATICS: Mathematical stories and puzzles / Introduction. Art. Y. Danilova. - M.: Publishing house Rusanov, 1994. - 205 p.: ill. - (Interesting science). ENTERTAINING CHALLENGES AND EXPERIENCES. - Yekaterinburg: Lekton, 1995. - 441 p.: ill. RAINBOW / Fig. V. Kashchenko. - M.: Det. lit., 1961. - 17 p.: ill. PHYSICAL INTELLIGENCE: Busy. tasks and experiments in physics for children. - M.: Omega, 1994. - 255 p.: ill.

TSIOLKOVSKY, HIS LIFE AND TECHNICAL IDEAS // Tsiolkovsky K.E. Dreams of earth and sky. - M.-L.: GONTI, 1938. - S. 5-35. Perelman Ya.I. was interested in the ideas of K.E. Tsiolkovsky from the time when he first learned about his work. The report "On the Possibility of Interplanetary Communications", which was based on the ideas of a then unrecognized scientist, he read in 1913. For this edition, Perelman wrote a biography of Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky with a generalization of his scientific ideas.

Literature about the life and work of Ya.I. Perelman

Mishkevich G.I. Doctor of entertaining sciences: The life and work of Yakov Isidorovich Perelman. - M.: Knowledge, 1986. - 194 p.: ill.

Overclocking L.E. Master of "entertaining" science // Acceleration L.E. Living voice of science. - M.: Det. lit., 1986. - S. 213-248.

Screen adaptations of works by Ya.I. Perelman

Entertaining physics. Scientific-popular. film by one. book by Ya.I. Perelman.
(Unfortunately, we don't have any other data on this film.)

The remarkable scientist and popularizer of science Yakov Isidorovich Perelman was born on December 4, 1882 (November 22, old style) in the city of Bialystok, Grodno province (now the territory of the Republic of Belarus). His father worked as an accountant in one of the cloth factories, and his mother taught in elementary grades. Jacob was the second child in the family. The family rented a modest apartment and, with their father's meager salary, struggled to make ends meet. In September 1883, the father died, and all the hardships of raising children fell on the shoulders of the mother. Despite the plight, she did everything to give her sons a good education.

In 1890, Yakov went to study in the first grade of an elementary school, and on August 18, 1895, he entered the Bialystok real school - the only secondary educational institution in the city. Gifted by nature, hardworking, he was very lucky with teachers who sought to give their students not only knowledge, but also to instill in them the skills of independent thinking, the ability to conduct scientific research, not to succumb to difficulties.

The activities of Ya.I. Perelman as a popularizer of science began in his school years. On September 23, 1899, he published in the newspaper Grodno Gubernskiye Vedomosti under the pseudonym "Ya.P." Essay "About the expected fiery rain". The reason for the appearance of this publication was the rumors that were widely circulated at that time about the coming end of the world. A specific date was also called - November 1 (according to the old style). It was on that day that, according to the prophets, a star rain should fall on Earth, which would destroy all life. Perelman decided to try to explain the upcoming phenomenon and expose the fabrications of the predictors. In the form of a casual conversation, combined with memorable calculations, successful comparisons, Yakov told readers about the Leonid meteor swarm, which with enviable regularity gives the inhabitants of the Earth a memorable colorful spectacle. In conclusion, it was said that "fire rains" are a regular phenomenon and do not pose any serious danger to earthlings.

The publication of the article inspired Jacob and he became even more diligent in his studies. On July 3, he graduated from the Belostok real school, and in August of the same year he was enrolled in the Forestry Institute in St. Petersburg. Despite the fact that the institute trained forestry specialists, it also provided an excellent general higher education. In addition to teaching special disciplines, a lot of time was devoted to higher mathematics and physics, which was especially close to the young Perelman.

Study captured Jacob. However, his life was not easy. It was necessary to pay for education, for an apartment, to eat. By that time, it was no longer necessary to wait for help from the mother - she was often sick and could not help her sons (the older brother Osip also studied at the Forest Institute). Then Jacob decided to try his luck in the field of journalism. The first essay he wrote, "A Century of Asteroids," was published in Nature and People, No. 4, 1901. Perelman also signed it with the letters "Ya.P.", which subsequently accompanied many of his publications.

But the fees for articles and essays were still not enough, and Perelman was forced to petition the director of the institute for exemption from fees for the first half of 1902/03. Given the brilliant success of the student, his request was granted.

In May 1903, his mother died suddenly, and, having returned to St. Petersburg after the funeral, Yakov began his studies with even greater zeal. Now, as distinguished by brilliant successes and, moreover, an orphan, he began to receive a small allowance.

In 1908, Perelman defended his thesis on the topic "The Old Russian State Sawmill. Its Equipment and Work", passed the final exams and on January 22, 1909 received a diploma with honors. He was awarded the title of "scientific forester of the 1st category".

But Perelman never engaged in the profession of a forester. It was by no means the forest jungle that attracted him. Even in his student years, he began to collaborate in the journal Nature and People, in which he published his popular science essays. By the time he graduated from the institute, Perelman was so deep in journalism that he could not imagine a different life for himself.

In 1904, Perelman, while continuing his studies at the Forestry Institute, became the executive secretary of the journal Nature and People. At first, the subjects of the materials he published were limited mainly to astronomy. But gradually the circle of interests of the author begins to expand, and essays about mathematics, physics, and technology appear. After graduating from the institute, Perelman begins to collaborate in the magazine constantly, and not only writes essays himself, but also prints the work of others. So, thanks to him, the works of K.E. Tsiolkovsky's "Without Gravity" (1914) and "Out of the Earth" (1917), with whom he began to correspond in 1913. This correspondence, which connected the two space exploration enthusiasts, continued until Tsiolkovsky's death.

Due to the fact that Perelman often published in the magazine, he used many pseudonyms. Journalist and historian Grigory Iosifovich Mishkevich counted 11 pseudonyms of Yakov Isidorovich: “Ya.L-noy”, “Ya. Lesnoy”, “Ya.L-oy”, “Ya.P.”, “Ya. P. Silvestrov" (from the Latin silvestrum - forest), "Tsifirkin", "P. Relman", "P. Ya-v", "-ya" and "Y. Nedymov" (unlike his older brother Osip, who was published under the pseudonym "Osip Dymov").

In July 1913, the first part of Perelman's book "Entertaining Physics" was published. The book was a resounding success with readers. It aroused interest among physicists as well. Professor of Physics at St. Petersburg University Orest Danilovich Khvolson, having met Perelman and learning that the book was written not by a scientist, but by a scientist forester, said to Yakov Isidorovich: "We have plenty of foresters-scientists, but there are no people who could write about physics like you do. My most urgent advice to you: continue, be sure to continue writing such books in the future". Perelman followed this testament all his life, writing many books that told in an entertaining way about many branches of science and technology.

Perelman worked in the journal "Nature and People" for 17 years, publishing more than 500 essays, articles and notes in it. Thanks to him, a collection of short stories and novels “The World of Adventures” was born, which was published as a free supplement to the magazine. The first issue of the collection was published in 1910 and was published until 1928. It published the works of HG Wells, Arthur Conan Doyle, Edgar Allan Poe and other foreign writers. Local authors also published. The collection was very popular among readers.

Without interrupting his work in the magazine, in 1916-1917 Perelman served in the "Special Meeting on Fuel", where he proposed to move the clock forward an hour in order to save fuel. The project was subsequently implemented, and the so-called maternity time was introduced on the territory of Soviet Russia.

In 1915, an important event took place in the personal life of Yakov Isidorovich. While on vacation in the summer, he met a young doctor, Anna Davidovna Kaminskaya. They soon got married. The couple rented an apartment on Plutalova Street, house number 2. Since then, Perelman has indicated this address in all his books.

Many writers were engaged in the popularization of science long before Perelman, but only he managed to achieve such heights in this matter. Our remarkable scientist, the creator of domestic rocket engines, Valentin Petrovich Glushko, very accurately described Yakov Isidorovich, calling him "a singer of mathematics, a bard of physics, a poet of astronomy, a herald of astronautics." Perelman developed his own methodology, which allowed not only to acquaint the reader with entertaining scientific facts, but also created a new kind of original teaching aid - accessible to millions of people, witty, but at the same time educational.

After the October Revolution and the closure of the journal "Nature and We", Perelman took up scientific and pedagogical activities. In February 1918, he began working as an inspector of the department of the Unified Labor School of the People's Commissariat for Education of the RSFSR - he developed new teaching aids and programs for courses in physics, mathematics, astronomy, while teaching these subjects at various educational institutions. At the same time, he had the idea of founding the first Soviet popular science magazine, since all pre-revolutionary publications had ceased to exist by that time. The idea met with support and in the spring of 1919 the magazine "In the workshop of nature" was born. Perelman edited this magazine until 1929. Many remarkable scientists were involved in cooperation in it: K.E. Tsiolkovsky, A.E. Fersman, M.Yu. Piotrovsky, N.A. Ryan and many others.

Perelman collaborated in many other publications: from 1924 to 1929 he worked in the science department of the Leningrad Krasnaya Gazeta; was a member of the editorial boards of the journals "Science and Technology", "Pedagogical Thought"; from 1925 to 1932 he was a member of the board of the cooperative publishing house "Vremya"; from 1932 to 1936 he worked in the Leningrad department of the publishing house "Young Guard" as an author, consultant and scientific editor. And he continued to write and publish articles and essays. Perelman's bibliography includes more than 1000 articles and notes published by him in various publications. And this is in addition to 47 popular science, 40 educational books, 18 school textbooks and teaching aids. Following "Entertaining Physics", he wrote "Entertaining Arithmetic", "Entertaining Algebra", "Entertaining Astronomy", "Entertaining Geometry", "Entertaining Mechanics". Only in Russian "Entertaining Physics" was published nearly 30 times.

Not everyone knows that Yakov Isidorovich Perelman not only promoted the ideas of astronautics (he wrote and published the books Into the World, Interplanetary Travel, many essays and articles), but also stood at its origins. In 1931 - 1933 he was a member of the presidium of LenGIRD - the Leningrad group for the study of jet propulsion, and also headed the propaganda department in it. Moreover, he was engaged in the development of the first Soviet anti-hail rocket. Together with engineer A.N. Stern, a project for such a rocket was developed, and Perelman performed all the necessary calculations. During this period, he was lucky to work with many pioneers of rocketry and astronautics. From 1932 to 1936, an active correspondence between Ya.I. Perelman and Sergei Pavlovich Korolev, who then worked in the Moscow organization of the GIRD, continued.

A significant milestone in the activities of Perelman as a popularizer of science was the opening of the Leningrad House of Entertaining Sciences on October 15, 1935. In the 1930s, this temple of entertaining sciences became a favorite place for most Leningrad schoolchildren, who got acquainted with many achievements of science and technology in an informative and accessible form. Perelman gave this House all his time. Unfortunately, most of the exposition perished during the war years.

The war that began on June 22, 1941 abruptly broke the peaceful way of life. Driven by patriotic feelings, Yakov Isidorovich read dozens of lectures for soldiers and sailors. He developed several topics, mainly related to the ability to navigate the terrain, which should have been useful during the hostilities. At the same time, he continued his literary activity.

But the hunger and cold of besieged Leningrad slowly undermined the strength of an elderly man. On January 18, 1942, Anna Davidovna Kaminskaya-Perelman died of exhaustion while on duty in the hospital. Yakov Isidorovich survived her by two months. On March 16, he also died of starvation in besieged Leningrad.

But there are books that are now read with the same interest as they once were. According to far from complete data, since 1913 Perelman's books in Russian alone have been reprinted more than 300 times with a circulation of almost 15 million copies. In addition, his books were published in German, French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Czech, Bulgarian, Finnish and other languages of our planet.

Yakov Isidorovich Perelman did not make any scientific discoveries, did not invent anything in the field of technology. He did not have any academic titles or degrees. But he was devoted to science and for forty-three years brought people the joy of communicating with science.

"INTERPLANETARY TRAVEL" YAKOV PERELMAN

The most famous book by Yakov Perelman is quite rightly considered "Entertaining Physics", because all the Soviet guys, without exception, who then chose the technical path for themselves, read it. The most forgotten work of the “great popularizer” in the post-war years was “Interplanetary Travel”. Moreover, it was completely unfairly forgotten, because it was she who aroused interest in space among those who, years later, launched the first satellite, launched a man into space, sent automatic stations to other planets ...

THIRTEEN MILLION

They say that for many years after the end of the Great Patriotic War, letters addressed to Yakov Isidorovich Perelman arrived in Leningrad, at Plutalova Street, house 2. They addressed the writer with questions, not knowing that he was no longer alive, that he died of hunger and cold in besieged Leningrad. Now, unfortunately, Ya.I. Perelman's books are rarely reprinted. But there was a time when he was a real "ruler of thoughts" of several generations of readers.

Of course, his most famous book is "Entertaining Physics". It first appeared in 1913 and has since been reprinted more than twenty times! And so almost any book of this unsurpassed master is interesting and accessible to talk about a variety of sciences. His Entertaining Algebra went through thirteen editions. "Entertaining Geometry" and "Entertaining Astronomy" - eleven each. Entertaining Arithmetic was published nine times. "Entertaining mechanics" - seven.

When meticulous bibliographers calculated the total circulation of Perelman's books published only in our country, they got an "astronomical" figure: more than thirteen million copies! This figure will increase significantly if we take into account foreign publications - in European countries, Egypt, Japan, China.

Plutalova street is a quiet street on the Petrograd side. Here Perelman settled with his wife, Anna Davidovna, back in 1915 and lived almost without a break for twenty-seven years. The writer's address was widely known. Yakov Isidorovich used to indicate him in his books so that everyone, if desired, could write to him, or even visit him.

Here, in apartment No. 12, the future writer once came, and then, in 1936, the young journalist Lev Razgon. Years later, he remembered what he had seen.

The walls of the large room, Perelman's study, were completely crammed with bookcases and shelves, in which there were countless drawers densely stuffed with neat index cards. On the sofa, on chairs and just on the floor - piles of magazines, foreign and domestic. “Among these mountain ranges of books, folders, boxes,” said Razgon, “the owner himself walked slowly and inaudibly. Small in stature, stooped. Behind the old-fashioned, "Chekhovian", pince-nez, strained, half-sighted eyes. His movements are slow, but non-stop, and all of him - small, in a shabby velvet blouse - resembles in some way a kind fairy-tale gnome.

Without interrupting the conversation, Yakov Isidorovich "processed" fresh mail. Opened envelopes and packages. Read the letters fluently. He leafed through magazines, made some notes in them, or took a card, quickly wrote something down on it, without turning around took out a box and, with a habitual movement, put the card exactly where it was supposed to. “Looking at all this,” Razgon recalled, “was not only interesting, but exciting! It was as if a well-tuned, well-adjusted intelligent machine was running smoothly in front of you.”

WRITE, DEFINITELY WRITE!"

Being the creator of amazing books about science, Perelman, as it is not surprising, was neither a physicist, nor a mathematician, nor an astronomer by education. He graduated from the St. Petersburg Forestry Institute in 1908 (with honors!), but never became a forester. While still a student, Yakov Perelman began collaborating with the famous metropolitan magazine Nature and People. By the day he graduated from the institute, he was so carried away by journalism, the popularization of science, that he could no longer imagine his life without literary work.

By that time, the young writer was already the author of hundreds of popular science articles, essays and notes on astronomy, physics, and mathematics. For the rest of his life, Yakov Isidorovich remembered the parting words spoken to him by the famous St. Petersburg physicist O.D. Khvolson: “We have a lot of foresters, but there are no people at all who can write about physics in such an exciting way. Write, please write!” And Perelman selflessly devoted himself to the cause, which was his real vocation - the popularization of science. Without any scientific degrees and titles, he became a true professor of entertaining sciences.

AMAZING ARTICLE

The year 1912 came. Perelman was already a well-known journalist, he was working on his "Entertaining Physics", when the work of K.E. Tsiolkovsky "Investigation of world spaces with jet devices" appeared in the St. In those days, cars were a curiosity, aviation was only gaining strength, and Tsiolkovsky's article spoke about the penetration of man into world space, about flying at a monstrous speed. “I propose a kind of rocket,” wrote Tsiolkovsky, “but a rocket of a grandiose and arranged in a special way.”

The article in the Bulletin of Aeronautics literally stunned Yakov Isidorovich. Unknown to him, Tsiolkovsky pointed the way to boundless outer space. These ideas captured Perelman. He realized that he himself could be of considerable benefit if he propagated them. He had a bold idea to write the world's first popular science book about upcoming flights to the Universe.

It was natural to seek advice and support from Tsiolkovsky himself. Perelman learned the address of the scientist in the editorial office of the Bulletin of Aeronautics. Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky lived in Kaluga. Perelman wrote to him, asked him to send biographical information, a portrait, a list of his main works.

FANTASTIC OR REALITY?

The first letter of Yakov Isidorovich to Tsiolkovsky, unfortunately, has not been preserved. But the response, dated September 8, 1913, survived.

"Your Majesty! - Konstantin Eduardovich wrote in it. - On the same day I answered your letter of August 29 ... From my life I can only tell you the following. I was born in 1857. I was a teacher for 33 years and now I am one of them. Life and strength were consumed by labor for the sake of a piece of bread, and there was little time left for higher aspirations and even less energy. My work as a teacher is paid and paid meagerly, but I still loved and still love it. Life brought me a lot of sorrows, and only the soul, seething with the joyful world of ideas, helped me to endure them ... ".

Attached to the letter was a photograph taken, as Tsiolkovsky wrote, "by the best Kaluga photographer" and a list of works.

The correspondence begun in this way continued for many years, until the very death of the founder of astronautics. Perelman needed more than once to clarify the details of his future book. In addition, he was preparing for a public lecture on interplanetary communications, the first in Russia on this topic.

In the hall of the St. Petersburg Conservatory (it was there, with the permission of its rector, composer A.K. Glazunov, an unusual lecture was held) that evening was full of people. Still would! After all, the speaker was going to answer an intriguing question: is humanity ever destined to break the chains of Earth's gravity and reach other planets? For the first time, Petersburgers heard so much about Tsiolkovsky and his ideas.

Perelman's lecture made a huge impression on the audience. The largest metropolitan newspapers responded vividly to this event. Responded "Rech", "Birzhevye Vedomosti", "New Time", "Russian invalid". And the Sovremennoye Slovo newspaper published excerpts from Perelman's report in the form of a separate article entitled "Is interplanetary travel possible?".

BOOK ABOUT STAR SWIMMING

Tsiolkovsky learned about the success of the report, about the debate that flared up after it in the hall of the conservatory (for example, astronomer, Mars explorer G.A. Tikhov and Narodnaya Volya scientist N.A. Morozov spoke), Tsiolkovsky learned from press reports and Perelman's letter. There was also a clipping with an article about interplanetary travel in this letter.

“Dear Yakov Isidorovich! I received your letter and the article in Sovremenny Slovo and read it with pleasure,” the touched scientist replied. - You raised a question dear to me, and I do not know how to thank you. As a result, I again took up the rocket and did something new. Thank you for your promise to send me your report if it is printed. I read reports about him in many newspapers.

The First World War was in full swing. And at this difficult time, at the end of the summer of 1915, Perelman's book "Interplanetary Travel" was published in the St. Petersburg publishing house of P.P. Soykin. She looked modest. Thin - a hundred pages. The cover depicted a piece of the starry sky, and against its background - a space rocket flying in world space.

It is not difficult to imagine with what surprise readers of that time opened this book. The titles of the chapters sounded strange, unusual for them: "The fight against gravity", "To the stars on a rocket", "Life on the ship of the Universe".

Of course, in those distant years, the idea of wandering in interstellar spaces, visiting other planets was only a tempting dream, nothing more. But after all, the successes of technology were evident, aviation progressed rapidly. “Why not allow,” asking Perelman in his book, “that with time the dream of space travel will come true, that the day will come when heavenly ships will rush into the depths of the Universe and transfer the former captives of the Earth to the Moon, to the planets, even, perhaps , into systems of other suns, distant stars?

PACKAGE FROM PETROGRAD

Looking far ahead, Perelman spoke about the stay of astronauts on the Moon and Mars: “In special impenetrable suits, like diving suits, the future Columbuses of the Universe, having landed on the planet, will risk getting out of a heavenly ship. With a supply of oxygen in a metal backpack on their shoulders, they will be able to roam the soil of an unknown world, conduct scientific observations, study its nature. Travel on the Moon or Mars, Perelman predicted, would be made in special "cars brought with you."

But this is what actually happened when the earthlings landed on the surface of the moon. And the spacesuits were on the astronauts (“suits, like diving suits”), and they had lunar vehicles at their disposal.

On one of the summer days of 1915, a package arrived from Petrograd to Kaluga. According to his signature inscription "Publishing House of P.P. Soykin" Tsiolkovsky immediately realized that it was from Perelman. Indeed, the package contained his new book, Interplanetary Travel, the world's first public book about astronautics. On the title page, the scientist read the inscription: “To the initiator of this book, highly respected Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky from the author. 1915.14.VII. I. Perelman.

It was a great achievement to publish such a book in wartime. It was a success and attracted many. After reading it, hundreds of people believed in the reality of the upcoming space flights.

Only four years have passed, and a new edition of Interplanetary Travels was needed. But the second time the book was published already under the new government, in 1919. In Petrograd - hunger, cold, devastation. And in these conditions, the workers of the printing house, which was located on Izmailovsky Prospekt, typed a book about astronautics with their fingers stiff from frost. The fact is amazing!

NEW TIMES, NEW NAMES

The second edition was published, and soon, in the same 1919, the third. Four years later, a fourth appeared, and a year later, a fifth. Yakov Isidorovich considered it his duty to send each new book to Kaluga, to Tsiolkovsky.

“I wrote to you,” Perelman reminded the scientist in the spring of 1928, “that I am preparing a new edition of my Interplanetary Journeys. This was the sixth edition of this book. It has been updated and updated before. A lot has changed over the years. Traveling into space no longer seemed just a “purely theoretical” task. We could already talk about fairly close dates. The first experiments were made. Interesting news came from America, Germany, France. And all this Perelman needed to take into account.

In 1915, one could only talk about the Tsiolkovsky rocket. Now foreign researchers have followed the Russian scientist. American professor Robert Goddard began the first experiments with rockets equipped with liquid engines. The German scientist Hermann Oberth developed projects for interplanetary ships. His compatriot, engineer Goman calculated interplanetary routes.

The sixth edition was published in 1928. The book opened with a preface by Tsiolkovsky. He wrote: “My ideas became known to a wide circle of readers only from the time when the author of Entertaining Physics, Ya.I. Perelman, began to propagate them.” And in a letter to Yakov Isidorovich, he added with a feeling of gratitude: "I will never forget you and your disposition towards me and my work."

In 1932, the seventh edition of Interplanetary Travels (again revised and enlarged) was published. eighth next year. A year later - the ninth and, finally, in 1935 - the last, the tenth - the most similar and most detailed.

TRAGIC FINAL

In this tenth edition, you can already find the names of those who later become the creators of our rocket technology and send the first spaceships into flight: Sergei Pavlovich Korolev, Valentin Petrovich Glushko, Yuri Alexandrovich Pobedonostsev. In their own words, Perlman's "Interplanetary Journeys" were of great importance in the fact that they devoted themselves to astronautics. S.P. Korolev wrote to Perelman in the spring of 1935: "I always read your books with great pleasure." Rocket engine designer, academician V.P. Glushko recalled: “This book gave me the right direction in my passion for space flight. This is how I first learned about the works of K.E. Tsiolkovsky. Cosmonauts K. Feoktistov, B. Egorov, G. Grechko told about the same. And in their destinies, the books of Ya.I. Perelman.

On the eve of the Great Patriotic War, Yakov Isidorovich completed the preparation of new editions of Entertaining Physics and Interplanetary Journeys. The war crossed everything. Perelman was in his 60s. He and his wife refused to evacuate from Leningrad. Anna Davidovna, a doctor in her specialty, began working at the hospital. Yakov Isidorovich lectured at military courses. When trams stopped in besieged Leningrad, he was forced to go to lectures on foot through the whole city.

Forces melted away. In mid-January 1942, Anna Davidovna died of exhaustion. Yakov Isidorovich was left alone in the icy apartment. The panes of the windows were shattered, and the empty frames hung with blankets;

The day came when the writer could no longer get out of bed. He died on March 16, 1942. Thus ended the life of an outstanding popularizer of science, who introduced millions of people to knowledge, and popular science books were written before and after him. Popular, but, alas, not entertaining. Perelman had a rare gift to be surprised and surprise others. That is why his books have been destined for such astonishing longevity.

Yakov Isidorovich Perelman
Russian, Soviet scientist, popularizer of physics, mathematics and astronomy, one of the founders of the genre of popular science literature, and the founder of entertaining science, the author of the concept of science fiction.
Born December 4 (November 22, old style) 1882 in the city of Bialystok, Grodno province. In 1890, Yakov went to study in the first grade of an elementary school, and on August 18, 1895, he entered the Bialystok real school.
On September 23, 1899, he published in the newspaper Grodno Gubernskie Vedomosti under the pseudonym Ya. P." essay "Regarding the expected fiery rain." In August 1901 he was enrolled in the Forestry Institute in St. Petersburg. Almost from the first year, he began to collaborate with the journal Nature and People, the first essay he wrote, The Century of Asteroids, was published in No. 4 of the journal in 1901. In 1904, Perelman, while continuing to study at the Forestry Institute, became the executive secretary of the journal Nature and People. After graduating from the institute, Perelman begins to collaborate in the magazine constantly, and not only writes essays himself, but also prints the work of others. In July 1913, the first part of the book "Entertaining Physics" was published. The book was a resounding success with readers. It aroused interest among physicists as well.
Professor of Physics at St. Petersburg University Orest Danilovich Khvolson, having met Perelman and learning that the book was written not by a physicist, but by a forestry scientist, said to Yakov Isidorovich: “We have plenty of foresters-scientists, but here are people who could write like this about physics , as you write, not at all. My most urgent advice to you is: continue, be sure to continue writing such books in the future."
August 29, 1913 - the beginning of the correspondence with K. E. Tsiolkovsky, which continued until the death of Tsiolkovsky.
November 20, 1913 - delivered a report in the Russian Society of Lovers of the World Science "On the possibility of interplanetary communications", which was based on the ideas of K. E. Tsiolkovsky. In 1914, he wrote and published an additional chapter "Breakfast in a weightless kitchen" to Jules Verne's novel "From a Cannon to the Moon", which he gave the term "science fiction" (Jules Verne called his novels scientific, and HG Wells fantastic), thus becoming the author of a new concept.
1916-1917 - served in the Petrograd "Special Meeting on Fuel", where he proposed to move the clock forward an hour in order to save fuel (this was done in the 20s). 1916 - the second part of the book "Entertaining Physics" was published.
1918-1923 - worked as an inspector of the department of the Unified Labor School of the People's Commissariat of Education of the RSFSR. He compiled new curricula in physics, mathematics and astronomy, and at the same time taught these subjects in various educational institutions.
1919-1929 - edited the first Soviet popular science magazine "In the Workshop of Nature", created on his own initiative.
1924 - participated in the work of the Moscow "Section of interplanetary communications" of the Osoaviakhim of the USSR, among whose members were F. E. Dzerzhinsky, K. E. Tsiolkovsky, V. P. Vetchinkin, F. A. Zander. N. A. Rynin and others.
1924-1929 - worked in the science department of the Leningrad "Red Newspaper"; member of the editorial board of the journals "Science and Technology", "Pedagogical Thought".
1925-1932 - member of the board of the cooperative publishing house "Vremya"; organized the mass production of books in an entertaining series.
November 13, 1931 - the end of 1933 - was in charge of the propaganda department at LenGIRD, a member of the presidium of LenGIRD, developed the project of the first Soviet anti-hail rocket.
1932 - awarded a diploma of the Leningrad Regional Council of the Osoaviakhim of the USSR "for particularly active participation in the development of scientific and technical tasks in the field of air technology aimed at strengthening the defense capability of the USSR."
1932-1936 - corresponded with S.P. Korolev on the promotion of space knowledge; worked in the Leningrad department of the publishing house of the Central Committee of the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League "Young Guard" as an author, consultant and scientific editor.
August 1, 1934 - as part of a group of Leningrad writers and popularizers, he met with Herbert Wells, who was visiting the USSR.
Summer 1935 - a trip to Brussels for the International Mathematical Congress.
October 15, 1935 - the opening of the Leningrad House of Entertaining Science (destroyed during the war).
1939 - wrote a detailed article "What is entertaining science."
July 1, 1941 - February 1942 - gave lectures to reconnaissance soldiers of the Leningrad Front and the Red Banner Baltic Fleet, as well as partisans on orienteering without instruments.
On January 18, 1942, Anna Davidovna Kaminskaya-Perelman died of exhaustion while on duty in the hospital.
March 16, 1942 - Yakov Perelman died of general exhaustion caused by hunger in besieged Leningrad by German troops.

Biography

Yakov Isidorovich Perelman was born on December 4 (November 22, old style) 1882 in the city of Bialystok, Grodno province of the Russian Empire (now Bialystok is part of Poland) into a Jewish family. His father worked as an accountant, his mother taught in elementary grades. The brother of Yakov Perelman, Osip Isidorovich, was a prose writer and playwright who wrote in Russian and Yiddish (pseudonym Osip Dymov).

The father died in 1883, and the mother had to raise the children alone. She did everything to ensure that the children received a decent education. In 1890, Yakov went to study in the first grade of an elementary school, and on August 18, 1895, he entered the Bialystok real school.

In August 1901, in St. Petersburg, he was enrolled in the Forestry Institute, where his teachers were Professor D. A. Lachinov, the founder of the Department of Physics and Meteorology, and Professor A. S. Domogarov, who taught a course in higher mathematics and mechanics. Almost from the first year, he began to collaborate with the journal Nature and People, the first essay he wrote, The Century of Asteroids, was published in No. 4 of the journal in 1901. In 1903, his mother died. In 1904, Perelman, while continuing to study at the Forestry Institute, became the executive secretary of the journal Nature and People.

In 1908, Perelman defended his thesis on the topic “Starorussky State Sawmill. His equipment and work "and on January 22, 1909 - received a diploma of graduation from the Forest Institute with the title of" forestry scientist of the 1st category. But he did not have a chance to work in the profession he had chosen at the institute; after graduating from the institute, Perelman began to collaborate in the magazine constantly, and not only wrote essays himself, but also printed the works of others.

July 1913 - the first part of the book "Entertaining Physics" was published. The book was a resounding success with readers. It aroused interest among physicists as well. Professor of Physics at St. Petersburg University Orest Danilovich Khvolson, having met Perelman and learning that the book was written not by a physicist, but by a forestry scientist, said to Yakov Isidorovich: We have plenty of forestry scientists, but there are no people who would be able to write about physics like you write at all. My strongest advice to you: keep on, be sure to keep writing books like this in the future..

August 29, 1913 - the beginning of the correspondence with K. E. Tsiolkovsky, which continued until the death of Tsiolkovsky.

November 20, 1913 - delivered a report in the Russian Society of Lovers of the World Science "On the possibility of interplanetary communications", which was based on the ideas of K. E. Tsiolkovsky. In 1914, he wrote and published an additional chapter "Breakfast in a Weightless Kitchen" to Jules Verne's novel "From a Cannon to the Moon", which he defined as "science fiction" (Jules Verne called his novels scientific, and HG Wells fantastic), thus becoming the author of a new concept.

In 1915, while on vacation in the summer, Perelman met a young doctor, Anna Davidovna Kaminskaya. They soon got married.

1916-1917 - served in the Petrograd "Special Meeting on Fuel", where he proposed to move the clock forward an hour in order to save fuel (this was done in the 20s).

1916 - the second part of the book "Entertaining Physics" was published.

1918-1923 - worked as an inspector of the department of the Unified Labor School of the People's Commissariat of Education of the RSFSR. He compiled new curricula in physics, mathematics and astronomy, and at the same time taught these subjects in various educational institutions.

1919-1929 - edited the first Soviet popular science magazine "In the Workshop of Nature", created on his own initiative.

1924 - participated in the work of the Moscow "Section of interplanetary communications" of the Osoaviakhim of the USSR, among whose members were F. E. Dzerzhinsky, K. E. Tsiolkovsky, V. P. Vetchinkin, F. A. Zander. N. A. Rynin and others.

1924-1929 - worked in the science department of the Leningrad "Red Newspaper"; member of the editorial board of the journals "Science and Technology", "Pedagogical Thought".
1925-1932 - member of the board of the cooperative publishing house "Vremya"; organized the mass production of books in an entertaining series.

November 13, 1931 - the end of 1933 - was in charge of the propaganda department at LenGIRD, a member of the presidium of LenGIRD, developed the project of the first Soviet anti-hail rocket.

1932 - awarded a diploma of the Leningrad Regional Council of the Osoaviakhim of the USSR "for particularly active participation in the development of scientific and technical tasks in the field of air technology aimed at strengthening the defense capability of the USSR."

1932-1936 - corresponded with S.P. Korolev on the promotion of space knowledge; worked in the Leningrad department of the publishing house of the Central Committee of the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League "Young Guard" as an author, consultant and scientific editor.

August 1, 1934 - as part of a group of Leningrad writers and popularizers, he met with Herbert Wells, who was visiting the USSR.

Summer 1935 - a trip to Brussels for the International Mathematical Congress.

October 15, 1935 - the opening of the Leningrad House of Entertaining Science (destroyed during the war).

1939 - wrote a detailed article "What is entertaining science."

July 1, 1941 - February 1942 - gave lectures to reconnaissance soldiers of the Leningrad Front and the Red Banner Baltic Fleet, as well as partisans on orienteering without instruments.

On January 18, 1942, Anna Davidovna Kaminskaya-Perelman died of exhaustion while on duty in the hospital.

March 16, 1942 - Yakov Perelman died of general exhaustion caused by hunger in besieged Leningrad by German troops.

Address in St. Petersburg

Chkalovsky prospect, 31 / Plutalova street, 2 - here Yakov Isidorovich and Anna Davidovna Perelman lived from 1915 until the end of their lives.

Bibliography

Perelman's bibliography includes more than 1000 articles and notes published by him in various publications. And this is in addition to 47 popular science, 40 educational books, 18 school textbooks and teaching aids.

According to the All-Union Book Chamber, from 1918 to 1973 his books were published 449 times in our country alone; their total circulation was more than 13 million copies. They were printed:

in Russian 287 times (12.1 million copies);
in 21 languages of the peoples of the USSR - 126 times (935 thousand copies).

According to the calculations of the Moscow bibliophile Yu. P. Iroshnikov, the books of Ya. I. Perelman were published 126 times in 18 foreign countries in the following languages:

German - 15 times;
French - 5;
Polish - 7;
English - 18;
Bulgarian - 9;
Czech - 3;
Albanian - 2;
Hindi - 1;
Hungarian - 8;
modern Greek - 1;
Romanian - 6;
Spanish - 19;
Portuguese - 4;
Italian - 1;
Finnish - 4;
in oriental languages - 7;
other languages - 6 times.

Books

Physical reader. A manual on physics and a book to read.
Entertaining physics. Book. 1 St. Petersburg, Publishing House of P. P. Soikin, 1913.
Fun tasks. Pg., Publishing House of A. S. Suvorin, 1914.
distant worlds. Astronomical essays. Pg., Publishing House of P. P. Soikin, 1914.
Interplanetary travel. Flights to world space and reaching celestial bodies. Pg., Publishing House of P. P. Soikin, 1915 (10).
Entertaining physics. Book. 2. Pg., Publishing House of P. P. Soikin, 1916 (until 1981 - 21 editions).
Travel to the planets (physics of planets). Pg., Publishing House of A.F. Marx, 1919.
New and old measures. Metric measures in everyday life, their advantages. The simplest methods of translation into Russian. Pg., Ed. magazine "In the workshop of nature", 1920.
New problem book for a short course in geometry. M. - L., GIZ, 1922.
- Issue. I. Mechanics. Pg.: Sower, 1922;
- issue II. Warmth, Pg.: Sower, 1923;
Riddles in curiosities in the world of numbers. Pg., Science and school, 1923.
New Geometry Problem Book. Pg., GIZ, 1923.
Metric system. Everyday handbook. Pg., Scientific publishing house, 1923.
Optical illusions. Pg., Scientific publishing house, 1924.
For young physicists. Experiences and entertainment. Pg., The Beginnings of Knowledge, 1924.
Reader-problem book on elementary mathematics (for labor schools and self-education of adults). L.: GIZ, 1924.
Between this and then. Experiences and entertainment for older children. M. - L., Rainbow, 1925.
ABC of the metric system. L., Scientific publishing house, 1925
Promotion of the metric system. Methodological guide for lecturers and teachers. L., Scientific publishing house, 1925.
Guide to the metric system of measures and a collection of exercises. L.: Gosizdat, 1925.
- issue III. Sound. L.: GIZ, 1925;
- issue IV. Light. L.: GIZ, 1925.
Giant numbers. M.; L .: Rainbow, 1925.
The miracle of our age. M.; L .: Rainbow, 1925.
Entertaining geometry. L., Time, 1925.
Entertaining geometry outdoors and at home. L., Time, 1925.
For young mathematicians. The first hundred puzzles. L., The Beginnings of Knowledge, 1925.
For young mathematicians. The second hundred puzzles. L., The Beginnings of Knowledge, 1925.
Don't believe your eyes! L., Surf, 1925.
Flight to the moon. Modern projects of interplanetary flights. L., Sower, 1925.
Newspaper sheet. electrical experiments. M. - L., Rainbow, 1925.
Geometry and the beginnings of trigonometry. A short textbook and a collection of tasks for self-education. L., Sevzappromburo of the Supreme Economic Council, 1926.
Entertaining arithmetic. Riddles and curiosities in the world of numbers. L., Time, 1926.
Fun with matches. L., Surf, 1926.
Young surveyor. Leningrad: Surf, 1926.
Puzzle figures of 7 pieces. M.; L .: Rainbow, 1927.
Entertaining mathematics. L., Time, 1927.
Focuses and entertainment. The miracle of our age. Giant numbers. Between this and then. L .: Rainbow, 1927.
Technical Physics. A manual for self-study and a collection of practical exercises. L., Sevzappromburo of the Supreme Economic Council, 1927.
Scientific tasks and entertainment (puzzles, experiments, classes). M. - L., Young Guard, 1927.
Entertaining tasks. L., Time, 1928.
Box of riddles and tricks. M. - L.: GPZ, 1929.
Entertaining astronomy. L., Time, 1929.
Entertaining mathematics in stories. L., Time, 1929.
Rocket to the moon. M. - L., GIZ, 1930.
Into the world distances (about interplanetary flights). M., Publishing House of Osoaviakhim of the USSR, 1930
Living Textbook of Geometry. Live geometry. Theory and tasks. Kharkov - Kyiv, Unizdat, 1930.
Entertaining mechanics. L., Time, 1930.
Mathematics in the open air. L., Polytechnic School, 1931.
Mathematics at every turn. A book for extracurricular reading of FZS schools. M. - L., Uchpedgiz, 1931.
How to solve problems in physics. M. - L., ONTI, 1931.
Tsiolkovsky. His life, inventions and scientific works. On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the birth. M.; L.: GTTI, 1932.
Physics at every turn. M.: DETGIZ, 1934, 263 s, shooting range. 30000 copies

(December 4, 1882, Bialystok - March 16, 1942, Leningrad) - Russian scientist, popularizer of physics, mathematics and astronomy, one of the founders of the genre of popular science literature.

Biography

Yakov Isidorovich Perelman was born on December 4 (November 22, old style) 1882 in the city of Bialystok, Grodno province of the Russian Empire (now Bialystok is part of Poland). His father worked as an accountant, his mother taught in elementary grades. The brother of Yakov Perelman, Osip Isidorovich, was a playwright writing in Russian and Yiddish (pseudonym Osip Dymov).

The father died in 1883 and the mother had to raise the children alone. She did everything to ensure that the children received a decent education. In 1890, Yakov went to study in the first grade of an elementary school, and on August 18, 1895, he entered the Bialystok real school.

In August 1901 he was enrolled in the Forestry Institute in St. Petersburg. Almost from the first year, he began to collaborate with the journal Nature and People, the first essay he wrote, The Century of Asteroids, was published in No. 4 of the journal in 1901. In 1903, his mother died. In 1904, Perelman, while continuing his studies at the Forestry Institute, became the executive secretary of the journal Nature and People.

July 1913 - the first part of the book "Entertaining Physics" was published. The book was a resounding success with readers. It aroused interest among physicists as well. Professor of Physics at St. Petersburg University Orest Danilovich Khvolson, having met Perelman and learning that the book was written not by a physicist, but by a forestry scientist, said to Yakov Isidorovich: We have plenty of forestry scientists, but people who could write like this about physics, as you write, not at all. My most urgent advice to you is: keep on, be sure to keep writing such books in the future.

August 29, 1913 - the beginning of the correspondence with K. E. Tsiolkovsky, which continued until the death of Tsiolkovsky.

November 20, 1913 - delivered a report in the Russian Society of Lovers of the World Science "On the possibility of interplanetary communications", which was based on the ideas of K. E. Tsiolkovsky. In 1914, he wrote and published an additional chapter "Breakfast in a weightless kitchen" to Jules Verne's novel "From a Cannon to the Moon", which he gave the term "science fiction" (Jules Verne called his novels scientific, and HG Wells fantastic), thus becoming the author of a new concept.