FATHER OF SPUTNIK

It was during Khrushchev’s Glorious Decade rule that two groundbreaking international achievements were made, namely, the launch of the first Sputnik in 1957, and the first manned space flight in 1961. Truthfully, neither was exactly attributable to Khrushchev’s leadership, as both of them had started well before his time under Stalin in a broad sense, and under Beria in a narrower administrative sense. Yet, both of these events did indeed happen on Khrushchev’s watch, for which he can indeed get some formal credit.

The focus of this entry is the fundamental achievement made possible thanks in large part to the genius of a foreigner. Robert Bartini was an Italian-born Soviet aircraft designer and space pioneer. The great Russian rocket designer Sergei Korolev called himself “Bartini’s pupil,” and the name father of the Sputnik has been associated not with Korolev or another Russian name, but with Bartini. An Italian aristocrat, he had become a Communist and after the fascist takeover of 1922 he was sent to the USSR by the Italian Communist Party in 1923, and remained a Soviet citizen for the rest of his life.

Despite his father’s fabulous wealth (which he donated to the Italian communists), he chose the road of hard work and intense technical education. Trained as an aircraft pilot, he also graduated from the Milan Institute of Technology as an aircraft engineer and physicist, showing prodigious talents not only in his professional field, but in an array of other applications and interests, such as philosophy and cosmogony. He created the unique theory of a six-dimensional world, where time, like space, has its own three dimensions. This theory is known as “Bartini’s World.”

In Moscow, Bartini became instantly prominent as an aircraft designer. He was given the rank of kombrig (equivalent to major general) at the early age of thirty-one. In 1938 he was “arrested,” allegedly because of his nominal connection to "the enemy" Marshal Tukhachevsky, in addition to being accused of working for Mussolini. He was not judged harshly, however, and during his “imprisonment” (which some knowledgeable people would later insist had been done for his own protection!) he was working in fact on the development of new aircraft, having been appointed head of a “prison designer bureau.” He was released from prison in 1946 (that is, soon after the end of the war) and continued his work as a free man now. At different times he was closely associated, aside from Korolev, with Ilyushin, Yakovlev, Antonov, and others (most of whom did their own prison stint as well). His brainstorms and developments in experimental aviation made Soviet exploration of Space an early reality. Korolev said of him: “We all owe Bartini a great lot. Without Bartini, we would not have had the Sputnik.”

He remained creatively and physically active until his death in 1974. Here was a brilliant example of what I have called To Russia with Greatness. It was not a smooth ride for him, and not through any fault of his, but in the end, he entered Russian history as a hero. After all, even though Russia was rather rude to him at one time, she never failed to appreciate his genius. I would take that over polite marginalization any time.