Alexander Romanovich Belyaev (Russian: 袗谢械泻褋邪薪写褉 袘械谢褟械胁); born 16 March 1884 in Smolensk, Russian Empire; died 6 January 1942 in Pushkin, USSR] Born in Smolensk, at the age of 30 Alexander became ill with tuberculosis. Treatment was unsuccessful; the infection spread to his spine and resulted in paralysis of the legs. Belyayev suffered constant pain and was paralysed for six years. In search for the right treatment he moved to Yalta together with his mother and old nanny. During his convalescence, he read the work of Jules Verne, H. G. Wells, and Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, and began to write poetry in his hospital bed. By 1922 he had overcome the disease and in 1923 returned to Moscow where he began his serious literary activity as writer of science fiction novels. In 1925 his first novel, Professor Dowell's Head (袚芯谢芯胁邪 袩褉芯褎械褋褋芯褉邪 袛芯褍褝谢褟) was published. From 1931 he lived in Leningrad with his wife and oldest daughter; his youngest daughter died of meningitis in 1930, aged six. In Leningrad he met H. G. Wells, who visited the USSR in 1934. In the last years of his life Belyaev lived in the Leningrad suburb of Pushkin (formerly Tsarskoye Selo). At the beginning of the German invasion of the Soviet Union during Second World War he refused to evacuate because he was recovering after an operation that he had undergone a few months earlier. Belyayev died of hunger in the Soviet town of Pushkin in 1942 while it was occupied by the Nazis. His wife and daughter, who managed to survive, were taken away to Poland by the Nazis. The exact location of his grave is unknown. A memorial stone at the Kazanskoe cemetery in the town of Pushkin is placed on the mass grave where his body is assumed to be buried.
It's a brilliant exemplar of a science fiction book which could be written only by a Soviet author. Extremely curious, atheist, transhumanist epic. But kinda banal, when it comes to plot twists.
Should we stay homo sapiens sapiens, or should we make ourselves something better? Does the church have the right to judge the society and its scientists for violating the law we didn't set? Probably you don't have prepared answers. Neither do I.