Oleg Gazenko

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Oleg Gazenko : biography

December 12, 1918 – November 17, 2007

He initiated the Cosmos biosatellite nonhuman primate program, which has been highly successful since its genesis in 1979. He recalls how difficult it was to decide to fly a primate for the first time. "It was obvious to us that we had to fly monkeys if we wanted to resolve the big questions about manned space flight. But our expertise was with other animals, like mice and dogs, so we didn’t dare to fly monkeys for a long time." Close contacts with American primate researchers were valuable, Gazenko says. "They helped us to overcome the, well, let’s say the mental barrier."

Honors

  • State Prize of the USSR (1978)
  • Order of Lenin
  • Gold Medal of Pavlov (1988)
  • Order "For Services to the Fatherland» IV Degree (1998)
  • Demidov Prize (1998)

Publications

Books

  • "Animals in Space" (1960)
  • "Life and Space" (1961)
  • "Space Cardiology" (1967)
  • "Mankind and Space" (1987)

Journals

  • "Problems of Space Biology" (since 1963, more than 80 volumes)
  • "Space Biology and Medicine" in 1969
  • "Fundamentals of Space Biology and Medicine" (in 3 volumes, 1975)

Research for the Soviet Air Force

In 1946-1947, he received special training at the Military Medical Academy (Leningrad) in the department of physiology in the laboratory of Aviation Medicine, where, under the direct supervision of renowned physiologists – Academician Colonel-General L. Orbeli and Professor Major General M. Brestkin – studied the problem and the state of high-altitude physiology of higher nervous activity in hypoxic conditions. During this time he married Olga Alexeevna Tolmachevskaya. Together they had two children – a son, Alexei, and daughter, Larissa.

In 1947, he was appointed to the Institute of Aviation Medicine of the Ministry of Defence. He was involved in studies of pilots in unfavourable climates—beyond the Arctic Circle and in deserts. Between 1948-1950 as the head of a medical research team, Gazenko took part in high-latitude Arctic air force tests "North Pole-2", "North Pole-3" and "North Pole-4". During this time he repeatedly worked on stations situated on drifting ice, as well as on the islands and the coast of the Arctic Ocean. Later he went on to conduct research on airmen working in difficult arid conditions of the Karakum desert. Between 1951-1952 he served alongside soviet airmen in the Korean War.http://persona.rin.ru/eng/view/f//20678/gazenko-oleg-g