Word: russianism
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1950-1959
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...apogee (high point) 583 miles above the earth and bringing it down to its perigee (low point) 143 miles up. Since both these distances are added to the radius of the earth (3,960 miles), the orbit is almost a circle, and a good indication that the Russian launching vehicle was not only powerful but precisely controlled...
...time. Then its orbit can be tracked with enough precision to observe the effect of variations in the earth's gravitation. The satellite's radio signals (even without the key of the code) will be useful in studying the electrified layers in the upper atmosphere. Non-Russian scientists may even learn a little about the density of the air at orbit altitude, by clocking how fast the satellite loses energy...
...last week's international conference at Barcelona on space flight, three Russian delegates were the heroes. Their leader, portly, amiable Leonid I. Sedov, 50, was credited in the non-Russian press as being the father of the Soviet satellite. He is an expert on hydrodynamics and gas dynamics, and has a resounding title (head of the Natural Sciences Department of the Scientific and Technical Council of the U.S.S.R. Ministry of Education). But there is no real evidence that he is an outstanding satellite scientist. He is known as "the best-dressed Russian scientist," and he has traveled regularly...
With Sedov at Barcelona were two Russian women scientists. Astronomer Alia Masevich, 25, head of the Russian satellite-tracking stations, is the moonfaced girl genius of Russian science. She is married to a professor of mathematics, and has a daughter, 4. She is a staunch Communist Party member and is reputed to frown on Sedov's grandfatherly Gemiit-lichkeit. With her is Cosmic Ray Expert Lydia Kurnasova, about 45, who looks like Eve Curie. Her husband, a Russian sportsman, was killed in a car crash several years ago. Her hobby, she says, "is looking at beautiful things...
...toymakers, who lost no time blasting off on an 18,000-m.p.h. orbit all their own. Looking ahead to Christmas, the toymen were already well-stocked with an arsenal of celestial hardware. They quickly launched a crash program to unwrap the stuff. "The second I heard about the Russian satellite," said one somber-voiced toyman, "I knew we had to move fast...