View source for Ivan Yefremov

{{short description|Soviet paleontologist, science-fiction author and social thinker}}
{{For|the Uzbekistani weightlifter|Ivan Efremov (weightlifter)}}
{{family name hatnote|Antonovich|[[Yefremov]]|lang= Eastern Slavic}}
{{inline|date=May 2024}}
{{expand Russian|topic=cult|date=August 2024}}
{{Infobox writer
| name             = Ivan Yefremov
| image            = Иван Ефремов 1925.jpeg
| imagesize        = 
| alt              = 
| caption          = 
| pseudonym        = 
| birth_name       = Ivan Antipovich Yefremov
| birth_date       = 23 April 1908
| birth_place      = [[Gatchinsky District]], [[Saint Petersburg Governorate]], [[Russian Empire]]
| death_date       = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1972|10|5|1908|4|23}}
| death_place      = [[Moscow]], [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|RSFSR]], [[Soviet Union]]
| resting_place    = 
| occupation       = Paleontologist, writer
| language         = [[Russian language|Russian]]
| nationality      = 
| ethnicity        = 
| citizenship      = 
| education        = 
| alma_mater       = [[National Mineral Resources University|Leningrad Mining Institute]]
| period           = 
| genre            = [[Science fiction]], [[historical novel]]
| subject          = [[Palaeontology]]
| movement         = 
| notableworks     = 
| spouse           = 
| partner          = 
| children         = 
| relatives        = 
| influences       = 
| influenced       = 
| awards           = 
| signature        = Signature of Ivan Efremov.svg
| signature_alt    = 
| website          = 
| portaldisp       = 
}}

'''Ivan Antonovich''' ('''Antipovich''') '''Yefremov''', sometimes '''Efremov''' ({{langx |ru|Ива́н Анто́нович (Анти́пович) Ефре́мов}}; 23 April 1908 &ndash; 5 October 1972) was a Soviet [[Paleontology|paleontologist]], [[Russian science fiction and fantasy|science-fiction]] author and social thinker. He founded [[taphonomy]], the study of fossilization patterns.

==Biography==
He was born in the village of [[Gatchinsky District|Vyritsa]] in [[Saint Petersburg Governorate]] on 23 April 1908. His parents divorced during the [[Russian Revolution]]. His mother married a [[Red Army]] commander and left the children in [[Kherson]] to be cared for by an aunt who soon died of [[typhus]]. Yefremov survived on his own for some time, after which he joined a Red Army unit as a "son of the regiment" and went to [[Perekop]] with it. In 1921, he was discharged and went to Petrograd (now [[Saint Petersburg]]) to study. He completed his education there while combining his studies with a variety of odd jobs. He later commented that "the Revolution was also my own liberation from [[philistinism]]" ({{langx|ru|"Революция была также и моим освобождением от мещанства"}}).

=== Academic career ===
[[File:Дом в котором жил Иван Ефремов, ул. Губкина, 4.jpg|thumb|House 4 at the Gubkin Street in Moscow, where Yefremov lived from 1962 until death]]
In 1924, due to the influence of academician [[Petr Sushkin]], he became interested in [[paleontology]]. Yefremov entered the [[Saint Petersburg State University|Leningrad State University]] but dropped out later. As early as 19, he made several discoveries {{which|date=May 2024}} and published a monograph co-authored with [[Alexey Bystrow]], which was later awarded by the [[Linnean Society of London]].

In the mid-1930s, he took part in several palaeontological expeditions to the [[Volga region]], the [[Ural Mountains|Urals]], and [[Central Asia]]. He headed a research laboratory at the Institute of Paleontology. In 1935, he took exit examinations and graduated from the [[National Mineral Resources University|Leningrad Mining Institute]]. The same year he got his [[Candidate of Science]] degree in biological sciences. In 1941, he got his [[Doctor of Sciences|doctorate]] in biological sciences. In 1943 he received the title of Professor.

In the 1940s, Yefremov developed a new scientific field called [[taphonomy]], for which he was awarded the [[USSR State Prize|Stalin Prize]] in 1952. His book, ''Taphonomy'', was published in 1950. He applied many taphonomic principles in his fieldwork during a palaeontological expedition to the [[Gobi Desert]] in [[Mongolia]]. During these years, he was recognized as a successful scientist and won a state science award. Many American researchers {{who|date=May 2024}} called Yefremov the father of modern [[paleontology]],{{fact|date=May 2024}} who merged geological and palaeontological data into a single science.

In 1958 he visited China.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://erema-o.livejournal.com/901296.html|title=Ольга Ерёмина. О «Переписке Ивана Антоновича Ефремова». Заметки автора-составителя. 2015 год. Ч. 1|website=erema-o.livejournal.com}}</ref>

=== Literary career ===
Yefremov wrote his first work of fiction, a short story, in 1944. His first novel ''[[The Land of Foam]]'' (''Great Arc'', 1946) was published in 1946. The subsequent novel ''[[Road of Winds]]'' was based on his scientific expeditions in [[Mongolia]] (1946–1949). Yefremov's most widely recognized science fiction novel, ''[[Andromeda (novel)|Andromeda Nebula]]'', came out in 1957. It is a panegyric to a [[utopia]]n "[[Communism|communist]]" future. It shows a society developed so that there is no material inequality between individuals, and each person is able to pursue their self-development unrestricted. An intergalactic communication system binds mankind into a commonwealth of sentient civilizations of the universe, the Great Ring of Civilizations. The book became a moral guideline for many people in the Soviet Union. Besides the heavy didactic aspect, the book also contained an interesting space travel adventure subplot, so people appreciated it for its educational and entertainment value. [[Algis Budrys]] compared Yefremov's fiction style to that of [[Hugo Gernsback]].<ref name="budrys196809">{{Cite magazine
 |last=Budrys
 |first=Algis
 |date=September 1968
 |title=Galaxy Bookshelf
 |department=
 |url=https://archive.org/stream/Galaxy_v27n02_1968-09#page/n185/mode/2up
 |magazine=Galaxy Science Fiction
 |pages=187–193
}}</ref>
[[File:Ivan A. Yefremov.jpg|thumb|Ivan Yefremov writing in his journal ]]
With the time the socio-political circumstances in the world became more and more worrying, and such changes are reflected in the novel ''[[The Bull's Hour]]''. In it Yefremov tries to warn of coming catastrophes in environment, ethics and the social sphere. Many considered the novel a disguised criticism of the USSR, although later researchers have found that novel mostly shows the dead-end perspectives of [[Maoism]] and [[gangster]] [[capitalism]]. The government accused the novel of [[Anti-Sovietism]] and banned it from publishing up to the end of the 1980s.

Yefremov's last novel was ''[[Thais of Athens]]'', published in 1972. The narrative is set in the time of [[Alexander the Great]]. Its multiple topics include little-known female cults, questions of women's inner lives and their roles in global history; it raises questions of religion, cultural genesis, and the search for beauty and truth.

==Personal life==
Yefremov was married three times. His first marriage in the early 1930s, to Ksenia Svitalskaya, was short-lived and ended in divorce. In 1936, he married paleontologist Elena Dometevna Konzhukova,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://litrossia.ru/item/soczakaz-na-raschelovechivanie/|title=Соцзаказ на расчеловечивание|date=October 10, 2019}}</ref> with whom they had a son, Allan Ivanovich Yefremov. After his wife died on 1 August 1961, he married Taisiya Iosifovna Yukhnevskaya in 1962. His last novel ''[[Thais of Athens]]'', which was posthumously published in 1973, is dedicated to her.

==Honours and awards==
* [[Order of the Red Banner of Labour]] (1945) — for achievements in palaeopathology;
* [[Order of the Red Banner of Labour]] (1967) — for achievements in development of Russian literature
* [[Order of the Badge of Honour]]
* [[USSR State Prize|Stalin Prize]] (1952) — for the book "Taphonomy and Geological fasti"

A [[minor planet]] [[2269 Efremiana]] discovered in 1976 by [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] astronomer [[Nikolai Chernykh]] is named after him.<ref>{{cite book |last= Schmadel |first= Lutz D. |authorlink= Lutz D. Schmadel |title= Dictionary of Minor Planet Names |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=aeAg1X7afOoC&q=185|page=176 |edition= 5th |year=2003 |publisher= Springer Verlag |location= New York |isbn= 3-540-00238-3}}</ref>

Prehistoric animals named after Yefremov:
* ''[[Bainoceratops|Bainoceratops efremovi]]'', a Late Cretaceous [[Ceratopsia|ceratopsian]] from Mongolia<ref name="Bainoceratops">{{cite journal |last1=Tereshchenko |first1=V. |last2=Alifanov |first2=V. R. |date=2003 |title=Bainoceratops efremovi, a New Protoceratopid Dinosaur (Protoceratopidae, Neoceratopsia) from the Bain-Dzak Locality (South Mongolia) |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/288557787 |journal=Paleontological Journal |volume=37 |issue=3 |pages=293–302}}</ref>
* ''[[Cyclurus|Cyclurus efremovi]]'', a Late Paleocene fish discovered in Mongolia<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last1=Grande |first1=Lance |last2=Bemis |first2=William E. |date=1998-04-10 |title=A Comprehensive Phylogenetic Study of Amiid Fishes (Amiidae) Based on Comparative Skeletal Anatomy. an Empirical Search for Interconnected Patterns of Natural History |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02724634.1998.10011114 |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |language=en |volume=18 |issue=sup1 |pages=1–696 |doi=10.1080/02724634.1998.10011114 |issn=0272-4634|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
* ''[[Dongusuchus|Dongusuchus efremovi]]'', a Middle Triassic [[archosaur]] from [[Orenburg Oblast|Orenburg]], Russia<ref>Nesbitt SJ et al. 2017. The earliest bird-line archosaurs and the assembly of the dinosaur body plan. Nature.</ref>
* ''[[Euxinita|Euxinita efremovi]]'', a Carboniferous [[Foraminifera|foraminiferan]] from Europe<ref>{{Cite web |title=Euxinita efremovi (Vdovenko & Rostovtseva, 1967) Foraminifera |url=https://foraminifera.eu/species.php?no=1014562&aktion=suche |access-date=2024-07-27 |website=foraminifera.eu}}</ref>
* ''[[Tarbosaurus efremovi]]'', a Late Cretaceous [[theropod]] discovered in [[Ömnögov]], Mongolia.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.paleofile.com/Dinosaurs/Theropods/Tarbosaurus.asp|title=''Tarbosaurus''|website=paleofile|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170716044435/http://www.paleofile.com/Dinosaurs/Theropods/Tarbosaurus.asp|archive-date=July 16, 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* ''[[Syodon|Syodon efremovi]]'', a Middle [[Permian]] [[therapsid]] from Isheevo locality, [[Tatarstan]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.paleofile.com/Dicynodont/Syodon.asp|title=Syodon|website=Paleofile|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230414200407/http://www.paleofile.com/Dicynodont/Syodon.asp|archive-date=April 14, 2023|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* The primitive therapsid ''[[Ivantosaurus]]'' was discovered by [[:ru:Чудинов, Пётр Константинович|Petr Chudinov]] and named after his tutor Yefremov.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Tchudinov|first=P. K.|date=1983|title=Early Therapsids|url=http://ocher.biblioteka-perm.ru/upload/pages/42199/dat_1507888790536.pdf#page=68|journal=Proceedings of the Paleontological Institute|volume=202|pages=66–70|lang=ru|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210815111704/http://ocher.biblioteka-perm.ru/upload/pages/42199/dat_1507888790536.pdf#page=68|archive-date=August 15, 2021|url-status=live}}</ref>
* ''[[Ivanantonia|Ivanantonia efremovi]]'', an Early Eocene rodent from Mongolia<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Hartenberger |first1=Jean-Louis |last2=Dashzeveg |first2=Demberelyin |last3=Martin |first3=Thomas |date=1997-05-01 |title=What isIvanantonia efremovi (Rodentia, Mammalia)? |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03022555 |journal=Paläontologische Zeitschrift |language=en |volume=71 |issue=1 |pages=135–143 |doi=10.1007/BF03022555 |issn=|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
* ''[[Kargalichthys|Kargalichthys efremovi]]'', an Early Permian fish from Russia<ref>{{Cite web |title=PBDB Taxon |url=https://dev.paleobiodb.org/classic/checkTaxonInfo?taxon_no=376061&is_real_user=1 |access-date=2024-07-27 |website=dev.paleobiodb.org}}</ref>
* ''[[Mesenosaurus efremovi]]'', an Early Permian tetrapod, named after Yefremov who named the genus in 1938.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Sigi Maho |author2=Bryan M. Gee |author3=Robert R. Reisz |year=2019 |title=A new varanopid synapsid from the early Permian of Oklahoma and the evolutionary stasis in this clade |journal=Royal Society Open Science |volume=6 |issue=10 |article-number=191297 |doi=10.1098/rsos.191297 |pmid=31824730 |pmc=6837192 }}</ref>
* ''[[Mongolochelys|Mongolochelys efremovi]]'', a Late Cretaceous turtle from Mongolia
* ''[[Porosteognathus|Porosteognathus efremovi]]'', a Middle Permian therapsid from Russia<ref>{{Cite web |title=PBDB Taxon |url=https://paleobiodb.org/classic/basicTaxonInfo?taxon_no=362025 |access-date=2024-07-27 |website=paleobiodb.org}}</ref> 
* ''[[Protembolotherium|Protembolotherium efremovi]]'', a Middle Eocene [[Brontotheriidae|brontothere]] from Mongolia
* ''[[Wuguia|Wuguia efremovi]]'', an Early Cretaceous turtle from northwest China<ref>{{Cite web |title=A basal eucryptodiran turtle 'Sinemys' efremovi (= Wuguia efremovi) from the Early Cretaceous of China - Acta Palaeontologica Polonica |url=https://www.app.pan.pl/article/item/app51-105.html |access-date=2024-07-27 |website=www.app.pan.pl}}</ref>
* [[species:Tecticupes heckeri|Stegocupes efremovi]]

==Bibliography==
===Fiction===
;Novels
*''[[The Land of Foam]]'' (''At the Edge of Oikoumene'' also known as ''Great Arc'', 1946)
*''[[Andromeda (novel)|Andromeda: A Space-Age Tale]]'' (''Andromeda Nebula'', 1957, 1959)
*''[[Razor's Edge (novel)|Razor's Edge]]'' (1963)
*''[[The Bull's Hour]]'' (1968)
*''[[Thais of Athens]]'' (''Thais Athenian'', 1972)

;Short fiction
*"Olgoi-Khorkhoi" (1944)
*"[[A Meeting Over Tuscarora]]" (1944)
*"[[Stellar Ships]]" (1944)
*"[[Cutty Sark (short story)|Cutty Sark]]" (1944)
*"The Nur-i-Desht Observatory" (1944)
*"[[The Heart of the Serpent]]" (''Cor Serpentis'', 1958, 1961)
*"[[The Yurt of the Raven]]" (1959)
*"[[Aphaneor, The Arkharkhellen's Daughter]]" (1959)
*"[[Five Paintings]]" (1965)

===Non-fiction===
*''[[Road of Winds]]'' (1956)

===Scientific works===
Ivan Yefremov has written more than 100 scientific works, especially about [[Permian]] [[tetrapod]]s found in [[Russia]], and on [[taphonomy]]. Only few of them were published in languages other than Russian. Below is a list of the works published in German or English. Source - the book "Ivan Antonovich Yefremov" by Petr Tchudinov (issued in 1987 by the Publishing House "[[Nauka (publisher)|Nauka]]", Moscow)
*Bentosaurus sushkini, ein neuer Labyrinthodont aus den Permo-Triassischen Ablagerungen des Scharchenga-Flussess, Nord-Duna Gouvernement, Izvestia Akademii Nauk SSSR (Proceedings of Acad. Sci. USSR. Phys. and Math.), N. 8, P. 757-770 (1929)
*Über die Labyrinthodonten der UdUSSR. II. Permische Labyrinthodonten des früheren Gouvernement Wjatka, Trudy Paleozoologicheskogo Instituta (Proceedings of Paleozoological Institute), Vol. 2, P. 117-158 (1933)
*Some new Permian reptiles of the USSR, Comptes Rendus (Doklady) Acad. Sci. USSR. Paleontol., Vol 19, N 9, P. 771-776 (1938)
*Die Mesen-Fauna der Permischen Reptilien, Neues Jahrb. Min. Geol. Pal., Bd. 84. Abt. B, S.379-466 (1940)
*Kurze Übersicht uber die Formen der Perm- und Trias Tetrapoden - Fauna der UdSSR, Centralbl. Min. Geol., Abt. B. N 12, S. 372-383 (1940)
*Taphonomy: a new branch of Paleontology, Pan-Amer. Geol., Vol. 74, P. 81-93 (1940)
*Ulemosaurus svijagensis Riab. - ein Deinocephale aus den Ablagerungen des Perm der UdSSR, Nove Acta Leopold. (N. F.). Bd 9, S. 155-205 (1940)
*The Godwana system of India, and the live history in the later Paleozoic, J. Paleontol. Soc. India, Lucknow D.N. Wadia Jubilee number, Vol. 2, P. 24-28 (1957)
*Some consideration on biological bases of Paleontology, Vertebr. Palasiatica, Vol 2, N. 2/3, P. 83-99 (1958)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==See also==
* [[:ru:Школа Ефремова|Yefremov School]], movement of Soviet science fiction, 1970s to 1990s

==External links==
{{Commonscat}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20030429172915/http://www.astro.spbu.ru/staff/serg/interests/literature/efremov/list.html Yefremov's bibliography]
*[http://www.noogen.su/iefremov/index.html Yefremov's books, letters and articles available for read or download] {{in lang|ru}}
*[http://sf-sofia.com/ Club of SF and prognostication "Ivan Yefremov"] {{in lang|bg}}
*{{isfdb name|id=Ivan_Yefremov|name=Ivan Yefremov}}
*[http://www.noogen.su/iefremov/Olson/index.htm Olson, E.C. The other side of the medal: a paleobiologist reflects on the art and serendipity of science. Blacksburg, Virginia, The McDonald & Woodward Publishing Company, 1990, 182 p.]
*{{IMDb name|0947234}}

{{Ivan Yefremov}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2013}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yefremov, Ivan}}
[[Category:1908 births]]
[[Category:1972 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Russian male writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Russian philosophers]]
[[Category:People from Gatchinsky District]]
[[Category:People from Tsarskoselsky Uyezd]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Linnean Society of London]]
[[Category:Saint Petersburg Mining University alumni]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Stalin Prize]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour]]
[[Category:New Age writers]]
[[Category:People of the Russian Civil War]]
[[Category:Taphonomists]]
[[Category:Russian paleontologists]]
[[Category:Russian science fiction writers]]
[[Category:Soviet male writers]]
[[Category:Soviet paleontologists]]
[[Category:Soviet philosophers]]
[[Category:Soviet science fiction writers]]
[[Category:Zoologists with author abbreviations]]
[[Category:Russian scientists]]
[[Category:Russian cosmism]]