Ivan Antonovich (his true patronymic name was Antipovich) Efremov was born in village Vyritsa near city of Saint-Petersburg on April 22, 1908. His parents were a lumber-merchant Antip Efremov and a housewife Varvara Ananyeva. The father, being interested only in his business, didn't devote his attention to the family, while the mother looked after Ivan's ailing younger brother almost all the time. Due to those circumstances, the little boy was left on his own.

However, Ivan didn't feel lonely. He was gifted both physically and intellectually and had an inquiring mind. He liked playing with big, heavy toys and grew up a very strong man. Efremov could straighten out a horseshoe. As early as at the age of six Ivan read the famous novel "20,000 Leagues under the Seas" by Jules Verne. That book sparked his interest in fantasy, while another novel of the great Frenchman, "A Journey to the Center of the Earth", stimulated his interest in stones and minerals, which led Efremov to researches in geology later.

He adored reading books. Among Ivan's favorite authors were also H. Wells, who greatly influenced on Efremov's world outlook, A. Doyle, whose novel "The Lost World" enhanced his interest in Paleontology, J. London, J. Rosny-Aine, H. R. Haggard and other writers. Reading books was what led Efremov to scientific and literary work.

Because of the serious illness of the Ivan's brother, the family relocated in the town of Berdyansk (Crimea, Ukraine). The Bolshevist rebellion of 1917 and following Civil War affected everyone in Russia, including Efremov's family. His parents divorced and the mother, marrying again, left the children with their aunt. But the aunt died of typhus soon afterwards and young Efremov became a homeless boy. However, Ivan was fortunate to meet a Red Army detachment and he lived with the soldiers for a while.

After the Civil War came to an end in 1921, Efremov returned home, in Petrograd (the name of St. Petersburg in 1914-1924). The great scientist and writer to be decided to begin studies in one of the city schools. It was hard time for 14-year old Efremov. To earn his living he had to apply himself for every odd job. To make his applying for work easier, he added one year to his age to look more mature. Since then Efremov indicated 1907 as his year of birth. In fact, he was born in 1908. He worked as a sawyer, a docker, a driver.

As stated above, Ivan had an inquiring nature. He spent hours sitting in the libraries. Once he read an article by Prof. Petr Sushkin about unique Permian pangolins from the north of Russia. A short time later Ivan became acquainted with the author. Their meeting decided Efremov's fate. P. Sushkin was a prominent paleontologist. He recommended Efremov to go up to university.

However, Efremov dreamed of being a seaman at that time. Like his favorite author, Jules Verne, he loved sea very much. He even managed to finish a nautical school and to receive a navigator diploma. At first Ivan chose sea. In 1924 he went to the town of Vladivostok, located on the shore of Pacific Ocean. He succeeded in getting job as a senior sailor on a vessel "Trety Internatsional" ("The Third International"), cruising to Kamchatka, Sakhalin, and Japan. His impressions of sea were later described in some of his short stories: "Vstrecha Nad Tuskaroroi", "Katti Sark", "Atoll Fakaofo".

But Paleontology still held a fascination for Efremov. He decided to go back to Leningrad (the name of St. Petersburg in 1924-1991) and to devote his life to science. Ivan entered the Biology Department of Leningrad State University and began to work under the guidance of Prof. P. Sushkin. For a long time he was especially interested in Permian and Triassic reptiles. Since 1926 Efremov participated in a number of paleontological and geological expeditions. Long journeys took too much time so two years later he dropped out the University course and went to the Leningrad College of Mines. He also worked in Geological Museum as a research assistant. The expeditions were numerous and had different goals. Here are only some of them.

In 1926 Ivan Efremov took a trip to the Caspian Sea (search for remains of labyrinthodonts - ancient reptiles), in 1927 he carried out excavations on the Vetluga and the Sharzhenga Rivers (search for early Triassic labyrinthodonts), in 1929 he went to Ural in quest for ancient Permian vertebrates in Copper sandstones. The most difficult expeditions were those in Siberia for mineral exploration in 1932-1935. At that time the Soviet Union was in extreme need of minerals. But even now many regions in Siberia are very difficult of access. Severe cold (-40 degrees centigrade), freezing wind, huge distances constantly accompanied the members of the expeditions. Nevertheless, the scientist and his mates, having surmounted thousands of obstacles and having walked more than 3,000 kilometers, obtained valuable results concerning mineral deposits. Those severe tests adversely affected Efremov's health afterwards. His traveller experience was reflected in some his short stories, such as "Ozero Gornykh Dukhov", "Golets Podlunnyi", "Almaznaya Truba".

In 1935 Ivan Efremov graduated from the Leningrad College of Mines and took an external Ph. D degree. By that time he wrote about 17 scientific articles, mostly dedicated to Permian and Triassic reptiles. Since 1935 Efremov lived in Moscow due to the relocation of Paleontological Institute from Leningrad to the capital of the USSR. Since 1937 the young scientist worked as a head of the laboratory of lower vertebrates of Paleontological Institute. In 1941, having defended dissertation "The Permian fauna of terrestrial vertebrates of medium zones of the USSR", Efremov took the Doctor of Science degree. The work was dedicated to a new fauna of ancient vertebrates from the north of the USSR and the description of a new reptile, called Ulemosaurus. By that time Efremov had about 50 scientific works. In the late 1930s he toiled at the developing of Taphonomy, a new field in Paleontology, becoming his main brain-child in science.

Apparently, finding of the remains of ancient animals is not easy. How can we lighten the work? Fossilized remains are not isolated from the surroundings. If we define, which geological conditions are favorable for the embedding of organic remains, we can therefore foretell which of them could be contained in a given locality. Hence, we must study the laws of fossilization. This is the essence of Taphonomy. More precisely, Taphonomy studies the transition of animal remains from the biosphere into the lithosphere. It combines both biological and geological methods into one general method of study of organic fossils. Efremov's article "Taphonomy: new branch of paleontology", published in Pan-American Geologist Journal in 1940, gave the outlines of Taphonomy. Manuscript "Taphonomy" was completed by Efremov as early as in 1943. However, this work was not published for a long time because its main points were believed to be heretical. It was not uncommon at those times. In then Soviet Union many of undertakings in different divisions of science suffered persecution. Efremov managed to publish his monograph "Taphonomy and geological annals" in 1950 only. In 1952 that work won the State Prize, a prestige prize in the USSR.

The scientist successfully applied some methods of Taphonomy as early as at the times of Mongolian expeditions in 1946, 1948, and 1949. He made an assumption that Central Asia during Cretaceous was a territory with a great deal of bogs, water, and luxuriant vegetation. Those conditions were favorable for dinosaurs. Therefore, one could expect to find their remains. First finds in Mongolia were discovered by American expeditions in 1922-1925. Efremov and his mates, having gone more than 27,000 kilometers, discovered many new sites with a great number of dinosaur and other reptiles bones. Most of them were found in South Gobi desert. Nowadays some of those finds one can see in Moscow Paleontological Museum. Efremov's fascinating documentary tale "Doroga Vetrov" is dedicated to those expeditions.

After those journeys the scientist no longer participated in expeditions. However, he continued an active scientific effort. In 1954 he published a fundamental work, for which he had gathered material since 1929. It was the monograph "The fauna of terrestrial vertebrates in Permian Copper sandstones of West Ural", which gave a detailed description of many species of Deinocephalia - ancient vertebrates. At the same time, being a many-sided work, it contained a lot of other results concerning the Permian formation, both paleontological and geological.

By the middle of the 1950s a heart-disease exacerbated heavily. It seriously ruined Efremov's health. His illness compelled him to leave Paleontological Institute in 1959. Even at that time Efremov continued working: he wrote articles, reviews, reports, organized expeditions. He always kept the track of events and kept in touch with Russian and foreign paleontologists. The last Efremov's article, "Space and Paleontology", was published one month later after his death. In that work the scientist summarized his views on Paleontology and evolution.

In 1941 the Fascist Germany attacked the Soviet Union. Efremov wanted to volunteer for the Army, but he was sent to Ural to evacuate the valuables of Paleontological Institute. In 1942 the scientist fell ill seriously and relocated to the Asian part of the USSR. His first short stories were written by him during the illness. Six of them were published in 1944 under the joint name "Rasskazy o neobyknovennom". In 1943 Efremov came back to Moscow and continued to write short stories. They were included into the second series of "Rasskazy o neobyknovennom", containing seven stories.

Those Efremov's works aroused big reader's interest. The stories covered different subjects. Most of them narrated about courageous people who fearlessly joined battle against spontaneous forces of nature and came out victor. However, Ivan Efremov was a scientist before everything. And many of his stories have a direct bearing on science problems. They contain quite a number of specific terms and provide information from different branches of science. However, due to the writer's talent, usual scientific facts and ideas became transformed to fascinating science-fiction.

At the same time Efremov's stories were not only author's pure imagination, but also contained the predictions that have been proved correct. For example, he predicted the discovery of a diamond deposit in Siberia in his short story "Almaznaya Truba". When the story was published, numerous diamond deposits in Siberia were not yet discovered. First deposit was discovered twelve years later under the circumstances, similar to those described in the story. Besides, the plot of "Ten' Minuvshego", in which the author gave the description of a three-dimensional image, urged Russian physicist Y. Denisyk on invention of practical holography in the Soviet Union.

In 1945-46 Efremov wrote a historical tale "Velikaya Duga" consisting of two parts. The first part, "Puteshestvie Baurjeta", is about a brave traveler Baurjet, who crossed Africa from the north to south together with his mates in the times of Egypt Pharaohs.

Some more short stories Efremov wrote in the 1950s. He continued to perfect his writer's skill. The distinguishing feature of his literary works is thorough knowledge of what he wrote about. He prepared for writing very carefully, collecting materials from different areas of science. That work and his talent allowed him to describe events and people in his stories as exactly as if they existed in actuality. Even the description of behavior and habits of people, who lived thousands years ago, doesn't raise doubts. One can read the foreword to one of Efremov's books, written by the author himself, which containes reflections concerning his life and early works.

In 1957 the brilliant novel and unexampled in Soviet literature work "Tumannost' Andromedy" came out. By now this book has been republished more than eighty times in about forty languages. The writer painted a vivid picture of the Communist society on the Earth of future. The people, inhabited the planet, have altered profoundly. They have not only resolved most of the present-day technical and social problems and changed the planet into the flourishing garden, but also successfully domesticated space and discovered other worlds. Thus, Earth has become the member of "Velikoe Koltso" (the Great Circle or the Great Ring), a colossal organization that consolidates isolated planets and nations in the united cohesive whole by the special means of communication. The goal of this exciting organization is to accumulate knowledge, to share the information among different civilizations, and to provide aid for those planets that need it. Unlike some of writers, reducing their works to description of endless wars and exploits of brainless supermen, the author assumed that sentient beings from the opposite parts of the Galaxy could agree in views and not wage wars at least in the distant future.

Strangely enough, the novel about Communism got cool welcome by the official Soviet critique. The firm Marxists-Leninists especially were up in arms against the author. However, it was not a surprise. The Efremov's Communism was somewhat abnormal and distinguished from the official one: in his book one found no words about the "wise" leadership of the Communist Party, its "services" in establishing of the new social system, and glorification of its leaders, which was obligatory for Soviet literary in those days. Being a convinced communist, Efremov never was a member of the Communist Party and did not share many of the Party official views. Once he was even promised the Lenin Prize, a very prestige award in the USSR, but under condition to alter "Tumannost' Andromedy" and to overemphasize the role of the Communist Party. The writer refused. The novel was cinematized later. However, the released movie turned out extremely bad.

"Tumannost' Andromedy" is not only the writer's daring scientific and technical ideas. The main thing here is people themselves, their physical and spiritual perfection. Veda Kong, one of the novel heroines, says: "Beauty is the happiness and the meaning of life." At the same time, the beauty of the people of tomorrow is not matter of luck. Efremov strongly believed in evolution, in gradual improvement of human nature. Another hero of the novel, named Darr Veter, says: "The more difficult and the longer the path of blind animal evolution up to the thinking being, the more purposeful and perfected are the higher forms of life and, therefore, the more beautiful. The people of Earth realized a long time ago that beauty is an instinctively comprehended purposefulness of structure that is adapted to definite objectives. The more varied the objectives, the more beautiful the form".

Published in 1958, the tale "Serdtse Zmei" became an addition to "Tumannost' Andromedy". In 1959, after exacerbation of the heart disease, Efremov left Paleontological Institute and devoted more attention to writing. Novel "Lezvie Britvy" was written in 1959-1963 and issued soon. This novel narrates about extraordinary abilities of the man. The author mentioned such things that were impeachable in then Soviet Union. Among them were yoga, the secrets of human memory, intellectual development of the man. And, certainly, the theme of beauty, especially woman's. According to Efremov, there exist the fundamental canons of beauty produced by the long natural evolution of mankind. The novel was dedicated to his second wife Taisia Yukhnevskaya-Efremova. They married with each other in 1962. The first wife of Ivan Efremov, E. Konzhukova (1902-1961), was a zoologist. The writer has a son by his first wife, Allan Efremov. Taisia Efremova remembered about her husband: "He was an extraordinary man. It was his kindness that guided him. There were always many people in our home and he always helped them, often by money. He helped even convicts. He was the perfect gentleman and adored woman's beauty. I think women have to set up a monument to him for his "Lezvie Britvy" at least. I was a very, very happy woman."

One more novel, dedicated to the people of future, "Chas Byka", was written by Efremov in the late 1960s and has become a sequel of "Tumannost' Andromedy". The action in the novel takes place on the gloomy planet Tormans. It is populated by the descendants of earthmen, left Earth many centuries ago. Social system on Tormans is totalitarianism and people are ruthlessly persecuted by the authorities. A spaceship from Earth arrives on the planet. Unlike Tormans, Earth flourishes. Communism was established on the planet very long ago and people's life has undergone a very thorough change. The members of the spaceship crew get into contact with the Tormans dwellers, study their life and try to understand how to help them. They don't organize bloody revolutions and don't arrest and kill undesirable persons. They simply tell how beautiful Earth is and teach the people of Tormans how to resist the criminal oligarchs. The earthmen have brought knowledge from their home planet and now share it with the Tormans inhabitants. In the end the earthmen leave the planet thereby giving the people of Tormans a chance to decide their fate themselves.

"Chas Byka" was first published in 1968. At that time the novel in the black market cost ten times as much as in the shops. This clearly showed its popularity. Two years later a note, signed by the chief of KGB (the Committee for State Security) Y. Andropov, was sent to the main administrative organ - the Central Committee of the Communist Party. In the Andropov's note it was written: "In the novel "Chas Byka" Efremov slanders straight the Soviet order under the pretence of criticism of the social system on the fantastic planet Tormans." The following session of the Secretariat of the Central Committee, organized by the main Soviet ideologist M. Suslov, resolved to interdict the novel and to withdraw it from libraries and shops. It implied that high Communist oligarchs noticed a close similarity between the Soviet social system and the totalitarianism of Tormans. In 1987 on the wave of "glasnost" (publicity) the ban on mentioning and reprinting of "Chas Byka" was lifted.

Generally, it was not easy for Efremov to publish some of its works. For example, due to ideological motives the tale "Zvezdnye Korabli" about a visit of an advanced space civilization, written in 1944, was published only four years later. Another short story, "Ellinskii Sekret", contained daring ideas about man's genetic memory, which were later developed in the novel "Lezvie Britvy". The story was written in the early 1940s, when genetics was forbidden in the USSR. It was not until 1968 that Efremov managed to publish the work.

In 1970-1971 Efremov wrote the historical novel "Tais Afinskaya". Many of the characters in the work are drawn from life. For example, the main heroine of the novel is Athenian hetaera Thais, an active participant of Alexander the Great's campaigns. The novel has become a true hymn to beauty. Thais, as well as many of other novel heroes, is not only very intelligent and well-educated, but also dazzlingly beautiful. Like "Lezvie Britvy", "Tais Afinskaya" was dedicated to the writer's wife Taisia Efremova. The magazine version of the novel was held in 1972. Its author died two months before the ending of the publication - his health became gradually worse and led to death of heart disease on October 5, 1972.

Even after the decease, the writer was not left alone. One month later his death twelve people from KGB came to his home and organized a 13-hour search - they looked for "ideologically dangerous literature". The KGB people were quite surprised that such a noted scientist and writer lived only in a two-room apartment with simple appointments. They managed to find nothing undesirable. However, the Efremov's case was conducted eight more years after his death and his KGB file increased up to forty volumes. The "investigation" was conducted by General Victor Alidin. Efremov was dangerous to the Soviet regime. High Communist ideologists realized this and did their best to discredit the writer's name. Soon after his death the absolute interdict of any mention of Efremov's name, even in scientific works on paleontology, was put. The high officials receded only after a massive campaign of well-known scientists, cultural workers, pilots, and astronauts. The campaign was organized by Taisia Efremova, Mstislav Listov, and some more true Efremov's friends. In 1975 the interdiction on mentioning of the writer's name and publishing of his books (except for "Chas Byka") was removed.

Efremov never stopped his literary activities. He intended to write a popular book on paleontology with preliminary title "Klyuch Budushego" (The Key of the Future), a novel-warning (the second one after "Chas Byka") - "Chasha Otravy" (The Bowl of Poison), a historical novel "Deti Rosy" (The Children of Dew) dedicated to the fight of the Russians against the hordes of Baty-khan, invaded Russia in the 13th century.

In memory of the writer the astronomers of Crimean Astrophysical Observatory named after Efremov one of the asteroids of our Solar system. This asteroid, called Efremiana, circles the Sun for about five years. More information about Efremiana and its current position on the sky can be obtained at Your Sky, the web interactive planetarium.

Such was the life of this brilliant person. His ashes lie in Komarovo cemetery near Saint-Petersburg. A basalt tombstone covers the grave, an irregular polyhedron is over. Two words are carved on the polyhedron: Ivan Efremov. And the years of his life: 1907-1972.