[conspire] Enzymes and Communism

[paulz at ieee.org]

 A parallel comment regarding science and the Soviet Union.
In Tuesday's episode of Cosmos on Fox, Neil deGrasse Tyson told of a man (whose name I regret I don't remember) who was born to a poor family in Ukraine.  Somehow he managed to go to the best high school and then enroll in a good university.  Then he was drafted into WW1.  At nights he looked at the moon and started thinking about orbits to get there.   Later he worked out the mechanics in detail and self-published a book.  Other than that, he tried to keep a low profile to avoid entanglements with the government, even changing his name.  He was killed in combat in 1942.
Fast forward 2 decades.  NASA engineers were trying to figure out how to shoot a rocket to the moon and then make a landing and return.  The first concept was to just send the rocket straight there and then land directly. Someone found a copy of the book with the idea of taking a longer path that orbited the earth and moon and did not need nearly as much fuel.  
The book went on to describe using gravity assist to send probes to various planets.  NASA used this concept many times.

    On Wednesday, November 25, 2020, 04:19:59 AM PST, Nick Moffitt <nick at zork.net> wrote:  
 
 On 24Nov2020 04:39pm (-0800), Rick Moen wrote:
> Quoting Paul Zander (paulz at ieee.org):
> > Anyone know why the Pfizer vaccine needs to be kept at cryogenic
> > temperatures?  
> 
> https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/11/17/935563377/why-does-pfizers-covid-19-vaccine-need-to-be-kept-colder-than-antarctica
> 
> Short summary:  It's because mRNA vaccines are so fragile, in that 
> a wide variety of enzymes can break them apart.  Cold stops chemistry.
[plus promising notes about approaches that make more stable mRNA vaccines]

Enzymes are definitely slowed by cold, but can only really be stopped by absolute-zero temperatures.  Still, the shelf life of a cryogenic vaccine sample only needs to be measured in days, so this is acceptable.

I once read an account of the man who embalmed Lenin's corpse for display in the mausoleum at Red Square.  The Soviets always had a funny relationship with science and technology: they loved machinists with oil-stained fingers, and likewise lofty academics with ink-stained cuffs, but absolutely detested engineers.  As a result, they tended to take either a purely abstract or utterly immediate approach to systems problems.

So when professor Ilya Zbarski appeared before every level of the Soviet apparatus, he'd explain the need for chemical preservation.  Inevitably the official he spoke to would shrug and say "Why bother?  We'll just freeze him!" to which Zbarski would ask "How do you propose to solve the problem of enzymes?" and not wanting to take responsibility for the solution they'd refer him up a level.  Eventually he spoke to a group high enough that he was appointed Lenin's embalmer, and the rest is history.

My father always suspected that the "embalming" process has become more of a Mme. Tussaud's-style waxwork over time, but the account of the preservation is actually a fun little tale of overcoming technical and political hurdles.  For starters, he couldn't even begin the process until two months had passed!

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