16 Facts About Nikolai Kardashev

Nikolai Kardashev was the deputy director of the Astro Space Center of the Lebedev Physical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Nikolai Kardashev was born in Moscow to a family of professional revolutionaries involved with the Bolshevik Party.

Nikolai Kardashev's parents were Semyon Karlovich Brike and Nina Nikolaevna Kardasheva; his father was an important member of the party, and his mother joined as well before the October Revolution in 1917.

Nikolai Kardashev's father was ultimately shot and his mother was assigned to labor camps and would not be released for many years.

Nikolai Kardashev's mother was released in 1956, by which time Nikolai had completed university.

Nikolai Kardashev attended Moscow State University in the astronomy division of the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics.

Nikolai Kardashev concentrated his studies based on his interest in radio astronomy, a topic that was new and developing at the time.

Nikolai Kardashev joined the Space Research Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences in 1967.

In 1978, Nikolai Kardashev started a space satellite project known as RadioAstron.

Nikolai Kardashev proposed Very Long Baseline Interferometry, which replaced conventional radio transmission lines with magnetic tape recordings; it was demonstrated in 1967.

Nikolai Kardashev was a member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Division of General Physics and Astronomy: first as a corresponding member, then as a Full Member, and served as director of the Russian Academy of Sciences Council on Astronomy from 1999 until his death.

Nikolai Kardashev was a participant of the Committee on Space Research as vice president from 1982 to 1986.

In 2012, Nikolai Kardashev received the Grote Reber Gold Medal for innovative lifetime contributions to radio astronomy.

Nikolai Kardashev was asked to be a consultant on the set of Petlya Oriona, a Russian television series documentary.

Nikolai Kardashev played himself in a TV show episode on the documentary series Space's Deepest Secrets in 2018 as well as playing himself in a TV show episode on the documentary series Horizon in 2018.

Nikolai Kardashev died on August 3,2019, at the age of 87.