Alexander Ruz

Alexander Ruz’s father was forced to work in a Siberian labor camp because of Stalin’s policies after World War II. He is an ex NASA scientist whose life journey has taken him across political systems and the globe. Alexander spent his childhood in a bleak coal-mining community until he managed to get the physics degree at the University of Moscow under Yakov Zeldovich, a very prominent scientist. Then he left for the US where he worked as a NASA Principal Scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. His compelling Soviet Union memoir tells about his successful journey from a victim of political repression to freedom and prosperity through science. His inspiring Soviet refugee memoir is an example of persistence, human respect, and the struggle for freedom.