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Rockets and People
for Everyone. Shelling out every kopeck I had, I bought two copies of the journal.
In class, it wasn’t so much the content of the article as the very fact of its appearance
that caused a sensation. It became the object of admiration, jests, and practical
jokes. During our first class, mathematics, we were supposed to be called up to
the blackboard to be grilled on the binomial theorem.When Mariya Nikolayevna
entered the room and began to look around at her inexplicably excited class, Lev
Nirenburg, the class wit, stood up and announced:
“Mariya Nikolayevna! We have a request. Rather than test our knowledge of
the great Newton’s binomial theorem today, let’s listen to the report of a scientist
who, though not yet great, is one of our own.”
Nirenburg strode to the teacher’s desk and placed a copy of Radio for Everyone
in front of the perplexed and formidable grande dame of our class, whom
we secretly called Maryasha. 17 To our surprise, she began thoughtfully to peruse
the journal.
“Chertok! To the blackboard!”
The class fell silent.The command performance by the hero of the day, in spite
of the collective appeal, did not bode well. Chertok would start swimming in
Newton’s theorem, and in the best-case scenario Maryasha would give him a “C”
and tell him that the article would get him no special treatment when it came to
evaluating his knowledge of the subject at hand.
“You will draw a diagram of your reflex receiver without referring to the journal,
explaining to all of us its operating principle and why you call it a reflex receiver!”
This was so unexpected that I stood speechless for a minute in front of the stony
silence of the class.
Gradually, the same inspiration came over me that I had experienced when I
had thought up and drawn the diagram of the receiver at home. I spoke for about
thirty minutes.To everyone’s surprise, Maryasha began to pose questions about the
electronic tube specifications and the variable capacitor design.When the bell rang
she explained,“That’s it.Today during second period I am not going to call anyone
to the board—I’ll waste time again on examples of the binomial theorem. Next
Tuesday there will be a test for everyone.And a week from now, if the weather is
good, we will take a field trip to Barvikha!”The class applauded, but during the
break it was Nirenburg who was showered with gratitude for his successful initiative,
not me.
After two hours of mathematics the schedule called for literature class.As soon
as the teacher had taken his seat, my neighbor Zoya, inspired by Nirenburg’s example,
leaped up and approached our teacher with my journal.Without a trace of a
smile, she loudly pronounced,“Aleksandr Aleksandrovich, instead of my report on
‘The Image of Natasha Rostovaya’, I propose that we listen to the new writer from
our class. Here is his article.”The class fell silent. Our teacher, after leafing through
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17. Russian diminutive form connoting familiarity