Alexander Bolonkin
Alexander Alexandrovich Bolonkin (Russian: Алекса́ндр Алекса́ндрович Боло́нкин; 14 March 1933 – 25 December 2020) was a Russian-American scientist and academic who worked in the Soviet aviation, space and rocket industries and lectured in Moscow universities, before being arrested in 1972 by the KGB as a dissident. He served terms of imprisonment and exile for 15 years until 1987, when he emigrated to the US as a political refugee.
Alexander Alexandrovich Bolonkin | |
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Александр Александрович Болонкин | |
| Born | 14 March 1933 Perm, Soviet Union |
| Died | 25 December 2020 (aged 87) |
| Nationality | Russian |
| Citizenship |
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| Alma mater | Perm Aviation College, Kazan Aviation Institute, Kiev State University, Moscow Aviation Institute, Leningrad Polytechnic University |
| Known for | human rights activism with participation in dissident movement in the Soviet Union |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | cybernetician |
| Institutions |
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After that he lectured at American universities and worked as a researcher at NASA, U.S. Air Force, and for the National Research Council. He was a member of the board of directors of the International Space Agency; chairman of the Space Flights section; member of the advisory board of the Lifeboat Foundation and its Space Settlement Board; the founding president of the International Association of Former Soviet Political Prisoners and Victims of the Communist Regime (IASPPV); and co-founder and co-chair of the board of directors of American Russian-speaking Association for Civil & Human Rights (ARA).