FREEDOM
IN THE
EQUATION
To make a groundbreaking discovery and earn a Nobel Prize, one needs talent, persistence, a bit of luck, and
a willingness to challenge the status quo. One also requires resources: laboratories, telescopes, specimens, and computers.
But perhaps most essential is the freedom to explore.
The heroes of our exhibition are scientists from Ukraine, who
had all the qualities needed for a Nobel Prize. While success is never guaranteed, they were talented, persistent, and brilliant. Yet, years of suppression — from Soviet-era repressions to Russia’s invasion of independent Ukraine — prevented them
from realizing their full potential.
Our exhibition shares the stories of 10 scientists whose work was abruptly cut short. Their portraits, created by Niklas Elmehed, the official artist of the Nobel Prize, could have been celebrated under different circumstances.
Through these stories, we highlight that freedom is essential for scientific breakthroughs and show that science, regardless of the challenges, perseveres.
Hryhoriy
Levytsky
For many decades, classical genetics was considered a pseudoscience and politically incorrect profession in the Soviet Union. Specialists in this field were persecuted, arrested, and repressed simply for staying true to their principles. Despite this, some Ukrainian scientists managed to contribute to global genetics. Among them was cytogeneticist and botanist Hryhoriy Levytsky. He developed the term “karyotype” and made significant efforts in systematizing chromosomes, studying their evolution and mutations. Levytsky was one of the first to analyze mutations caused by ionizing radiation in plants, which paved the way for further research. In 1946, the Nobel Prize was awarded to American scientist Hermann Muller for his studies on the mutagenic effects of X-ray radiation. When Muller delivered his Nobel speech, Hryhoriy Levytsky was already dead. In 1933, he was first arrested during a campaign against geneticists. Due to the efforts of the local and global scientific communities, he was released after a year of exile. Still, in 1937, he was arrested again — though once more released relatively quickly. His third arrest in 1941 proved too much for Levytsky, and he died after a year of imprisonment.
The exhibition’s portratits were prepared by Niklas Elmehed, the official artist of the Nobel Prize. The exhibition’s text was prepared by Olesia Pavlyshyn, editor-in-chief
at the Ukrainian popular science media “Kunsht”, in collaboration with the online platform “MyScience.ua” and the project “Ukrainian Scientists at War”. The ten featured scientists were selected by Oleksii Boldyrev, a molecular biologist and founder of “MyScience.ua”, and Krystyna Semeryn, a literary scholar and publicist.The purpose of this exhibition is to highlight Ukraine’s lost scientific potential due to Russia’s genocidal wars while also shedding light on the contributions of Ukrainian scientists
to global science that have long remained overlooked.The organizers express their gratitude to the families of Bijan Sharapov, Vasyl Kladko, and Lyudmyla Shevtsova
for their permission to include these scientists in the exhibition.
The exhibition Freedom in the equation is part of the Science at Risk project, supported by the popular science media Kunsht and ZMIN Foundation, the Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University, in collaboration with “MyScience.ua”, “Ukrainian Scientists at War”.