Vladimir V. Rubtsov, Ph.D., was born at 1948 in Kharkov, then the USSR (now independent Ukraine). He received his M.S. degree in computer science in 1972 and after that joined the laboratory of Dr. Alexey Zolotov in Kalinin (now Tver), where for three years studied the problem of the Tunguska explosion. Received his Ph.D. degree in the philosophy of science from the Institute of Philosophy of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (Moscow, Russia), having defended in 1980 the doctoral thesis “Philosophical and Methodological Aspects of the Problem of Extraterrestrial Civilizations” (the first of its kind in the former USSR).
After returning to Kharkov, Vladimir continued his work on the Tunguska problem, closely collaborating with his Russian colleagues, in particular with Professor Nikolay Vasilyev, the leader of Tunguska studies in the former USSR and present-day Russia. These decades-long investigations made him realize the necessity to develop an objective model of the Tunguska event that would be built on strict empirical foundations. The Tunguska Mystery has appeared as a result of this aspiration.
Dr. Rubtsov has authored some 120 scientific and popular-science articles in the Soviet, post-Soviet, and foreign press, as well as two scientific monographs: The Problem of Extraterrestrial Civilizations (“Shtiintsa” [“Science”, the publishing house of the Moldavian Academy of Sciences], 1984 & 1987, co-authored with Dr. Arkady Ursul) and UFOs and Modern Science (“Nauka” [“Science”, the publishing house of the Russian Academy of Sciences], 1991, co-authored with Dr. Yuly Platov). In 1984, monograph The Problem of Extraterrestrial Civilizations was given the Award of the Moldavian Academy of Sciences. Vladimir’s professional fields are methodology of interdisciplinary research, sociology of science and technology, and general epistemology. He is currently Director of the Research Institute on Anomalous Phenomena (RIAP), as well as the Editor of its newsletter RIAP Bulletin.
Vladimir Rubtsov has been a speaker at several international academic conferences, including the Third International Symposium on Bioastronomy held at Val Cenis, France, in June 1990. Also, during several years he actively participated in annual Tsiolkovsky Readings in the Russian city of Kaluga, where leading academic and rocket scientists of the USSR discussed problems of the space exploration and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. At the Centenary Tunguska Conference held in 2008 in Krasnoyarsk, Russia, Dr. Rubtsov read his paper “Methodology of scientific research programs and the problem of the Tunguska meteorite”.
Dr. Vladimir Rubtsov is a full member of the Russian Academy of Cosmonautics, an associate member of the Society for Scientific Exploration, USA, a member of the Expert Group on Anomalous Atmospheric Phenomena of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and a member of the SETI Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
<p>Mice & Spiders & Webs...Oh My! Is your child a good listener? Rosemary is a little girl who is worried about returning to school after her teacher warns the class that they would soon have some mice, spiders, and webs in the classroom. Could Rosemary have misunderstood something? How can mice and spiders and webs belong at school? Full of "Computer Speak," this story introduces young readers to basic computer terms in a delightful way! See if your child can discover the mystery of the misunderstood words, and learn about the fun of computers with Rosemary. This is the seventh rhyming children's book by this award-winning author, whose other bestselling books include My Fingerpaint Masterpiece, Manner-Man, Gimme-Jimmy, The Magic Word, Peter and the Whimper-Whineys, and Santa's Birthday Gift. Former teacher Sherrill S. Cannon has won twenty-eight awards for her six previous rhyming books, and is also the author of seven published and internationally performed plays for elementary school children. She has been called "a modern day Dr. Seuss" by GTMA Review. "I love to teach, and this book teaches basic computer terms in a fun way. I am retired and spend six months of the year with my husband of 55 years, traveling from coast to coast and sharing books along the way. I grew up in The Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C. , where my father was the manager. I'm the original Eloise!" Publisher's website: http://sbpra.com/SherrillSCannon</p>
Ever since the huge explosion occurred over Podkamennaya Tunguska River, Siberia in 1908, the Tunguska Event, as it is known, has been shrouded in mystery. To many in the West there is no mystery, and the Tunguska Event can be explained away as the forest-leveling effects of an Earth-bound comet or meteorite (with an energy factor of anywhere between 5 to 30 megatons). Vladimir Rubtsov, Director of the Research Institute on Anomalous Phenomena, has other ideas, however, concluding that approaching the Tunguska Event as either unsolvable or solved is misleading and unhelpful. This is not to say that there are not other, admittedly controversial, explanations available. Some of these alternative hypotheses include black holes, antimatter, UFOs, a “natural H-bomb,” or even one of Nikolai Tesla’s ambitious experiments gone awry. Rubtsov is no stranger to controversial research himself. After receiving his M.S. degree in computer science in 1972, Rubtsov joined the laboratory of Dr. A. V. Zolotov, where he researched the Tunguska Event for three years. In 1980, he successfully gained a PhD from the renowned Academy of Sciences of the USSR, but only after he successfully defended a paper entitled: "Philosophical and Methodological Aspects of the Problem of Extraterrestrial Civilizations". Rubtsov now believes that the meteorite explanation no longer cuts the mustard, and that science must now look to what are considered unconventional models of the Tunguska Event. While the rigorous and scholarly Rubtsov investigates some pretty far out hypotheses, <em>The Tunguska Mystery</em> isn’t the usual absurdist rant from the tin foil hat brigade. <br />(<a href="http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/books-22-8-09.shtml">http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/books-22-8-09.shtml</a>)