EntranceDoctor Svyatoslav Fedorov. Biography
June 2 marks 10 years since the world famous Russian ophthalmologist Svyatoslav Fedorov died in a plane crash.
Ophthalmologist Svyatoslav Nikolaevich Fedorov was born on August 8, 1927. in the city of Proskurov (now the city of Khmelnitsky) in Ukraine in the family of the commander of a Red Army division. His father was repressed in 1938 and sentenced to 17 years in the camps.
In 1942, the family was evacuated to Armenia. After graduating from school in 1943, Svyatoslav Fedorov entered the Yerevan Preparatory Artillery School. In 1944 he was transferred to the 11th Preparatory School of the Air Force, but was unable to complete his studies because in 1945 he lost his foot as a result of an accident. Then he decided to devote himself to medicine.
In 1952 Svyatoslav Fedorov (RMI). In 1957 he graduated from clinical residency. In 1958 he defended his candidate's dissertation, in 1967 - his doctoral dissertation.
He worked as a doctor in the village of Veshenskaya, Rostov region and the city of Lysva, Sverdlovsk region. Since 1958, Fedorov headed the clinical department at the Cheboksary branch of the State Institute of Eye Diseases named after. Helmholtz.
In 1960, Svyatoslav Fedorov created an artificial lens and performed an experimental operation of artificial lens implantation. These operations were declared "unscientific" and Fedorov was fired. After the publication in Izvestia of Anatoly Agranovsky’s correspondence about the results of implanting an artificial lens, he was reinstated at work.
In 1961-1967 worked as head of the department of eye diseases at the Arkhangelsk Medical Institute.
In 1967, Svyatoslav Fedorov was transferred to Moscow and headed the department of eye diseases and the laboratory for artificial lens implantation at the 3rd Medical Institute.
In 1972, Fedorov performed the first operation, which marked the beginning of a new direction in ophthalmology - refractive surgery.
In 1973, Fedorov was the first in the world to develop and perform operations to treat glaucoma in the early stages. In 1974, he created a unique surgical technique for the treatment and correction of myopia.
In 1974, the laboratory headed by Svyatoslav Fedorov was separated from the 3rd Medical Institute and was named the Moscow Research Laboratory of Experimental and Clinical Eye Surgery of the Ministry of Health of the RSFSR.
In 1974, a laser surgery department was created in the laboratory, which was later transformed into the Laser Surgery Center. Under the leadership of Svyatoslav Fedorov, several generations of domestic infrared lasers for refractive surgery were developed.
In 1979, Fedorov, for the first time in world practice, introduced a medical surgical conveyor for eye operations.
In 1979, the Institute of Eye Microsurgery was created on the basis of the laboratory, of which Fedorov became director.
In April 1986, the Interdisciplinary Scientific and Technical Complex "Eye Microsurgery" was created on the basis of the institute. Svyatoslav Fedorov became the general director of the Eye Microsurgery International Scientific and Technical Complex.
The MNTK created by him conducted completely independent economic activities, had a network of branches in the country and abroad, an aircraft specially equipped for operations and a sea vessel - the ophthalmological clinic "Peter the Great", sailing in the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean.
In the spring of 1990, Svyatoslav Fedorov received land in the Moscow region for MNTK's subsidiary farming. On October 28, 1992, the closed joint stock company "Protasovo - MG" was registered, which is the legal owner of this land. Svyatoslav Fedorov was elected president of the society.
From February 1991 to 1993, Fedorov was a member of the Supreme Advisory and Coordination Council under the Chairman of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR Boris Yeltsin, later renamed the Supreme Advisory Council (SAC) under the President of the Russian Federation.
In 1989 he was a people's deputy of the USSR; in 1995-1999 - Deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation. In 1996, he took part in the presidential campaign, received more than 699 thousand votes in the first round, and took sixth place out of 11 candidates.
In 1991-1993 Svyatoslav Fedorov participated in the creation of a number of parties and movements and was a member of their governing bodies. In 1995 he created and led the Workers' Self-Government Party (PST).
Fedorov was a full member of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences (RAMS), a full member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences (RANS), a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS, since 1991, a corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences since 1987).
Svyatoslav Fedorov was the author or co-author of 240 inventions, 260 patents and utility models, 126 foreign patents.
For his great services in the field of public health, Svyatoslav Fedorov was awarded the Order of the October Revolution, the Red Banner of Labor, the Badge of Honor, the Order of Lenin and the title of Hero of Socialist Labor. He had the title "Honored Inventor".
For scientific research in the field of ophthalmic surgery, Fedorov was awarded the highest award of the Academy of Sciences - the Lomonosov Gold Medal - and the Prize named after. M.I. Averbakh Academy of Medical Sciences. He was a laureate of the State Prize of the Russian Federation in the field of science and technology, as well as a laureate of the Palaeologus Prize (USA), Pericles Prize (Italy).
On June 2, 2000, Svyatoslav Fedorov died as a result of the crash of the MNTK "Eye Microsurgery" helicopter, in which he was returning to Moscow from a trip to Tambov.
On June 2, 2001, at the site of the tragic death of academician Svyatoslav Fedorov in Tushino (Moscow), at the intersection of the Moscow Ring Road and Salome Neris Street, the chapel of the Mother of God of Feodorov was opened. Every year, on the day of memory of the outstanding ophthalmologist, a memorial service is held in the chapel.
The material was prepared based on information from open sources
In the stories of great and successful people, we are interested not only in the details of their personal lives, gastronomic preferences, etc. First of all, we are concerned with the question: how were they able to reach the very heights of success? Of course, it would be easier to attribute everything to luck, luck, talent. But almost always behind worldwide recognition, honor and fame lies continuous work. Talent without hard work is nothing.
Svyatoslav Fedorov was a talented ophthalmologist, a successful businessman, a very wealthy and prosperous person. What was the secret of his success, what was the phenomenon of Professor Fedorov? The story is told by professor, academician of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, a man who knew the great surgeon closely, Boris Shamilevich NUVAKHOV.
Dreams and reality
NOW this story would be called the "American Dream". Fedorov started out as a simple provincial doctor. He became a millionaire, the owner of a huge medical corporation. But this was by no means an old childhood dream that came true so visibly and significantly. I dreamed of something completely different. About the sky, heights, airplanes, in a word, about the profession of a real man. But Fedorov failed to become a pilot...
At the beginning of March 1945, when the war was thundering with its penultimate volleys, a festive evening was being prepared at the school. Having put on his only going-out suit, Slava hurried to the holiday. I jumped on the tram while it was moving - I was afraid of being late. He fell, barely managed to grab the handrail - he was dragged along the ground. I tried to get to my feet - a sharp pain pierced my left leg. I woke up in the hospital. Doctors decided to amputate the foot and lower third of the leg. Probably, it was possible to do without this: after all, only the heel bone was crushed. But the surgeons played it safe. However, then nothing else could have occurred to them.
After the operation, flying was strictly forbidden. I had to leave the school. What's next? Where to go? Which specialty should I choose? In Rostov, where he lived then, there was not much choice. Technical university, humanitarian and even medical. I had no interest in technical sciences. I didn’t feel capable of the humanities. I decided to try medical school. This choice was almost a step of despair. Well, we need to decide somewhere! I passed the entrance exams without much success, and generally received a “C” for my essay, so I barely passed the competition. I studied like everyone else, without standing out. An incident also brought him to ophthalmology. At that time, Slava was interested in photography, and even worked part-time at it. Therefore, when the time came to choose a specialization, I decided to choose ophthalmology - after all, the eye resembled a camera.
Fedorov performed the first operation on March 8, 1951. The department was preparing for the women's holiday when they brought in a sick mechanic from the factory. While working, a piece of the chisel jumped off and hit the worker in the eye. Young Fedorov assisted Associate Professor Lakshin. Having administered anesthesia, the surgeon suddenly said to Svyatoslav: “You will operate yourself,” and left the operating room.
Later, Professor Fedorov admits that the profession of an ophthalmological surgeon is his real calling and destiny: “I love to operate... You feel your power over the process, as if you are in flight. And it’s as if you are walking along the razor’s edge all the time, but you know that you will get there, you won’t fall. The feeling of responsibility and usefulness of what you are doing: this patient, almost blind, will see normally tomorrow... I am an impulsive, explosive person and therefore could not be, say, a therapist: I need to quickly see the result of what I have done. And patients. “Right here in our clinic they throw away glasses because they are no longer needed! Surgery is a dynamic, always creative process.”
In the meantime... Finding the way
The YOUNG surgeon turned out to be ambitious. Oh, how I didn’t want to remain an ordinary doctor! I didn’t sleep at night, painfully thinking: will life really be so mediocre? He fantasized, inventing interesting scientific topics. Finally I decided: my business is an operation to replace a cloudy lens with an artificial one made of plastic. The idea itself was not new. There have already been attempts at such operations abroad, although not always successful. In Russian ophthalmology, the new “Western hobby” was considered almost quackery. But Fedorov did not let up. He himself, without permission from the institute’s management, began work on an unplanned topic and conducted experiments on animals. The rabbits with artificial lenses felt good; they rushed to carrots as soon as they removed the bandage from the operated eye.
Soon fate brought the young doctor together with a seriously ill patient. Twelve-year-old Chuvash schoolgirl Lena Petrova suffered from cataracts from birth. She couldn't see anything with her right eye. After consulting with her parents, Fedorov decided to take a risk- operate on Lena’s diseased eye and insert an artificial lens into it. The operation was successful. The girl began to see. But as for the scientific career and reputation of Fedorov himself, the result was exactly the opposite - the operations were banned. Senior influential comrades warned their colleagues against using Fedorov’s “dubious” method. Letters, appeals to various authorities - all are useless. For a long time, the luminaries did not want to accept a “boy” doctor, an “upstart”.
To the capital
In ARKHANGELSK, where he was invited to head the department of eye diseases at the medical institute, things went better or worse. Fedorov even formed a team of like-minded people. They organized a small clinic for the implantation of an artificial lens, but after a while he had to... run away - literally run away.
At the end of the 60s, rumors about a doctor from Arkhangelsk who restored sight to hopelessly ill people spread throughout the country and began to penetrate abroad. Patients arrived, but there were no conditions to treat all those in need: a tiny laboratory, overcrowded wards, homemade equipment. And patients wrote complaints to all authorities that the conditions in the clinic were unacceptable. The Deputy Minister of Health came to Arkhangelsk to investigate. It was decided to move the laboratory to Moscow and equip the clinic with the latest equipment. When Fedorov finally had the order to transfer to the capital in his hands, he came to the rector to say goodbye. He greeted him rather coldly. In Arkhangelsk they did not at all want to lose a doctor who had brought enormous fame to the institute. The matter was not limited only to persuasion and reproaches for desertion. Anticipating difficulties, Fedorov decided not to hesitate and called his friend: “I think we won’t be able to leave by train tomorrow. We need to urgently return our tickets and fly by plane.” Having given other people's names - then tickets were sold without presenting a passport - we bought tickets for the first morning flight. Fedorov flew to Moscow under the name Nikolaenko. They refused to give them work books. Then they requested them through the prosecutor. At the station, as Fedorov had expected, that morning an inspector from the personnel department and several other people were waiting for the fugitives, who had received an order from above “Keep them out!”
In a word, the escape was a success. But what next? What seemed so tempting from distant Arkhangelsk - the capital, recognition in scientific circles, its own clinic - was put off for another year. But Fedorov knew what he was running towards and what he wanted: to have his own large institute, the opportunity to restore sight not to tens, but to thousands and millions of sick people. Actually, that’s how it happened. True, the path was not short. There was everything: envy, numerous prohibitions and provocations, reproaches for self-promotion, even attempts to accuse him of bribery. One day, two employees of the institute were arrested. For six days they sought a confession that Professor Fedorov takes bribes or, at least, knows that they are taken from him at the institute. If such testimony could be “knocked out,” the prepared project on the creation of the Eye Microsurgery complex could not be accepted. But thanks to the courage of the women, the provocateurs were unable to concoct a “criminal case.” Other doctors sewed up their pockets just in case - they tried to stuff money into them...
It took Fedorov thirty years to realize his dream. But the reward was also high.
Fedorov phenomenon
SVYATOSLAV Fedorov is a talented surgeon, the author of many inventions and discoveries in ophthalmology, including the method of implanting an artificial lens, which he called “Sputnik”, methods of treating myopia, glaucoma, astigmatism, the creator of a huge interdisciplinary scientific and technical complex “Eye Microsurgery”. The poet A. Voznesensky called him an “eye genius.” But Fedorov is also an extraordinary organizer, who was the first to use in domestic medicine the conveyor belt method and the narrow specialization of doctors (a team of surgeons operates on one patient, each performing their part of the operation sequentially). What makes a person so obsessed, makes him achieve the seemingly impossible, strive for the very top and achieve it? Parental genes, environment, circumstances, one’s own will, forces from above?
In his youth, Fedorov had one incident that largely determined his attitude towards life and himself. While still a student, he took up swimming. It was more than a hobby. In the water he was equal with everyone, did not feel his physical handicap due to his amputated foot and mastered almost all styles. Once I swam in a race with water polo athletes who were training on the Don, and overtook many. The coach offered to compete for the team - they were missing one person: “You just swim to the finish line, nothing else is required of you - we just need to get a test.” When the start was given, he was the last to jump. I thought: just to swim! He raised his head and there were three people ahead. I overtook one, the other, there was one more left. “And then,” recalled Svyatoslav Nikolaevich, “such anger came over me! Suddenly I wanted to overtake and win. Three hundred meters before the finish line, I overtook the leader and, to my surprise, became the winner. A large crowd gathered on the embankment, everyone clapped, which - then they shouted. It was extremely pleasant to realize that I could do something that others could not. At that moment I understood for the first time, I deeply felt that everything was possible. I understood that if a person can overcome himself, then he can overcome any difficulties. Then, on the banks of the Don, an invincible confidence in myself and in my capabilities was born in me and remained for the rest of my life. Perhaps this quality is the most important thing in my character. Standing on the embankment, before I had time to dry off, I discovered a simple, but an incredibly important truth: you have to work hard, as they say. Only under this condition can you achieve something in life. For me, that victory, albeit modest and insignificant, became the starting point of my whole life. Paradoxically, no matter how blasphemous it sounds, I consider myself lucky to have lost my leg. If this had not happened, I probably would not have been able to develop such will in myself, the ability not to change my goal under any circumstances."
And to the question of what is the phenomenon of Professor Fedorov, he best answers himself: “God did not give me any super talents, except wild perseverance, ability to work, the desire to achieve my goal, if this goal will benefit people. I believe that a person, if he wants , can achieve everything that is possible in this Universe. To do this, you need to incredibly strive for the goal.”
Reference
Genus. 1927, d. (died in a plane crash) 2000. Ophthalmologist, specialist in eye microsurgery. Founder (1986) and first director of the Interdisciplinary Scientific and Technical Complex "Eye Microsurgery". Corresponding member Russian Academy of Medical Sciences (1982), USSR Academy of Sciences (1987), RAS (1991). Hero of Socialist Labor (1987). Awarded the Gold Medal. Lomonosov Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1987). Fedorov, Svyatoslav Nikolaevich General Director of the Interindustry Scientific and Technical Complex (INTK) "Eye Microsurgery"; born on August 8, 1927 in Proskurov (now Khmelnitsky), Ukrainian SSR; graduated from the Rostov Medical Institute in 1952, residency in 1957, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor; Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1987), Full Member of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences and the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences; He began his medical career as a doctor in St. Veshenskaya, Rostov region, then worked at the hospital in Lysva, Sverdlovsk region; since 1958 - in the Cheboksary branch of the State Institute of Eye Diseases named after. Helmholtz; 1961-1967 - Head of the Department of Eye Diseases, Arkhangelsk Medical Institute; 1967-1974 - head of the department of eye diseases and problem laboratory of the 3rd Moscow Medical Institute; in 1974 he headed the Research Laboratory of Experimental and Clinical Surgery of the Ministry of Health of the RSFSR; 1979-1986 - Director of the Institute of Eye Microsurgery; since 1986 - General Director of the MNTK "Eye Microsurgery"; in 1989 he was elected as a people's deputy of the USSR under the CPSU quota, was a member of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, was a member of the Committee on Economic Reform and the Interregional Deputy Group; in 1990 he participated in the creation of the Union of Tenants and Entrepreneurs of Russia, was elected its first president, and since 1992 he has been co-president of this Union (together with P. Bunich); 1991-1993 - member of the Supreme Advisory Council under the Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Russian Federation, then - under the President of the Russian Federation; in January 1995, at the founding congress of the Workers' Self-Government Party (PST), he was elected chairman of the Supreme Council of this party and remained so until the end of his life; in 1993, he ran for elections to the State Duma of the Russian Federation on the RDDR list, which did not overcome the 5 percent threshold, in 1995, on the PST list, which also did not gain 5 percent, and was elected as a deputy in the majoritarian constituency in Cheboksary; 1995-1999 - deputy of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation of the second convocation, co-chairman of the parliamentary group "People's Power", chairman of the subcommittee on the formation and financing of alternative forms of ownership in healthcare of the Committee on Health Protection; in 1996 nominated his candidacy for the President of Russia, in the first round he received more than 699 thousand votes (0.93%) and took 6th place out of 11 candidates); since 1996 - Chairman of the Chamber for Science, Health, Education and Culture of the Political Advisory Council under the President of the Russian Federation; since February 1998 - member of the Coordination Council of Domestic Producers; member of the Coordination Council of the Russian Business Round Table public association, member of the International Russian Club; Hero of Socialist Labor; winner of the gold medal named after. M. V. Lomonosov Academy of Sciences of the USSR, prize named after. V. P. Filatov Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR, Paleologus Prize (USA), Oscar-87 Prize (USA), Pericles Prize (Italy);
Honored Inventor of the USSR; was married and had four daughters; He was fond of horse riding, swimming, and hunting; died in a helicopter crash in Moscow on June 2, 2000. While working in Cheboksary, in 1960 he created an artificial lens and conducted an experiment on its implantation.
However, the leadership of the Cheboksary branch of the Institute named after. Helmholtz declared these studies of S. Fedorov “unscientific.” He was fired but later reinstated after the Izvestia newspaper intervened in his defense.
Having continued his work in the field of artificial lenses in Moscow, in 1969 he began implanting an artificial cornea, and in 1973, for the first time in the world, he developed and performed operations to treat glaucoma in the early stages.
In 1974, he created a unique method of surgical operations for the treatment and correction of myopia.
In 1979, for the first time in world practice, he introduced a medical surgical conveyor for eye surgeries.
On the basis of the laboratory of S. Fedorov, which was separated from the medical institute, an independent Research Laboratory was created under the Ministry of Health of Russia, which developed into the Institute of Eye Microsurgery, and then into the MNTK. MNTK conducted completely independent economic activities, had a network of branches in the country and abroad, an aircraft and a sea vessel specially equipped for operations. In the Moscow region, a subsidiary farm was organized, since 1992 - JSC "Protasovo", whose president was S. Fedorov.
In 1990, he was one of 17 deputies from the CPSU who voted at the Second Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR for the abolition of Article 6 of the USSR Constitution, which established the leading role of the party.
In the fall of 1991, he was considered as a likely candidate for the post of Prime Minister of Russia, but refused the offer. 1992-1993 - co-chairman of the PES, from which he left due to disagreement with K. Borov, who unconditionally supported the “presidential” draft of the 1993 Constitution, which Fedorov himself characterized as “monarchical”, which vested the president with excessive power and authority.
In September 1993, he signed a letter on behalf of MNTK employees, in which he called on B. Yeltsin to cancel the decree on the dissolution of Parliament and restore the functioning of the life support systems of the House of Soviets of Russia, which were turned off on his instructions.
Critically assessed the idea and results of “voucher privatization”. He advocated the transfer of the means of production to the ownership of labor collectives and the decisive participation of workers in the management of enterprises.
These ideas formed the basis of the program created and headed by him PST. In 1996, S. Fedorov's election program was presented as a “new Russian path” under the slogan “From economic slaves to a society of the rich.” It was directed against radical reforms and focused on market popular socialism, on building a socially just society based on self-governing labor collectives and a free individual entrepreneur.
It was proposed to “affirm the priority of collective-private property in production” and strengthen the role of man in the economy.
The program also proposed revising the results of privatization. On July 14, 1998, at a meeting with journalists, he announced that he had no intention of standing as a candidate in future presidential elections. “At my age - and I’m already 71 - it’s too late to run for president,” S. Fedorov emphasized.
According to him, he would be more suited to the role of the Russian Deng Xiaoping, the “gray eminence” of those economic reforms that should be carried out in Russia instead of the current ones.
Svyatoslav Nikolaevich Fedorov, who glorified the name of Russian medicine throughout the world, was born on August 8, 1927 in the city of Proskurov (now Khmelnitsky) in Ukraine. Russian. His father, the commander of a Red Army division, was repressed in 1938 and sentenced to 17 years in the camps. After graduating from school, Svyatoslav Fedorov entered the Yerevan Preparatory Artillery School in 1943, then was transferred to the 11th Air Force Preparatory School. However, he was unable to complete his studies because in 1945 he lost his foot as a result of an accident.
Having retained the dream of flying throughout his life, Fedorov chose the profession of medicine. In 1952 he graduated from the Rostov Medical Institute (Rostov-on-Don). In 1958 he defended his candidate's dissertation, in 1967 - his doctorate. He worked as a doctor in the village of Veshenskaya, Rostov region, then in the city of Lysva, Perm region. Since 1958, he headed the clinical department at the Cheboksary branch of the State Institute of Eye Diseases named after. Helmholtz. In 1960 he created an artificial lens and performed the first operation in the USSR to implant it. As a result of a conflict with the director of the branch, Svyatoslav Fedorov was fired, and his research was declared unscientific. After the publication in Izvestia of A. Agranovsky’s correspondence about the results of work on the implantation of an artificial lens, he was reinstated at work. The publication helped create a problematic laboratory.
In 1961-1967, Fedorov worked as head of the department of eye diseases at the Arkhangelsk Medical Institute. In 1967, he was transferred to Moscow and headed the department of eye diseases and the problem laboratory for artificial lens implantation at the 3rd Moscow Medical Institute. In 1967, he began implanting artificial corneas. In 1973, he developed and performed the world's first operation to treat glaucoma in the early stages. Fedorov's method of deep sclerectomy has received international recognition and entered the world practice of treating glaucoma.
In 1974, the laboratory of Svyatoslav Fedorov was separated from the institute. In the same year, Fedorov performed the first operations using the method he developed of applying anterior dosed incisions on the cornea to treat myopia. The revolutionary technique was subsequently widely used in the clinic of Svyatoslav Fedorov and its branches, as well as abroad. In total, more than 3,000,000 people have improved their vision using this method.
In 1979, the Institute of Eye Microsurgery was created on the basis of the laboratory, headed by Svyatoslav Fedorov. He began to implement those new technologies of management and organization that glorified him no less than scientific discoveries. Among the innovations are a medical surgical conveyor (the operation is carried out by several surgeons, each doing a strictly defined part of it, and the main stage of the operation is performed by the most experienced surgeon), mobile operating rooms based on buses, and much more.
During the period of perestroika, Svyatoslav Fedorov’s clinic continued to develop. In 1986, the Interdisciplinary Scientific and Technical Complex "Eye Microsurgery" was created on the basis of the institute. The rights of MNTK were unprecedented for that time. He had a foreign currency account, could serve foreign clients, independently set the number of employees and their salaries, and also engage in economic activities outside medicine (for example, agriculture). Fedorov actively led the construction of branches throughout the country - 11 of them were opened - and abroad (in Italy, Poland, Germany, Spain, Yemen, UAE). For the first time in the world, an ophthalmology clinic was equipped on the sea vessel "Peter the First", sailing in the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean.
The unique microsurgical technologies of Svyatoslav Fedorov attracted patients from all over the world to the branches of the MNTK. Freedom of management made it possible to equip clinics with the most advanced technology and equipment. Computers, ophthalmic lasers, unique instruments, many of which were developed by MNTK specialists in collaboration with the best scientific institutions of the country - all these resources have become available to domestic patients of the Eye Microsurgery clinic system. Svyatoslav Fedorov proved that high-quality medicine can be cost-effective and at the same time serve the health of millions of people. He also demonstrated that in Russia it is possible to implement scientific discoveries, achieve economic success, and honestly earn large sums of money “with your own mind.” In all post-reform years, new equipment was purchased at Eye Microsurgery, scientific work was carried out, and employee salaries were increased.
Svyatoslav Fedorov had the rare talent of an organizer-manager, a prudent economist and a master. He deeply mastered a systematic approach to solving both economic and political problems. He was a people's deputy of the USSR and Russia, participated in the work of political parties, ran for President of the country, and received offers to take the post of Prime Minister. However, he went down in human history as a scientific genius, whose discoveries restored sight to millions of people and expanded our ideas about what is possible.
In April 1995, Svyatoslav Fedorov was elected a full member of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences. In addition, he was a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAN), a full member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences (RANS), and a number of foreign academies. He was the author of more than 180 inventions. He had the title "Honored Inventor of the USSR", Hero of Socialist Labor, and was a laureate of the Gold Medal of the Academy of Sciences. Lomonosov, winner of the Paleologue and Oscar awards (USA).
He was interested in horse riding, swimming, and hunting. At the age of 72, he received his pilot's license.
The MNTK system "Eye Microsurgery" he created continues to remain one of the most authoritative, world-famous medical institutions in Russia - and bears the name of its great founder.
(1927-2000) Russian ophthalmologist, entrepreneur, politician
The future famous surgeon was born in the city of Khmelnitsky in Ukraine. His father was a military man, commanded a division, but in 1937 he was declared an “enemy of the people” and repressed. So it was not easy for the family, although Svyatoslav still finished school and in 1943 entered the Yerevan Preparatory Aviation School.
However, he was unable to complete it: in 1945, as a result of an accident, he lost a foot and was declared unfit for military service. It was then that Svyatoslav Fedorov decided to become a doctor. He entered the Rostov Medical Institute and after graduation began working as an eye doctor in the village of Veshenskaya, Rostov region.
In 1955, Svyatoslav Nikolaevich Fedorov returned to the city of Rostov-on-Don and entered residency at the Department of Eye Diseases of the Medical Institute, after which he became the head of the clinical department of the branch of the Research Institute of Eye Diseases named after. Helmholtz.
It was then that he began to conduct first experiments, and then operations, which later brought him world fame. In 1960, for the first time in the country, Fedorov performed a unique operation to implant an artificial lens into a person’s eye. However, at that time it was considered “anti-physiological”, and Fedorov was forced to leave the institute. For six years he worked as head of the department of eye diseases at the Medical Institute in Arkhangelsk.
The work of a talented surgeon was recognized as worthy of attention only in 1967 and by decision of the USSR Ministry of Health, Svyatoslav Fedorov was invited to Moscow, where he headed the department of eye diseases and a problem laboratory for artificial lens implantation at the 3rd Moscow Medical Institute. There he began performing operations on artificial cornea implantation.
In 1973, for the first time in the world, Fedorov developed a surgical technology for treating glaucoma at an early stage. Somewhat later, Svyatoslav Nikolaevich, for the first time in the country, began to perform operations for the treatment and surgical correction of myopia. On the basis of his laboratory, he organized the Institute of Eye Microsurgery and became its general director.
Among Svyatoslav Fedorov’s patients were many leaders of the USSR, which gave him the opportunity to work independently and engage in scientific research.
The Fedorov Institute became famous not only in our country, but also abroad, and in 1986, by a special government decision, the Eye Microsurgery complex was created on its basis, of which Svyatoslav Fedorov became the general director. After that, he began to actively build MNTK branches throughout the country and abroad. They appeared in Italy, Poland, Germany, Spain, Yemen, UAE, and other countries. In order to be able to provide assistance to people locally, Svyatoslav Nikolaevich even equipped the sea ship “Peter I” as an ophthalmology clinic and, moreover, set up a clinic on an airplane.
He was one of the first to enthusiastically embrace the ideas of perestroika. Without leaving his main activity, Svyatoslav Nikolaevich Fedorov decided to enter politics and in 1989 he was elected people's deputy of the USSR from the Communist Party. Even before the first Congress of People's Deputies, he also became one of the initiators of the creation of the Moscow Deputy Club. Many of his proposals were later used by deputies who joined the Interregional Deputy Group.
In the summer of 1990, at the first session of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR, Boris Yeltsin officially proposed to the deputies three candidates for the post of chairman of the Council of Ministers: Svyatoslav Fedorov, Ivan Silaev and Mikhail Bocharov. Then Fedorov refused to run for this post, and Ivan Silaev was appointed prime minister.
But his organizational and economic talent nevertheless constantly attracted the attention of the leadership to him, and in October 1991 he was again offered to take the post of Prime Minister of Russia, but this time he refused.
In the fall of 1992, Svyatoslav Nikolaevich Fedorov became president of the closed joint-stock company Protasovo MG, which is the legal owner of the land allocated in the spring of 1990 for the MNTK subsidiary farm.
Fedorov was also the president of the Royal casino and club, which opened back in 1991 and became the first such establishment in Moscow. Thus, in recent years, Svyatoslav Fedorov has been an equally famous politician and businessman. Together with other public figures, he often addressed open letters to the country's leadership with demands or requests to solve certain pressing problems. Meticulous journalists discovered that he once wrote a letter on his own behalf to the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation asking for the release of the famous criminal Ivankov, better known by his nickname Yaponchik.
For some time, Svyatoslav Fedorov could not decide on his political orientation. In June 1992, he joined the Economic Freedom Party, which was founded by Konstantin Borovoy. However, a year later he left it due to disagreements with Borov, who unconditionally supported the “presidential” draft of the new Constitution.
In June 1994, Svyatoslav Fedorov announced his intention to create a new political organization - the People's Self-Government Party. According to him, it should have included people “who are being deceived and robbed today, who should give their labor for nothing.” At one of the press conferences, Fedorov stated that “today’s democracy is a lie, and the government is the main robber.” Svyatoslav Fedorov called the priority of his economic program “a person’s dependence on the results of his labor.”
On January 12, 1995, he announced his intention to run for the post of head of state in the upcoming presidential elections in June 1996.
Svyatoslav Nikolaevich Fedorov never became President of Russia. Already from the results of the first round of voting, it became clear that people prefer to see him as a doctor rather than as a president.
Fedorov had four daughters, and three of them - Irina, Olga and Yulia - followed in their father's footsteps and became ophthalmologists. Elina graduated from the Faculty of Philology of Moscow State University and became a Spanish philologist.
Despite his political activity, Svyatoslav Nikolaevich was actively engaged in scientific research. He is the author of 414 publications. The scientific works of Svyatoslav Fedorov and the methods he developed are recognized in all countries of the world. In the USA he received two prestigious medical awards - the Palaiologos and the Oscar, and in Italy - the Pericles Prize. The Russian Academy of Medical Sciences awarded Svyatoslav Nikolaevich Fedorov a medal and a prize named after V. P. Filatov.
The energetic activity of Svyatoslav Nikolaevich Fedorov was interrupted by his tragic death in a plane crash, but his life’s work is continued by his employees.