A few words about obsession and the success of ideas

Here, I want to say a few words about obsession and the success of ideas.  There are many people obsessed with various ideas, but very few achieve success.  When I became a mature scientist and the head of a laboratory at the Institute of Epidemiology under Academician V.I. Pokrovsky, I became obsessed with a single idea. The idea was quite simple. I believed that if I could create a method for simultaneously analyzing 100-200 bioactive substances, for example in the blood, it would be possible to create a portrait of a disease based on their profile, enabling disease diagnosis and even monitoring its progression. I can say that even now, forty years later, simultaneous quantitative analysis of such a number of components remains an extremely challenging task. However, we accomplished it.

Of course, it was difficult, as we would now say, not technologically advanced, but suitable for research purposes. And indeed, this number of components was sufficient to determine, for example, the type of hepatitis and assess the severity of the condition.

I’ll share a curious incident. Once, Academician Pokrovsky called me, which was extremely rare, and said, “I’ve heard you have made progress; I want to send you a sample for analysis, I’m interested in your opinion.” After some time, two young men in matching leather jackets with military insignia appeared at the door, saying a single phrase, “Ordered to deliver.” Within a day, the analysis was ready. I called and said that according to our database, it was closest to cadaver blood. “Really? Interesting. Thank you,” and he hung up.

The next day, the newspapers reported that Yuri Andropov, the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, had died. He had been on artificial life support. I have no direct evidence to link these two events, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a connection.

About the success of ideas. For an idea to be successful, it must meet two main criteria. First – it must be in demand. Second – it must be commercially viable. My idea did not meet this second criterion in any way (I understand that now). However, because I was obsessed, in the process of achieving the goal, I gained a lot of knowledge, acquired skills in various disciplines, which proved valuable to me later on.

At this moment, an event occurred that changed our lives forever. A new leader came to power in the Soviet Union – Gorbachev – and he allowed Jews to emigrate. I abandoned all my ideas and engaged in emigration, which saved me from great disappointments. I still follow the development of this field and see how many billions(!) of dollars have been wasted and how many endeavors have ended in bankruptcy, all because this technical task remains commercially unfeasible to this day.