Konstantin Tsiolkovsky was the father of Russian space travel. A quirky, half-deaf teacher, he inspired generations with his idealistic views of the age to come.

Alexander Smirdin was one of Russia's first, great publishers. He loved books more than money and that may have brought about his ruin.

Beep... beep... beep... In October 1957, a tiny satellite sailed round and round the Earth. Launched from Russia, it kicked off the Space Race and changed how we viewed our world and Russian science.

When Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko met for their famous 18-hour meal in the summer of 1897, they could hardly have known they would change theater forever.

Anna Filosofova was born in 1837 and lived in 1912. She was one of Russia's first and most successful feminists.

Russia went to war with the Ottoman Empire in 1877 for what it thought were noble reasons. Yet, in the end, it turned out the usual way. A look back at that era, with contemporaneous accounts by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

A look at the other Pushkin statue: the one in his hometown, which was erected on the 250th anniversary (celebrated 4 years late) of St. Petersburg's birth.

A profile of the unrecognized hero of the war of 1812. It was he, not Kutuzov, who was the architect of Russia's retreat and victory. So whyhas Kutuzov gotten all the glory?

This long European war was not Russia's fight. But of course it did not sit on the sidelines, despite much turmoil at court during these turning point years in Russian history.

Thirty years ago, a daring and amazing interpretation of The Master and Margarita was staged at Moscow's Taganka Theater.

Svetlana Alliluyeva's tortured life as Stalin's daughter is recalled on the anniversary of her return to the Soviet Union in 1984.

The March revolution of 1917 set the stage for the Bolshevik coup in November. We look back at those fateful days with a chronicle which features the words and images of people who were there.