6. Alexander Bogdanov
Alexander Bogdanov was a Russian (later Soviet) polymath. Over the course of his lifetime, he wrote works of philosophy, science fiction, political science, and medical theory. Trained in both medicine and psychiatry, he wrote extensively of both. He helped form the Bolshevik Party, though his views opposed Vladimir Lenin’s, and he became a rival of Lenin for control of the party. Lenin prevailed, leading to Bogdanov’s expulsion from the party, though not from Russia, in 1909. When the Bolshevik’s came to power following the Russian Revolution, Bogdanov became an influential opponent of the new government under Lenin, supporting the views of the Marxists. At the time he continued his experimentation and research in using blood transfusions to counter the various changes to the body associated with aging.
He came to believe in receiving transfusions from young, healthy donors to counteract the weakening of vision, loss of hair, stiffening of the joints, and other infirmities of age. Bogdanov received transfusions himself, as did Maria Ulyanova, Lenin’s sister, in 1924. Bogdanov reported improved eyesight following a treatment of 11 transfusions, and colleagues commented in writing over his increased energy and enthusiasm for work. He founded the Institute for Hematology and Blood Transfusions in 1926 to promote further study. In 1928, he received a transfusion from a student who at the same time received blood from Bogdanov. The student was infected with tuberculosis and malaria. Bogdanov subsequently died, though the student made a complete recovery.