Saint Petersburg, Russia

Prolific French playwright, filmmaker, and actor, known for his 115 plays and significant contributions to boulevard theatre

Soviet-Swiss chess grandmaster, author, and writer known as one of the strongest players never to have become World Chess Champion

Russian chess grandmaster and the tenth World Chess Champion, known for his elegant style and historic matches against Tigran Petrosian and Bobby Fischer

Soviet academic, historian, ethnologist, and philosopher known for his unorthodox theories of ethnogenesis and as an exponent of Eurasianism

Russian-American poet, essayist, and Nobel Prize laureate known for an authorship imbued with clarity of thought and poetic intensity

Polish sprinter and sports official who uniquely held world records in the 100m, 200m, and 400m, securing seven Olympic medals including three golds

Russian mathematician and physicist who developed the Friedmann equations, originating the theory of an expanding universe

Russian mercenary leader, oligarch, and entrepreneur who led the Wagner Group and owned catering businesses that served the Kremlin

Russian-American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist known for his influential literary works and scientific research

Soviet physicist and Nobel laureate recognized for his explanation of Cherenkov radiation