Can You Hear Me?

This week Gustav delivers a solo episode where he brings you a lecture about Polonium poisoning, a brief history of Chechnya, and the assassination of Alexander Litvenenko. Stealing a page from historian and documentary maker James Burke, Gustav tries to weave a tale of how history and science combined to explain the assassination of former KGB/FSB officer Alexander Litvenenko. Starting off with a brief history of Chechnya and their resistance to any outside forces, Gustav lays the foundation for the tale.  He then turns to Paris in 1898 as Pierre and Marie Curie break ground in the fledgling science of nuclear physics.  Madame Curie discovered Polonium, which she was awarded one of her Nobel Prizes for her research. Moving to the twentieth century, the Chechen interaction with the powers of the Soviet Union continue their pattern of resistance and and punitive actions.  With the discussion of World War II, he moves to the United States Manhattan Project and their usage of Polonium for the fledgling nuclear a