Alexander Bogdanov was a Bolshevik revolutionary, a science fiction author, and a pioneer of blood transfusion. He believed that exchanging blood between people could extend life indefinitely. He died conducting an experiment on himself.

The Soviet Scientist Who Believed in Immortality

9 April 2026

Alexander Bogdanov is one of the most extraordinary figures in the history of the early Soviet Union. He was Lenin's chief rival for control of the Bolshevik party. He wrote two science fiction novels that anticipated ideas that wouldn't become mainstream for decades. He founded the world's first institute dedicated to blood transfusion research. And he died in 1928 after exchanging blood with a student who had malaria and tuberculosis.

This episode examines Bogdanov's life and ideas — not as a cautionary tale about pseudoscience, but as a serious examination of how a brilliant mind in a revolutionary moment can follow a set of ideas to their logical conclusion.

What we discuss

Bogdanov's rivalry with Lenin. Tektology and its relationship to later systems thinking. The two science fiction novels. The Institute for Blood Transfusion and its legitimate scientific work. The final experiment and what the evidence suggests actually happened.