Valery Alekseyevich Legasov (; 1 September 1936 – 27 April 1988) was a Soviet and Russian inorganic chemist and a member of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union. He is now mainly remembered for his work in containment of the Chernobyl disaster and presenting the investigation findings to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna. Early life Valery Alekseyevich Legasov was born on September 1, 1936, in Tula, Russian SFSR, into a family of civil workers. He attended secondary school in Kursk. In 1949–1954, he attended School No. 56 in Moscow and graduated with a gold medal. While he was a shy student, he excelled in both academic work and social activities being elected secretary of his school's Komsomol committee. During 1953, he proposed reforms to the Komsomol committee to address what he perceived as indifference and passivity of its members. These ideas were quickly quashed by the authorities. His headmaster observed that Legasov "is a grown up man, a future statesman, a talented organizer. He can be a philosopher, а historian, an engineer..." The school now bears his name, and his bronze bust stands at the entrance. For two years he worked as a released secretary of the VLKSM committee, he was elected to the bureau of the Soviet District Committee of the Komsomol and to the Moscow City Committee of the Komsomol. In 1961, he graduated from the Faculty of Physicochemical Engineering at the Mendeleev Moscow Institute of Chemistry and Technology, where he learned how nuclear fuel is processed, handled and disposed. Personal life Legasov married Margarita Mikhailovna and had two children, Inga Legasova and Aleksey Valeryevich. He also had two grandchildren, Misha and Valerik. In his personal life, he composed poetry and encouraged its publication. He often visited the theater with his wife, having a love of reading Russian and foreign literature, particularly the works of Yuri Bondarev. He frequently made excursions with his wife and children by car and saw many parts of the country. When on trips to other regions, sometimes as part of his scientific duties, he often visited the nearby cultural, artistic and religious sites. Legasov was not religious but very interested in religious history and heritage. Since December 1978, the Legasov family kept a high-bred pet chow-chow. Career For around two years, Legasov worked as an engineer at the Siberian Chemical Combine in the city of Tomsk-7, as a