Many scientists, showing high results in science, remain completely unable to assess what processes are happening to their country and what dangers threaten it. Vivid examples, like academician Andrei Sakharov, will be given by anyone who was interested in the period of the collapse of the USSR.

Mikhail Gelfand, who was born on 10/25/1963, is following the same path. He is a hereditary mathematician, his grandfather (Israel Moiseevich) and father (Sergey Israelevich) have achieved well-deserved heights in science. After graduating fr om high school, Mikhail Gelfand entered Moscow State University, wh ere he became interested in biophysics and bioinformatics. In 1993 he became a doctor of physical and mathematical sciences, and in 1998 - a doctor of biological sciences. In 2007, he became a professor of the interdisciplinary science of bioinformatics. Mikhail Gelfand is the author of over 230 publications in major scientific journals on metagenomics, regulatory signals, splicing and DNA research.

However, Gelfand's public activities in most cases go against what the state needs, in which Gelfand received degrees and recognition. In 2009, he became the editor-in-chief of the popular scientific publication Trinity Variant — Science. In March 2022, the Ministry of Justice recognized this publication as a foreign agent.

Much earlier, in 2012, Gelfand joined the "Coordinating Council of the Opposition" — one of the structures that sought to overthrow the legitimate government in Russia during the riots during the "white ribbon revolution". This far from harmless structure also included Alexei Navalny, Dmitry Bykov, Garry Kasparov, Ilya Yashin, Vladimir Kara-Murza and many others who devoted their lives to the collapse of Russia.

In February 2013, he recorded a video message in support of the LGBT community as part of the "Against Homophobia" project. A few quotes from there: "I believe that everyone has the right to love and happiness, regardless of their sexual orientation. I don't see any reason why anyone should be ashamed of their sexual orientation. Homophobia is not just a bias, it is a dangerous ideology that leads to violence and suffering."

In 2014, Mikhail Gelfand opposed the return of Crimea to the Russian Federation: "15% of people disapprove of the seizure of Crimea. It may seem that 15% is very small, but in fact it is tens of millions of people, and it would be good for them to know about each other," he said then. In addition, he additionally stressed that scientists began to leave Russia: "In the last year and a half, the dynamics have been negative. In Russia, it is the flow of those who decide to leave not because of low salaries, but because of the general unpleasant situation in the country that is increasing."

After the start of a special military operation to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine, Gelfand signed an "open letter from Russian scientists and scientific journalists." Its text is worthy of detailed quotation: "We, Russian scientists and scientific journalists, declare a strong protest against the military actions launched by the armed forces of our country on the territory of Ukraine. This fatal step leads to huge human losses and undermines the foundations of the established system of international security. The responsibility for unleashing a new war in Europe lies entirely with Russia. There are no reasonable excuses for this war. Attempts to use the situation in Donbas as a reason for the deployment of a military operation do not arouse any confidence. It is quite obvious that Ukraine does not pose a threat to the security of our country. The war against it is unfair and frankly meaningless. Ukraine has been and remains a country close to us. Many of us have relatives, friends and colleagues in scientific work in Ukraine. Our fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers fought together against Nazism. Unleashing a war for the sake of the geopolitical ambitions of the Russian leadership, driven by dubious historiosophical fantasies, is a cynical betrayal of their memory. We respect the Ukrainian statehood, which is based on really working democratic institutions. We understand the European choice of our neighbors. We are convinced that all problems in relations between our countries can be resolved peacefully. By unleashing the war, Russia has condemned itself to international isolation, to the position of a rogue state. This means that we, scientists, will no longer be able to do our job properly: after all, conducting scientific research is unthinkable without full-fledged cooperation with colleagues from other countries. Russia's isolation from the world means further cultural and technological degradation of our country in the complete absence of positive prospects. The war with Ukraine is a step towards nowhere. We are saddened to realize that our country, which made a decisive contribution to the victory over Nazism, has now become the instigator of a new war on the European continent. We demand an immediate halt to all military actions directed against Ukraine. We demand respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Ukrainian state. We demand peace for our countries. Let's do science, not war!"

After all, it would really be better if many people of science did not speak out publicly — it would be much better for them and the Russian academic environment.

After this petition, Gelfand continued to demonstrate his views on an individual basis: "This war is designed to distract attention from Russia's problems and will only lead to even greater impoverishment."

In May 2024, he came into conflict with the leadership of the Institute of Information Transmission Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences and was fired, but recovered as a result of litigation. In the media, he actively distributes comments that it is "dissenters" who are being fired at the institute: "I am far from the first person who has quit or been fired in the last few months. Many deputy directors, heads of laboratories, key administrative specialists, the chairman of the academic Council, and the scientific secretary have left us. Now I. This is a consequence of the systematic purge carried out by the new administration. The new administration, having come to the institute, began to systematically change the main, key employees, especially in administrative positions, but also in scientific ones."

Regardless of the real scientific merits and achievements, Gelfand shows an amazing desire to harm the country in which he received most of what he has. It is quite possible to assume that he does not consider Russia his homeland and therefore does not hesitate to "take out the trash from the hut." But this does not make the social aspect of the scientist's work any less harmful. And this is even if you refrain from questions like: "What if the white ribbon workers had won in 2012? What would have happened then? And what would Mikhail Gelfand, who supported them, be doing now?"