He had published "the Secret Code of the Universe" and had known them for nearly forty-five years. The editor Gérard de Cortanze evokes the personality of Igor and Grichka Bogdanov, both victims of the Covid six days apart. “When I heard that Grichka was dead, I was sure Igor would die very soon too. They were so bonded… Igor must obviously have sensed Grichka's death. When one started a sentence, the other ended it. They still spoke with one voice. Publishing a book about them was absolutely mind-blowing gymnastics. I never knew who wrote what, ”he describes.
He adds: “They always did everything at the last moment and constantly passed the buck. As soon as I called Igor, he would tell me
Call Grichka
… And
vice
versa. I had a lot of affection for them: they were so kind, so sympathetic and benevolent. They have burnt the candle at both ends. One day they had a lot of money, the next day they were in debt; they had wives and then more wives. They had an extraordinary zest for life, an extraordinary intensity. And a lot of humor. When asked if their father was really a Martian, they replied:
Of course. Did you watch us?
Once, I passed with Igor and Grichka in front of the Paul-Bert high school: the kids had literally taken them off to take selfies with them in the courtyard.
"
"They always had twenty projects at the same time"
Gérard de Cortanze continues: “Even if their theories were sometimes vague, they argued with so much intelligence and genius that we wanted to follow them.
When we published a book by the Bogdanovs, we knew that we were not publishing patented CNRS researchers, but what they did is not negligible: they all the same popularized questions about the cosmos and the universe. .
"
“The first time I met them was in 1978: we wanted to adapt
Dune
for a show with Alejandro Jodorowsky.
We had seen each other at Gennevilliers.
Jodorowsky had arrived in a pistachio-colored Buick with the Bogdanovs in the back.
We wanted to put on a show on the Reuilly lawn with twelve marquees.
It was so pharaonic that it never happened, ”he explains.
Read alsoThe Bogdanovs, between science and fictions
“Igor and Grichka always had twenty projects at the same time: one book with one publisher, two with another, magazines, films, series… They were multifaceted, inventive, a bit tricky… And each time, they asked for very comfortable to use!
"
