The news broke this Tuesday, December 28, 2021: Grichka Bogdanoff has died at the age of 72. According to the first information communicated by his agent Damien Nougarede, Igor’s twin died after a long illness in a hospital surrounded by his relatives and “peacefully, to reach its stars“. But our colleagues from World provided some clarifications and the scientist would have actually taken his last breath after contracting Covid-19. Igor would also find himself hospitalized for the same reasons.
While waiting to learn more, there is one thing that is certain, it is that Grichka Bogdanoff (or Bogdanov) was a character in his own right. Particularly because of the disorder he had, namely a form of autism. In 2020, during an interview for Paris here, he was speaking for the first time on this subject. “My IQ is around 180. I have been officially tested for Asperger’s. It allows me to better situate the characteristics of my psychic functioning. For example, memorize the first decimal miles of the number pi“, he explained.
On the other hand, his brother Igor did not inherit this condition. And that’s not the only thing that set them apart. “I’m basically a theorist (I did math) and Igor a practitioner. He did a thesis in physics. I am very abstract. Him concrete. My head is in the stars, and Igor has my feet on the ground. I’m in a lonely dialogue“, Grichka analyzed in the same interview.
These distinctions between the two scientists undoubtedly allowed them to lead lives that were not alike. Indeed, Igor for example had six children of three different women when Grichka often appeared as an eternal bachelor. We only know of one or two official romances and he has never had children. “Twinning is strange“, had offered Grichka by way of conclusion.