| Alexander Kazantsev | |
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| Born | Александр Петрович Казанцев 2 September 1906 Akmolinsk, Russian Empire |
| Died | 13 September 2002 (aged 96) Peredelkino, Russian Federation |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Nationality | Russian (USSR) |
| Genres | Science fiction, Popular science, Ufology |
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Alexander Petrovitch Kazantsev (Russian: Александр Петрович Казанцев, 2 September 1906 – 13 September 2002) was a popular Soviet science fiction writer and ufologist.
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Born in Akmolinsk, Imperial Russia (modern Astana in Kazakhstan). He graduated from Tomsk Polytechnic University, and worked in Soviet Research institute of Electromechanics. Kazantsev was a member of Soviet delegation at the 1939 New York World's Fair. When Germany invaded Soviet Union in 1941, Kazantsev joined the army. He left military service in 1945 in the rank of colonel, and was awarded a number of orders, including Order of the Patriotic War and Order of the Red Star. From then on, Kazantsev settled at "literary village" of Peredelkino and concentrated on his writings. He survived the dissolution of the Soviet Union and died in 2002.
Kazantsev was an enthusiast of the unknown, and a pioneer of Soviet UFOlogy. Many of his works, both fiction and non-fiction, deal with bold and controversial parascience theories.
He researched Tunguska event and published a number of science fiction, as well as popular science books, on the topic. He believed Tunguska impact was caused by an alien ship that crash-landed on the Earth.
Kazantsev researched events and legends that he believed were evidences of paleocontacts. His novel Phaetae is based on the popular hypothesis of Phaeton, a planet that some believe has existed on the site of modern Asteroid belt. According to the novel, Phaeton was inhabited by the developed civilisation of phaetae race, who survived the destruction of their planet and brought some of their culture to the prehistorical people of Earth.
Kazantsev was also interested in Martian canal theory, and used it in his fiction concerning Mars.
He was also a composer of chess endgame studies. In 1975 he was awarded by the Permanent Commission of the FIDE for Chess Compositions (PCCC) the title of FIDE Master of Composition.
Note: of this list, only "The Destruction of Faena", "A Visitor From Outer Space" and "The Martian" had been translated into English
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