Who Are The Bogdanoff Twins

Introduction to the Bogdanoff Twins

The Bogdanoff brothers, Igor and Grichka, have had a rich and unusual cultural impact ever since they first started garnering attention from media outlets in the late 1970s. They have always been media personalities, flaunting their high level of intellect in specials and documentaries and living grand, indulgent, sometimes eccentric, public lives. The brothers have been paid close attention throughout this time period, carefully examined and critiqued from nearly every possible angle and have continued to exist as a matter of controversy. The first goal of this study is to look closely at the Bogdanoffs’ rise to fame and their attempts at being professionals in theoretical science, and at the controversies and problems facing them the entire way through. The aim of this will be getting as close as possible to understanding the Bogdanoff twins themselves as human beings by looking at them through the two main facets of their public life – their purported intellect and personalities, as well as their public identity as media personalities. To explain, the first chapter discusses the Bogdanoff twins in depth, gives insight into their early lives and the early stages of their careers, and it ultimately situates the brothers in the field of international study that has been produced in response to their public presence. The second chapter details some of the public controversies the Bogdanoffs have faced, including the time they attempted to lock in their contributions to the field of theoretical physics with a court-ordered certification. The third and fourth chapters discuss the Bogdanoffs’ intellectual pretensions, their media personalities, and their unique public profile. The fifth chapter is something like a case study that discusses the so-called ‘Bogdanoff Affair.’ Finally, the last chapter presents a comparison between the Bogdanoffs and another pair of odd celebrity public personas, followed by a short conclusion that situates the Bogdanoffs in a long tradition of similar people and behaviors.

Early Life and Background

Grichka and Igor Bogdanoff, professionally known as the Bogdanoff Twins, were born on 29th December 1949 in Saint-Lary, France. Bogdanoff holds a mixed-ethnic background; their father is a Russian painter and a member of young revolutionaries. The twins decided to possess the position since 27,397-1 of a “virtual near future celebrity.” Their mother, however, is a French communist and a concentration camp survivor. Bogdanoff’s dual heritage is evident in their multicultural upbringing. In the 1960s, Bogdanoff pursued their tertiary education at the prestigious University of California, Berkeley. At Berkeley, Grichka and Igor both studied nuclear physics. Berkeley served as a “bohemian enclave,” a gathering point for talented individuals native to different parts of the world, including Germany, Italy, Spain, Russia, and Mexico.

During Bogdanoff’s time at Berkeley, the twins met a researcher and futurist. Following Berkeley, the twins were invited for post-doctoral research at Harvard University in the 1970s. In addition to their academic achievements, Bogdanoff were also known for their involvement in campus politics, and they coauthored a book on a physicist, philosopher of physics, musician, and bongo drummer. The bi-continental experience allowed the twins to become fluent in several languages, including French, English, German, and Russian. Post-graduation, the twins began their professional careers working in both Europe and across America. Given their academic merit and experience, the twins initially began working as scholars and taught at various institutions in both Europe and America. In addition, they also worked as radio and science reporters, moving into television production in France by 1974. The early years of the twins’ careers served as an invaluable well of experience that would provide them with a global network and insight into the workings and mechanics of the media.

Family Origins

The Bogdanoff twins, Igor and Grichka, were born on New Year’s Eve in 1949. Their historic family has sustained itself through two identities and original traditions. In the mold of the tempestuous heroes they so much like to read about, this ancestral lineage is so numerous and culturally significant that even the present explanation of the Bourbons, the Spanish Bourbons, the families of the Tsars, Swedish monarchs, and Austrian Hapsburgs are linked in a distant period of time to either one or both of these two families. In any case, this labyrinthine family history could very well detract from the public persona of the twins, who are already situated within a complex structure of media representation.

Up until her recent death, Nourou Bil, the twins’ maternal grandmother – a former secretary and later a resident of Marseille – was their main point of contact with Egypt and provided them with their first exposure to the antique civilization of the pharaohs. Their maternal grandfather, Mr. Nicolas, was one of these famous Kabyles who became a Zouave while still at school and in his teenage years fought in Indochina and in the Battle of Algiers. It was he who interested the children in paleontology. The twins are therefore equally Kabyle and French. Like many Kabyles, they are extremely proud of being the descendants of pirates. Their father’s family were White Russian peasants; the past century had therefore reshaped his antecedents, turning them from arable farmers into loggers, beekeepers, and charcoal burners. Controlling the family destiny: that was the goal pursued by the eldest son in each generation. Cerf prevailed upon Czar Alexander III and on his assistant to allow each of his sons to enter the faculty for training foresters in St. Petersburg. Calif Igor won a scholarship and went to train in France while Alex made his way to post-revolutionary Russia. It was therefore a miracle that the twins’ French education was not interrupted. Family stories recount how he made his way down through Europe, where women coughed at the sight of a priest. The clericalist and counter-revolutionary spirit of the sons has been put into context!

Education and Career Beginnings

Although they had considered biological fields and the physical sciences, the Bogdanoff brothers chose to study the humanities and sociology nonetheless. They earned both a baccalaureate and a master’s degree in law, then a postgraduate diploma in economics and political science, the latter of which Daniel Bogdanoff earned with a perfect score, which earned them the rank of “head of the class.” Daniel Bogdanoff wrote his postgraduate thesis on the sociology of law – more specifically, his topic was Sun Tzu, in which he sought to prove that the warrior strategist and author of The Art of War, also the author of the first purely didactic work on the concept of strategy, was one of the first ancient political philosophers to describe in detail in his works the major conceptual motors that underlie the theory of natural law.

In an early interview, Daniel Bogdanoff explained that the brothers were hired and began writing science-related articles simply because it was “one way for us not to starve to death while we were working on our theses.” Their first TV appearances came thanks to their then-teacher who invited them onto his TV show in order to discuss black slavery. The Bogdanoffs’ next TV appearance was a debate which aired on a now-defunct channel between them and university professors as part of a show directed by a notable figure. They received an 18/20 on their doctoral thesis. In 1977, shortly after the death of a prominent figure, they began teaching at the University of Paris. The Bogdanov brothers have been very open throughout the years in acknowledging their teachers and how much they have had an effect on them upon their becoming prominent public figures.

Rise to Fame

Hungry for success, marked by their early television appearances, the Bogdanoff twins continued to push for a dream of programming success in French television. In December 1979, while deciding to produce their own show, Igor and Grichka placed their entries in a contest organized by a network. Two strategic planners at the fledgling network noticed the formidable duo while reviewing candidates for the show. History has proved that the two strategic planners made an inspired choice, accepting the duo into the game and therefore inheriting the prize that accompanied it. And within a few years, we could watch the brothers take ironic care of their appearance and their style as they spoke about their culture show that aired after the French prime time newscast.

The Bogdanoff twins specialized in interviews. They came into our homes and touched our hearts with their graciousness. Opposing a popular science guest, either politically on the left or on the right, the Bogdanoff twins would take turns firing broadside topics of cultural consideration between the wide flanks of small talk. For the French teenager, there was a thrill in being a guest for sure, for you or someone you knew could get called to describe the intellectuals’ thoughts with the economy of a phrase or two. Even in guest position, to watch the brothers’ eyes watch the other guest, or notice them transform from empathetic host to apoplectic cross examiner was enough to keep people watching and waiting until the twins came up again. Entertainment, one might call it an evening slot. With each appearance, the Bogdanoff twins had everyone under their hypnotic sway. They pushed their charming ways into two five-minute missions per hour, guaranteed.

Television and Media Career

For most people, the Bogdanoff’s fame was due to Raphael and Igor’s work on television in the 80s and 90s. Almost twenty years after the debut of a humorous program presented with Jean-Claude Bourret dedicated to “time travel, parallel worlds, and the strange,” the twin brothers appear to have aged in a way that remains a mystery. They stayed viewers for nearly ten years and moved to participate in various conferences and then acted as guests accused in a segment on the dark side of the moon. From there, they lingered at a program that explained the universe based on biological criteria as well as unexplained creatures or our neighboring galaxies, where they worked for nearly three years. Besides, of course, their own scientific programs: a medico-social magazine dedicated to scientific issues, and of course After the LVV.

The program rapidly became cult TV in spite of long debates about authority and its anti-conformist approach, including dialogues centering on style and “dangerous” subjects chosen by the editors. As a result, the twin brothers were sought by the media, thinking they were “joking,” looking for autograph jokes, and calling out their program that “it lowered the audience”… but they warned nothing… Apparently, viewers who followed the twins did not watch the same TV as the others. The twins continued to work on themes of the strange and controversy, justifying the high prices awarded to them to intervene in meetings organized semi-annually called Serieux. The twins managed to pay for – and with cash – a €700,000 object-time when they were invited to enter a former nightclub in anecdotal Lyon.

Controversies and Conspiracies

Previous sections have given an overview of conventional works and contributed to the picture of the brothers as significant and unique scientists. However, much like most almost-celebrities, they were plagued by a deluge of controversies and conspiracy theories that further added mystique and intrigue to their public persona. The core cause of these controversies stems from the twins’ business plan of engineering discussions around their work in the public eye. In light of this modus operandi, it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish between what they genuinely meant and what was sensationalistic programming, either by their own hands or by the media that reported on them. Some of the controversies surrounding them include:

Disputes about their credentials: The Bogdanoffs initially made public claims to pioneering a new model of geometrical viruses that could survive in the vacuum of space. They later asserted this was an exaggeration by the media and reiterated their belief in the benefits of non-space viruses. Their controversial ‘end of argument’ statement: They published a controversial paper in 2002 that asserted a proposition with no proof. This could have just been a part of their relatively niche and esoteric interests in unprovable entities, but was interpreted as disrespectful due to the way they spread discussions around it. Internet memes and parodies: The brothers have been parodied and constructed as internet memes almost for as long as the concept has existed. Initially, they were primarily popular in French-speaking countries, but they have since crossed over to English-speaking portions of the internet with most of the meme parodies revolving around their looks and putting their names in the titles of famous pieces of modern art.

Internet Memes and Parodies

There is a significant amount of bizarre internet content about the Bogdanoff twins. The production of video jokes making fun of them via their public appearances is relatively common. One notable video syncs footage of the rotating Bogdanoff heads with a moldy copy of a hit song. This meme draws attention to the conceptual links between the medium and its basic jokemaking. While in this case the interaction of the medium was fundamentally based on brutal distortion, some reactions to the Bogdanoffs are less glorifying. This element of expression and speculation, usually fundamentally humorous in nature, with less to no respectful undertones, is an intriguing polarity that can be discussed separately.

Parody videos are not the only form of “anecdotal” activity resulting from the Bogdanoffs’ public appearances online. In fact, a number of threads are simply individual “crapposting,” often portraying them as silly, foolish, or ridiculous characters. Much of the memeing activity is sourced in various platforms, in which whole threads dedicated to twisting events and characteristics into different forms of humor, often so much so that they have nothing to do with their original target. While it is difficult to argue whether these parodies have actually shaped the legacy of the Bogdanoff duo, it is quite clear that the echoes of these personalities can be perceived in various places online past their depictions as elegant intellectuals in various forms of media.

Scientific Contributions

The twins have been involved with some 27 topics of research or speculation throughout their career, the focus of which has been on the nature of ‘time’ and ‘nothing’ we inhabit, with an insistence on the scientific-philosophical (and even political) consequences of these reflections. The twins’ work has walked a tightrope between the most rarefied of discourses and the most mind-boggling of speculation. Though the titles of their work have frequently belied their true contents, the topics have followed a fairly linear development: a series of essays, books, and reports have constituted a thematic unity in terms of scientific implications: the freedom and responsibility of the scientist, the never-ending struggle for progress against the stagnation of official dogma, the never-completed quest for a Theory of Everything, and the basic ‘sentence’ with which they have begun each of their papers (or thereabouts): ‘time is everything’, and ‘nothing can stop the collapse’ of the universe. The writings range from quantum field theory, particle physics, and various speculations about cosmology, to translation and numerous commentaries on social and political issues, as well as various criticisms of religion.

In their introduction to the publication of the essays On the Nature of Time and in Time: the best of The British Obscura, the twins outline a position not unlike that developed by Bohr in the decades of research into particle physics which have generally been seen to support the Copenhagen Interpretation of quantum mechanics, although they claim their work to be mostly in agreement with Feynman. Consistently applying a schematization of the structure of movement on certain spacetimes essentially close to the light-cone, the theory they present in this corpus sees time as the essential ingredient in the structure of the world-line of an observer. It also provides one of the main components of quantum state reduction at very high energy. In this, their approach is unlike the now ‘standard’ quantum mechanical collapse theories, and arguably, their wave packets never really collapse; but this is primarily a matter of semantics – the ability to distinguish between theories for which there is no evidence and very little prospect of such evidence.

The Bogdanoff Affair

Starting in 2002, the double-up Bogdanoff brothers published regular scholarly articles on physics and science in an open online repository of scholarly papers. Each new paper they posted received an automatic notification to a large mailing list, so it is not surprising that they had a following there, and that their papers were being downloaded by other researchers. Having been members of the French elite as boy wonder producers of ideas for politicians, they now attended seminars on new books of philosophy and cosmo-philosophy and published and presented papers at meetings of philo-science, as apparent Fredomist philosophers. Their new papers were flanked by iconographic signposts and delimiters that unmistakably imitated a newly available and kitschy self-carouseling sci-fi computer desktop enhancement.

Not long afterward, in 2004, a nucleus of theoretical physicists took to stopping their own thoughts about the latest in speculative quantum gravity during institute tea-time exchanges in order to talk about the newest joint production from the twins who featured as presenters of television docudramas featuring controversially weighty blockbuster sub-Hollywood productions in which both themselves and Hollywood stars were reconceived in a computer graphics animation style. In fact, it was even suspected that the primary author of these physics papers was not the top scientist who seated himself nearest to the top physicists on these post-doc occasions, but his brother. Within a year of this first intellectual impact, the brothers also found themselves repeatedly confronted by television and newspapers as a significant puzzle. Financial news journalists who put together lists of the decade’s worst academic silliness ultimately identified this incident as the fifth most diverting. Problems of interest in research, press, and television.

Legacy and Influence

The controversial contributions of the Bogdanoff twins have already built their legacy. Whether idolized, walked on eggshells around, or openly scorned, the Bogdanoff twins have undoubtedly engraved themselves upon popular culture and academic thought alike. In the world of popular culture, the Bogdanoff twins have been immortalized, appearing in a large number of internet memes, and thus entering the stream of consciousness of the generation that followed them. Others have criticized the Bogdanoff twins, alongside many other postmodern thinkers, for placing style over substance and focusing on concepts that are superfluous and devoid of anything resembling empirical evidence.

Many have discussed the brothers as playing a role in exacerbating the public mistrust of experts and leading to a postmodern “Age of Indifference.” Whichever the school of thought, it is irrefutable that in making science accessible to a mass audience, the Bogdanoff twins were at the forefront of an emerging philosophy of outreach. The fame and “Apostles” that this access garnered can be seen as the immediate consequence of this sea change in how scientists really reach the public, going beyond the strict lines of academia. Yet understanding the fundamental contributions of the brothers to the world of science and science fiction remains impressive. Alongside the brothers appear to have invented a strain of superhuman genetics as fuel for their epic series of space operas. The means of engaging and eventually entering the scientific community and media may yet be revealed as a further layer in their groundbreaking work.

Pop Culture References

Besides the above-mentioned albums, the influence of the Bogdanoff twins within the popular culture of the 21st century is widespread, often as a result of their appearance in popular online image macros. Furthermore, they have been quoted as influential throughout the nineteenth and twenty-first centuries, often in relation to science fiction or celebrity culture. In a sense, this was to be expected, given that the Ur-world picture is often described in similar terms as “diverging from the appearances of things in everyday, human-modifiable, space and time,” so they too can be seen as a kind of “science fiction” in the grandest, perhaps being its first instance. In addition, the image of two brothers at the top of the hierarchy, overseeing all appearance, could feed or be fed by tales of secret powerful individuals pulling the strings on Earth: conspiracy theories portraying them as members of an alien master race manipulating humanity have inspired various professional and amateur creators, as did their explanation for the discontinuation of the show – mass cancellations by the puppet masters behind terrestrial human television. Finally, there are examples of such citations recognizing their contribution to folkloric myth, with some people treating them parodically and others admiringly. The mythicizing aspect is quite pronounced in a Polish film, in which they appear as parodied bogatyrs.

The provocative power of the Bogdanoff figures is attested by a considerable balance of vitriolic sentiments poured onto the net relating to virtually every visible or citable aspect of their persona, as well as some that are invisible and cited. The resonation of the Bogdanoffs as iconic points of reference in internet discourse is observable in all of the following venues: various online forums and dictionaries, and especially bad threads of dramatic forums. Even in a certain discussion, the sisters could not program out this information, spawning a(n) (un)falsifying swipe of discourse where the Bogdanoff brothers are circularly revealed to be the vicious circle of spiritual sounding boards. The Bogdanoff twins are a prime example of how the refraction of real characters through internet culture can exponentially magnify their perceived importance, negative or otherwise. They appear everywhere: in movies and TV series; in video games; as the object of internet lore and copypastas; as a trope in chic image macros calling to banish them as standard bearers of sci-fi fashion; as the butt of jokes and punchlines in comedic memes; in medical sales; and even in racism along with other obviously prejudicial associations. However, the practice of refiguring and reframing the myth in a new medium of expression is part of its repunching logic, interesting as it may sound.

Conclusion and Future Perspectives

In this study, we sought to reconstruct Igor and Grichka Bogdanoff’s life paths, offering the first global account published in an academic journal. Born in 1949, they experienced a classical secondary scientific education and resided in liberal and elitist circles in Paris. After studying in France and the USA, the ‘Bogdies’ became media figures in the 1970s and contributed to scientific communication. Well known in France in particular for a quarter of a century, they were featured by numerous TV shows because of their meteoric rise and their well-proportioned faces. Their charm was not only media medicine; but, it also engendered deep critiques and sometimes violent expressions. These clashes and caresses took place in many spaces: newspapers first, but also TV, science, comic literature, songs, and of course the Internet. Igor and Grichka—indissociable despite their respective main activities—also became the focus of a field of reflection that now requires a large number of adherents. And this despite the fact that neither of the brothers—in their own words—completed any ‘great works’.

The ‘Bogdanoff twins’ are a sum of elements and faces hard to disentangle. The road from Asnières-sur-Seine to the quartiers chics was neither classical nor impossible. To explain it, we strove to consider the wider intellectual, scientific, and social milieu they had experienced, for science is not isolated from such contexts. As we developed their scientific steps, it emerged that ‘courtesy scientists’ and a blissful coincidence such as the ‘Bogdanoffs’ bouncer’ probably held relatively minor roles in their celebrity. The next step would be to investigate the networks of exchange and discussion originating from the history of science that gave them legitimacy or the contrary. This would mean saying more about some of the actors who shone bright around the Bogdanoffs, including some members of the ‘spring universe’ group and a number of people who resisted celebrity. What is Igor and Grichka’s current legacy in terms of ideas, fields, and jobs and what can we learn from these old Scientopolitiques about the cultural criticism and integrations of the coming? Are our cosmo-identities forged in the molds of stars and black holes still waiting for a sprouting of time, old but still youthful?