This book describes the life, times and science of the Soviet physicist Lev Vasilevich Shubnikov (1901-1937). From 1926 to 1930 Shubnikov worked in Leiden where he was the co-discoverer of the Shubnikov-De Haas effect. After his return to the Soviet Union he founded in Kharkov in Ukraine the first low-temperature laboratory in the Soviet Union, which in a very short time became the foremost physics institute in the country and among other things led to the discovery of type-II superconductivity. In August 1937 Shubnikov, together with many of his colleagues, was arrested and shot early in November 1937. This gripping story gives deep insights into the pioneering work of Soviet physicists before the Second World War, as well as providing much previously unpublished information about their brutal treatment at the hands of the Stalinist regime.

L. J. Reinders has had an active career in high-energy physics, earning a PhD from Utrecht University in 1976 and working as a post-doc at various research centres in Europe and Japan until 1988, when he switched to law and legal translation. In this book he combines his earlier expertise as a physicist with his long-standing interest in Russian culture and science.

Introduction.-  Shubnikovs early years in St. Petersburg/Petrograd/Leningrad.- Shubnikovs scientific work in Leningrad; papers with Obreimov.- Shubnikov in Leiden.- Shubnikov's Scientific work in Leiden: Shubnikovde Haas effect.- Founding of the Ukrainian Physico-Technical Institute in Kharkov.-  History of UFTI in the thirties.-  Shubnikovs scientific work at UFTI.-  Repression at the Leningrad Physico-Technical Institute.- The UFTI Affair: The case of Weissberg and Weisselberg.- The UFTI Affair: The case of Shubnikov, Rozenkevich and Gorsky.- The UFTI Affair: Other repressed UFTI physicists.- The Landau-Korets-Rumer Case.- Shubnikovs rehabilitation.-  Afterword.- Appendix 1: Shubnikovs statement on research in cryogenics.- Appendix 2: Interrogations of members of the UFTI staff.- Appendix 3: Documents of the case of Shubnikov, Rozenkevich and Gorsky.- Appendix 4: The rehabilitation of Shubnikov, Rozenkevich and Gorsky.- List of Shubnikovs publications.- Abbreviations.- Timeline of Shubnikov's life.