Nikolai Fedorov

Nikolai Fedorovich Fedorov (Никола́й Фёдорович Фёдоров) (June 9, 1829–December 28, 1903) was a Russian Orthodox Christian philosopher, who was part of the Russian cosmism movement. He advocated radical life extension using scientific methods, human immortality and resurrection of dead people.

Fedorov's parents were the Rurikid knyaz Pavel Ivanovich Gagarin and Elisaveta Ivanova, a woman of lower-class nobility. He studied at the Richelieu Lyceum in Odessa. From 1854 to 1868, he served as a teacher in various small Russian towns. In 1878, he joined the Rumyantsev Museum staff as a librarian. Fedorov opposed the idea of property on books and ideas and never published a line during his lifetime. His selected articles were printed posthumously under the title Philosophy of the Common Task (also known as Philosophy of Physical Resurrection).

Fedorov was a futurist, who theorized about the eventual perfection of the human race and society (i.e., utopia), including radical ideas like immortality, revival of the dead, space and ocean colonization. His writings heavily influenced mystic Peter Uspensky and early rocket pioneer Konstantin Tsiolkovsky.