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4. Alla Borisovna Pugacheva was born on April 15, 1949, in Moscow, Russia. Her father, named Boris Mikhailovich Pugachev, was a shoe factory manager. Her mother, named Zinaida Arkhipovna, was a housewife. At the early age of 5, young Alla Pugacheva made her first public performance at the prestigious Pillar Hall of Palace of Unions in Moscow. From 1956-1965 she studied piano and singing at the music school No31. In 1965, she made her radio debut with the popular song 'Robot' on the Moscow Radio. From 1965-1971 she studied singing and choir directing at Moscow College of Music named after Ippolitov-Ivanov. From 1976-1981 she studied acting and directing at Moscow Institute of Theatrical Art (GITIS) from which she graduated as director. In 1977 Pugacheva made her film debut in the title role in Zenshchina, kotoraya poyot (1977). She also was a composer for that film under the nickname of 'Boris Gorbonos'. The film was a major box-office hit with attendance of more than 60 million in the Soviet Union. Pugacheva was named the best actress of the USSR for the year 1979. By that time she was already an internationally regarded pop-singer, having awards and recognition from such international music festivals as Sopot-78, MIDEM-1976, Zolotoi Orfei-75, and other. In 1997, she took part in Eurovision festival. Pugacheva has been a strong supporter for humanitarian causes. She made donations and performed charity concerts to help the victims of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. back

5. Pugacheva performed and recorded over three hundred songs over the course of her career. Her international hit 'Million Roses' was written and recorded in collaboration with Latvian composer Raimond Pauls, who has been working with Pugacheva on many other popular songs, and made several concert programs together. She also collaborated with such popular stars as Joseph Dassin, Udo Lindenberg, Filipp Kirkorov, Kristina Orbakaite, Vladimir Presnyakov, and others. Pugacheva was awarded the State Prize of Russia (1995) and received many other awards. She was designated the Peoples Artist of the USSR in December of 1991. Alla Pugacheva has been the indisputable leader in record sales in the USSR and in Russia, having sold over 100 million albums and singles during her career. Pugacheva has been helping many young singers and actors to become professionals. She is currently the Artistic Director and a host of her own TV show titled 'Fabrika Zvezd' back

8. Mikhail Lomonosov is the father of the Russian science and one of the most famous universities in the world. Lomonosov was born in 1711 in Arkhangelsk province. He began to read when he was a little boy. He always wanted to study and when he was nineteen he went to Moscow. He entered the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy and six years later, in 1736, he was sent abroad to complete his studies in Chemistry and mining. Lomonosov worked hard and became a great scientist. He was the first Russian academician. Lomonosov opened the first Russian chemistry lab. He was a physicist, a painter, an astronomer, a geographer, a historian and a statesman. In 1755 Mikhail Lomonosov founded Moscow University which is now Moscow State University named after him. Mikhail made research in electricity, gravity and the character of colour. Lomonosov was also the author of many odes and poems. He also published a lot of scientific works, including the first book on Russian grammar. Lomonosov died in 1965 but people still remember him.

9. Yuri Alexeyevich Gagarin was born on the 9th of March, 1934. He was born in the village of Klushino in the Smolensk region. Yuri was an active, brave and curious man. His father was jack of all trades and he helped his son when Yura made toy planes by hand. But the war began. Yuri Gagarin and his mother, father, brother and sister left their house and had to live in a dug-out. After the war Gagarin's family moved to Gzhatsk. Now it is Gagarin. It was named after the first cosmonaut. In 1951 Gagarin graduated from a vocational school in Lyubertsy near Moscow. Yuri Gagarin attended an aeroclub and began to fly when he was a student of a technical secondary school in Saratov. In 1955 he entered a school for pilots. Then he became a pilot and joined the first group of cosmonauts. In 1960 Gagarin began to prepare for the flight into space. On April 12, 1961 Yuri Gagarin flew into space and spent 108 minutes there. It was the first time in history that the Russian spaceship "Vostok" with the man on board was in space. After his flight he visited many countries and saw millions of people. Gagarin became a Hero of our country. He died in 1968, but people always remember the first Russian cosmonaut. back