Ukrposhta and Kunsht present postage stamps honoring repressed Ukrainian scientists

For Nobel Week, Ukrposhta and the popular science media outlet Kunsht, with the support of the 3MIN Foundation, presented the postage issue Freedom in the Equation with illustrations created by the official portrait painter to the Nobel Prize Niklas Elmehed. This was part of the “Vlasna Marka” project. It addresses a question often asked in academic circles abroad: “Why does Ukraine still have no Nobel laureates among scientists?” The answer is short — because countless brilliant scholars were killed or repressed by Russia.

For the repressive Soviet regime, loyalty mattered far more than intellectual ability, achievements, or the pursuit of scientific truth. Talented yet “inconvenient” researchers became victims of repression — executed, expelled from their professions, or thrown into prisons.

Oleksandra Matviichuk

Science requires intellectual courage and the ability to think outside the box. By contrast, a totalitarian regime, through fear and violence, enforces a single ‘correct’ way of thinking. Without freedom, there can be no progress, because most ideas stand no chance of breaking through the artificially created boundaries of acceptability.

2022 Nobel Peace Prize laureate

Today, Russia continues to destroy Ukrainian scientists physically: according to the project Ukrainian Scientists at War, at least 165 researchers have been killed during the full-scale invasion. Freedom in the Equation highlights Ukraine’s scientific potential lost to genocidal wars.

The postage stamps tell the stories of ten Ukrainian scholars — from biologist Valentyna Radzymovska, arrested in 1929 in the USSR, to biophysicist Bizhan Sharopov, a soldier of the Armed Forces of Ukraine who was killed in 2022. Niklas Elmehed, the official artist of the Nobel Prize, created the portraits. At the same time, the selection of scientists was curated by Oleksii Boldyriev, molecular biologist and founder of My Science, and Khrystyna Semeryn, literary scholar and publicist.

Freedom in the Equation was first presented as an exhibition at Harvard within the framework of the Science at Risk project, supported by Kunsht and the 3MIN Foundation. It was in collaboration with My Science, Ukrainian Scientists at War, and the Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University. The exhibition continues to travel across universities in the U.S. and Ukraine, and has now taken on a new form — as postage stamps.

The stamp sheet featuring Ukrainian scientists will be available for purchase on Ukrposhta’s Postal Market starting October 6. Each postage stamp is not only a collector’s item, but also a way to preserve memories.

Kyrylo Beskorovayny

The exhibition has already been shown at Harvard and Wesleyan Universities, the Ukrainian House in Washington, and an art gallery in Lewiston. The Boston Globe even covered it. The idea for a collaboration with Ukrposhta came from our communications team as a way to broaden the project’s reach. Now the stories of talented Ukrainian scholars will travel to even more corners of Ukraine and the world.

Co-founder of Kunsht and Science at Risk

Natalia Mukhina, Head of the Philatelic Products Department at Ukrposhta, explains that for their team, the Freedom in the Equation release is “a release of pain, a release of memory, a release of guidance — never to give up and to do everything possible, wherever you are. For your future, and therefore for Ukraine.”

Natalia also emphasizes the relevance of the postage stamp format:

Natalia Mukhina

During the Russo-Ukrainian war, stamps have shown the world their significance, their powerful force, and their extraordinary influence. That is why most Ukrainian wartime issues have been dedicated to the centuries-long struggle of the Ukrainian people for the right to live, give birth, and create on their own land. A struggle the whole world must know about.

Head of the Philatelic Products Department at Ukrposhta