Igor and Grichka Bogdanoff facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Igor and Grichka Bogdanoff
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Igor (left) and Grichka (right) in 2016
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| Born |
Igor Youriévitch Bogdanoff
Grégoire Youriévitch Bogdanoff 29 August 1949 Saint-Lary, Gers, France
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| Died | Igor: 3 January 2022 (aged 72) Grichka: 28 December 2021 (aged 72) Paris, France
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| Occupation | Media personalities |
| Years active | 1976-2022 |
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| Alma mater | University of Burgundy |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Theoretical physics |
| Thesis | Fluctuations quantiques de la signature de la métrique à l'échelle de Planck (1999) |
| Doctoral advisor | Moshé Flato, Daniel Sternheimer |
Igor Youriévitch Bogdanoff (French pronunciation: [iɡɔʁ juʁi.evitʃ bɔɡdanɔf]; 29 August 1949 – 3 January 2022) and Grégoire "Grichka" Youriévitch Bogdanoff (French: [ɡʁeɡwaʁ ɡʁiʃka]; 29 August 1949 – 28 December 2021), alternatively spelled Bogdanov, were French twin television presenters, producers, and essayists who presented a variety of programmes in science fiction, popular science, and cosmology.
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Early life and disputed claims about ancestry
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The identical twin brothers Igor and Grichka Bogdanoff were born to Maria "Maya" Dolores Franzyska Kolowrat-Krakowská (1926–1982), of Bohemian and Polish descent, and Yuri "Youri" Mikhaïlovitch Bogdanoff (1928–2012), an itinerant Russian emigré farm worker and later painter; Igor was born 40 minutes before Grichka. The twins' parents divorced shortly after their birth, and they were mainly raised by their maternal grandmother Bertha Kolowrat-Krakowská at her castle in Saint-Lary.
Television shows
The brothers began careers in television, hosting several popular programs on science and science fiction. The first of these, Temps X (Time X), ran from 1979 to 1989 and introduced several British and American science-fiction series to the French public, including The Prisoner, Star Trek, and Doctor Who, in addition to featuring musical guests such as Jean-Michel Jarre.
In 2002, the Bogdanoffs launched a new weekly television show, Rayons X (X Rays), on the French public channel France 2. In August 2004, they presented a 90-minute special cosmology program.
Academic careers
Grichka Bogdanoff received a Ph.D. degree in mathematics from the University of Burgundy (Dijon) in 1999. In 2002, Igor Bogdanoff received a Ph.D. in theoretical physics from the University of Burgundy. Both brothers received the lowest passing grade of "honorable".
Megatrend University
In 2005, the Bogdanoffs became professors at Megatrend University in Belgrade, where they were appointed to Chairs of Cosmology and made directors of the 'Megatrend Laboratory of Cosmology'. Mića Jovanović, the rector and owner of Megatrend University, wrote a preface for the Serbian edition of Avant le Big Bang. Jovanović himself later became embroiled in controversy and resigned his post, when he was found out to not have obtained a Ph.D. at the London School of Economics as he had claimed.
Personal lives
The Bogdanoff twins spoke German, Russian, and English.
Igor Bogdanoff had six children, four from his first marriage and two from his second. He married his second wife, Princess Amélie of Bourbon-Parma, daughter of Prince Michel of Bourbon-Parma, civilly in Paris on 1 October 2009 and religiously in Chambord two days later. Grichka was in a relationship with a woman named Chaymae at the time of his death, but never married and had no children. The twins declared having been diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, however that has never been confirmed.
Deaths
The Bogdanoff twins were both hospitalized, at the Georges Pompidou European Hospital in Paris, in critical condition on 15 December 2021, after contracting COVID-19. Grichka died on 28 December, and Igor died six days later, on 3 January 2022. They were 72 and both were intentionally unvaccinated. The funeral for both twins was held on 10 January 2022, in the Church of the Madeleine, in Paris, France.
