It seems that Mikulin was destined to deal with aviation. He was born in the family of a mechanic engineer and was a nephew at mother’s side to famous Nikolay Zhukovsky, father of Russian aviation. Besides, pilot Sergey Utochkin infected him with the virus of air disease. By the way, the outstanding pilot had infected with this virus a whole group of people – Korolev, Nesterov, Polikarpov, and Sukhoy. In the field of aircraft engineering, Mikulin raised to lofty heights – his engines were installed on IL, TU, MIG, and YAK airplanes. The famous ANT-25 machine that Chkalov used to perform the nonstop flight Moscow – North Pole – USA was also equipped with the engine designed by Mikulin. Fighters MIG-1 and MIG-3, bomber PE-8, strike aircraft IL-2 – all these airplanes of great victory also used his engines. Moreover, the turbo jet engine for the first Soviet passenger jet – TU-104 – was created under the guidance of Alexander Mikulin. Until the end of his life, the designer remained an easily carried away person. During twilight years, he worked out his own system of fighting old age and published the respective book under the name of Active Ageing. Mikulin died at 90 thus having exemplified the efficiency of his system. “Talent,” you would say that be quite right. Writer Alexander Bek chose exactly this name for his novel about Alexander Mikulin. All the facts in this book are true to life except the name of the main character, which bears the name of Alexey Berezhkov.