Dmitry Likhachov
1906–1999 (age 93)
Biography
Dmitry Sergeyevich Likhachev (Russian: Дми́трий Серге́евич Лихачёв, also spelled Dmitrii Likhachev or Dmitry Likhachov; 28 November [O.S. 15 November] 1906 – 30 September 1999) was a Russian medievalist, linguist, and an inmate of Gulag. During his lifetime, Likhachev was considered the world's foremost scholar of the Old Russian language and its literature.
He was revered as "the last of old St Petersburgers", and as "a guardian of national culture". Due to his high profile as a Soviet dissident writer, social critic, and activist during his later life, Likhachev was often referred to as "Russia's conscience".