[[Leonid Vasiliev]] was a prominent [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] parapsychologist and chairman of the physiology department at the University of Leningrad. A past winner of the Lenin Prize, Vasiliev was a key figure in the resurgence of Soviet [[Parapsychology|psi]] research following the publication of [[The Nautilus (Telepathy Project)|"The Secret of the Nautilus"]] article in 1960. He argued that "the discovery of the energy underlying ESP will be equivalent to the discovery of atomic energy."[^1] By the early 1960s, Vasiliev was heading a well-funded parapsychology laboratory, and his work soon concentrated on "remote-influencing" experiments, such as attempting to telepathically induce sleep in a distant receiver. His efforts, along with those of other Soviet researchers like [[I. M. Kogan]], contributed to the establishment of numerous other psi research centers in the Soviet Union.[^1] Vasiliev publicly stated in April 1960 that the Soviets had conducted extensive and unreported investigations into telepathy under the Stalin regime, and that they had successfully performed telepathy tests over a quarter-century prior to the alleged U.S. Nautilus tests. He urged Soviet scientists to overcome their prejudices against such research and to explore this vital field, which he believed had the potential to be as significant as the discovery of atomic energy.[^2] [^1]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers*. Dell, 1997. [^2]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.