Quote Originally Posted by xdns View Post
It's a stretch to call Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg a Russian woman
But, of course, she was the most renowned female ruler of Russia.
Haha, got me there! But she is famous, isn't she!
Gosh these Germans, they are everywhere, aren't they! All the European royal families are full of them..
Anyway, hope the below mentioned women qualify as fullblooded Russians!

My next person that comes to mind is the first woman in space. I am such a space geek that I have to add her. She is still alive as far as I know.

VALENTINA TERESHKOVA




“Valentina Tereshkova was chosen [by Yuri Gagarin and others in the Soviet Space Programme] to fly aboard Vostok 6, scheduled for a June 16, 1963 launch date. It is believed that her backup was Irina Solovyova. Tereshkova’s training included at least two long simulations on the ground, of 6 days and 12 days duration. On June 14, 1963 cosmonaut Valeriy Bykovsky launched on Vostok 5. Tereshkova and Vostok 6 launched two days later, flying with the call sign Chaika (Seagull). Flying two different orbits, Vostok 5 and 6 came briefly within roughly 5 km (3 mi) of each other, and the cosmonauts exchanged brief communications. Tereshkova followed the Vostok procedure of ejecting from the capsule some 6000 m (20,000 ft) above the ground and descending under a parachute. She landed near Karaganda, Kazakhstan, on June 19, 1963. Her flight lasted 48 orbits totaling 70 hours 50 minutes in space. She spent more time in orbit than all the U.S. Mercury astronauts combined.”
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Anna Akhmatova - a favourite poetess with all Russians it seems.

Hard to appreciate poetry in a foreign language, I think, but she is so well loved that she should definitely appear among the first in the list.




Not only is she an extraordinary poetess, but her personal life is like a first class family, political and historical drama, and she was friends with some of the most famous cultural personalities of the 20th century. A very interesting and talented woman.

This is another person that I'd like to see a film or a documentary about!

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Super famous ballerina ANNA PAVLOVA




From Wikipedia

Her mother was a laundress named Lyubov Feodorovna. The identity of her father has been open to debate.

By the mid-20th century she founded her own company and performed throughout the world, with a repertory consisting primarily of abridgements of Petipa's works, and specially choreographed pieces for herself.

After leaving Russia, Pavlova moved to London, England, settling, in 1912, at the Ivy House on North End Road, Golders Green, near Hampstead Heath, where she lived for the rest of her life. The house had an ornamental lake where she fed her pet swans, and where now stands a statue of her by the Scots sculptor George Henry Paulin. The house was featured in the film "Anna Pavlova".

While touring in The Hague, Netherlands, Pavlova was told that she had pneumonia and required an operation. She was also told that she would never be able to dance again if she went ahead with it. She refused to have the surgery, saying "If I can't dance then I'd rather be dead." She died of pleurisy, three weeks short of her 50th birthday.
Unless I am mistaken, Anna Pavlova is the Russian equivalent of Jane Smith - a very unpretentious name, perhaps even a bit boring. But she is very famous in the world of ballet, and also in the UK where she lived for a long time.


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