ShutterButton: When Locust Was Leonid's
Ian Bussard
Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011Thu, Dec 15, 2011
Back in 1982, the young mathematician Leonid Brailovsky got into Penn. Nice! The bad news: He was from Russia. And Jewish. Back then, the Russian government was a bit bonkers, and because of his background, Leonid was not allowed to leave the motherland. Outraged, the Penn community organized a 5-kilometer run in protest. Soon after, then-Penn prez Sheldon Hackney decided that running five kilometers was not an appropriate way to challenge the Communist government and renamed Locust Walk "Leonid Brailovsky's Way" for a day to show his support of the young scholar. (Doesn't that sound like some sort of preteen soap opera?) Anyway, Brailovsky never did end up at Penn, unfortunately. Oh, Soviet Union! You so silly/completely horrendous!
