MOSCOW -- One does not have to be a pop singer or a movie actor to have loyal fans all over the globe. Occasionally even a scholar can become an international star, as the recently deceased Norwegian Thor Heyerdahl demonstrated. A remarkable thing about his popularity, however, was that Russia was one of the nations that loved him most.
The news about his death at the age of 87 has upset the Russians: The famous anthropologist and adventurer was their icon for more than 40 years. But more importantly, people feel that with his death our world has become a less romantic place. With Heyerdahl's death, impractical chivalry and personal crusades for knowledge move that much closer to extinction in the 21st century.
The Russians could not care less whether the theories Heyerdahl tried to prove with his breathtaking voyages were true. Could an engineer from Khabarovsk be really interested in the ethnic origins of the Easter Island people or the ancient connection between Egypt and America? Of course not. What excited such a person was the total craziness of Heyerdahl's enterprises.