ofa roger payne is founder and president of a whale conservation organisation.middle of the siberian forest. dozens of research institutes were built and top scientists were enticed to come and work in the region. victor barron was one of the first research chemists to move the academic city. a town of 25,000 inhabitants. a town where nearly eve ryo ne inhabitants. a town where nearly everyone is a scientist or hoping to become one. a new town called academic city. translation: my first impression was that of the world and, to be honest. every thing was different here. the houses were right in the middle of the forest. it was so quiet and the air seemed so fresh. what used to be thought of as a wasteland has turned out to be the soviet union's greatest treasure house, a land unbelievably rich in minerals. geologists thought there was no ore here. now the whole place seems to be floating on it. fields which could be as rich as the south african ones and gold and platinum too. i worked in academic city since 1962. i was a research chemist at the institute of inorg

dr roger payne spoke to witness about the discovery that caught the imagination of the world.g, it's an incredible experience! it's completely shattering. it feels like, when you get close to one, that something has put its hands on your chest and is shaking you until your teeth rattle. my first thought was, i wonder if i can stand this? i wonder if this is actually going to kill me somehow? newsreel: there she blows! a wail is spotted. the harpoon grenade is fired. back in the 1950s and ‘60s, nobody, as far as i could tell, knew much of anything about whales. there was no whale watch industry, no save the wales movement. usually the first shot means death to the whale. in the old moby dick days, harpoons were hand—held at the monsters. —— harpoons were harmed by hand at the monsters. —— hurled by hand. the modern way is far more humane. a few people knew that whales were being over—hunted and, frankly, whales were going extinct. it was just a big moneymaking proposition. newsreel: the entire whaling industry is worth £100 million a year. russia and japan are the two big whali