Emil Bezverkhny was a physi­cist, musi­cian, moun­taineer, and man of let­ters who sur­vived the Siege of Leningrad, grad­u­at­ed from the USSR’s top physics fac­ul­ty, and fought inde­fati­ga­bly for his rights as a Jew. His grand­son, Emil Pitkin, is a pro­fes­sor and entre­pre­neur who is a peren­ni­al award-win­ning instruc­tor at the Whar­ton School where he has taught over 2,500 stu­dents. Gov­Pre­dict was the polit­i­cal tech­nol­o­gy com­pa­ny he found­ed and sold. He serves on mul­ti­ple pro-Israel orga­ni­za­tions’ boards. His next nov­el, Fate and Chance, is slat­ed for pub­li­ca­tion in late 2026.