Igor and Grichka Bogdanoff, controversial French TV stars and renowned twins, were inseparable in life and death. They had declined to get vaccinated against the coronavirus because they believed their good health would protect them, but they were admitted to the same hospital on the same day last month and diagnosed with COVID-19.
Grichka, the younger twin, died on December 28 in a critical care unit. On January 3, Igor arrived six days later. They were 72 years old.
In the 1980s, the Bogdanoff twins were TV stars in France, known for their offbeat popular science shows as well as their good looks multiplied by two.
They were inseparable, and they spent most of their adult lives in and out of the spotlight.
Temps X, the first science fiction television program, premiered in 1979. Academics accused the show of dumbing down science, yet it was just this attitude that made the show so popular with its viewers.
They were born in southwest France on August 29, 1949. They were reared by their grandmother, a countess, who was descended from German and Austrian aristocracy.
Before turning their science to television, the two studied applied mathematics. They went on to acquire doctorates in physics after scraping together just enough points, despite tremendous controversy surrounding their theses on the Big Bang hypothesis and space-time linkages. Plagiarism charges were also leveled.
Despite an internal university inquiry finding that their work had little scientific merit, they were nonetheless handed doctorates. The twins’ writing was described by one expert as “delightfully meaningless combinations of buzzwords,” but he was concerned that their findings had been taken seriously.
Later, when their broad cheekbones and facial characteristics became even more evident, the two sparked rumors that they had received cosmetic surgery. They denied having ever had surgery. They claimed, however, that they had experimented with undisclosed “technologies” to improve their looks, in order to retain the sense of secrecy.
Neither brother had received a COVID-19 vaccine. Igor Bogdanoff referenced controversial French scientist Dr. Didier Raoult — the guy who made hydroxychloroquine a household name – when asked about it on French radio last month. Igor Bogdanoff agreed that it was preferable to wait for future vaccinations than for those accessible today. Raoult stated he had greater faith in future vaccines than in those available now.
Luc Ferry, the former French Minister of Education and Research, was a lifelong acquaintance of the brothers. He informed French reporters that he had discussed the COVID vaccination with the twins and advised them that they were “you’re crazy” not to have it. He said that they were not anti-vaxxers, but that they did not want to receive the vaccines because they believed that their high health and fitness would protect them from the virus, but not from the vaccines’ side effects.