Artur Mylin

Artur Mylin was unfazed when his friend called him in the middle of the night to tell him that the war had begun.It was 2022, and Russia had just invaded Ukraine, marking a major escalation in a conflict between the two countries that had been simmering since 2014. Mylin had been training physically for the previous 8 years. He understood, he says, that there would “be some difficult period for which my body should be ready.” He trained even as he completed his PhD and became a full-time research scientist at the Institute for Sorption and Problems of Endoecology at the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. There, he developed catalytic processes to convert renewable feedstocks into valuable chemical products. The morning of Feb. 24, 2022, while Russian forces laid siege to Kyiv, Ukraine, Mylin, institute director Volodymyr Brei, and the deputy director arrived at their building to inspect it. They shut off the water and electricity and blocked entrances to the laboratories, which they expected would be closed for a while. Mylin went home, packed, and walked to the local office to enlist in the Ukrainian military.Over the next few months, Mylin served as a foot soldier. He started at the border of Kyiv and then moved east. Part of him wanted to put his degree to use. At one point, he says, he tried to move posts such that generals could use his scientific background. “I view chemistry not only as a scientific discipline but as a tool