{"id":217,"date":"2026-07-05T04:36:35","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T08:36:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/jrn350-su26\/?p=217"},"modified":"2026-07-05T04:36:35","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T08:36:35","slug":"on-gavdos-a-physicist-searches-for-meaning-beyond-equations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/jrn350-su26\/on-gavdos-a-physicist-searches-for-meaning-beyond-equations\/","title":{"rendered":"On Gavdos, a Physicist Searches for Meaning Beyond Equations"},"content":{"rendered":"

The papers are impossible to miss.<\/span><\/p>\n

Neatly stacked on the couch inside Alla Yavtushenko’s home are the notes she studies each afternoon as she prepares for the Greek citizenship exam. Abstract paintings fill the walls alongside a detailed cityscape of a Russian town. The paintings and the house are both products of the same group. The house, on Gavdos, the southernmost island of Europe, was built by its members, including Andrej, a nuclear physicist who volunteered to help clean up the Chernobyl nuclear disaster after the reactor exploded.<\/span><\/p>\n

His experience \u2014learning to understand the body rather than fear it \u2014 Yavtushenko says, became significant for the group\u2019s approach to health and recovery. It is why they chose to move here to Gavdos. \u201cHe understood everything, how dangerous it is,\u201d Yavtushenko said. But volunteering was \u201chis deep decision.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The group\u2019s work extends beyond health practices. Here on Gavdos, the conversation drifts from physics to Pythagoras, from the Chernobyl disaster to immortality. It is an unusual path, but for Yavtushenko, every subject points toward the same question: how should people live?<\/span><\/p>\n

She has spent much of her life trying to answer it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Born in Kharkiv in what was then the Soviet Union, Yavtushenko said she began asking questions about the nature of the world as a child. When physics and mathematics appeared in school, she believed they might hold the answers.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to understand this world,\u201d she said. \u201cHow it was created.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

She studied physics at university before joining the Monocrystal Science Research Institute, where she spent seven years researching superconducting materials alongside a new generation of young scientists. But after work, conversations rarely stayed inside the laboratory.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe started to speak about questions that were interesting to us,\u201d she said. \u201cWhat is matter? Where is the border between matter and something invisible?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Those discussions eventually led her to a lecture given by members of a philosophical group.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt happened exactly in one lesson,\u201d she recalls.<\/span><\/p>\n

What followed changed the course of her life.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe were involved in one philosophical reasoning about arithmetic of Pythagoras, and at one step of reasoning we understood what is necessary to change our life, our place, where we stay,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The arithmetic of Pythagoras Yavtushenko mentioned, is a reference to Pythagorean philosophy, an ancient Greek tradition that treats numbers and mathematical relationships as the basis for understanding the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

Acting on that conclusion meant leaving their former lives behind. Leaving, however, was not an easy decision.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI left my country, my job, my family for this reason,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was difficult.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

She moved first to Russia, where she spent eight years living with the group before its members began searching for somewhere new to put their philosophy into practice. They were drawn to the idea of an island. \u201cIt’s one example of wholeness,\u201d she said, smiling.<\/span><\/p>\n

For two years, members of the group travelled through Greece searching for the right place. They dismissed place after place before someone mentioned another island farther south.<\/span><\/p>\n

That island was Gavdos.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is important if the island needs you,\u201d Yavtushenko said.<\/span><\/p>\n

When the first members arrived in 1998, they began building houses. Yavtushenko joined them in 2003.<\/span><\/p>\n

Outside, the philosophy she describes has become tangible.<\/span><\/p>\n

She walks through vegetable gardens carved from Gavdos’ poor soil after decades of work. She points to a rainwater collection basin, explaining how difficult it is to find water on the island. Nearby stands a triangular structure she and her husband built as part of the group’s search for alternative energy.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOur basic position of our philosophy is wholeness,\u201d she said. \u201cWe knew that it’s necessary to build not only a house, but a source of energy.\u201d \u201cWe tried to find a source of water. A garden, of course,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Their days also follow a rhythm. Coffee and discussion in the morning. Physical work until the midday heat. Tea and more discussion in the evening.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to keep thinking through our philosophy,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

When asked about immortality, Yavtushenko does not describe it as a miracle or a promise. Instead, she speaks of evolution. Plants, animals, and humans each represent different stages of life, she explains. Humanity’s next step depends not on technology but on consciousness.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cImmortality is not a given thing,\u201d she said. \u201cWe just have to change our way of life, way of thinking.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

To her, immortality is inseparable from responsibility.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf we produce some waste,\u201d she said, \u201cit will stay with us forever.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The community’s philosophy has also left its mark on Gavdos itself.<\/span><\/p>\n

Their most recognizable creation is the giant chair overlooking Tripiti, now one of the island’s most photographed landmarks.<\/span><\/p>\n

The mayor of Gavdos, Lilian Stefanaki, laughs when she remembers seeing it for the first time.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe first time I saw it I thought it was so ugly,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Today, she said, visitors make the walk specifically to photograph the chair at Europe’s southernmost point. \u201cEverybody likes it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

For local business owner Joy Lampaki, who runs the island Taverna Kiki Coffee and More, the group’s contribution reaches beyond tourism.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThese people are awesome,\u201d she said, describing them as members of the community who have helped residents with practical jobs around the island and have always welcomed people into their home.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The chair has become so closely tied to Gavdos that locals rarely give directions to Tripiti anymore.<\/span><\/p>\n

“We ourselves say, ‘Go to the chair,’ not go to ‘Tripiti,'” Lampaki said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Back inside Yavtushenko’s home, the citizenship papers remain waiting on the couch.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nearly twenty three years after arriving on Gavdos, the physicist who left Ukraine in search of knowledge is preparing for another transition. \u201cI get to study about geography, more about history, and about the political structure of Greece. It’s knowledge, you know, it’s interesting. It’s necessary to have.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The papers are impossible to miss. Neatly stacked on the couch inside Alla Yavtushenko’s home are the notes she studies each afternoon as she prepares for the Greek citizenship exam. Abstract paintings fill the walls alongside a detailed cityscape of a Russian town. The paintings and the house are both products of the same group. … Continue reading On Gavdos, a Physicist Searches for Meaning Beyond Equations<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6318,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-week-3"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/jrn350-su26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/jrn350-su26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/jrn350-su26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/jrn350-su26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6318"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/jrn350-su26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/jrn350-su26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":218,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/jrn350-su26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217\/revisions\/218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/jrn350-su26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/jrn350-su26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/jrn350-su26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}