1 Rouble Aleksandr Popov

Issued to mark the 130th anniversary of Popov's birth, this coin commemorates the Russian physicist whose claim to the invention of radio has been a point of contention with Marconi's supporters since the 1890s. The Soviet state leaned heavily on Popov as a counter-narrative to Western technological primacy — his 1895 demonstration of wireless telegraphy predates Marconi's patent by roughly a year, though the absence of a published patent on Popov's part kept the dispute alive for decades.

The Y#195.1 and Y#195.2 varieties differ in edge lettering execution, a distinction common across Soviet commemorative roubles of this period tied to which mint facility handled the run.