Seminars

Everyone called him Maksimych

On 21 April, a memorial seminar dedicated to the 100th anniversary of I.M.Matora was held at the Frank Laboratory of Neutron Physics.

The seminar was opened by the report of E.I.Litvinenko "Brief scientific biography of I.M.Matora". Dr.Sci. in Physics and Mathematics Ivan Maksimovich passed away on 6 October, 2013. He had worked at FLNP for over 40 years. In 1951 he graduated from the Faculty of Physics and the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics of the Leningrad State University, ib. he entered graduate school. The PhD thesis "Calculation of the excitation of 2³S and 2¹S - levels of the helium atom using electron impact" was prepared under the supervision of Academician V.A.Fok, the author of fundamental papers in quantum field theory, quantum electrodynamics, quantum mechanics and general relativity. In the early 1950s, V.A.Fok was engaged in the explanation and interpretation of quantum mechanics, argued against N. Bohr. Undoubtedly, he asserted influence over the young specialist. After postgraduate studies, I.M.Matora had worked at the Scientific Research Institute of Electrophysical Apparatus for five years, he released the article "A new scheme for extracting particles from the phasotron" and in 1961 he went to work at FLNR. Finding out that a booster was designed to be constructed for the IBR reactor at FLNP and after having discussed the idea of a microtron with F.L.Shapiro he came to FLNP. During the first eight years of work at the Laboratory Ivan Maksimovich made 11 publications and as a member of a team in 1971 he became a laureate of the State Prize for the series of works "The IBR research reactor and the IBR reactor with an injector". When it turned out that the microtron could not meet all the challenges occurred, activities on a new device, the LIU-30 started. From 1969 to 1988, Ivan Maksimovich published 39 papers on this topic and obtained 6 of his 9 patents. The topic was closed before completion on the resolution of the Directorate.

The scientific interests of I.M.Matora were not limited to the construction of physical facilities. He was interested in the properties of ultracold neutrons, the physics of the atmosphere and in recent years also in the properties of the electron, his own model of which he tried to design. E.I.Litvinenko presented a list of the most notable publications of I.M.Matora. From this list I will indicate only a few ones: "The interaction of the magnetic moments of an electron and a neutron is one of the reasons for heating UCN during their storage in metal vessels" (1998), "On the temperature of the exospheres of Earth, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and the corona of the Sun" (1970), "Cosmic rays - a probable generator of the electrostatic field in Earth's atmosphere" (1998), "On the nature of the superrotation of Earth's upper atmosphere" (1999).

E.P.Shabalin, the initiator of this seminar, gave two reports: "Microtron-injector for the IBR reactor. The preparatory stage of the project for the construction of LIU-30" and "A few words about the late works of I.M.Matora". He started with history. On 3 July 1956, the Presidium of the Central Committee of CPSU decided to design a laboratory with a high-flux research reactor. It was assumed that the reactor would be persistent, with a capacity of several tens of kW. But D.I.Blokhintsev decided to make the reactor a pulsed one. IBR was born on 23 June in 1960 at 9:00 PM, when it reached impulsive criticality. But the power of 1 kW was not enough, F.L.Shapiro thought about a booster. Ivan Maksimovich suggested using a microtron. It was supposed to be positioned vertically above the reactor core. Evgeny Pavlovich balanced the engineering and physical details with lyrics, quoting parts of R.V.Kharyuzov's long poem "Tsar", the second hero of which after the tsar was Ivan and everyone knew that this was Ivan Maksimovich. "...Look and right - he contrived, After having recovered he leaned on his side, Changed the round shims, Welded the copper frame, Bent it into an arc, Sat in a corner and no goo-goo." This is exactly what happened during the construction of the microtron, as Evgeny Pavlovich confirmed. Among the historical photographs, the speaker brought the only photo of the microtron. He also cited a self-quotation: "It is difficult to find two people who would be so strikingly different from each other, like Ivan and Robert. Kharyuzov is a practitioner, he solved the most difficult technical task incomprehensibly fast, without calculations, like a skilled housewife bakes pancakes without thinking about the proportions of ingredients and the baked pancakes are always "oh, how delicious!" Maksimych, on the other hand, applied to different recipes for solving tasks, using a "cook" book and his own theories. He considered the microtron as an unsolved riddle of nature. And Mator was unique in this: he had his own theory of ball lightning, he explained the phenomenon of small heating of UCN in his own way, which had tormented our physicists for decades, he was sure of the occurrence of the internal structure of the electron and muon... "

S.A.Rakityansky that had worked with I.M.Matora for ten years outlined "Issues of the stability of an electron beam in a linear induction accelerator". After the successful launch of the microtron, an original compact electron accelerator, which was used as an injector for the pulsed booster, the first and the unique in the world, the issue of the IBR-2 injector, the LIU-30 accelerator, arose. V.G.Pyataev spoke about the work on the construction of the accelerator and experiments on beam wiring. He also called to memory the staff members of the LIU-30 sector. "On our joint work (New monitor and control system of LIU-30)" was the title of the report given by V.N.Zamriy in which he spoke not only about the work, but also called to mind, of course, Ivan Maksimovich, "he has something to respect and remember for". S.N.Dolya presented the prospects for using cyclotrons to produce neutron beams.

At the end of the seminar, E.I.Litvinenko spoke about the family of Ivan Maksimovich and the participants of the seminar recounted his hobbies: fireballs and quiet hunting - picking mushrooms.

Olga Tarantina