FLNR-65

Yu.Ts.Oganessian: "This climate must be protected!"

It is probably right that the JINR seminar dedicated to the 65th anniversary of the Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions was held not at the place of birth and growth of the hero of the day, but in the conference hall of the Laboratory of Theoretical Physics. It's just that everyone wishing to congratulate the heroes of the occasion in their own conference hall would not fit. And there were barely enough seats in the large auditorium of BLTP. This is exactly what JINR Director G.V.Trubnikov noted in his greeting addressed to the participants of the seminar. He read out the order on the development of the Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions dated 20 May, 1957, signed by the first Director of the Institute Dmitry Blokhintsev and cited the most striking milestones that accompanied the FLNR stellar path. The meeting was opened by JINR Vice-Director S.N.Dmitriev, who came to work at FLNR as a young candidate of sciences in 1980.

More than once we have heard praises for the laboratory-anniversary celebrant from city stands, thanks to which Dubna has taken its place of honor in the periodic table. And in the speech of Head of the urban district of Dubna S.V.Kulikov and the congratulation he read out on behalf of the governor of the Moscow region A.Yu.Vorobyov, warm words were heard, once again emphasizing the high scientific potential of the Laboratory staff.

JINR Vice-Director, acting VBLHEP Director V.D.Kekelidze and DLNP Director V.A.Bednyakov addressed to colleagues. "What you do, it leaves no one indifferent!" Vladimir Kekelidze said. Vadim Bednyakov, in turn, emphasized the "family relationship" between the Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions and the Laboratory of Nuclear Problems that has become a kind of "parent" Laboratory for FLNR.

Yu.A.Zolotov spoke on behalf of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Russian Society of Chemists, in his congratulatory speech he quoted the words of Mikhail Lomonosov about the indispensable link between chemistry and physics that is so vividly embodied in FLNR. Director of the Institute of Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences A.K.Buryak joined the congratulations of his colleague.

The main topic of the jubilee seminar "The boundaries and structure of atomic nuclei" was announced by Scientific Leader of the Laboratory Yu.Ts.Oganessian in his report. His monologue, based on the key stages of the epic of the synthesis of superheavy elements, memories of colleagues and its active participants seemed to evoke a response from everyone in the auditorium, including the author of these words.

Each meeting with Yuri Tsolakovich, whether it ended with a newspaper interview, or pages of a diary for a popular science collection, or just a short discussion of the events of the current day, left a feeling of everlasting significance. And even his interviews of 10-30 years ago do not seem to be an anachronism today. The first fragment published here was dated 1998, when reform issues were widely discussed at the Institute. The second one - 11 years later ...

"It has always seemed to me that the greatest trouble for science is dullness, indifference. There is nothing worse in creative work. And by the way, not everything here is determined by finances. We know many examples in our history when at the most difficult time the country experienced gigantic upsurges of the human spirit in science and culture, the birth of new ideas, new trends that determined its leading role in the world for many years to come. I am always somewhat depressing that our current lag in a number of positions is directly related to finances. Of course, I am not an idealist, but I am sure that in order to make significant progress, something else is also needed. You just need to be aware of everything that happens in the world, assess your capacities, your relevance, admit your mistakes. And then to determine the action plan for the near future, discuss it with employees, explain to everyone that if nothing comes of it, we will gradually slide into the second, third, fourth roles ... And, generally speaking, we will become of no interest to anyone ...

But of course, from a wide range of interesting tasks that are at the forefront of science, you need to choose one that can become the main one for many people ... And for you personally, it is the goal of life. And here it is not difficult to understand that in this case no one will agree to a secondary task. Then the path to the goal that many have approached and retreated from, will be especially difficult, yet interesting. For a leader, this is a very big responsibility - the strictest demand is always from the guide. It is him to evaluate all these difficulties and perhaps even put the lid on his own desires, before convincing the team.

At some point, you need to make a fist and give up everything to complete the intended scenario. This is the only way to know your own strengths and weaknesses. When you unclench your fist, you can count on your fingers: here we lost, here we fell short, it was good, and it's great ... You don't need many parameters - five fingers are enough to understand what to do next. And at the same time, to watch the team - who was busy, who was out of work, to think about how to live on, to reduce or to concentrate even more.

And the climate that develops over years, decades, centuries is also very important. Let's remember G?ttingen, Copenhagen, St. Petersburg, let's remember the seminars of Kapitza and Landau. Dubna, of course, is younger, but thanks to its credit, people are drawn here. And a lot of people say: this is probably the last island of science in Russia. To be honest, I don't think it's the latest, nonetheless, it's nice to hear from many colleagues. This climate must be protected, preserved and why not, to declare it to be one of the goals of the reforms, if we really need them so much."

***

"When such a long experiment is being implemented, both day and night, then everything should work like clockwork. It will also be better for everyone to work like clockwork. One should enter this routine and feel comfortable enough. There are two teams working there: one - on the accelerator, with all the relevant services and the other one of physicists - on the separator. When such work is underway, they of course have to understand each other perfectly, replace each other as necessary. They are very nervous. When new employees come, it is necessary to explain something... But there is no time for it. Everyone understands this. I always tell them: if you feel any discomfort, it is better to stop. If you work a hundred days, then a day or two days change nothing. And in two days a person can rest, think, come to his senses ... unless it is required."

Evgeny MOLCHANOV