Their names are in the history of the Institute

Preserving the warmth of memory

On 21 November, the Frank Laboratory of Neutron Physics celebrated the 100th anniversary of Lev Borisovich Pikelner's birth. The employees of the Frank Laboratory of Neutron Physics and other Laboratories of the Institute, Moscow's ITEP and the National Research Centre "Kurchatov Institute" gathered to remember their colleague and senior comrade.

E.Ya.Pikelner and N.Yu.Shirikova

"For me, Lev Borisovich and Yury Sergeevich Zamyatnin are the aksakals of the Laboratory," FLNP Director E.V.Lychagin opened the Seminar. "They not only determined the scientific research areas, but also the atmosphere in the Laboratory - the attitude towards colleagues and work. I hope that the young people, of whom there are many here, will feel the atmosphere that reigned in the Department of Nuclear Physics of FLNP at that time.

In his report "Lev Borisovich Pikelner - a life dedicated to FLNP" V.I.Furman spoke about the main experiments and interesting results obtained by Lev Borisovich with his colleagues from the Department, as well as physicists from Poland and Germany. He also participated in the first experiment after the launch of IBR in 1960 to measure the radiation capture of resonance neutrons in a lead target. At that time, world-class detectors were developed, one of which - "Barrel" or "Pikelner's Daisy" is still in operation. Later, the POLYANA facility was developed for neutron polarization, where significant results were obtained. Investigations of angular correlations in fission caused by resonance neutrons turned out to be the last experiments at IBR-30 before it was shut down. Afterwards, measurements of delayed fission neutrons began at the IBR-2 reactor and Lev Borisovich and his colleagues made their last publication in a peer-reviewed journal in 2015.

V.I.Furman	V.R.Skoy

V.R.Skoy focused on the investigation of non-conservation of spatial parity in neutron-nuclear interactions - a topic that Lev Borisovich had been working on for almost his entire scientific life. He gave a brief overview of the experiments implemented at the POLYANA facility. He recalled the talented people that had designed and operated this facility. It allowed a wide range of issues to be met and Lev Borisovich had always been the formal and informal inspiration for their decision.

V.L.Aksenov

V.L.Aksenov recalled the difficult period for the Institute in the late 1980s, when the institutes of the Member States underwent serious changes and major reforms were also prepared at JINR. A committee of qualified specialists from Western countries and Member States, chaired by Professor Schopper, Director of CERN at that time, proposed to reform the basic facilities of the Institute based on their prospects. Theoretical physics, heavy ion physics and research at IBR-2 were declared promising. There were not enough budget funds for the maintenance of the other facilities, including IBR-30 and they were suggested to be shut down. After Ilya Mikhailovich Frank had been hospitalized with a heart attack in November 1987, N.N.Bogolyubov appointed Viktor Lazarevich Acting Director of the Laboratory. And Lev Borisovich became his teacher in nuclear physics, since before that it had not been included in the circle of professional interests of V.L.Aksenov. "In addition to his deep knowledge of physics, Lev Borisovich had an amazing ability to talk about complex things in an accessible and figurative way. He is an outstanding teacher and I mastered this topic from the second or third time. I had to go to N.N.Bogolyubov to prove the need for IBR-30 to preserve the Nuclear Physics School at FLNP and I had to explain everything to him clearly and briefly. IBR-30 was successfully defended and Lev Borisovich's role in ensuring that this facility operated for another ten years is significant," V.L.Aksenov highlighted. He also said that it was Lev Borisovich that helped to establish a tennis tournament at FLNP at the turn of the 2000s.

N.V.Rebrova and K.V.Zhdanova shared their impressions of communicating with L. B. Pikellener that did not spare his time communicating with them, graduate students, instilling confidence in their abilities. He was preserved in their memories as a wonderful scientific supervisor and a wonderful person.

N.V.Rebrova	K.V.Zhdanova

Ivan Ruskov's speech was accompanied by a large number of archival photographs and a three-minute documentary film about the athletes and sportsmen of Dubna, participants of the Veksler Run of 1972 and Lev Borisovich was one of them.

I.Ruskov

S.N.Dolya told about how he and Lev Borisovich had been kayaking and had climbed the mountains. Although he had not worked with L.B.Pikellener, he had asked him for advice as a more experienced experimenter. "Communication with him on science was sometimes painful for pride, but very useful for understanding," Sergey Nikolaevich stated.

S.N.Dolya

A.V.Strelkov shared an interesting photograph from 1961 with the participants, emphasizing that Lev Borisovich had always been very kind-hearted and gentle in personal communication. S.I.Negovelov also warmly remembered Lev Borisovich.

A.V.Strelkov

G.V.Danilyan

G.V.Danilyan told how their team from ITEP had been invited by I.M.Frank to carry out an experiment on IBR-30. Upon arrival, they had been unable to check into a hotel - a large conference had been ending in Dubna. G.V.Danilyan's team had been ready to return to Moscow. In order not to lose a day of work on the reactor, Lev Borisovich had accommodated four people at his home. "Nobody slept on the floor and we were fed dinner and breakfast," G.V.Danilyan stated. The experiment had been a success and since that moment, FLNP had started vigorous research on weak interactions in the nucleus.

A.L.Barabanov said that thanks to L.B.Pikellener he has been friends with FLNP for 30 years: "The first meeting with him took place in 1982 at the school for young scientists of the Kurchatov Institute. Lev Borisovich's story about the research of neutron resonances was so simple and clear that it was his report that was etched in my memory from that school. I am grateful to Lev Borisovich for introducing me to FLNP!"

This atmosphere of warm memories and human gratitude to Lev Borisovich reigned in the Conference hall for three hours. I would like to hope that it will be preserved in the next generations of the Laboratory staff.

Olga TARANTINA,
photo by Elena PUZYNINA