Jubilees

Nikolay Gorbunov turned 75!

On 28 July, the jubilee of Head of Sector of Department of Physics at the CMS of VBLHEP, Candidate of Technical Sciences Nikolay V. Gorbunov was celebrated.

N.V.Gorbunov graduated from the Leningrad Electrotechnical Institute of Communications named after Professor M.A.Bonch-Bruevich in 1972 and has been working at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research since 1975. N.V.Gorbunov's main research area is the development of electronics and equipment for data acquisition systems for experimental facilities. The equipment developed by N.V.Gorbunov for JINR facilities at the IHEP accelerator U-70 and synchrophasotron have ensured the successful implementation of many experiments: TAU, RISK, MIS, "Crystal", "Anomalon", EXCHARM, Neutrino Detector and Tagged Neutrino Complex.

In the 1980s, N.V.Gorbunov took an active part in the development of equipment in the KAMAK and SUMMA standards, in the development of specialized equipment for the XL-100s programmable microprocessor and of the MES hardware and software system. Based on the results of these investigations, in 1987, N.V.Gorbunov defended his thesis on the topic "Automation of the accumulation and processing of data from JINR experimental facilities operating on the IHEP accelerator U-70". Since 1991, N.V.Gorbunov has actively participated in the preparation of experiments on the NA47 facility at CERN. At the same time, N.V.Gorbunov contributed to the development of a proportional chamber with cathode reading and registering electronics for it.

Since 1993 to the present, N.V.Gorbunov has been working on the development, launch and effective use of muon chambers and station reading electronics ME1/1 of the CMS facility at the Large Hadron Collider. Several prototypes of electronics of multilayer chambers with cathode reading for the CMS muon detector have been developed by him or with his assistance, numerous investigations have been carried out that allowed developing and constructing serial electronics. These electronics operate perfectly in the experimental CMS complex that has already resulted in the epochal discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012.

Currently, N.V.Gorbunov is in charge of preparing for remote shifts in Run 3 at the CMS facility, implementing the project "Remote control and monitoring system for the CMS experimental facility at VBLHEP" and is actively involved in scientific and methodological research and prototyping of a highly granulated CMS hadron calorimeter. Development of electronics of experimental facilities for astrophysical research on spacecraft stands out in the scientific work of N.V.Gorbunov. In particular, the NUCLEON experimental facility has been successfully operating in orbit for five years. N.V.Gorbunov carries out a number of investigations together with his students both under the NICA//MPD programme and the modernization of the ALICE experiment at LHC.

N.V.Gorbunov is a highly qualified, creative employer, an experienced specialist in electronics in experimental high energy physics. He has been actively involved in scientific and organizational activities, in particular, since the late 1990s - in organizing traditional JINR international meetings on nuclear electronics. Since 1987, he has been a permanent member of the Organizing Committee of the International Symposium "Nuclear Electronics and Computing".

The hero of the day successfully transfers his knowledge and experience to his work colleagues, teaches at Dubna University and is Deputy Head for Research of the Department of Electronics Development for Megascience Facilities. Nikolay Gorbunov enjoys well-deserved authority and respect among colleagues. Under his scientific supervision, 19 masters and bachelors and 2 candidates of sciences have defended their theses, 9 graduate students and applicants prepare research papers. Only 54 of his graduates currently work in VBLHEP.

N.V.Gorbunov is a co-author of more than 220 scientific papers. His papers have been awarded the JINR Prize for development of the "Complex of hardware and unified components of mathematical support for implementing electronic experiments in direct communication with computers ES-1040 on the accelerators at IHEP and VBLHEP". In 2006, he was awarded the Ministerial Badge of Honor for the paper "Veteran of nuclear energy and industry" and in 2013, he was awarded the Gratitude of Head of the city of Dubna. In 2012, he was awarded the VBLHEP Prize and a Letter of Thanks from the Directorate of the CMS collaboration for the discovery of a new boson with a mass of 125 GeV within the framework of the RDMS CMS collaboration. In 2013, he was a winner of the European Physical Community Prize in the field of high energy physics and elementary particles for the discovery of a new heavy particle with the properties of the Higgs Boson in the membership of the ATLAS and CMS collaborations. In 2025, he was the winner of the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics from the Breakthrough Prize Foundation in the membership of the CMS collaboration.

Everyone is well aware of his fond nature, responsiveness, reliability and various talents. The geography of Nikolay Gorbunov's hobbies is also rich: from volcanology in snowy Kamchatka with cozy geysers Paratunki to the ski slopes of the Caucasus, the Alps and the windy Zhura, from the roads of the Moscow Region, along which he travels between garden "plantations" on his favorite car, to the memorable "Gorbunov intersection" in Geneva.

VBLHEP Directorate, friends and colleagues congratulate Nikolay Gorbunov on his 75th anniversary, wish him good health, creative longevity, optimism and happiness in life.