On the anniversary of LCTA - MLIT

G.A.Ososkov: "I wish you to be an optimist forever!"

Ending, beginning at No. 32

If we remember the staff, then I would like to return to the figure of M.G.Meshcheryakov, since Mikhail Grigorievich once again showed by my example how to lead people so that they work at full strength. For some reason he noticed me when I appeared in the laboratory, asked what I was doing. I talked about Monte Carlo simulation. They also used it to generate random numbers, taking out pieces of paper from the hat. I explained to him that this is a more complex and important thing. He remembered it and having learned that I speak German, sent to Germany to buy a car. It turned out that they needed English that I learned. Later, Meshcheryakov sent me to CERN to participate in the development of programmes for controlling the machine "Spiral measuring instrument" which Alvarez told him about, since CERN had already bought such a machine manufactured in Sweden.

I am a mathematician by training and programmed only mathematical calculations and controlling machines for me was "terra incognita". Moreover, the machine was controlled by mini-computers that we did not have then. In addition, CERN immediately told me that they would not help me while I was a "scientific tourist". If I want to work with them, I have to stay for a long time, becoming a member of the team. Afterwards, Meshcheryakov issued an annual business trip for me and directorate of the group at CERN welcomed me into its membership and instructed me to drive a carriage that moves films on a spiral measuring instrument during scanning. This was a completely new task for me. To control the machine, it was necessary to master the code of the control mini-computer. I immediately realized that I was already used to writing programmes in an algorithmic language and did not want to write in codes and even for a long time, so I came up with my own algorithmic language for controlling machines and even wrote a translator in Fortran from it, translating commands from my language into the codes of the control mini-computer TRS-18. As a result, I earned a machine gun, my work was appreciated. A year later, I returned to Dubna but I could not use my language here because the mini-computer that controls the spiral measuring instrument in LCTA was different, more primitive than TRS-12. So, a graduate student from Armenia, although he was able to remake my translator for TRS-12 codes and defend himself on it but during this time, the LCTA team had already written its own operating version of automatic control, albeit in the codes of this mini-computer.

G.A.Ososkov and V.P.Gerdt (second from left) with foreign colleagues. 1970

When Meshcheryakov gave me these new tasks, I really resisted, as I didn't want to study Fortran and to serve CDC-1604-A and then I didn't want to control the machines, either mathematics, it seemed to be not my business at all. But I must admit, this new knowledge helped me a lot in the future, since I became well versed in issues related to the organization of calculations on different computers, this no longer frightened me as a theoretical mathematician. With the help of a computer, I delved into the most basic things. When I started writing programmes at CERN, it was a whole new activity but it helped me to use my old experience. Meeting new issues enriched my life and later, I did things related to the processing of physical data, having a good idea of how exactly the detectors register particles, what happens there and how the result gets into the computer. It made my future life much easier, since I continued to deal with the tasks of processing and analyzing experimental data, in the field of which N. N. Govorun once involved me.

I must say that M.G.Meshcheryakov, some time later after my return from CERN, made me write a doctoral thesis. It didn't work out right away. In addition, I had a passion to use the knowledge gained to meet tasks in neighboring areas. For example, once, while working on a clean - up day, I had a severe hemorrhage in my eyes and was hospitalized to the Helmholtz Institute for Eye Diseases. There I found that they were taking photographs of the cornea of the eye while examining it in a rather clever way with a microscope. I wondered if this process could be automated. As a result, I came up with a device scheme that allowed automatically issuing a prescription for glasses or contact lenses after research. I attracted colleagues from LCTA and in the end, we received an author's certificate and later, having included specialists from the Helmholtz Institute, even a patent for the device in the USA. But the 1990s broke out and the plant that undertook to produce this device went bankrupt. That was the end of it.

Here, I can recall another person that played an important role in my life. This is the theorist Gary Efimov. We sat in neighboring rooms in LTP and became close friends. He is a former gymnast, we had many common interests, went hiking together, became friends with families. This man shocked me with his talent, at the age of 33 he defended his doctorate, having come up with completely new things in quantum theory. Speaking, he imitated his leader D.I.Blokhintsev and it attracted, we talked a lot with him.

Efimov that taught at Ivanovo University, once offered me to become a teacher in the Department of Theoretical Physics of the University in order to establish computer calculations. It was 1988, the Cold War was over and the Americans gave Ivanovo University 15 personal computers that no one knew how to use. As a result, since 1988, I had begun to regularly travel to Ivanovo and had worked there for 16 years on a rotational basis. I made all the computers work and began to read a course in computational statistics so that students could deal with the processing of experimental data of any kind. Students stuck to me, I was full of volunteers, whom I loaded with my tasks. I invited many to JINR, they trained here, wrote diplomas, four defended their theses, many stayed to work in Dubna. It was a wonderful time for me. As once I became a scientist and now - a teacher, lecturer, supervisor. It was interesting for me to work with students, to see how a previously uninterested young man was fond of an original task and demonstrated good abilities.

Meeting in JINR International Conference Centre with the I.Z.Ososkova's classmate Evgeny Primakov. 1990s

If we talk about interesting people, then we need to recall all the directors of the laboratory - Rudolf Pose, Igor Puzynin, Vladimir Ivanov, Vladimir Korenkov. It so happened that I spent a lot of time outside Dubna, in Ivanovo and abroad. Already during the first long business trip to Germany, many employees of my sector turned to more relevant work in the department of N.N.Govorun, who then at a shock pace developed the hardware of the new BESM-6 computer. And then frequent and long business trips to CERN, Germany, the USA did not give time to properly head the sector. When I returned, I talked more with those who came to me from abroad. We had a good relationship with the Institute of Measurement Theory in Bratislava, from there Andrey Pazman came to me, who we became friends with. I taught him to program and he solved different tasks for us. He was replaced by Anatoly Dvurechensky, an outstanding mathematician. With him, we were engaged in my future ideas related to the theory of mass service. We did interesting things that found the application at the Institute. Returning to his homeland, Anatoly brilliantly defended his doctoral thesis and later, headed the Mathematical Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, enjoyed great authority in science.

Another bright personality is Nikolay Chernov, a very talented person. He prepared a Ph.D. thesis in theoretical physics at Moscow State University with Academician Yakov Sinai but due to illness he did not have time to defend it and was distributed somewhere on the periphery. Sinai called me and at his request, I achieved the redistribution of Chernov to JINR. I was curious to see a person who studied at the Kolmogorov boarding school, who entered Moscow State University without exams and who, unlike me, did nothing but had studied science all the years of his student life. The level of his knowledge was amazing. When he first came to us, I invited him to a seminar at LTP, at which a prominent scientist from the CC RAS talked about a complex theoretical algebraic problem. I finished the report, no one really understood anything, applauded and gathered to disperse. And suddenly, Kolya raised his hand and gave an example that completely destroyed the entire speaker's theory. He was defeated. Together with Nikolay, we have made great progress in our tasks related to data processing. Later, he was invited to America, where he became a famous professor but unfortunately, passed away early.

We also need to say about Vladimir Nikitin. He is younger than me but as a physicist he was much more famous. We taught together at the branch of the Research Institute of Physics and Technology of Moscow State University, where we gave a course of lectures on processing data from physical experiments for two. He told how the detectors are arranged, I - how the computers are arranged and what techniques should be used to process the data. It turned out a wonderful tandem. For example, such students as A.G.Olshevsky and G.V.Trubnikov studied with us. As a result, we wrote a textbook on our course. And although at present, all those equipment and computers are outdated, many ideas were quite relevant in our time. Since then, Vladimir Alekseevich and I have been friends and have communicated on various occasions. He also attracted me to participate in the Conference "Science. Philosophy. Religion".

I want to return to the personality of Mikhail Grigorievich. Meshcheryakov has always been fantastically interesting; he defended his theses as an artist. He did not read on paper, did not get off with dry, standard phrases, explained the importance of the topic of the thesis. He spoke and behaved artistically: he rolled his eyes, played with his face. I have not seen more people who would speak at the Scientific Council like him. They told a lot of tales about the time when he had just been removed from the post of director of the Institute he had established that later became JINR. They said that he created a cult of his own personality. Then no one assumed that Meshcheryakov could be removed for disagreement with Khrushchev's order. Yes, in order to cope with the incredibly difficult task of establishing a scientific centre with an accelerator from scratch, Meshcheryakov had to be a strict, very tough leader, perhaps not always fair, there were also offended. B.M.Pontecorvo that had just arrived from the West, was also dissatisfied with him, since Meshcheryakov did not know how to use him as a physicist. Pontecorvo was burdened by the situation of the strictest secrecy, lack of freedom in which he found himself. And this atmosphere was not organized by Meshcheryakov, it was "lowered" from above. Pontecorvo wrote a statement that Meshcheryakov behaves like a tyrant. In short, they collected all the complaints, reprimanded Mikhail Grigorievich along the party line.

When I met him personally, I also noticed that sometimes, he can be very poisonous, he could publicly express his attitude towards people who were not nice to him. He had a wonderful rule to assemble a weekly director's meeting, at which key laboratory staff reported on what had been done. It was very important, it is a pity that at present, this tradition has been preserved only in the department of V.V.Korenkov, but not on the level of a laboratory. And it was a powerful engine... At these meetings, Meshcheryakov could laugh at someone, make a sharp remark but for example, he never ridiculed me because I did not give reasons. I believe that in general he was a fair person. We became friends with him in a sense, he invited me to his place, I often visited his cottage. And at home, in the presence of outsiders, he continued to play, it was a habit to present himself like that. He was very well read, using quotes in the conversation, especially from his beloved Omar Khayyam. I could not calibrate the spiral measuring instrument. He was told that I was not capable of anything. He stopped inviting me to his place, but during this time our wives became friends, so I had a contact with Mikhail Grigorievich almost to the very end.

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What would you wish for young people starting their path in science?

- Young people should not make money. I am depressed by such a process: I take many young scientists to the scientific path, they begin to do things useful to our Institute. Then they acquire families, salaries cease to be enough and they go to commercial firms. It's sad. This is one of the issues that must be met radically so that science does not go out here. Among the young, there are always so passionate about science that they stay on any conditions. Previously, there was an opportunity to go abroad, today, it has decreased. Fortunately, it is our laboratory at CERN that is still persona grata.

I have several examples when students doomed to be expelled for poor performance, after I had told an interesting problem and showed how it can be addressed, they began to study enthusiastically and defended their diploma perfectly. At Dubna University, I am invited to give a mini-lecture every spring and I tell you what I do. After that, two or three people ask me for a diploma and then, it is very interesting to work with them. There are no people who are not at all capable. It is important to find the area that attracts them.

What would you wish your colleagues in the year of the 60th anniversary of the Laboratory?

- To hold on, don't leave the Laboratory. It had gone through many interesting periods in its development: general enthusiasm at the beginning, the period of the 1990s, when it was on the verge of death, like the entire Institute, when there was no money even for salaries for employees, let alone for equipment. Then the FRG helped us out, allowing, as a member of the Joint Institute, to spend, it seems, a million marks from its contribution directly on salaries to JINR employees that greatly supported the Institute. Today, when the country is in a difficult period, the attitude of Directorate and the wonderful slogan "Science brings peoples closer together" are very important. I believe in it and still make sure that this is like that. My relationship with foreign colleagues who I had once worked with is not interrupted. Ahead is the crucial launch period for the NICA collider. Currently, unfortunately, we do not have the opportunity that Meshcheryakov once had when he gathered the best specialists from all over the country and not only theoretical physicists, but also engineers and technicians. All together, they were able to launch a cyclotron in two years: a fantastic thing! I really like the attitude of Scientific Leader of the Laboratory V.V. Korenkov and how the new Director of MLIT S.V.Shmatov adapts well to the situation. I think we will be able to survive and move on. We should maintain this optimistic attitude.

Olga TARANTINA,
photo from the archive of Gennady OSOSKOV

The video is available at https://rutube.ru/channel/68115985/