On the LCTA - MLIT anniversary

V.V. Ivanov: "We did our best to help each other"

We keep publishing memoirs from the veterans of MLIT the 60th anniversary of which will be celebrated in 2026. Today, a chief researcher at MLIT Viktor V.IVANOV is sharing his memories.

I graduated from the Physics Department of Tbilisi State University that I entered in 1966 after having graduated from Tbilisi Secondary School No. 86. After completing my studies in 1971, I was assigned to JINR. I was also assigned to graduate school but there they explained to me that they were training national specialists and thus helped me to come to Dubna. My first time in Dubna was even earlier, in 1970, since I had come here to do my thesis. I was employed in Igor Savin's sector at the Laboratory of High Energy Physics and was immediately engaged in the experiment implemented at the Serpukhov accelerator, attending sessions. When my thesis was ready, Savin invited me to stay in Dubna but I declined, planning to enroll in graduate school. When I called him later, he said, "I'm only offering it once" but nevertheless, helped me to find a job in the Serpukhov Scientific Experimental Department. I worked there for two years. We worked at the accelerator and there was a BESM-4 on the line with a facility where I had basic training of a young soldier, mastering the advanced computing technology of the time. My relationships with my colleagues were friendly. Two years later, the head of BESM-4 invited me to Dubna for an internship. That's how I was employed in Iosif Ivanchenko's sector, where work was progressing fast and it was there that my first scientific paper was published.

When I first arrived in Dubna, I was met by some Georgian colleagues already working there that helped me to settle into a dormitory on Joliot-Curie Street. I think Nodar Amaglobeli, a member of the JINR Scientific Council, also had a hand in it. I have only warm words for him, since he was the one who explained the real situation to me. And many people helped me from there.

At some point, Leonid Azhgirey contacted me and offered me a job in M.G.Meshcheryakov's sector. The sector was actually headed by L.S.Azhgirey. Why did he offer me the job? While harvesting potatoes in Taldom, the employee of the sector Tolya Filozov was killed by lightning during a thunderstorm. I was offered his position. I prepared my PhD thesis in this sector that I defended in 1981. There were some questions at the Higher Attestation Commission (HAC), so I went with Leonid Stepanovich and defended them. My work in the sector continued. Under my supervision, my first student Petr Zrelov defended his PhD thesis.

I was the secretary of the Laboratory's Komsomol organization, joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and at Mikhail Grigorievich's suggestion, became secretary of the party organization. For some reason, he singled me out and offered me the position. I said I'd think about it and he replied, "Don't think long." I realized I couldn't refuse him. Becoming secretary of the party organization gave me a certain degree of independence; I could without L.S.Azhgirey's approval engage not only in public but also in scientific work. Thirteen years later, in 1994, I defended my doctoral thesis. In 2000, I was elected deputy director for research. From 2003 to 2013, I headed LCTA and later, MLIT. Since February 2013, I have been working as a chief researcher at MLIT.

Local area network workstation. V.V.Ivanov on the left. 1993.

From 2003 to 2007, I headed the Department of Information Technologies at the MIREA branch in Dubna, where I then continued to work as a professor. From April 2014 to May 2025, I taught at MEPhI. I supervised the defense of seven candidate theses, two master's theses and ten diploma theses, as well as I advised on the preparation of a doctoral thesis.

I was fortunate to get to be at the International Solvay Institute for Physics and Chemistry in Brussels, where we collaborated for eight years. Sergey Vinnitsky, a researcher at the Solvay Institute of Physics and Chemistry, knew that I was working on neural networks and suggested me to participate in a large project dedicated to the investigation of complex systems, including chaotic ones. We investigated the behavior of electrocardiograms in collaboration with Professor Babloyants, a student of Nobel winner I.R.Prigogine. We also collaborated with the group of the future President of the Russian Academy of Sciences A.M. Sergeev on research of skin damage caused by sun exposure. We studied whether cancer develops depending on the depth of damage. For this purpose, they developed a special laser and we processed the "images" of the reflected light. A group of doctors from Greece worked on this project. V.A. Sadovnichy was one of the co-authors of the final document of this large project, since a group from Moscow State University also participated in this research.

I have no joint work with Ilya Prigogine. There is a paper, prepared at his suggestion, in which we studied the behavior of automobile traffic. It is still cited. He is a very modest man; I would call him a super-intellectual. It was a pleasure to communicate with him. He was fluent in several languages, but spoke French. We collaborated extensively with his team and his deputy Professor V.Antoniou that was a long-time member of the JINR Scientific Council. I more than once brought V.G.Kadyshevsky and A.N.Sissakian to Brussels to meet with Prigogine. At the suggestion of Ilya Romanovich, the exhibition "Science brings nations together" was organized at the European Commission office in Brussels. Two world-renowned international nuclear physics centres, the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN, Geneva) and the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, participated in it. The initiative for this exhibition belongs to JINR and CERN Director L.Mayani was invited to it.

V.V.Ivanov, I.Antonio, L.Maiani, A.N.Sissakian and V.G.Kadyshevsky
at the JINR-CERN exhibition "Science brings nations together" in Brussels. 2000.

I have only good memories of that period. We worked on interesting projects and thanks to these projects, we were able to literally save part of the group, as the 1990s were difficult years for everyone. Furthermore, several people defended their theses based on the papers prepared at the Solvay Institute, the first of which was Lena Akishina at MEPhI. The paper was dedicated to the destruction of fuel rods in nuclear power plants. We analyzed their destruction dynamics using micrographs. From 2004 to 2013, I was a member of the CBM collaboration (GSI, Darmstadt). We worked in a fairly large group, about ten people, analyzing and processing data and managing databases. Two theses were defended under my supervision, one of which was prepared by Olga Derenovskaya. We tried to take the students on experiments, to "test them out", so that they would go through the training of young fighters before becoming independent scientists. And the atmosphere was always friendly; political relations never affected the relationships between scientists at different centres. I have a colleague, Pavel Akishin, who I've been working with for a long time. I helped two of his daughters to prepare their theses and at my instigation, the third went to Germany and defended her PhD thesis there. We generally tried to help each other back then.

I currently work with two candidates. Nastya Prikazchikova have graduated from MEPhI. We analyze the banking situation. This topic, as they say, is completely different and I spent some time immersing myself in it. The thesis is already completed. The second topic is information traffic. One of the results of my research in this area was presented in my youngest son's thesis, whose supervisor was Petr Zrelov. I'm interested in working with data that can be obtained from various fields. My experience working at the Solvay Institute helps me in it.

If we remember Mikhail Meshcheryakov, he was an outstanding person. The fact that he didn't become an academic, I believe, was the result of intrigue. It was always a pleasure to talk to him. I remember this episode. I was on the waiting list for an apartment; we already had two children. A discussion was underway at a housing committee meeting and I had already received a decision a year ago to improve my housing conditions. And suddenly, they were discussing my situation anew. Mikhail Grigorievich stood up, went to his safe, took out the paper with that decision from last year and showed it to everyone. The decision had been made. He was a very complex man, but the right one. Another episode. A session at the accelerator was underway, work was underway on the computer line. Mikhail Grigorievich called our room at the accelerator to find out how things were going. He asked, "Who's on the phone?" The answer was, "The device." He hung up, called back and received the same answer. Meshcheryakov said, "Call someone else." We had a mechanic named Pribor (from Russian, device) working for us. This is what happened.

Regarding the current state of MLIT, I can only express my gratitude to the Laboratory's Directorate that has been able to develop it to such a high level. Vladimir Korenkov has done much to raise the prestige of our laboratory; honor and praise to him.

In the CICC hall. From left to right: V.V.Korenkov, V.V.Ivanov and W.Lindenstruth (Germany). 2006.

My best wishes to the youth are that they find a capable scientific supervisor, so that there is a spark of scientific enthusiasm in their relationships.

What would I like to wish my colleagues on the Laboratory's 60th anniversary? First, good health, creative success and perhaps, good luck. I think it would be a good idea to revive "Impulse", a wall newspaper that was successfully published 25 years ago; it would play a role. We used to hold competitions, particularly, in football, between the older generation and the younger one. These kinds of events really bring the staff together. I remember how we gave our older colleagues a chance to win.

Olga TARANTINA