Facets of talent

Remembering Heinrich Vardenga

7 December marked the 92nd anniversary of Heinrich Vardenga's birth. On this day, JINR veterans gathered at the Museum of History of Science and Technology to remember their friend, poet, organizer and director of the museum from 1993 to 2009.

His daughter Maria Heinrichovna opened the evening, "My father had the ability to warm everyone with his smile, his warmth - it's an amazing quality. He was a true knight. This is the first birthday we're celebrating without him." Commenting on family photographs, she recounted her father's life. Heinrich Ludvigovich loved music from childhood and had perfect pitch but the family was so short of money that he enrolled in music school after completing his postgraduate studies at Tbilisi University. He also enrolled at the Institute of Foreign Languages out of a love of English poetry. As Maria said, Heinrich Ludvigovich believed he'd made a mistake in pursuing physics. He graduated with a gold medal and every teacher was confident he'd continue his studies in the subject. Physics was a fashionable field at the time and Heinrich always wanted to write and translate and even in his youth, he began writing poetry for children. When Masha was six, Heinrich Ludvigovich wrote a poem that perfectly described her character. It left her stunned.

Deputy Director of the Museum N.S.Kavalerova spoke about the Museum's history that started with the first exhibition about research carried out at JINR, at the Polytechnic Museum in Moscow and his work as director. The JINR staff members that attended the meeting, commented on photographs from H.L.Vardenga's work period at VBLHEP, recognizing their younger colleagues.

Regarding her father's work, Maria highlighted that together with E.O.Okonov, he had co-authored the book "The Universe of particles", the first popular science book on particle physics. It was followed by publications of poetry, translations and children's poems - a total of 17 books. The last, "The secret life of dogs" was published shortly before his death. "Working on it distracted him from his illness and he was delighted when it came out," Maria remarked. She and everyone else present warmly recalled Heinrich Ludvigovich, his amazing smile, charm and humor, as well as shared fascinating stories of their fellowship with him.

Olga Tarantina