Vladimir Alekseevich Nikitin
13.06.1934 — 17.05.2026

On 17 May, in the 92nd year, an outstanding experimental physicist, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Professor, a chief researcher at VBLHEP Vladimir Nikitin passed away. With his departure, we lost the legendary man that went from the very first acceleration experiments to major investigations on advanced colliders.

Vladimir Nikitin was born on 13 June, 1934 in the city of Serpukhov, Moscow Region, in a family of employees. After having graduated from the Physics Department of Moscow State University in 1958, he was assigned to JINR in the Laboratory of High Energy Physics. The area of scientific interests of V. A. Nikitin was the experimental physics of high energies and the atomic nucleus: the investigation of diffraction interaction of hadrons, coulomb-nuclear interference, spin effects, nuclear fragmentation.

The main achievements were obtained by him in the investigation of diffraction processes. V. A. Nikitin developed a fundamentally new technique for studying elastic scattering of protons on protons at small angles. Its essence is the implementation of such an acceleration mode, in which the beam constantly crosses the thin internal target of the accelerator. Two types of targets were developed: thin film and supersonic gas jet. In experiments on the elastic interaction of protons in the energy range of 1-4 GeV, the actual part of the scattering amplitude was discovered, a narrowing of the diffraction cone with an increase in the energy of the primary particle was discovered that indicates an increase in the radius of the area of interaction of hadrons. An unprecedentedly accurate and efficient technique has found its application on the largest cyclic accelerators in leading scientific centres. As a result, new phenomena were discovered: interference of Coulomb and nuclear scattering, narrowing of the diffraction cone in pp-, pd- and pHe-scattering with an increase in energy, an essential role of the tripomeronic interaction in inelastic diffraction was proved. These discoveries were registered under No. 246 (1963) and No. 244 (1969) and played a fundamental role in developing our ideas about the asymptotics of hadronic interactions.

A series of papers of Vladimir Alekseevich are dedicated to the investigation of the interaction of relativistic nuclei. In particular, he studied nuclear fragmentation and searched for phase transitions of excited nuclear matter in nuclear interactions at the JINR synchrophasotron and at the TRIUMF cyclotron (Canada), as well as at the WA-98 facility at CERN and at the STAR facility at BNL. They were asked to measure the photon interference predicted by Bose-Einstein theorists that was confirmed and amounted to fractions of a percent. These investigations have made significant progress in understanding the laws of evolution of excited nuclear matter.

In 2003-2008, V. A. Nikitin supervised the topic "The birth of particles in high-multiplicity pp-interaction". The project was executed on the U70 accelerator in IHEP. When studying the collective behavior of particles in a system with a high energy density, Bose-Einstein condensation of pions was discovered. In addition, he was extremely passionate about the search for dibarionic states, the task of explaining the increased yield of soft photons that were registered on the derived Nuclotron ion beam. For it, with his participation, together with the employees of IHEP, an electromagnetic calorimeter was developed which these investigations were carried out on.

Vladimir Alekseevich actively participated in the development of the idea of constructing the NICA Collider and participated in the justification of the experiment on the MPD multipurpose detector. His scientific, inquisitive mind did not stop and kept on searching for answers to many topical issues. In recent years, he and a group of JINR veterans have done a great job of finding traces of a charged low-mass particle in old photographs taken on a propane chamber. Several candidates with a mass of about 8 MeV were found and preliminary data were published.

For many years, V. A. Nikitin chaired a laboratory seminar, taught at the university, organized a philosophical seminar "Science. Philosophy. Religion", developed interactive physics models for museums in Paris. Vladimir Alekseevich was a wonderful interlocutor. Always friendly, he was ready to discuss any section of physics and to try to figure it out. His students currently carry out their investigations in high energy physics and relativistic nuclear physics both in Russia and abroad.

Honorary employee of JINR V. A. Nikitin is a winner of the USSR State Prize for the series of papers "Diffraction scattering of protons at high energies" (1983), co-author of two discoveries. He was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, the Order of Cyril and Methodius (NRB), as well as the Medal "For Merit to the Fatherland" of the second degree, many honorary diplomas and certificates.

A talented scientist, a kind, sincere, reliable person, a wise adviser passed away. He passed away, leaving a deep mark on science and a bright memory for everyone who knew him.

JINR and VBLHEP Directorates and the staff express their sincere condolences to the family and friends of Vladimir Alekseevich. The bright memory of a wonderful person and a real scientist will always be with us.