Their names are in the history of science

Memory of the heart

On 30 November, the JINR Museum of History of Science and Technology hosted a memorial seminar dedicated to the memory of the outstanding scientist and science organizer Academician V.G.Kadyshevsky. For the seminar, an exhibition presenting the biography of Vladimir Georgievich was opened in the museum. The event attracted the attention of the JINR staff members and the citizens of Dubna.

Opening the seminar, Director of the museum N.S.Kavalerova explained the time of its holding in the following way: yes, Vladimir Georgievich's birthday is in May, but people of such scale have the right to an anniversary year. While preparing the seminar and exhibition, she marveled at the little literature on him. The article of the writer Vladimir Gubarev from his series of conversations with scientists "Tea drinking at the Academy" has been the most voluminous so far. It was in this publication that the name of JINR was explained - "Brest Fortress on the Volga". When E.T.Gaidar asked Vladimir Georgievich in the hard times of the 1990s: "Will you hold out?" - he replied: "We are like the Brest Fortress."

The participants watched a film about Kadyshevsky, made by the staff of the JINR Scientific Information Division five years ago. Tatyana Kadyshevskaya and her husband Aleksey Rybnikov were invited to that anniversary seminar, held at BLTP that admitted in the interview: "The fact that he appeared in my life is a gift of fate. Thin, intelligent, he loved and understood music. He opened the world to me from another side, unfamiliar to the musician. This influenced my work, I wrote a lot under the influence of conversations with him. He knew how to openly look at the world, equally understand the essence of music and physical processes. He gave us such warmth, a huge piece of love left with him."

Opening the memorial part of the evening, JINR Scientific Leader V.A.Matveev expressed his gratitude to the museum staff members for preserving the memory of the outstanding scientist, for having gathered everyone and shared his memories: "I came to work at BLTP in 1965 as a trainee researcher, Vladimir Georgievich was like a beacon for us then. He had very high standards, it was not easy to work with him, but at the same time we felt on the same level with him. He was a very open person, of extraordinary charm. We never stopped communicating, even when I didn't work at JINR, he trusted me his difficult thoughts, was sincere and was very worried about the fate of the Institute."

V.M.Zhabitsky recalled Vladimir Georgievich very warmly and heartily. In the difficult period for the fate of the Institute in the early 1990s, when V.G.Kadyshevsky carried the burden of being Director of JINR, Vyacheslav Mikhailovich held the position of Chief Scientific secretary. "I was the youngest member of Directorate then. When Vladimir Georgievich was elected Director, it was a unique election of a director, not according to predetermined patterns. And afterwards, he had to defend his programme before a commission headed by Deputy Minister of Science I.M.Bortnik. When he called me to Directorate, I did not immediately take a decision - there were obligations to the team in the laboratory, I did not want to give up science, but he knew how to "twist his arms".

V.M.Zhabitsky named three main features of Vladimir Georgievich: "He knew how to take a punch and could answer. He said: "You are going to defend the Institute, you should know for sure that you will return victorious." He was a leader, he believed that a leader should always find a solution, even in hopeless situations, that's how his father raised him. Thirdly, any decision must be successive. As a mathematician, he built logical chains. I was sometimes taken aback by them. He demanded impeccable preparation of any event that meant: go to the archive and read the original documents.

Vladimir Georgievich was elected Director in summer and he met with the staff of the Institute only in November. He carefully prepared this meeting, worked on the text, collected, as he said, the strings. As soon as I tried to combine them, he said: "Slava, I will twist the rope myself!" We worked for a long time, not everything worked out, it was already past midnight when he said: "There will be no leveling! We want high salaries, it means we should have world-class requirements for ourselves." And this meeting went very well. Sometimes something very important is hidden behind a simple wording. And a lot of other things happened later... And in spring 2004, I returned to science, I worked at CERN. Only five countries of the world, Russia among them, participated in the development of beam control at LHC. They risked their authority, there were some sensitive technologies.

I am grateful to Vladimir Georgievich for having managed to return to science. I also remember the words of the editor of CERN Courier Gordon Fraser "Dubna is a great survivor." We never panicked, the team developed, discoveries were carried out, Yuri Tsolakovich that is present here can confirm. We went ahead. It was difficult, he did not allow many things to be voiced. I personally learned a lot from Vladimir Georgievich. In everything one needs to look for a sequence, a chain that will lead to success. And it always exists!"

Yu.Ts.Oganessian also shared his memories: "Volodya was a theoretician, I was an experimenter, we occasionally met. He talked about his Suvorov school, that his chief, a graduate of the royal Cadet Corps, kept the old traditions. Twice G.K.Zhukov came to Suvorov students and spoke to them. I asked him: why didn't you go to the military unit? Volodya replied: I was not interested in military affairs, but in mathematics, physics, literature, music - yes. He sometimes came to visit us and asked my wife for permission to play her violin. He had abilities.

It cost me efforts to persuade him to become JINR Director. Our Institute is lucky to have such directors - they are all interesting personalities and decent people that care about the team. You heard what Rybnikov had said about Kadyshevsky. They have visited me more than once. Rybnikov is a great clever man. In the 1990s, Vladimir Georgievich had a very difficult life. I can imagine how hard it was for him to leave for Moscow, to beat out money in the corridors of power, they kicked him back, he didn't know what to do: to return with nothing or to go there again. Once, the Deputy Prime Minister told him: well, why are you coming and coming, there will be no money! In response, Vladimir Georgievich promised to gather journalists and tell them that he ruined JINR! What did he, a student of I.E.Tamm, have to do instead of immersing himself in science! He once told me about this: here, you are doing science and what am I doing? - What are you, Volodya! If not for you, what would I do!

The participants of the seminar were able to learn about the manner of lecturing by V.G.Kadyshevsky by watching a fragment of a video recording of one of them. Museum employee A.A.Rastorguev shared his student memories of the teacher V.G.Kadyshevsky: "When he appeared at the beginning of the term time in February 1971, he immediately conquered everyone. He did not give a lecture but as it were, he thought aloud, talked. He spoke carefully choosing his words, trying to express himself clearly, concisely, accurately. There was a distance, but he communicated with us as with potential colleagues. The only time he was late for a lecture was on 12 April, 1971, informing us that I.E.Tamm had died. "Have you heard about this? I ask you to honor his memory with a moment of silence." And he dedicated the whole lecture to Igor Evgenievich.

Once, he, a fourth-year student, rode with Tamm in a taxi. Kadyshevsky was speaking, Tamm was listening, asking, correcting. We reached Tamm's house and walked for another half an hour, still on the subject. Vladimir Georgievich told us: I can hardly believe that all this happened, but it happened. And then they started working together. Tamm was close to him in spirit, he was a romantic. Kadyshevsky visited him at home, they discussed the results, played chess. Tamm looked at Kadyshevsky as a rising star in Russian theoretical physics, just like D.I.Blokhintsev."

Director Yu.P.Kurlapov spoke about the work of the Moscow Regional Physics and Mathematics Lyceum named after Academician V.G.Kadyshevsky. Today, 300 students study at the lyceum, diplomas for those who distinguished themselves - the winners and prize-winners of the city and regional Olympiads are awarded in the hall with a large mosaic portrait of Vladimir Georgievich. In May, a scholarship named after V.G.Kadyshevsky is expected to be established at the Lyceum. "I have been working in Dubna for 40 years and JINR Directors have always helped the city's schools. We hope this will last forever. Junior schoolchildren learn about the biography of Vladimir Georgievich from the anniversary album published at JINR. We want to teach children to enjoy learning new things."

The musical conclusion of the seminar was the performance of the teacher of the Dubna Music School Olesya Zaripova that performed "Reflection" by J.Massenet. The memorial seminar turned out to be surprisingly warm, cordial, reflecting all the facets of the personality of Vladimir Georgievich Kadyshevsky.

Olga TARANTINA,
photo by Igor LAPENKO