Lev Borisovich Pikelner

09.11.1924 – 22.09.2020

We deeply regret to announce that Lev Borisovich Pikelner passed away on 23 September 2020. L. B. Pikelner was an outstanding Soviet and Russian experimental physicist, Doctor of Physics and Mathematics, Professor, Honorary Doctor of JINR, and a recognized science organizer in the Frank Laboratory of Neutron Physics.

Lev Borisovich successfully combined creativity and meticulousness with his ability to unite young colleagues to solve the most challenging, on the verge of feasibility, tasks and achieve results. Demanding and self-critical assessment of acquired results, their quality and novelty earned him well-deserved respect and recognition among the world scientific community.

A loving father and grandfather, a family man, a man with an active attitude to life. Lev Borisovich has always been and will always remain a role model for people who knew and loved him.

FLNP staff 

On September 21, a joint laboratory seminar "High-temperature superconducting hydrides: current status" was held in FLNP. Presentations were made by Artem Oganov, Professor of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Fellow of the Mineralogical Association of America, member of the Academy of Europe Academia Europaea, Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, MIPT, NPU (China)) and Dmitry Semenok (Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology). The seminar, which was also live-streamed online, gathered many participants in the FLNP Conference Hall. Artem Oganov, a crystallographer by education, has developed the USPEX program that allows predicting and obtaining stable chemical compounds with specified properties, including those that are considered "forbidden" in conventional chemistry. Together with his group, he is engaged in research of high-temperature superconductors. Dmitry Semenok spoke about the latest results obtained in this area – superconducting metal hydrides. The speakers took an interest in the possibilities of cooperation with FLNP and the use of neutron scattering for research of novel materials.

 

Russian

Hassan A.A. - Egypt

Teymurov Eyvaz - Azerbaijan

 

French

Grubovchak Pavol

Belozerova N.M.

 

English

Argymbek B.K.

Zhomartova Ayazhan

Burkov I.V.

Maslova Varvara

Pernikov Konstantin

Smirnova V.S.

Ponomarev I.D.

Vladimir Kazimirovich Ignatovich

(17.08.1937 – 14.09.2020)

 

The Frank Laboratory of Neutron Physics regrets to announce that after a serious illness Vladimir Kazimirovich Ignatovich, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, an outstanding theoretical physicist, one of the world's leading and world-class experts in the physics of ultracold neutrons, a researcher from God, a great connoisseur of quantum mechanics, who made a significant contribution to the physics of condensed matter, passed away.  He was unique in his non-standard approach to the problems under study with lack of "respect" for authorities and a virtuoso mastery of the mathematical tools technique.

V.K. Ignatovich graduated with honors from the Physics Department of the Moscow State University with a degree in nuclear physics and in 1962 entered the graduate school of the Physics Institute of the Academy of Sciences, from where in 1965 he went to work at the Laboratory of Theoretical Physics in the sector of Dmitry Ivanovich Blokhintsev.  All this time he was engaged in research in high energy physics.

In 1968, at the invitation of the Deputy Director in scientific work Fyodor Lvovich Shapiro, Vladimir Kazimirovich began working at the Laboratory of Neutron Physics.  His first work, devoted to the possibility of measuring the dipole moment of an atom, was a bridge from purely fundamental high-energy physics to a wide range of problems in neutron physics, where he was able to clearly demonstrate his original talent as a researcher.

V.K. Ignatovich, fruitfully working at FLNP, went from an engineer to a leading researcher.  He defended his Ph.D. thesis in 1976, being a mature and recognized specialist. Thirty years later he defended his doctoral dissertation in one area of ​​his research; he had several of them and everywhere there were results required for the defense.  Vladimir Kazimirovich repeatedly received the first JINR prizes in nuclear physics and condensed matter physics.

Having come to work at FLNP, he immediately became actively involved in research on the physics of ultracold neutrons, just discovered by a group of young experimenters headed by F.L.  Shapiro.  The results of Ignatovich's work in this area, obtained in close cooperation with experimenters, are reflected in his monograph "Ultracold Neutrons", which has become a classic.  It has been translated into foreign languages ​​and is a teaching and reference tool for theoreticians and experimenters in many countries of the world.  In subsequent years, Vladimir Kazimirovich obtained significant results in the theory of scattering and reflection of polarized slow neutrons, summarized in the monograph "Neutron Optics".

During the last years of his life, he paid much attention to fundamental issues of quantum mechanics and electrodynamics.  His daring and unconventional approach to these problems did not always evoke an adequate response from specialists, who often thoughtlessly use the traditional interpretation of known results.  The decisive debate about who is right in these disputes will be decided by future researchers.

Vladimir Kazimirovich, as a recognized authority, was invited to lecture at neutron centers in Japan, the USA and European countries.  He had a bright talent as a teacher.  For many years he ran a circle in physics for schoolchildren in Dubna, lectured at the Department of Neutronography of the Moscow State University and at the JINR University Centre, actively spoke at seminars at JINR laboratories, and supervised diploma theses.  His participation in FLNP seminars was always accompanied by apt questions and clarifying remarks that allowed him to get to the very essence of the issues discussed.

We will greatly miss our friend and colleague Vladimir Kazimirovich Ignatovich - a bright and fruitful scientist, an honest uncompromising person and citizen, a father of three sons and a kind family man.

Dear colleagues!

The current issue of the “Advanced Technologies” newsletter is available at Volume 27 Issue 13/16 July/August 2020.