In 2019, the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research celebrates the 110th birth anniversary of an outstanding Russian mathematician and theoretical physicist, the first Director of the Laboratory of Theoretical Physics JINR and the Director of the Institute in 1965 – 1988, Nikolay Nikolaevich Bogoliubov (21.08.1909 – 13.02.1992). We bring to your attention the memoirs of Nadezhda Sergeevna Isaeva, secretary of Nikolay Nikolaevich Bogoliubov, who worked with him at the Laboratory of Theoretical Physics since 1956.

MEMORY

Notes of a happy person

It all happened a long time ago. In the last century.

In 1950, due to family circumstances, after burying my dad, I had to forget about my ambitious aspirations and start a working life. And I was 19 years old.

It was the P. N. Lebedev Physical Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences, first on Miusskaya Square, and then in a new building on Leninsky Prospekt. And it was an unforgettable time!

The work gave me the opportunity to communicate with the leading physicists of the country, i.e. V. I. Veksler, I. Ye. Tamm, P. A. Cherenkov (later Nobel laureates), A. M. Baldin, V. I. Goldansky, S. N. Vernov…

They were all very different, but they were all united by a unique dedication and enormous erudition in culture, literature, and history. It was they who became my “universities”. It was they who “brought me to people”. It was they who prepared me for a meeting with Nikolay Nikolaevich Bogoliubov in 1957.

It happened in Dubna, where I found myself with my family by the will of fate or, if you like, for family reasons.

I appeared at BLTP without Nikolay Nikolaevich, who at that time was on a business trip abroad. Scientific Secretary Petr Stepanovich Isaev brought me to the Laboratory literally holding my hand. I waited with fear and trembling for Nikolay Nikolaevich’s return from a business trip. How will it all work?

Then everything was simple.

One morning, Nikolay Nikolaevich entered the room accompanied by Anatoly Alekseevich Logunov and Mikhail Konstantinovich Polivanov. He smiled at everyone, greeted everyone. I felt a gentle squeeze of a small soft and warm hand.

“Nice to meet you.”

Apparently, I was introduced. He inadvertently, but after looking at me carefully, said welcomingly once again,

“Nice. To meet you.”

And that’s it. I have forever fallen under the charm of this kind and noble man. His friendliness was genuine, and there was no way to resist his charm. There was always a feeling of serenity and safety around him.

A little history.

In 1957, the construction of our house, the building of the Laboratory of Theoretical Physics of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, began. At the Director’s meeting, it was decided to finish the construction of the building at the end of 1958. However, as always, some people made the decision, and others built. Certainly, the deadlines shifted. Moreover, a conference hall for 300 seats and a library for 150 thousand volumes had already been added to certain premises. Nikolay Nikolaevich insisted that the library was in our building. Can you imagine a theorist without a book at hand?

At the end of 1958, the time came for the reception and offices of Nikolay Nikolaevich and Dmitry Ivanovich Blokhintsev, the first Director of the Joint Institute.

I was asked as a “female” expert: what colour should be the walls, what lamps, what upholstered furniture, etc. I found out his colour preferences thanks to Evgenia Alexandrovna, the wife of Nikolay Nikolaevich, and the rest was a matter of technique.

In May 1959, we moved into our house. We were very happy that Nikolay Nikolaevich had liked the office very much. It turned out to be really comfortable and flawlessly beautiful. One wall is panels to the ceiling from Karelian birch, golden curtains to match the wood, upholstered furniture of a muted red colour, bronze chandeliers… In the future, the office was repeatedly exhibited with collective photographs of Nikolay Nikolaevich with students and colleagues.

The proposed office of D. I. Blokhintsev is a mirror image in geometry, but the wood is light, and the furniture is in greenish tints.

The moment came when Dmitry Ivanovich was invited to BLTP.

After a careful examination of the building and the offices, he said that he preferred the dark wood office. Then Nikolai Nikolaevich said,

“Yes, Dmitry Ivanovich, you are absolutely right. We share the same tastes. I like it better too.”

In the future, the question of these offices was never raised again.

NN was very fond of his office in the Laboratory. And even when he was the Director of the Institute, he came to do “handcraft”, as he called the process of writing his works. It was easy to print works of Nikolay Nikolaevich. He wrote without drafts with his beautiful handwriting. And I didn’t have to ask what letter was it or what was written here?

Nikolay Nikolaevich never closed the door to his office. Unless one of employees came with an issue of great sensitivity. He was available to everyone at any time, strictly observing one of Christ’s commandments, “Whoever comes to me I will never cast out.”

That is why, spontaneous seminars constantly started and finished late in the evening when Nikolay Nikolaevich was at his office. It was at such a time when I allowed myself to enter the office and address very briefly and with something very urgent.

I was amazed at Nikolay Nikolaevich’s ability to adapt. He continued the same phrase on which he was interrupted. A man of considerable culture and internal discipline, he did not even have a shadow of discontent on his face.

The theorist’s working day, as is known, was not limited to 8 hours. 6-7-8 PM… The blue twilight is descending on the earth. A quiet speech is heard from the office. First, there will be “boys” of different ages, then Nikolay Nikolaevich.

“Nadia, I think I’ll go slowly…”

“Nikolay Nikolaevich, I wish you all the best. Maybe the boys will show you out?”

“Yes, it will be right. Good traditions should not be changed.”

I walk everyone to the elevator. Now I can go home too. I just have to enter the office, check if everything is in order, whether the windows are closed (they are huge, almost the entire wall. The wind might blow away everything). A large blackboard is covered with different handwriting, and there is a tiny pile of warm ashes from a pipe on the table in an ashtray. Silence… I turn off the chandeliers, close the door. Till tomorrow…

It must be said that my family was not always happy about me coming home late. However, my mother had long been used to the same workday of my father. My husband was silent and frowned his beautiful eyebrows, and only my daughter was just glad that her mother finally came home.

It is easy to work and be close without counting time with a decent and noble person. But not easy. The Christian wisdom of his actions and views demanded conformity. Everyone had to learn, and I first of all.

Coming to the reception and saying hello, Nikolay Nikolaevich, being a person for whom a family is essential for mental balance, never forgot to show concern and ask me,

“And how does your mother feel? (quote by NN).”

Quite often seeing my concern about her health, more than once he quoted the words of Maurice Maeterlinck, “Gray days occur only in ourselves.”

Life, as it should be, went on.

The school of Academician Bogoliubov was born before our eyes.

Golden boys came who treated Nikolay Nikolaevich with the greatest respect. They became a single family attracted by the solidity of his character, encyclopedic knowledge, and internal discipline. The way of life and traditions brought up by Nikolay Nikolaevich became close and understandable to them.

They learned from Nikolay Nikolaevich a highly respectful attitude to people, opinions of others, a willingness to show support and participation, which gives meaning to human existence.

Boys worked hard to be members of this family. You cannot call a scientific community otherwise, which was formed by an amazing personality possessing not only charm, knowledge, fantastic erudition, but also courtesy, sincerity, and a genuine interest in people. It will never go unnoticed.

The candidate recommended for admission to BLTP had to undergo the testing. Nikolay Nikolaevich always said at the same time,

“If a person wants to learn, he will learn. The main thing is that the person is not bad-tempered.

• 
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The Laboratory of Theoretical Physics of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research was not only acquiring “its own face”, but also became a noticeable physical quantity in terms of its regular size, intelligence, and the quality of published works.

In fact, boys came and became a national treasure in the Laboratory.

— Anatoly Alekseevich Logunov, a future Academician, BLTP Deputy Director, Director of IHEP in Serpukhov, Rector of Moscow State University, Vice-President of the USSR Academy of Sciences;

— Albert Nikiforovich Tavkhelidze, a future Academician, President of the Georgian National Academy of Sciences, INR Director of the USSR Academy of Sciences;

— Dmitry Vasilyevich Shirkov, a future Academician, BLTP Director (1993 – 1997), BLTP Honorary Director;

— Vladimir Georgievich Kadyshevsky, a future Academician, BLTP Director (1987 – 1992), JINR Director (1992 – 2005);

— Alexei Norayrovich Sissakian, a future Academician, BLTP Director, JINR Director (2005 – 2010);

— Gennady Mikhailovich Zinoviev, a future Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine; Head of the Department of the N. N. Bogoliubov ITP of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine;

— Ivan Todorov, a future Academician of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences;

— Nguyễn Văn Hiệu, a future Academician, President of the National Centre for Scientific Research of Vietnam;

— Vitaly Petrovich Shelest, a future Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Deputy Director of Bogoliubov Institute for Theoretical Physics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine;

— Viсtor Anatolievich Matveev, a future Academician, Director of INR RAS, currently Director of the Joint Institute (Dubna) and at the same time BLTP JINR Scientific Leader;

— Dmitry Igorevich Kazakov, RAS Corresponding Member, currently BLTP JINR Director.

A guest with an interesting report was prestigious for him. Ties with scientific and research centres around the world were strengthened. Results of reports were discussed in general discussions and in offices. Conferences with trips abroad, seminars, dissertations… Many interesting guests, with whom Nikolay Nikolaevich spoke in their language.

NN was not away for long in the Laboratory. Nevertheless, he used to make his absence almost invisible to the working rhythm of the Laboratory. On such an occasion, I always had several forms with his signature in my safe in the hope of our understanding and in full confidence that “this action” would never harm anyone.

Another striking trait of Nikolay Nikolaevich. When giving instructions, he never set deadlines knowing that everything would be completed “yesterday”. He never specified the writing a particular document and never read what had already been printed. Only signed. Once I asked why. He answered,

“This work is yours, and you have done it”.

Sometimes he asked what the result or what the recipient’s reaction was. When he heard that everything was fine, he summarised,

“See, so you have done everything right.”

He saw trips as a severe necessity, with the exception of a short trip to Kiev with a mandatory visit to Koncha-Zaspa, until it became the Kiev Rublevka. At the station, a very reliable and loyal person to Nikolay Nikolaevich, Head of the ITP Department of Foreign Affairs Anatoly Fedorovich Loshitsky always met and accompanied him throughout his stay in Kiev. May he rest in peace.

From such a trip, Nikolay Nikolaevich returned, I would say, enlightened and positive. He spoke about Kiev as the promised land. Lavra bells, blooming May chestnuts on Khreshchatyk, unusual shades of the Dnieper River, if you look at it from the Vladimirskaya Gorka, the warm welcome in Feofania at the Institute of Theoretical Physics now named after him, a lovely family of the former ITP Deputy Director Vitaly Petrovich Shelest, meetings with Academician Yuri Alekseevich Mitropolsky.

In Kiev, Nikolay Nikolaevich liked to stay at the Ukraine Hotel, which is on the corner of Pushkinskaya street and Shevchenko Boulevard.

In 1972, when the Rochester Conference was held in Kiev, he left the hotel for a little walk every morning before the meetings began. He used to walk down the boulevard, turn left, and walk along Khreshchatyk. Apparently, this little walk was filled with memories and warmth that the blessed land could give him.

In his memories about the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Nikolay Nikolaevich always claimed that the Academy owed its existence and prosperity only to Boris Evgenievich Paton, a surprisingly bright and talented person and scientist.

In this regard, one cannot but remember organization and holding of the International School of Young Scientists on the Theory of Elementary Particles, a joint gift to the scientific community from three people: Boris Evgenievich Paton, Nikolay Nikolaevich Bogoliubov, and Peter Efimovich Shelest in Yalta in the spring of 1966.

The programme of the School, the composition of the lecture group, topics of reports, lists of participants were prepared in Dubna. The Scientific Leader of the School was Academician N. N. Bogoliubov. The Rector was academician A. N. Tavkhelidze.

To solve financial and organizational issues, an organizing committee was created in the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, which Boris Evgenievich entrusted to his assistant, a historian in the past Anatoly Evdokimovich Denzikov. The organizing group included Head of the secretariat of the Presidium and future Deputy Editor-In-Chief of the Naukova Dumka Publishing House Stanislav Nikolaevich Kuznetsov and Anatoly Fedorovich Loshitsky, the future Head of the ITP Department of Foreign Affairs.

There was much talk about this conference and everything is superlative. And there were legends about its organization. Everyone admired the understanding of event tasks and the teamwork of members of the organizing committee.

It seemed to everyone that one can solve any problem, and if there were unsolved problem, then they were somehow solved by themselves… And everything was so amazing that the Western participants of the School, i.e. Robert Marshak, Harry Lipkin, Chris Fronsdal, etc. often repeated “excellent, excellent”!

During the School (the whole of April and the beginning of May 1966), two more unplanned, but no less significant, events took place: the wedding of the Rector of the School and the beginning of the creation of the Institute of Theoretical Physics of the NAS of Ukraine in Feofania.

The spring of 1966 is the beginning of the “conference era” as participants later said. Then conferences followed in Geneva, Moscow, Alushta, Leningrad, Yerevan, Tbilisi, Uzhgorod.

Many years have passed since then. So many years.

Idyllic pictures of that year often come to mind. In fact, the time is unforgettable.

Spring. Crimea. Mishor.

On a rock, above the sea, not far from the Swallow’s Nest, there is a new Parus sanatorium, which housed participants of the School and held lectures, reports, seminars.

The sea of the sun or the sunny sea…

A huge pink cloud of flowering tamarisk is at the entrance of the Parus building.

Clusters of ruby flowers are on the still bare branches of the Judas tree.

It seems that every blade of grass, including moss on the rocks, is blooming. A faint breeze is bringing a unique smell of flowering wisteria. The incessant chirping of birds. On the slope to the right behind the fence of the sanatorium, the view is making me stop abruptly. There is a huge bright red glade under my feet… What’s it?.. Blooming tulips. A sea of blooming tulips.

Is it a fairy tale? Paradise?

Yes, it is. I think that a person should be happy if he sees such a picture even once in his life.

There is something in every person’s life that will never be forgotten.

The bright image of Nikolay Nikolaevich will remain in my memory until the end of my days, as well as a string of people who devoted their lives to science and among whom I lived a whole life, remembering everyone, loving, and not betraying anyone.

I am finishing my letter, the letter of a happy person.

Generations have changed twice in my memory. But I believe that the bright image of Nikolay Nikolaevich Bogoliubov will remain in the history of science, as well as in the memory of each of us who knew him during his lifetime. He was such an extraordinary person that the interest of descendants should never disappear.

In order not to cry over memories, it is better to remember the words of the wise son of our Russian land Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky:

“Don’t talk with longing that they are gone,
Say with gratitude they were …”

20.02.2019
N. S. I.

In the memorial office of Academician N. N. Bogoliubov in BLTP. (From left to right): President of the Georgian Academy of Sciences A. N. Tavkhelidze, BLTP JINR employee N. S. Isaeva, IHEP Director, Academician A. A. Logunov, BLTP JINR Director, Academician D. V. Shirkov, 1994