Prizes of the President of the Russian Federation for young scientists in the field of science and innovation for 2010

The 2010 Presidential Prize for young scientists in the field of science and innovation was awarded to seven young scientists. Today TrV-N publishes short interviews with some of the laureates.

“I really want to build a science museum in Russia”

Nikolay Andreev, 36 years old, Ph.D., head of the laboratory of popularization and propaganda of mathematics at the Mathematical Institute named after. V.A. Steklov RAS:

— Why did you receive the award?

— For the popularization of mathematics and scientific knowledge. We have many projects, but the main one is “Mathematical Etudes” ( www.etudes.ru ): films that captivatingly tell about solved and unsolved mathematical problems. The films will be of interest to everyone, from humanities students to professional mathematicians who work in another field. The main goal is to captivate the viewer with mathematics and show that it is a beautiful and powerful science.

- What are your plans? Are you developing the website www.etudes.ru ?

— As for the site, work is underway on a new design with new technical capabilities. I think readers of “Trinity Option” will be interested in our other projects. At http://mathesis.ru you can find the archive of the Mathesis publishing house, which published surprisingly interesting popular science books from 1904 to 1925. In addition, we are finishing scanning Russia’s first popular science physics and mathematics journal “Bulletin of Experimental Physics and Elementary Mathematics”: http://vofem.ru .

In the project “Mechanisms of P.L. Chebyshev" ( http://tcheb.ru ) is collecting a unique heritage - mechanisms made by the great Russian mathematician of the 19th century. The first edition of the beautiful disc has been released. And globally we have a lot of interesting ideas, one of them is that we really want to build a science museum in Russia. Or rather, what is called a “science museum”: not a museum at all, but an “experimentarium”.

- Do you want to initiate this?

— Firstly, initiate, and secondly, make a large mathematical section, gather a team for other sections, etc.

— Where do you think you will get funding for this?

“I hope the award will resolve this issue.” A certain status and government attention may make it possible to find businessmen who will want to do this and perpetuate themselves with some good deed.

— What did the young scientists talk about at the meeting with the president?

— The transcript is available at www.young-science.ru . And it’s complete, in my opinion, even without cuts. Many different topics were touched upon, some of which the president summarized at the end, and any day now an order should be issued, the basis of which will be this conversation. But, unfortunately, we don’t know what will be included in it until it is signed. Even us.

— How did you get into science?

— When I came to Moscow from Saratov, I really wanted to be an engineer, and I entered Baumanka. Then I didn’t like it there, and I entered the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics, and, to be honest, a very strange circumstance played a role: I really liked the main building of Moscow State University, and I wanted to study there.

— And your mother is also a mathematics teacher?

— Yes, my mother, Anna Nikolaevna Andreeva, was a teacher at Saratov State University, then a school teacher in Saratov, and now in Moscow. This probably also played a role. The environment usually has the greatest influence, and my mother, of course, created the environment for me.

See also: Interview with N. Andreev “3-D graphics allows you to show the beauty of mathematics” TrV-N, 07/07/2009 trv-science.ru/2009/07/07/3-d-grafika-pozvolyaet-pokazat-krasotu -matematiki/

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“In our country it is much easier to be a theorist than an experimenter”

Dmitry Gorbunov , 36 years old, Ph.D., senior researcher Department of Theoretical Physics, Institute of Nuclear Research, Russian Academy of Sciences

— What do you do, for what did you receive the award?

— I study elementary particle physics and build new models that explain the problems it has. In particular, there are three phenomenological indications that the Standard Model is incomplete - these are neutrino oscillations, for which they have already given a Nobel Prize, and two from cosmology: the so-called dark matter and the baryon asymmetry of the Universe (the fact that we all and everything around us consists of matter, but we do not see antimatter). And this is the motivation to build such models. That is, phenomenological motivation: after all, these phenomena need to be explained, but they cannot be explained in the Standard Model.

— What are your impressions from communicating with the president and leadership of the Academy of Sciences? Do you have the feeling that they really want to promote our science?

- Well, the director of my institute, V.A. Matveev himself is quite in the leadership of the Academy of Sciences - I regularly communicate with him, and I have no doubt that he wants to promote science.

As for the President of Russia... So far it seems to me that the support he provides - support specifically for young scientists - is still not a systemic solution to the problem. This is an unconditional improvement in the situation of a certain circle of people (we will not discuss how grants and expertise are structured), this is additional money for young science. But this is a one-off phenomenon - a temporary injection, and not a systemic one. And this is not a guaranteed prospect. That's what it's all about.

— Is he not ready to take systematic action?

- I don’t know if I’m ready or not. No one in front of me suggested systemic action to him. For example, I am a member of the Coordination Council for Youth Affairs in the Scientific and Educational Spheres, and when this council was organized, in the first year we tried to propose something like this - a certain result for the year in which we formulated some ideas, they were explaining something. But there was no reaction to him. They probably showed it to him somehow. But perhaps no one is offering him concrete solutions, or maybe they are simply not ready and are waiting for something. Don't know.

— How did you get into science?

- From school, like everyone else. He studied at school, in high school he moved to the physics and mathematics school, then he entered the university, then he went to the theoretical department, and from there he moved to the Institute of Nuclear Research. Everything was very interesting at school, I liked the different directions. I liked new information on various subjects, but somehow in the end I chose a physics and mathematics focus. But the experiments didn’t work out—I couldn’t do everything neatly at once. It was starting to get annoying. Still, on a piece of paper, when you cross it out, it’s not so annoying. In fact, in our country it is much easier to be a theorist than an experimenter.

Interviewed
Karina Nazaretyan

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“See the first lunar base under the flag of our country”

The prize was awarded for the development of the LEND space neutron telescope for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (NASA) and for obtaining new results in the study of the Moon with its help.

— Tell us a little about yourself - when and how did you start working at IKI?

Anton Sanin, 33 years old, Ph.D., senior researcher at the Space Gamma Spectroscopy Laboratory of the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences

— I studied at a regular Moscow high school, and upon graduation I entered the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute (MEPhI). When we were studying in our 4th year at the Department of Micro- and Cosmophysics, our teacher - Professor Boris Ivanovich Luchkov - told us that at the IKI in the laboratory of cosmic gamma spectroscopy under the guidance of Dr. Physics and Mathematics. Igor Georgievich Mitrofanov has vacancies for students. Of course, I was interested in the offer, because... Since childhood I have been interested in astronomy. I defended my diploma at MEPhI on the work done at IKI on the topic of studying cosmic gamma-ray bursts. Then there was full-time postgraduate study at the IKI and the defense of a candidate’s dissertation in the specialty “astronomy and radio astronomy”.

Maxim Mokrousov, 35 years old, Ph.D., researcher at the Laboratory of Space Gamma Spectroscopy of the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences

— I won’t tell you the exact date. I can only say that I wrote my institute diploma already at IKI, and I graduated from the institute in 1998. Accordingly, somewhere in the beginning of 1997, immediately after the unsuccessful launch of the Mars-96 project. I graduated from the Moscow Aviation Institute, Faculty of Aircraft Radio Electronics, so both IKI and technical department No. 71 (complex testing department), in which I then worked, were very much to my liking, and the subject of the diploma.

I remember that I completed my studies at IKI a lot after college. There were a lot of specifics. And, thank God, there was enough time to study then. They read at the Moscow Aviation Institute (and in general at institutes they read like this) - the ideal process for developing devices. That's the way it should be. But in life everything is completely different. And it was this inconsistency that surprised me the most.

— How were your roles distributed in the creation of the LEND device?

M.M.: Well, speaking in formal language, I am the leading developer of the LEND device, Anton is the lead developer of the LEND device. Simply put, if something in the device did not work correctly or, for example, failed, then it was my fault and area of ​​responsibility. The main emphasis, of course, was on developing the electronics of the device; after all, I am an electronic engineer by training. But I had to do everything: from assembling the mechanical structure of the device to assembling electronic components and writing some software (luckily I learned all this in due time).

A.S.: Unlike Maxim, I am a physics engineer by training. Therefore, from the very initial stage of developing the physical concept of the instrument, I was engaged in its numerical modeling, selection of detectors and optimization of collimator materials (a special device for absorbing neutrons arriving at the sensor at large angles. It was thanks to it that it was possible to sharply increase the spatial resolution of LEND - up to 10 km. - TrV-N), its shape and mass. In order to absorb unnecessary neutrons arriving at detectors at a large angle to the axis of the field of view, you need to use a lot of fairly heavy material. But this contradicts the fact that a tool designed to work in space should be as light as possible. It was necessary to find the optimal ratio of many parameters characterizing the materials, densities and shapes of the collimator. Once the concept was developed, my responsibilities included overall planning for the LEND project, organizing and communicating with the designers, electronics designers, and tool mechanical structure manufacturers, as well as interacting with the LRO engineers and project managers at the NASA Space Flight Center. Goddard (GSFC).

— Maybe a stupid question: what exactly is the creativity of a developer of scientific instruments?

M.M.: You know, I also thought about this question for a long time. From a technical point of view, the main creativity, skill and experience is to assemble something reliable and work the way you need from hundreds of cube elements already developed before you. Moreover, sometimes this skill alone is not enough - you also need to constantly replenish your knowledge with what has been recently invented, discovered or developed.

To be honest, I can’t even imagine now to what depth one must master physics and related sciences in order to come up with such a brilliant, but at the same time simple idea of ​​a neutron collimator, as Igor Georgievich Mitrofanov came up with.

The same principle was taught to me for a long time by my main technical “additional teachers” in the first years after the institute - Evgeny Mikhailovich Vasiliev and Sergey Anatolyevich Aust: “Maxim, stop reinventing the wheel again! This has already been done before you! There’s enough work for you as it is: you’d better take these parts and put them together so that it all works properly together.”

Everything ingenious is simple, but behind the simplicity there is enormous knowledge of thousands of people, thousands of trials and errors and several people who put it all together. The Kalashnikov assault rifle, by the way, is no exception here.

— LEND was created for the American apparatus. How difficult did this make the job?

M.M.: Yes, indeed, LEND was developed by order of Roscosmos for NASA’s LRO apparatus. This did not add practically any complexity to the work; I would rather say that it introduced a little specificity. But this is normal, each leading space center, not only abroad, but also here, has its own specifics. If you come to RSC Energia, they have their own, and if you come to the Lavochkin Design Bureau, you have yours. It's the same with NASA centers.

A.S.: In order for the instrument to get to GSFC, where it was installed on board the LRO spacecraft, it had to go through the entire cycle of obtaining permits and customs clearance in accordance with Russian legislation. Even taking into account that the LEND instrument was manufactured and supplied to the United States in accordance with the intergovernmental agreement between Roscosmos and NASA, I cannot say that export permits were obtained quickly. But the competent and well-coordinated work of several of our employees made it possible to deliver the tool to GSFC on time.

— Let's move on to the award itself. How would you describe your meeting with the president?

M.M.: The meeting was quite democratic, despite the large number of television cameras. In any case, I did not feel the serious nervousness floating around that I had feared. Perhaps due to Dmitry Anatolyevich’s rather calm and friendly style of conversation. Probably, this is what allowed me to tell the president what exactly concerns us. And the processes that have already begun show that I was heard.

A.S.: I completely agree that the meeting was very democratic. It is very good that Maxim was able to tell Dmitry Anatolyevich that our country lacks a clearly structured, realistic program for the exploration of the Moon and the creation of a habitable base on it.

— Today there is a lot of talk about the need to change the organization of Russian science. What do you think needs to be changed first?

M.M.: Yes, probably, force people to report on the work done and the funds spent. Nowadays in many areas of science there is a vicious mechanism that allows you to spend a lot of money without having to account for it. And this can very much spoil any person, no matter how decently brought up he was initially.

A.S.: I really like the system of open competitions for the scientific load of spacecraft and for entire scientific spacecraft, which NASA uses quite regularly. Moreover, this system complements the existing lunar exploration program. I think that our country, with its existing developments, definitely needs to have its own program, the purpose of which will be to create a habitable base on the Moon and prepare for a flight to Mars. If we do not start our lunar program now, then many of our achievements will be lost, and their creation from scratch will cost many orders of magnitude more. On the scale of our country, such a program will not be very expensive. We cannot afford not to participate in the race for a lunar base that is being waged by the United States, Europe, Japan, India, and China. It should be accompanied by the popularization of science in society (at the moment things are not going very well with this), stories about what exactly is being done and why it is all needed. The secondary education program should be adjusted in favor of restoring the compulsory study of the basics of physics and astronomy.

— What do you personally find particularly interesting in space research now?

M.M.: Yes, exactly what I voiced to the president: whose first inhabited base will be on the Moon and Mars? I really don’t like losing, and in this case I am a citizen of Russia.

A.S.: I believe that it is now very important for us not to lose the opportunity to participate in the exploration of the Moon on an equal basis with other countries. And for me this is not only important, but also interesting. Some scientific instruments created in our laboratory on behalf of Roscosmos operate and will be installed on foreign spacecraft, which absolutely does not prevent us from considering them as a Russian contribution to the corresponding mission. We create instruments for the Russian Luna-Glob, Luna-Resurs and Phobos-Grunt missions. I really hope that with their help we will be able to obtain many new scientific results that will help to properly plan the Russian lunar exploration program and create a habitable base. As Maxim said, we are citizens of Russia, and we would really like to see the first lunar base under the flag of our country.

Interviewed by Olga Zakutnyaya