Save ITEP

The ordeal of one of the best research centers in the country - the Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Physics - is getting worse. Troitsky Option-Science has repeatedly written about the problems of ITEP (last publication in No. 71, 02/01/2011 http://trv-science.ru/2011/02/01/izvoLte-Lyubit-i-zhaLovat/ ). Recently, the Institute became subordinate to the Kurchatov Center with new salaries, more precisely, a basic salary, which for all types of researchers is 5,790 rubles. per month. With a bonus for his degree, a Doctor of Sciences, even if he is a world-famous scientist, will receive about 13 thousand. But if he behaves well and is liked by the director, he can receive a personal bonus of any amount. This system also operates in the Kurchatov Center itself - it allows you to keep the people in obedience, but destroys the very spirit of science. However, ITEF is suppressed and spread rot with redoubled force, which is probably facilitated by its vast territory - a tasty morsel for many who want to dispose of it.

We are publishing two open letters from ITEP staff. The third letter, written on behalf of researchers at ITEP theoretical laboratories, was published on our website (“Will ITEP survive” dated December 26, 2011 http://trv-science.ru/2011/12/20/vyzhivet-Li-itehf/ ). The important thing is that this time the Institute’s employees themselves spoke under their own names. I have already written and will repeat again that it is a matter of honor for Russian scientists to come out in support of ITEP, also under their own names. The matter in this case is not limited to one institute: by standing up for ITEP, we also stand up for the majority of the employees of Kurchatnik and other institutes affiliated to it.

Boris Stern

Open letter

In the stream of turbulent political events of recent months, even significant events for the country go unnoticed.

Thus, from January 1, ITEP, one of the leading domestic scientific centers that has retained its honor, reputation and scientific authority in the world, will actually cease to exist. For many years, the unequal struggle for survival continued, causing amazement among seasoned politicians and administrators.

The Institute has always been an “island of intellectual freedom” in the Soviet Union, and the constant threat of defeat has hung over it since the early 60s, when its creator, the legendary A.I., was removed from the post of director. Alikhanov, one of the pillars of the Soviet nuclear project.

Similar stories were repeated many times, but in the end the authorities always gave in, guided by the interests of the state and realizing that the disappearance of the institution would cause irreparable damage to the country, and intellectual achievements were impossible in a regulated environment.

But times are changing. The “intellectual island” inherited by modern managers turned out to be a non-core asset for them, which they have been trying to get rid of in recent years by all possible means.

Today, ITEP's gravedigger is the current director, who has nothing to do with fundamental science, whose insane actions, at best, can be explained by complete incompetence. Scientific trips, trips to conferences, youth schools are prohibited, and obstacles are created to work with schoolchildren and students.

While the state is making active attempts to restore trust and establish effective interaction with the scientific diaspora, the ITEP directorate is trying to fire all employees with scientific contracts abroad. As a “control shot,” a 3-fold reduction in the tariff rates of scientific employees to 6,000 is planned in the next few months.

To top it all off, a complete ban on foreign physicists and mathematicians visiting the ITEP territory was introduced. Fresh example; Quite recently, one of the most respected American scientists, Stanley Brodsky, came to Moscow from Stanford University. Although he had visited the institute several times since the mid-70s, this time for the first time he was not allowed into the ITEP territory to give a lecture, and as “compensation” he was offered to spend several hours in the former entrance hall, prohibiting him from using the Internet. He quite accurately identified what he saw - “GULAG-Light”. Let us note that the current ITEP also fits well into the “financial” definition of a concentration camp, when the guards receive more than the people working inside. I haven’t been so ashamed of Russia for a long time.

The goal of such a policy is obvious - to force all qualified scientists to leave the institute, or even better, to leave the country, so that their faces do not evoke negative emotions and nothing would prevent them from importing brains from abroad for good money. The lessons that MSU students receive are obvious. , MIPT and MEPhI, before whose eyes these events are taking place, unthinkable from the point of view of a state that cares about its future. The conclusions they draw do not require much comment.

Waves of mega-grants should bring new, modern, world-class laboratories to shore. Apparently, in order to give additional enthusiasm to the builders of a bright future, in the present, next to them, with incredible cynicism, the demonstrative destruction of one of the best scientific institutes in Russia is taking place. These people cannot be denied a sense of humor.

A strong state differs from a weak one in that it finds the strength to admit the mistakes it has made and draw the necessary conclusions from them. Authorized by D.A. Medvedev, the merger of ITEP with the Kurchatov Institute in the current format is an obvious mistake that must be recognized, no matter how unpleasant it may be, and look for a solution beneficial to the state. It is difficult to imagine that the president’s goal was the destruction of ITEP and the banal seizure of 37 hectares of land in the central part of Moscow. However, this is exactly what is happening now, and we are rapidly moving into an innovative future without scientists, without education, without shame and without conscience.

Happy New Year 2012!

A.S. Gorsky, Dr. physical and mathematical sciences,
A.Yu. Morozov, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences,
P.N. Pakhlov, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences

For reference: ITEP occupies a leading position in the country in citing the works of its scientists in the world scientific literature. It is unlikely that even in 100 years Skolkovo will enjoy such authority in the scientific community.

The letter was published on LiveJournal and on the website “Save ITEP!” https://sites.google.com/site/saveitep/ , created as a platform for discussing the current situation.

Also see the interview with Alexander Gorsky “Acquisition of land with the serfs on it.” 01/13/2012 in Gazeta.ru www.gazeta.ru/science/2012/01/13_a_3961297.shtml

As of Friday, the leadership of the Kurchatov Institute Research Center had not given an official comment on the situation with ITEP. An anonymous source at the Research Center explained:

“There are federal state unitary enterprises - and there are budgetary organizations, to which the Research Center “KI” belongs. It is a federal state budgetary institution, therefore salaries are paid based on a given tariff schedule. ITEP, which is now coming under the jurisdiction of the Research Center "KI", previously belonged to the structure of Rosatom - a commercial corporation, where the salary fund is completely different.

When moving from a corporation to a budget institution, this salary scale changes, and these nuances were not fully explained to employees.

The open letter incorrectly talks about bonuses for candidates and doctors - legal bonuses of 3 and 7 thousand rubles for a degree for an employee working in a scientific position are retained. I think people haven't fully understood this issue. The management of the Scientific Research Center promises to clarify everything as soon as possible. It was planned to release an official explanatory document immediately after the New Year holidays, now we are waiting for it.” The source does not comment on the situation with the ban on business trips.

From the editor

On January 10, 2012, a letter appeared on the ITEP website explaining the new wage system. It states, in particular, that the average salary of employees after the transition from the Federal State Unitary Enterprise (FSUE) to the Federal State Budgetary Institution (FGBU) should remain at the level of 2011. www.itep.ru/Docs/oplatatruda.doc