The destruction of the temple

Mikhail Vladimirovich Danilov - Russian scientist in the field of physics of elementary particles

• It is included in the five most cited scientists living in Russia
• Max Prize laureate Max Max Planck and Humboldt Foundation, Germany (1996)
• Laureate of the award of A.P. Karpinsky Foundation Tepfer, Germany (1998)
• Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1997)
• Doctor Fiz.-Mat of Sciences (1990)
• Candidate Fiz.-Mat of Sciences (1978)
• Member of the Consulting Committee of the SSC program (1990–1992)
• Member of the CERN Committee on Strategic Planning (1993–1998)
• Member of the Scientific Council Desy (since 2000)
• Member of the Scientific and Technical Committee, chairman of the subcommittee (1997–2007) of the Ministry of the Russian Federation on Atomic Energy

The specialist in the field of elementary particles Mikhail Danilov, a member of the Cern Consulting Council, a laureate of numerous international awards, was fired from the post of deputy director of the Moscow Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Physics (ITEF) with the formulation: “There are currently no vacancies corresponding to your qualifications”.

The Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Physics was organized in 1945 as part of the Soviet nuclear program. Then his main task was to create a heavy -water nuclear reactor for the production of dividing nuclear materials. As far as I know, soon fundamental research on high energies physics began to play an increasing role, and by the 60s of the last century ITEF turned into a leading Soviet center in this area, one of two or three institutions that successfully competed with Western centers. In 1969, the ITEF proton accelerator was adapted for the treatment of cancer patients, for the first time in the USSR. Now this method is routinely used in large clinics around the world. ITEF survived the difficult 1990s with minimal losses, and in some ways (for example, in the education of the young generation of physicists) he paved new ways.

As you know, the institute does not make walls or even equipment. The main wealth of any research center is its people. (However, this statement is fair not only for research laboratories, but also in general.) The theoretical department of the ITEF was created by Lev Davydovich Landau and Isaac Yakovlevich Pomeranchuk. The first director of ITEF, Abram Isaakovich Alikhanov, laid the core of a brilliant experimental group that grew and matured. The best ITEF experimenters were in demand all over the world, already in the 1970s they worked on accelerators of Cern, Fermilab (National Accelerating Laboratory named after Enriko Fermi near Chicago), Desy (German national electronic synchotron in Hamburg). It was in the last laboratory, in the installation of Argus, in fact, that the star career of experimental physics Mikhail Vladimirovich Danilov began.

In 1974, heavy (fascinated) quarks were opened, and along with this discovery, a modern stage began in high energies physics. The experimental program on Argus was fully focused on heavy quarks. The young physicist, who had just graduated from graduate school, Mikhail Danilov, thanks to his deep understanding of physics and, I would say, a passionate attitude towards her, quickly became among the leaders of the experiment. I remember how the then director of Desy, Professor Folker Zmigel, the then director of DESY spoke with respect.

Later, when the Argus program was completed, Mikhail Danilov moved to the next experimental project, H1 at the Hera (Desy) installation. Mikhail Danilov was one of the participants in the opening of the oscillations of neutral B-Mesones in 1987. I well remember the enthusiasm caused by this most important discovery. The highest international status of Mikhail Danilov is evidenced by the fact that in 2000 and 2002 he was the co-leader of the Institute of Advanced Studies at the University of California in the city of Santa Cruz. In 1993-1998, Mikhail Danilov was a member of the Cern Strategic Planning Committee and since 2000, a member of the Desy Scientific Council.

In June 2013, Mikhail Danilov was forced to leave the post of Deputy Director for Science of ITEF. This event was a consequence of the fact of the transfer of the Institute from the structure of Rosatom to the leadership of the Kurchatov Institute Research Center at the end of December 2011 and the change of director. “I was disappointed with the lack of demand for my experience in the Nits Ki,” Danilov wrote in an open letter to his colleagues.

Just the other day, Mikhail Danilov was dismissed by the leadership of the Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Physics. The document about his dismissal reports that "there are currently no vacancies corresponding to your qualifications." This whole story looks like a circus.

The destruction of the ITEF as a scientific center of the international level has not begun today. A few years ago, the high authorities, which were weakly oriented in modern physics of high energies, began to squeeze out talented researchers from the Institute. Talented people are often inconvenient for the authorities, because they usually have their own opinion on all issues. They are not prone to behavior like "what to deign." In 2013, Andrei Rostovtsev, the head of the physics of elementary particles, was fired for criticizing the ITEF administration from the institute. In 2014, scandalous fame in the world scientific community was received by the dismissal of the theoretic of ITEF Alexander Gorsky under the ridiculous pretext of “absenteeism at work”. Participation in the work of an important international conference at the University of Stauni Brook was counted by Alexander Gorsky as absenteeism. I visited many universities and laboratories in the world, but I have never met such an absurdity.

The dismissal of Mikhail Danilov is the next step up the stairs leading down. In world practice, it is well known that to destroy the laboratory, the scientific center, the field of science or science as a whole, it is not necessary to resort to the physical destruction of walls or buildings, it is enough to remove from 5 to 10% of the most active and talented employees who determine the face of the institute or science as a whole, on which both its present and the future critically depend. In 1933, Hitler destroyed German science. In relative numbers, few were shifted, destroyed, or forced to flee from Germany, but these few were the best. The post -war restoration of German science took many decades, it required incredible efforts and monetary investments. The dismissal of Danilov, who had so many high energies for physics and for attracting young talents to ITEF, is not only personal injustice and absolute stupidity, it is also a blow to the ITEF as a scientific center, perhaps the last ...

Photo above - N. Chetverikova ("Polit.ru")