by Academician Vitaly SHAFRANOV, Chief Researcher, Russian Research Center (RRC) "Kurchatov Institute", Moscow, Russia

February 2, 2010, is the 75th birth anniversary of Academician Yevgeny Velikhov, President of the Russian Research Center "Kurchatov Institute", Hero of Socialist Labor, and laureate of the "Global Energy" International Prize. Acad. Velikhov is also Secretary of the RF Public Chamber. There are few, if any, scientists among our contemporaries whose research and practical interests could be as broad as his— from mathematics and theoretical physics down to microelectronics and field geology. Cooperating with him are thousands of experts in various fields of science, engineering and economics, and many consider him their true teacher.

Yevgeny Pavlovich Velikhov, perhaps the most prominent public personality among Russian scientists, is a man of multifarious interests. To some people his name is associated with great pulse-driven magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) generators capable of sounding deep into the earth crust. Others connect his name to ROSSHELF*, a unique company tapping seafloor gas deposits of the Arctic regions; they link it to the progress of the information science and computer technology in this country; to laser centers being set up nationwide; to the international educational program "Achievements of the Young" instilling rudiments of free enterprise in the younger set. Acad. Velikhov is active in the effort of implementing the presidential initiative in the energy-backed support of global sustainable development; in the cardinal solution of the problems of nuclear nonproliferation; and in ecological sanitation of the Globe. Acad. Velikhov is thumbs up for GLORIAD** in which our country is likewise taking part. The cause of his life, Acad. Velikhov says, is the International Thermonuclear Reactor (ITER)*** paving the way to a safe and ecologically friendly energy source. In 1985, acting on Yevgeny Velikhov's initiative, USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev came to terms with the Presidents of France and USA first on the conceptual (1987 to 1990) and then on the technological (1992-2001) design of ITER. At that time Acad. Velikhov was heading the International Council of ITER. Today this pioneering project aimed at harnessing thermonuclear power for peaceful purposes is at the finish line: in November 2006 Russia, Japan, the United States, the European Union, South Korea, China and India passed a decision on this cooperative venture to be built at Caradache, France; this project has been gaining momentum from month to month.

Indeed, Yevgeny Velikhov is endowed with a unique ability of pinpointing promising shoots in science and engineering, and of inspiring colleagues, state personalities and commercial company chiefs to get down to major innovational projects. In verve, élan and daring he puts one in mind of Henry Ford, America's automobile king (or rather several Fords of the clan) of the early 20th century, though living in this protean, forward-thrusting world of today.

His roots go down to the mores of two families, the Velikhovs and the Yevreinovs. The Velikhovs were academics for the most part, while the Yevreinovs-engi-neers and theater stage figures. His grandfather, Pavel Appolonovich Velikhov, a major expert in civil engineering and bridge-building, was framed up in 1929 and shot by a firing squad the following year (posthumously exculpated only in 1963). Leaving three sons (Pavel, the older, was Yevgeny Velikhov's father, he was a railway engineer), he willed it that they should "work honestly and modestly in the interests of their country". This behest was past down to Yevgeny Velikhov—at a higher gain factor!

A high-school graduate, Yevgeny Velikhov was enrolled in the Department of Physics of Moscow State University in 1952. While still an undergraduate, he made a maser spectrometer (1954). At this point he got acquainted with Alexander Prokhorov, one of the founders of quantum electronics, a major trend in present-day physics (Dr. Prokhorov won a Nobel Prize at a later day). In the late 1970s Prokhorov used the Velikhov-designed MHD generator in building a unique neodymi-um glass laser that, just in ten seconds, energized a magnetic accumulating transformer to an energy momentum 1,000fold as short.****

It was his good fortune to get in touch with the Kurchatov Institute: in 1956 Velikhov, a graduate student then, showed up in the theoretical sector of Acad. Mikhail Leontovich*****, which was incorporated within the Plasma Research Department under Acad. Lev Artsimovich******. As Yevgeny Velikhov recalled, "the atmosphere in the sector—from the standpoint of freedom of thinking, scientific and political alike—was in no way different from what it is today: it was just as frank, liberal and stupendously well-wishing." It was Mikhail Leontovich who created this atmosphere, he was greatly forbearing with every kind of interests on the part of his pupils, Velikhov said. "I, for one, was carried away by magnetic hydrodynamics from my college days. That did not embarrass him at all." At that time Dr. Stanislaw Braginsky, a colleague of Leontovich's, derived equa-

* See: Ye. Velikhov et al., "Gas, Oil, Ice", Science in Russia, No. 3, 1994.-Ed.

** GLORIAD (Global Ring Network for Advanced Applications Development)-a global optical-fiber communication ring between Chicago, New York, Amsterdam, Moscow, Khabarovsk, Beijing, Honkong, Seattle and Chicago again designed to supply network services to the international scientific community.—Ed.

*** See: V. Glukhikh, "On the Brink of Thermonuclear Era", Science in Russia, No. 3, 2003; L. Golubchikov, "Tokamak-lnternational Challenge", Science in Russia, No. 1, 2004; Ye. Velikhov, S. Mirnov, "ITER at the Finish Line", in this issue of our magazine.—Ed.

**** See: A.   Prokhorov,  Ye.   Dianov,   "Fiber Optics:   Problems and Prospects", Science in Russia, No. 1, 2001.-Ed.

***** See: Ye. Velikhov, V. Shafranov, "Outstanding Physicist and Educator", Science in Russia, No. 2, 2006.—Ed.

****** Ye. Velikhov, "Thermonuclear Combustion"; M. Petrov. "Talent Is Judged by Work", Science in Russia, No. 1, 2009,—Ed.

tions for plasma transfer in the magnetic field; he developed an interest in the problem of terrestrial magnetism. He, Stanislaw Braginsky, became Velikhov's tutor consulting him in his graduation paper. Dr. Braginsky suggested that he take up the subject of stability of ideally conducting liquid flowing in the magnetic field. This work was in for the top grade and in 1959 was published in the popular Russian-language periodical Letters to ZhETF (Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics). It's hard to grasp that this work was done by a university student. In 1961 Velikhov published yet another work on MHD, "Stability of Ideally Conducting Liquid Flowing Between Rotating Cylinders in the Magnetic Field"; it appeared in the same journal. Due to the turbulent development of space physics in the last three decades of the 20th century, this was one of the most cited works in the scientific community. Recently Acad. Velikhov returned again to the mechanism of magnetorotational instability to explain the origins of the magnetic field of the earth and its evolution.

Upon his graduation from Moscow State University with a major in theoretical physics in 1958, Velikhov joined the Leontovich team to become involved with plasma physics for controlled thermonuclear fusion (CTF). In 1961, the year he entered a post-graduate course, he published another article in Letters to Zh ETF on "Stability of the Plasma-Vacuum Boundary" and simultaneously, together with two Russian physicists, Roald Sagdeyev (elected to the national Academy of Sciences in 1968) and Alexander Vedenov (elected to the Russian Academy of Sciences in 2003 as corresponding member), prepared the review Plasma Stability for one of the most popular Russian journals Achievements of Physical Sciences (Uspekhi fizicheskikh nauk). The same authors

published the article "Nonlinear Oscillations of Rarefied Plasma" in the periodical Nuclear Fusion (Vienna, Austria). Early in September 1961 the young post-graduate student made a report on "The Quasilinear Theory of Plasma Oscillations" at the First International Conference on the CTF Problem in Salzburg, Austria*, and became one of the most active participants in the discussion there. The following year he sent two communications to Nuclear Fusion: "Transfer in Unstable Inhomogeneous Plasma" and "Shockwaves in Rarefied Plasma"; he kept pushing ahead in storming the pinnacles of science. He and Vedenov co-authored the article "On Electrostatic Instability of Plasma in a Strong Magnetic Field" (appeared in Doklady Akademii nauk SSSR—Comptes Rendus of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR in 1962); in 1963 he published his work on the problem of plasma rotation in the Russian-language journal Atomnaya energiya (Atomic Power).

In the early 1960s Acad. Anatoly Alexandrov** (in 1975 to 1986, President of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR) decided to set up a new research base at Krasnaya Pakhra (the town of Troitsk today), near Moscow. This research center—known as Sector 62—brought together budding scientists, Yevgeny Velikhov among them; he

* See: V.  Strelkov, "No  Royal  Ride in Thermonuclear Research", Science in Russia, No. 1, 2009.—Ed.

** See: N. Ponomarev-Stepnoi, "At the Head of the Nuclear Branch". Science in Russia. No. 2, 2003.—Ed.

was already a well-known man in scientific quarters. Not quite satisfied with the level of theoretical studies into numerous plasma instabilities, he buckled down to the practical job at hand, the MHD generators. Supported by Mikhail Millionshchikov, Velikhov proceeded with theoretical and experimental works. He proposed high-power setups of different geometry operating both on liquid metals and on noble (inert) gases supplemented with cesium (source of electrons). Soon after, Velikhov became research head of the young collective and laboratory head.

Working with abandon, Velikhov fell behind in his M. Sc. (Cand. Sc.) thesis.-He had a lot of interesting work to do, and did not think his thesis was all too important, Velikhov confides. Still and all, he defended his Cand. Sc. thesis in 1964. The ceremony was attended by Acads. Andrei Gaponov-Grekov and Mikhail Leontovich. The Learned Council accorded a doctoral degree, that of Doctor of Physics and Mathematics to Velikhov, skipping a Cand. Sc. degree.

"Yevgeny Velikhov was eager to have his ideas realized the soonest, that was his remarkable character trait," says one of his colleagues, Vladimir Cherkovets, director of the Troitsk Institute of Innovational and Thermonuclear Studies (ROSATOM State Corporation). "It so happened that, on telling us about his idea, he would come the next day to discuss experimental results, and he did not like it if they were not there yet. We had to explain it

to the lab chief in polite terminology that the idea had to be materialized into blueprints first, and the blueprints to be made into 'hardware', and the 'hardware' installed in a setup; then we had to carry out experiments, all that within just one day. And yet his enthusiasm energized us so much that the results schedule was cut back to one week only."

In the mid-1960s Acads. Alexander Prokhorov and Boris Bunkin were designing "strategic lasers" that needed a great power source. Velikhov, in charge of CO₂ lasers for metal working, approached Boris Zhukov (elected to the national Academy of Sciences in 1974), director of the Research Institute for Chemistry and Technology, and proposed to develop multimegawatt pulse-driven MHD generators on solid (powder) fuel, and shortly afterwards he took charge of this work. He formed a well-knit collective of young talented theoreticians and experimentalists. According to participants in this project, the Velikhov idea was realized just in 5 to 7 years, very fast for a new research line like that. Scientists and engineers working in various fields of physics, chemistry and technology pooled efforts, and they were helped by the well-coordinated performance of research centers, design offices and industrial enterprises. "They who worked together with Velikhov were amazed at his benevolence, integrity and good manners," his colleagues recall when speaking about the young Doctor of Physics and Mathematics. (They are Dr. Vladimir Cherkovets, Dr. Viktor Panchenko and Dr. Konstantin Dmitriev.) "Velikhov was a man of fixed principles and tough in deciding on cardinal issues. He had a rare gift of creating an atmosphere of team spirit and confidence in the ultimate success. Young specialists just dropped in at his place for advice or for discussing some production or domestic problem over a cup of tea."

In 1970 sector 62 was reorganized into a department in its own right, the Plasma Energy Department; in 1971 it expanded into a branch of the Kurchatov Institute of Atomic Energy. Twenty years after, it became what is now the Troitsk Institute of Innovational and Thermonuclear Studies. Velikhov, then already a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, was appointed its director; he also doubled as deputy director of the Kurchatov Institute. He was put in charge of research and coordination of work in plasma physics and controlled thermonuclear fusion. Upon Acad. Artsimovich's death in 1973 Velikhov succeed as CTF research head in the USSR and represented this country at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

By that time Yevgeny Velikhov had emerged as the leader of the "forward-edge" lines of hands-on applications of physics: MHD generators for studying the structure of the earth crust (to a depth of 100-150 km), laser pumping, compact isolated power stations; he was likewise involved with strategic lasers (for example, a unique 1 MW CO₂ laser) and technological lasers; and with controlled thermonuclear fusion (CTF) as a safe and inexhaustible energy source. In 1974 at age 39 Velikhov was elected full member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. He was among the foursome of this country's youngest Academy members (Andrei Sakharov was elected at 32, Roald Sagdeyev—at 34, Mstislav Kel-dysh-at 35).

In 1975 a major project was completed under his guidance: a MHD generator with such parameters as 500 MW, 3 kV 200 kA (for 10 s) and fuel consumption,

1 t/s. A year after, the Khibiny setup (LMW, 7 s) was used on the Kola Peninsula for ultradeep sounding of the earth crust. Such probings were also conducted in the Pamir and Tien Shan mountains, in the Middle Urals and in the Pre-Caspian Lowlands. In 1977 a group of authors with Velikhov at the hand merited a State Prize of the USSR for the creation of pulse-driven MHD power plants which we can boldly rank among the greatest achievements of this country's science and engineering.

Decades after, in the 1990s, Yevgeny Velikhov came up with the idea of converting the chemical energy of hydrocarbon fossil fuels into electricity immediately at the extraction sites with its subsequent transmission to consumers in areas having a developed infrastructure. For this purpose he recommended using large compact MHD gas-turbine electric power stations at the 50 percent capacity factor; they were to be located on sites limited in size, for instance, on sea gas-mining platforms in the Arctic regions. This idea got top marks from GAZPROM, the world's biggest oil-and-gas mining company.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s Velikhov developed unique induction energy accumulators, including TIN-900, the world's largest power complex for thermonuclear and modeling plants and Angara-5-1, the largest in Eurasia. During the "cold-war" years of US-USSR standoff our and American physicists were working on a powerful air-borne laser weapon. The integration of MHD generators with a 1 kJ induction accumulator equipped with an explosive commutator (capable of feeding this energy momentum in just 10 ms (!) solved the pumping problem. This induction accumulator was developed by the Velikhov team. In 1984 Velikhov was awarded a Lenin Prize for his work in the field of powerful gas-discharge lasers. Subsequently a research center for technological lasers was founded at Shatura near Moscow on Velikhov's initiative. Reformed into an Institute for Problem Laser and Information Technologies in 1988, this research center became one of the nation's leaders in this area.*

The Department of Information Technologies and Computing Systems founded in 1977 under the auspices of the USSR Academy of Sciences owes its birth to Velikhov, who was aware of the importance of crash development rates of related facilities. Between 1982-1991 Ye. Velikhov, in his capacity of the first Academician-Secretary of this department, organized joint works of the USSR Academy of Sciences and the Moscow-based Likhachev autoplant on developing computer-aided designing systems. Computerization of secondary school education became his major concern. In 1993 to 2005 one began designing computers for secondary schools-at his initiative, too. Today Velikhov is supervising a joint RAS-Kurchatov Institute project for this country's elemental base and large-scale integrated circuits.

A nuclear power industry responding to the needs of society's sustainable progress is a priority strategic task for the nation, Acad. Velikhov believes. That is why he lent active support to the presidential initiative to ensure humankind's longterm and ecologically acceptable power supply on the basis of present-day reactor technologies (President Putin voiced this idea in September 2000 at the UN Millennium Summit). The ideas aired then gave birth to the new International Project on Innovational Nuclear Reactors and Fuel Cycles (INPRO). It has brought together over 20 states of Europe, Asia and the Americas, and allows to actively engage the nuclear industry potential of each participant country, Russia has joined this cooperation. In 2002 we have established a Velikhov-chaired Board of Directors of homeland research institutions associated with INPRO. Working at the Kurchatov Institute's Center of Innovational Energy, Velikhov is supporting the project in all ways.

Today all conditions are on hand for a breakthrough to 21st-century technologies. New generations of power stations are entering the stage, paving the way to a renaissance of power engineering. High-energy physics is all set for new bold discoveries: for one, the experimental reactor (ITER) is under construction in France. It will demonstrate the scientific and technical possibility of generating thermonuclear power for peaceful uses. Information technologies, which determine a great-power status, are proceeding apace. The world is on the threshold of industrial uses of nanotechnologies for obtaining materials with preassigned characteristics capable of changing the face of our civilization. What has been prodding Yevgeny Velikhov to meet all these challenges? He has answered this question in his article "Praise of Free-Thinking" published by Rossiiskaya gazeta (No. 3566, 2004): "At all times speeches have been made from the highest rostrums that science is to cater to societal needs. Yet life has been showing it all along that such rationalism is but a great delusion. True science does not develop at someone's cue from above, and not by a bureaucrat's will at the money cock, revolutionary breakthroughs are made on free soil. The main incentive to a scientist is quite simple: inquisitiveness."

* Look for the article on laser technologies in medicine in this issue of our magazine.—Ed.