Academician A. A. Logunov (1926-2015) - an outstanding theoretical physicist of our time. One of the few Soviet scientists who openly criticized the principles of Einstein, proving "in figures" the inconsistency of a number of conclusions of the genius from Germany. The work of the academician, Hero of the USSR, was included in the golden fund of world physics. In parallel with scientific activity Anatoly Alekseevich more than 15 years led the Moscow State University. Lomonosov.
The beginning of the way
The future academician Logunov was born in 1926 in the village of Obsharovka (Vezenchuksky district of the Samara region). After graduating from high school in Kuznetsk (Penza region), he enters the Kuibyshev Aviation Institute, later transferred to the Moscow Aviation Institute. Then Anatoly Alekseevich “got sick” with the problems of fundamental physics, apparently, under the influence of Einstein's discoveries.
The craving for science turned out to be stronger than interest in the prestigious work of the aircraft designer at that time. After leaving MAI, the future academician is transferred to the physics department of Moscow State University, which in 1951 brilliantly finished. After graduate school, Anatoly Alekseevich defended in 1953 his dissertation on cosmic ray physics.
Scientific activity
Today, Logunov is an academician with a capital letter. And at the beginning of his scientific career (1953-1956) he was an ordinary employee of the Department of Theoretical Physics at Moscow State University. Anatoly Alekseevich was lucky to meet N. N. Bogolyubov - no less outstanding academician and teacher.
Close scientific communication with Bogolyubov had a decisive influence on the formation of A. Logunov as a researcher. A style of his scientific work was formed, which is characterized by an appeal to the most general, key problems of physics, and the creation of adequate mathematical methods to solve them.
Nuclear Research
In 1956, the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research was organized in Dubna. Bogolyubov, who headed the Laboratory of Theoretical Physics (LTP), invited Anatoly Alekseevich to the post of his deputy. Together, they worked hard on the creation of the JINR Laboratory of Theoretical Physics, and today it maintains its leading position in world physics.
Working in Dubna, the future academician Logunov proved the dispersion relations for meson photoproduction processes and based on them obtained a system of equations describing these processes at low and medium energies. These studies became the basis for a doctoral dissertation, defended in 1959. In 1961, Anatoly Alekseevich was awarded the title of professor.
Academician Logunov on the nature of gravity
In 1963, together with students and co-authors, the professor created a new quasipotential approach, receiving, within the framework of quantum field theory, a relativistic generalization of the Schrödinger equation, now known as the "Logunov-Tavkhelidze equation."
Then Anatoly Alekseevich was instructed to build an unprecedentedly powerful accelerator of elementary charged particles for that time. The successful launch (11/11/1967) of the world's largest proton synchrotron, capable of accelerating protons to a record energy of 70 billion electron volts, stirred up a community of physicists. With his help, Academician Logunov was able to understand and verify much of what he was thinking so hard, looking at his formulas. Together with the CERN workers, amazing fundamental discoveries were made in the framework of high-energy physics.
Scientific recognition
As the director of IHEP, A. A. Logunov helped design and build an accelerator complex and develop the experimental base of the institute around which the city of Protvino scientists grew. Merits were appreciated: Anatoly Alekseevich was elected a corresponding member, with subsequent promotion to a full member of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Subsequently, he will become its vice president. At the same time, Academician Logunov is rector of Moscow State University.
His biography does not end there. There were all kinds of and most prestigious awards, state awards, honorary degrees. Interviews in newspapers and magazines. It would seem, what greater recognition of merit can one dream of? However, as a scientific researcher, academician Logunov did not intend to rest on his laurels, even though three times well-deserved, and did not believe that the huge organizational and administrative work frees him from his own creative search. It could not be otherwise - in this search his whole life, its main meaning.
Academician Logunov vs. Einstein
The stumbling block for modern physics is the problem of force fields, which, through the efforts of M. Faraday, who generated this idea back in the 19th century, becomes a "constant headache" for physicists of the 20th century. The theory of relativity, denoted by Einstein, emphasizes the importance of defining fields. But the concept of pure field physics has not yet been formulated. Scientists were divided into two disparate camps:
- "Classics" - develop the ideas of Einstein.
- “Alternative specialists” - criticize the classical theory, while putting forward their own, justified field theories.
Logunov belongs to the latter. In 1976, he surprised colleagues and the entire physical community, unexpectedly coming up with radically new ideas in the field of gravity theory. For decades, it was believed that the theory of gravity in principle has already been created by the famous Einstein under the title "General Theory of Relativity." The storm of indignation of the "experts" was caused by open criticism of Einstein's theory already in the very first article of A. A. Logunov on gravity. But with all due respect to the achievements of authorities, Anatoly Alekseevich sacredly observes Descartes’s covenant: “Doubt everything!”, Critically examining seemingly unshakable truths.
At the Physics Department of Moscow State University, a vivid public discussion took place between two academicians - Logunov and the famous physicist Zeldovich. Apologists for the general theory of relativity tried to find a refutation of Logunov’s arguments, to catch him on a mistake, the existence of which they did not doubt. But they retreated after his detailed answers.
It turned out that Logunov is a bold academician who is able to oppose conventional wisdom. It is precisely such personalities that are disastrously lacking in modern science in general and physics in particular. Having decided on this conclusion, Academician Logunov paid a very high price, incurring the wrath of supporters of an orthodox interpretation of the theory of relativity. It is fundamentally important that the eminent academician returned to GR, to gravity, the physical gravitational field.
Educational activities
Academician Logunov - rector of Moscow State University from 1972 to 1992. In this field, Anatoly Alekseevich established himself as an excellent organizer and teacher. He consistently and persistently upheld the idea of a certain independence of the university in order to depend less on decisions, directives, instructions of higher authorities that have no relation to science and pedagogy. It is amazing that in the turbulent waves of such an active scientific life, this man did not for a moment let his brainchild - IHEP - out of sight.
Unfortunately, Logunov Anatoly Alekseevich left this world on March 1, 2015, at 89 years of age.