The Head of State tasked the government and the presidential administration with creating a mechanism for the mandatory continuation of promising research
Photo: REUTERS.
On Thursday morning, Vladimir Putin visited the Joint Nuclear Research Institute, located in the north of the Moscow region, in Dubna. The President was shown the technical launch of the new collider (it belongs to the NICA complex). It is an accelerator that allows particles to collide at speeds close to that of light; With the help of these facilities, scientists simulate the conditions of the Big Bang to better understand the nature of our universe.
– In very simple language, this is actually a kind of time machine. That is, we want to understand how and what happened in the early universe,” the director of the institute, Grigori Trubnikov, figuratively told the head of the country.
– How was the universe formed? Well, not the universe, but matter,” Vladimir Vladimirovich immediately asked with knowledge of the matter.
The trajectory of the particles passing through the collider is corrected by a magnetic field. The installation uses special magnets cooled with boiling helium. This is a unique Russian technology that has received recognition all over the world.
After a tour of the collider, Putin met with young nuclear scientists. He reminded them that the decision to build a particle accelerator was made 13 years ago.
– And in general, (the project – Ed.) is developing successfully, including thanks to the interaction of scientific colleagues from almost all over the world. Unfortunately, due to circumstances known to all, failures occurred. But we are coping with these failures, even though the project is moving slightly to the right, – said Vladimir Vladimirovich.
The conversation between the head of the country and the physicists lasted about an hour. Here are the most interesting topics:
* The idea of mega-grants for science has been justified. Let us remember that we are talking about multimillion-dollar payments to world-famous scientists so that they can carry out their scientific activities in our laboratories.
“After we started this work (at the beginning of the megagrant program – Ed.) <...> in 2010 <...>“It really gave a very good result,” evaluated the president. – This program worked: 345 laboratories.
* The President added that our science is open to everyone.
– We don’t close anything, we don’t hide anything, we don’t block anything. “We are open to cooperation, to taking advantage of the achievements obtained thanks to their work,” said the head of the country.
Let us keep in mind that now not a single truly large scientific project, nor a single country, can achieve this alone. The challenges facing scientists are such that it is simply impossible to bring together the best of the best in one place. There is almost always someone at another university who knows the subject better. A good example: the Dubna collider or the thermonuclear reactor in France. To create them, scientists from all over the world have to come together.
* Putin supported the return of Russian scientists from foreign research centers.
– We, of course, are interested in those Russian researchers, specialists who worked somewhere in foreign centers and are released for various reasons… Of course, we want people like you, great specialists, to be here not only to find themselves, but also to work in the interests of the development of science and production in the country. “This is a task,” said Vladimir Vladimirovich.
* Promising scientific achievements should become a “springboard” for future conditions.
– Funds invested, results obtained. This should not remain at that level, well, even if it is high, it should remain and little by little, sorry, disappear,” emphasized the head of the country.
The Head of State immediately ordered the government and the presidential administration to create a mechanism for the mandatory continuation of promising research that produces good results.
