Joint Institute for Nuclear Research
03.02.2023

“The Gist of His Life Was His Work”

“After graduating from a nine-year school in the provincial town of Soligalich, he worked as an electrician for two years. In 1937, he graduated from the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute in specialty Nuclear Physics. In 1937−1941, he served in the army, and in 1939, while being demobilized, he participated in the launch of the first cyclotron in Europe at the Radium Institute under the guidance of I. V. Kurchatov. In 1943, he was part of the group consisting of ten scientists headed by I. V. Kurchatov, the first staff members of a new nuclear centre Laboratory No 2 of the AS of the USSR (now the Kurchatov Institute). There were A. I. Alikhanov, G. N. Flerov and other renowned physicists in this group. In 1948, he was assigned a deputy director of the Hydrotechnical Laboratory of the AS of the USSR being established in Dubna, the future JINR Laboratory of Nuclear Problems which he headed in 1956. For over thirty years, he was its director.”

These are the milestones of the life of Venedikt Petrovich Dzhelepov. The 12th day of April will mark his 110th anniversary. Being an outstanding science administrator, born leader, gifted physicist, Venedikt Petrovich will remain forever in grateful memories of his colleagues and collaborators. He took an active part in the construction of the first basic facility of the future JINR, the synchrocyclotron. Later, he led the reconstruction of this accelerator: its conversion into a high-current accelerator. V. P. Dzhelepov determined the main lines of LNP research, including in neutrino physics and medical radiobiology, the structure of the laboratory, its traditions and working atmosphere.

On the eve of the anniversary of this scientist, the DLNP Group of Scientific Communication will share some short stories about the first director of our Laboratory. The texts will be published on the DLNP website on Fridays.