Merekov Yuri Pavlovich (09.01.1933—02.01.2021)
Yu. P. Merekov was born on 9 January 1933 in Votkinsk. After school, he was enrolled at Moscow State University, the Faculty of Physics and Technology. After graduating from the university in 1955, he was employed at Design Office-11 in Arzamas-16 where Yu. P. Merekov was appointed an engineer. Two years later, he went to JINR and continued working at the Laboratory of Nuclear Problems till his last days.
He was involved into the first experiments at the synchrophasotron which had been just commissioned at that time in Dubna, and also into development of the project on the 5-metre liquid hydrogen bubble chamber. Since 1962, Yu. P. Merekov was engaged in elaboration of the processing methodology for data taken from PK-200, a one-metre propane bubble chamber, the largest at JINR at that time. This required programming and PC operating skills which he acquired on his own and from then on, used them in his scientific activities.
In one of the first experiments at the accelerator in Serpukhov (searching for heavy particles and antinuclei), Yu. P. Merekov challenged himself with a pioneering task—to ensure the online operation. As a result, a new antinucleus, antitritium, was observed, and the upper estimate of the yield of long-lived heavy charged particles in proton—nucleus collisions at the energy of 70 GeV was set. The degree of Candidate of Sciences (in Physics and Mathematics) conferred to Yu. P. Merekov in 1975 arose from this work. Later, he used his experience in experiments at the RISK facility in Protvino.
In 1998, he studied hyperon polarization in neutrino interactions in the NOMAD experiment at CERN. Yu. P. Merekov, a senior researcher, became a laureate of the 2002 JINR Prize. The period of 1999—2008 can be deemed as the most prolific in the scientific life of Yu. P. Merekov. He was engaged as a member of the EDCB group into the upgrade of one of the largest elementary particle detectors at the Tevatron collider (USA), a D0 detector. Over the last years, Yu. P. Merekov spent a lot of time studying the history of high-energy physics. Unfortunately, his last paper about L. Alvarez and B. Maglich was left unfinished.
Yuri Pavlovich stood out through his exceptional persistence in pursuing his goals and high quality of standards for research conducted under his leadership or with his participation. He was very sociable and friendly, experienced and knowledgeable. He gladly shared his wisdom with colleagues. His bright personality will stay forever in memories of those who knew him.
DLNP Directorate, EDCB team, friends and colleagues
