On 31 October 2022, Director of the Dzhelepov Laboratory of Nuclear Problems, Doctor of Physics and Mathematics Vadim Alexandrovich Bednyakov turns 65.

In 1981, he graduated from the MSU Faculty of Physics with honours and was assigned as a trainee researcher to the Theoretical Sector of the Department of Particle Physics of the Laboratory of Nuclear Problems. In 1983, he became a junior researcher. In 1985, he defended his candidate dissertation, and since 2001 he headed this Sector.

In 1999, V. A. Bednyakov obtained a degree of Doctor of Physics and Mathematics for research in the fields of particle physics beyond the Standard Model, neutrino and dark matter physics. His scientific papers on the detection of galactic dark matter particles on Earth and in space became well known worldwide. Vadim Aleksandrovich is an author of above 500 scientific papers and a number of popular science articles. He translated textbooks on non-accelerator physics and astrophysics into Russian.

Since 2004, V. A. Bednyakov is in charge of the participation of JINR staff in physical research at the ATLAS facility, which successfully operates at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. At present, he is Leader of the JINR topic on ATLAS and the JINR group of the ATLAS collaboration.

Over 15 years, Vadim Aleksandrovich successfully acted as DLNP Scientific Secretary. While being a DLNP Deputy Director of Science over several years, he combined his activity with the position of the JINR Deputy Chief Scientific Secretary. In 2012, he was appointed Scientific Secretary of the Scientific Council on Neutrino Physics and Neutrino Astrophysics of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS).

In 2013, he was elected Director of the Dzhelepov Laboratory of Nuclear Problems, and he has continued successfully holding this post up to the present day. During his time as DLNP Director, the Baikal-GVD deep-underwater neutrino telescope on Lake Baikal became a new basic facility of the Institute.

Vadim Aleksandrovich was a laureate of the JINR Prize five times (in 1985, 1999, 2005, 2016 (twice)). He was awarded the Labour Merit Badge “Veteran of Atomic Engineering and Industry” (2007), the Certificate of Honour of the Russian State Corporation on Atomic Energy Rosatom (2009), the Certificate of Honour and the Medal of the Moscow Region Government (2013), and Certificates of Honour (2012) of JINR and the Dubna Administration (2013, 2015).

V. A. Bednyakov is a Member of the Organizing Committee of a series of international conferences on new physics in non-accelerator experiments (NANP) and Chief Editor of their proceedings. He is also a Member of the Editorial Board of the journals “Physics of Atomic Nuclei” and “Physics of Elementary Particles and Atomic Nuclei”. In addition, he is a referee in a number of prestigious international scientific journals, and an expert of RFBR and RSF.

Current scientific interests of V. A. Bednyakov are mainly focused on particle physics, neutrino physics, and astrophysics. In cooperation with his colleagues, he has developed a new approach for describing coherent scattering of neutrinos, antineutrinos, and heavy neutral leptons (dark matter particles) off nuclei. Two large reviews on this topic were published in the Physics of Elementary Particles and Atomic Nuclei journal.

On the anniversary of Vadim Bednyakov, the JINR Publishing Department issued his book “Science is Defender”. The book includes popular science articles by Vadim Alexandrovich written by him in different periods of his life both on the most burning issues of the day and in order to understand the importance of science in the modern world. In the book, the author reflects on the results of scientific research and concludes that it is equally important for humankind to develop a scientific picture of the world and to create a foundation for a comfortable and safe life on our planet.

Many-year administrative experience, profound theoretical education, and wide scientific interests allow V. A. Bednyakov to successfully combine research and science organizational activities.

JINR Directorate, colleagues, and friends warmly congratulate Vadim Alexandrovich on his jubilee and wish him health, happiness, and every success!