On 15 January, Dezső Kiss was born (15.01.1929 – 24.06.2001). He was the third JINR Director, a citizen of the Republic of Hungary, an outstanding physicist and an organizer of science, Doctor of Physics and Mathematics, Academician of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

Dezső Kiss graduated from the University of Debrecen (1952), defended his doctoral dissertation at the Central Research Institute for Physics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (CRIP HAS), where he began working as a graduate student. He carried out his scientific activities at the Laboratory of Neutron Physics JINR in 1960-1963, the Niels Bohr Institute (Denmark) in 1967-1969, CERN in 1975-1976. After that, he became JINR Vice-Director (1976-1979). Then, he held the post of Deputy Director General of the CRIP HAS (1979-1989). In 1989-1992, in times of profound changes in Russia, which were difficult for the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dezső Kiss was the JINR Director. At that time, he set the course for the preservation of the intellectual and material potential of the Institute, focusing resources on the most promising areas of scientific research, thereby greatly contributing to the preservation of JINR. Later, since 1992, Academician Kiss was JINR Honorary Director, a member of the editorial board of the journal “Physics of Elementary Particles and Atomic Nuclei”.

Dezső Kiss received the highest awards of the USSR and the Hungarian People’s Republic for labour achievements. He was also the President of the Eotvos Physical Society.

His research covered experimental particle physics and physics of atomic nuclei, neutrino physics. Dezső Kiss authored the book “Introduction to experimental particle physics” (jointly with A. L. Luibimov), the book “Neutron Physics” (jointly with P. Kvittner), the book “Experimental Nuclear Physics: University Textbook” (in Hungarian).

Dezső Kiss together with Tsvetan Vylov greatly contributed to the development of the Scientific and Experimental Department of Nuclear Spectroscopy and Radiochemistry at the Laboratory of Nuclear Problems, which is nowadays engaged in the megascience project Baikal-GVD, as well as to the establishment of neutrino research at JINR.

In the proto (from left to right): JINR Director Academician D. D. Kiss and Academician A. A. Logunov, 21 August 1989. Photo by Yu. A. Tumanov