On 14 December 2024, the JINR Mir Cultural Centre hosted the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Dzhelepov Laboratory of Nuclear Problems at JINR, an event of historical significance not only for DLNP employees and veterans, but also for the entire Joint Institute. 14 December 1949 marked the launch of Dubna’s first accelerator, the Synchrocyclotron of the Hydrotechnical Laboratory of the USSR Academy of Sciences, which became DLNP JINR seven years later. This historical fact preceded the creation of both the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research and its residence city.

On this day, the Laboratory’s employees and veterans, along with colleagues from other scientific centres, gathered to congratulate each other on the anniversary.

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Director of the Laboratory of Nuclear Problems Evgeny Yakushev welcomed the audience and noted that throughout the years, the Laboratory has made a significant contribution to developing JINR’s international relations, establishing Member States’ physics schools, educating researchers, and exchanging accumulated knowledge with the world’s leading scientific centres. He pointed out that scientists are the foundation of research, and DLNP has always had outstanding scientists from all over the world.

“Much has been discovered in physics over the 75 years since the launch of the first accelerator. My heart swells with pride when I think about the accomplishments and achievements of human thought in which our team was directly involved. Much of the modern physics’ understanding of the world, the nature of things, is largely determined by the research carried out in our Laboratory, at our Institute, or with our participation in radiobiology and nuclear, strong and weak interaction, and neutrino physics,” Evgeny Yakushev summarised. The DLNP Director expressed gratitude to all veterans of the Laboratory who were directly involved in its scientific achievements, from measuring the cross-section of nuclear reactions in Laboratory’s first years to establishing the latest world-class facilities such as the Baikal neutrino telescope.

Evgeny Yakushev noted that facilities such as a linear electron accelerator, a spectrometric cluster, and a new proton accelerator for medical and applied tasks are being prepared and commissioned at DLNP. “We are developing the cutting-edge SPD Detector for the NICA Collider. In addition, the DLNP team makes a significant contribution to world-leading projects such as ATLAS at CERN, JUNO in China, LEGEND in Italy, COMET in Japan, TAIGA in Russia, RICOCHET in France, and many others,” he stressed.

The DLNP Director presented an anniversary album of the Laboratory with historical and modern photographic materials collected by its employees. The photographs show the main stages of the development of the Laboratory and its large-scale experiments. By the New Year, every employee of the Laboratory will receive a copy of the photo album.

JINR Director Grigory Trubnikov addressed the Laboratory’s veterans: “The greatest happiness in life is not only to succeed in putting forward new ideas and being involved in big projects, but also to witness their results. On this day, I want to congratulate all the DLNP veterans on the great achievements that the laboratory has made in its long history,” he said.

“Today we celebrate the 75th anniversary of the birth of scientific Dubna and the Hydrotechnical Laboratory, which served as the foundation for the creation and development of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research. It took enormous efforts for the post-war country to not only manage to recover at remarkable pace, but also demonstrate its significant scientific advancements to the whole world. Large resources were allocated to scientific projects. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the global high-energy physics began here, in 1949, when the proton energy of 480 MeV was reached at the Synchrocyclotron, the accelerator with the highest energy in the world until 1952,” Grigory Trubnikov continued.

The JINR Director emphasised that Synchrocyclotron’s unique magnet was created in cooperation with several large institutes led by outstanding scientists. This 4.5 m electromagnet, the world’s largest at the time, contributed to fostering a hub of intellectual and engineering innovation in Dubna. 1957 marked the launch of another one of the world’s largest synchrophasotron magnets, and the two magnets became the focal point for international activities in Dubna.

“I congratulate the personnel of the Dzhelepov Laboratory of Nuclear Problems, all employees of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, and all Member States’ employees on this wonderful, beautiful anniversary, and I would like to wish all of us the right conditions to do world-class science here in Dubna in particle, high-energy, and nuclear physics,” Grigory Trubnikov concluded.

Dubna City District Head Maxim Tikhomirov wished the Laboratory’s employees success in achieving “the most ambitious, seemingly impossible, but definitely achievable goals” and noted that for many years, the Institute has been significantly contributing to the development of not only world science, but also its residence city.

AYSS JINR Chair, Deputy of the Dubna City District Council of Deputies, a DLNP JINR researcher Vladislav Rozhkov highlighted the Laboratory’s key role in shaping many scientific fields that have definen modern physics ever since the launch of the USSR’s first accelerator, the Synchrocyclotron. “The DLNP history is all about striving to understand the fundamental properties of matter and expand the boundaries of what is possible. The cornerstone of any scientific success is people. This success is impossible without the talent, hard work, and dedication of all those who devote their lives to doing science and developing the laboratories. Your enthusiasm and determination are an inspirational example for new generations of researchers,” Vladislav Rozhkov said.

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Leaders of other JINR laboratories congratulated the DLNP employees as well. “Our laboratory was established with the participation of the Laboratory of Nuclear Problems. DLNP provided us with a building that housed the famous BESM-6 and CDC 6500 Computers, which were used by all scientists of our Institute,” Scientific Leader of the Laboratory of Information Technologies Vladimir Korenkov said. “The Laboratory of Nuclear Problems is proud of its glorious past. Other speakers have already mentioned Meshcheryakov, Pontecorvo, and Dzhelepov. I would like to wish today’s generation of employees to live up to the legacy of these great people and continue to contribute to the development of the world science,” MLIT Director Sergei Shmatov said. “We are grateful for our laboratory having originated from DLNP, for you always providing us the opportunity to conduct experiments at your facilities,” Director of the Laboratory of Radiation Biology Aleksander Bugay said. “The Hydrotechnical Laboratory is where JINR’s theoretical physics began to develop even before the establishment of the Institute,” Director of the Laboratory of Theoretical Physics Dmitry Kazakov said. He noted that many renowned theoretical scientists had worked at the Hydrotechnical Laboratory even before the creation of JINR and BLTP.

Chief Scientific Officer of the Nevod Scientific and Educational Centre Anatoly Petrukhin congratulated the Laboratory on behalf of the National Research Nuclear University Moscow Engineering Physics Institute (MEPhI). He noted that MEPhI-DLNP JINR cooperation dates back 75 years as well, with graduates of the university having been working in the laboratory almost from the very day of its foundation.

Deputy Director for Scientific Work at the Institute for Nuclear Research (INR) of the Russian Academy of Sciences Grigory Rubtsov stressed that the Laboratory of Nuclear Problems established a high standard in fundamental nuclear physics research in the USSR and continues to foster the emergence of new ideas, directions, and world-leading scientists. INR and DLNP have joint neutrino projects with the direct participation of DLNP employees: the Baikal-GVD Telescope and the Baksan Neutrino Observatory.

DLNP Deputy Director, Chair of the Dzhelepov and Pontecorvo Prize Committee Alexey Guskov presented diplomas to the 2024 awardees. The Dzhelepov Prize was given to an engineer Elena Kurakina for her contribution to developing methods of obtaining radiopharmaceuticals and a researcher Vladislav Rozhkov for his contribution to developing methods of computer diagnostics of diseases. The Pontecorvo Prize was awarded to a researcher Andrey Gridin for his contribution to studying the internal structure and properties of J/ψ mesons.

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During the celebration, 34 Laboratory employees received departmental, municipal, and regional awards. Five scientists became Institute’s honorary employees.

Awardee list

The event featured the premiere of a video about the Laboratory’s history prepared by the DLNP Scientific Communications Group.

“Today, we look back on the past 75 years with pride and discuss our future with optimism. It’s not merely because we have every reason to feel this way; pessimism is just not something we are familiar with,” the host Mark Shirchenko concluded.

At the end of the event, employees and veterans of the Laboratory received a musical gift, a concert by the MEPhI Academic Male Choir.