He had unquestionable authority, both in science and everyday life
News, 21 August 2024
21 August marks the 115th anniversary of the birth of Nikolay N. Bogoliubov, an outstanding scientist, one of the founding fathers of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, and its director for 24 years. His exceptional personality and the large number of widely recognised scientific papers he wrote throughout his life amazed his contemporaries and are an inspiration for many to this day. Nadezhda S. Isaeva, who worked as Nikolay Bogoliubov’s secretary for many years and is now an employee of the Laboratory of Theoretical Physics at JINR, shared her memories, adding strokes to the portrait of the researcher.
Nadezhda S. Isaeva
She admitted to still feel the influence of this amazing person. “I considered the Laboratory of Theoretical Physics to be my number one home, and Nikolay Bogoliubov to be the number one person in my life. He had unquestionable authority, both in science and everyday life,” Nadezhda Isaeva says.
As the director of the Institute, Nikolay Bogoliubov proved to be an extremely active, strong-willed, and skillful organizer, though all issues were resolved through trust. He didn’t like the administrative part of the job.
N. N. Bogoliubov had not only exceptional intelligence, but exceptional ethics as well, always saying the right thing. What made him stand out was also a remarkably calm, wise, and somewhat ironic attitude to life. He had a surprising, phenomenal ability to respond with witty concise remarks, sometimes in one word, in conversations not only on scientific, but on secular topics. “You would talk to him and realise he still had more to say,” Nadezhda Isaeva notes. Only once in all the years did the secretary see him lose his emotional balance, when an important scientific work was not sent to the publisher at the appointed time.
Despite his outstanding personality and serious job titles, he remained friendly, cheerful, and modest in relations and life. He believed that fame was useless and did not accept anything into his life that could interfere with his work. He even worked on weekends, and on weekdays he left the Laboratory at very different times, sometimes at eight or nine in the evening. “When he was leaving, I would accompany him to the door. From there, young employees would take a walk with him all the way to his house, discussing physics. And I had to go to his office to check if everything was okay. He never left papers scattered on his desk. Everything at his home was in order as well,” Nadezhda Isaeva said.
After seeing off the boss in the evening, young employees would visit his house. “We lived on the Ingenernaya Street, and I would sometimes walk through the Mir Square at 10 or 11 PM and see them coming out. “Where were you at? – Oh, Nadia (short for Nadezhda). – A bit more detail? – Same old, same old. Sorry, we don’t even have time to talk. By morning we have to count this, this, and this.” He would say: “Give it some more thought. Let’s discuss it at the Laboratory in the morning,” Nadezhda Isaeva quotes.
Nikolay Bogoliubov was not a stay-at-home person. He enjoyed taking walks along the embankment, not alone, but usually accompanied by his colleagues who came to the Institute or by his students who he spoke to as equals.
He never brought up family issues, neither at work not anywhere else. At the same time, he remained very open. The doors to his office were never locked. “Sometimes during the working day he would come to me and say: “Nadia, how about a smoke?” It meant he had some free time, and I should make him a cup of tea. He would sit at his desk, and I would sit on the other side, as quiet as a mouse. And he would start telling me something, smoking his cigarette. And when he put the cigarette down, I would take the tea cup, sometimes still full, and take it away,” Nadezhda Isaeva said.
The memorial office of Academician N. N. Bogoliubov at BLTP. Left to right: President of the Georgian Academy of Sciences A. N. Tavkhelidze, BLTP JINR employee N. S. Isaeva, IHEP Director, Academician A. Logunov, BLTP Director, Academician D. V. Shirkov, 1994
Becoming Nikolay Bogoliubov’s student was challenging, but if you did, all doors would be open to you in terms of science. He ensured strict selection of young applicants. “The faith and trust he had for his students helped them grow into renowned scientists. But it took time for him to become your teacher,” Nadezhda Isaeva notes. The graduate applicant first had to personally present the results of their work to Nikolay Bogoliubov, who would offer a different perspective. Then, after a second meeting, they had to speak at several scientific seminars and get the approval of the heads of the sector they applied to. And the audience was numerous, including at least all the Laboratory’s researchers whose scientific interests are related to the topic of the seminar, and everyone could make a comment. As a result, the student’s paper would be reworked several times. Thanks to such conversations held with each applicant, every employee was a skilled scientist, with many of them going on to make world-scale scientific discoveries and playing key organizational roles in the scientific community.
Speaking about what the younger generation of researchers can take an example from Nikolay Bogoliubov, Nadezhda Isaeva said: “The most important one is being in love with what you do. I did fall in love with my work, and this love only grew the more I worked with Nikolay Bogoliubov.