The official founding date of the Lebedev Physical Institute of the Academy of Sciences (FIAN) is April 28, 1934.
On this day, the General Assembly of the USSR Academy of Sciences passed a resolution to divide the V.A. Steklov
Physico-Mathematical Institute into two separate entities: the Institute of Mathematics and the Institute of Physics.
Simultaneously, the Theory Department was established within the Institute of Physics. Academician Sergey Ivanovich Vavilov,
the first director of the Physical Institute, invited Igor Evgenyevich Tamm—the leader of the Moscow school of theoretical
physics—to head the department. I.E. Tamm assumed leadership of the Theory Department on October 15, 1934, a date now recognized
as the department's official birthday.
The initial period of the department's history was relatively brief, lasting from its creation until 1938, when the department was
disbanded and its staff members were reassigned to various experimental divisions. For more details regarding the first decade of the
Theory Department, please refer to the historical essay by B.M. Bolotovsky [pdf file].
During its early years, the Theory Department comprised the following members:
I.E. Tamm – Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Senior Specialist, Head of the Department (Moscow);
V.A. Fock – Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Senior Specialist (Leningrad);
Yu.A. Krutkov – Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Senior Specialist (Leningrad);
M.A. Leontovich – Professor, Senior Specialist (Moscow);
Yu.B. Rumer – Professor, Senior Specialist (Moscow);
M.P. Bronstein – Senior Specialist (Leningrad);
K.B. Nikolsky – Senior Specialist (Leningrad);
M.A. Markov – Research Fellow, 1st Class (Moscow);
D.I. Blokhintsev – Research Fellow, 1st Class (Moscow).
The Leningrad-based scientists periodically traveled to Moscow for scientific collaboration. The positions held by the staff—Senior Specialist and Research Fellow, 1st Class—corresponded to the administrative classification of that era. Reflecting on the events of that period, it is evident that this was an exceptionally distinguished team. The senior members (senior in age rather than just title) were already world-renowned scientists at the peak of their professional careers.
During the first few years following the establishment of the Theory Department, its members produced seminal works across various fields of theoretical physics, including quantum mechanics and quantum electrodynamics (V.A. Fock), special and general relativity, and classical electrodynamics. In 1937, I.E. Tamm and I.M. Frank provided a complete theoretical explanation of Vavilov-Cherenkov radiation—a phenomenon previously discovered within the walls of FIAN.
Twenty years later, in 1958, I.E. Tamm, I.M. Frank, and P.A. Cherenkov were awarded the Nobel Prize for the discovery and interpretation of this effect. Additionally, M.P. Bronstein’sresearch on the quantum theory of gravitation established an entirely new direction in theoretical physics.
In 1934, I.E. Tamm published an article in the journal Nature attempting to explain the forces acting between a neutron and a proton—the so-called beta-forces. Tamm’s hypothesis—that nuclear interactions are mediated by the exchange of specific particles—proved exceptionally fruitful. A few years later, building upon Tamm’s work, the Japanese theorist Hideki Yukawa predicted the existence of particles whose exchange produces nuclear forces. As Yukawa demonstrated, the mass of these particles was hundreds of times greater than that of an electron. By the late 1940s, Yukawa’s hypothesis received experimental confirmation (with the discovery of the pi-meson), and he was awarded the Nobel Prize. Igor Evgenyevich considered his work on beta-forces to be among his finest achievements.
However, in 1937–1938, only three years after the department's creation, its very existence was jeopardized. These were the years of Great Purge (mass repressions). Millions were subjected to arrest and imprisonment on unfounded political charges. This wave of repression did not spare the staff of the Theory Department.
Over the course of just over a year, four members were arrested: V.A. Fock, M.P. Bronstein, Yu.A. Krutkov, and Yu.B. Rumer. Thanks to the intervention of P.L. Kapitsa, V.A. Fock spent only a week in prison before being released. Bronstein, however, was sentenced to death, and the sentence was carried out. Krutkov and Rumer were sentenced to ten years of imprisonment and served their full terms. These individuals were arrested on political charges that were entirely baseless, and all were later fully rehabilitated. At the time, however, the Theory Department fell under suspicion of "disloyalty." People arrested on political charges were declared "enemies of the people" even before trial. Consequently, it appeared as though a significant portion of the Theoretical Department’s staff were "enemies of the people.»
Suspicion also fell upon the Head of the Theory Department, Igor Evgenyevich Tamm. At the time, he was a professor at the Physics Faculty of
Moscow State University (MSU), where the post of Dean was held by Professor Boris Mikhailovich Hessen. Tamm and Hessen were from the same
hometown and had been friends since their youth. Hessen was also arrested, declared an "enemy of the people," and executed. During the same
period, Igor Evgenyevich's brother, Leonid Evgenyevich Tamm—a prominent chemical engineer and Chief Engineer of the massive Novomoskovsk
Chemical Plant—was arrested. All charges were, of course, fabricated; nevertheless, L.E. Tamm was sentenced to ten years in labor camps and
perished without a trace. All this made Igor Evgenyevich’s position extremely precarious. Indeed, how could the official authorities view
him when his close friend, his own brother, and many of his subordinates were all branded "enemies of the people"?
The remaining staff of the Theory Department faced no less danger. Consequently, measures were taken within the institute to protect those
employees who were still free from the threat of arrest.
On May 7, 1938, a meeting of the FIAN Scientific Council was held. The Council noted an "unhealthy social environment," citing it as the
reason for the presence of such staff members as Yu.B. Rumer. It was resolved to abolish the Theory Department as a structural unit and to
reassign the theorists to various experimental laboratories. This decision was implemented, and no further theorists were arrested.
The Theoretical Department formally ceased to exist for five years. It was only in late 1943, during the Great Patriotic War, that the
theoretical physicists dispersed among the laboratories were reunited into the FIAN Theory Department, once again headed by I.E. Tamm.
However, even during the years when the department did not formally exist, the theorists maintained close contact with one another and
with Igor Evgenyevich as their senior and respected colleague, and the theoretical seminar continued its work.
During the several years when the Theory Department did not formally exist, the FIAN theorists still considered themselves its members.
Specifically, in 1938, upon completing his postgraduate studies at Moscow State University, the 26-year-old theorist Evgeny Lvovich
Feinberg — a former student of Igor Evgenyevich Tamm at the MSU Physics Faculty—joined the FIAN staff. Two years later, in the autumn of
1940, Vitaly Lazarevich Ginzburg, who had defended his candidate's dissertation at MSU a year earlier, enrolled in the doctoral program at FIAN.
Igor Evgenyevich Tamm became his supervisor. Their scientific collaboration had begun as early as 1938, when Tamm headed the Department of
Theoretical Physics at MSU, and Ginzburg was a postgraduate student in the Department of Optics under Grigory Samuilovich Landsberg.
(Ginzburg’s initial supervisor was S.M. Levi, a spectroscopist from Germany working in Landsberg’s department). In conversation, Vitaly
Lazarevich Ginzburg always linked this date—1940—to the time he joined the FIAN Theoretical Department. According to Evgeny Lvovich Feinberg,
the decision to disband the department was a strategic move intended to deflect the threat from the theorists. Formally, the department did
not exist; however, in practice, it remained fully intact and continued its prolific work.
In June 1941, the Great Patriotic War began. A month later, FIAN was evacuated to Kazan. Living conditions were harsh. While Kazan University
welcomed the Muscovites with great hospitality, the local physicists were also facing difficult working and living conditions. As the war
progressed, it became vital to apply physical discoveries to the production of armaments, the creation of new weapons, and the development
of communication systems. At that time, many believed—with good reason—that physicists should prioritize applications that directly aided
the front lines. The scientists at FIAN carried out extensive work in this direction.
Despite the hospitality shown by the Kazan physicists, the conditions for scientific research remained extremely challenging.
But how could theorists specializing in nuclear physics and elementary particles aid the front? Igor Evgenyevich was deeply concerned that his field
of expertise had no immediate practical application at the time. Consequently, he took on tasks that could be put to use straight away.
For instance, in collaboration with A.P. Alexandrov, Tamm undertook the calculation of magnetic fields generated by massive ships in
water—calculations essential for protection against magnetic mines. Together with V.L. Ginzburg, he also investigated the electromagnetic
properties of laminated cores at high frequencies, which were intended for use in antennas. However, while these works held definite practical
value, they did not engage Igor Evgenyevich as deeply as the theory of nuclear forces and the physics of the atomic nucleus and elementary particles.
He devoted all his time outside of applied calculations to these fundamental questions. A few years later, it became strikingly clear that the
research with which Igor Evgenyevich filled his "spare time" was far more critical and held incomparably greater significance than, for example,
calculating the magnetic field of a ship, important as that might have been.
In their eagerness to help the front, physicists occasionally took on tasks that proved impractical. E.L. Feinberg, in his memoirs, mentions
that M.A. Markov attempted to find the optimal shape for anti-tank shells, though this search yielded no definitive results. Feinberg himself,
along with Vladimir Iosifovich Veksler, worked on developing a device to determine the coordinates of an aircraft by the sound of its engine.
Ultimately, radar proved far more effective, and work on acoustic aircraft location was discontinued. Nevertheless, acoustic location in
water—using hydrophone systems—later found widespread application.
As previously mentioned, the Theory Department was formally reinstated in late 1943. It is likely that the institute’s leadership concluded the
danger to Igor Evgenyevich had passed. Given the challenges facing the Soviet Union at that time, the official restoration of the Theory Department
was more than timely. Science was becoming increasingly vital and sought-after—specifically the kind of science pursued by Igor Evgenyevich Tamm.
The Soviet Union was exerting every effort in the struggle against the Nazi invaders, and the long-awaited victory was beginning to take shape.
Meanwhile, in the United States, large-scale work was already well underway to create the atomic bomb—a weapon of unprecedented destructive power.
In the spring of 1945, Igor Evgenyevich Tamm gained a new student: Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov, an engineer from the Ulyanovsk Munitions Plant.
Sakharov had graduated from the MSU Physics Faculty in 1942 as one of the top students in his class. Although he was offered a position at the
university to prepare for a professorship, he declined, wishing instead to engage in work that would provide direct assistance to the front.
This led him to the munitions factory, where his contributions were significant; the instruments he developed for quality control of armor-piercing
cartridges were later featured in weaponry textbooks. However, as the war drew to a close, the desire to pursue "pure" or "abstract" science brought
Sakharov to Tamm at FIAN. The word "abstract" is used here cautiously, as science is rarely truly detached from reality. At the very least,
the field of nuclear physics—which until recently had seemed purely theoretical—was already promising vital applications, both peaceful
(such as power reactors) and military.
Andrei Dmitrievich recalled that Tamm had a map of Europe on his wall with the front line marked by small flags. Those flags were already
approaching Berlin.
Igor Evgenyevich took a liking to the young man. Great effort was required to transfer Sakharov from Ulyanovsk to FIAN, as the factory was
reluctant to let go of such a highly valued engineer. Ultimately, however, Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov enrolled as a postgraduate student
under Igor Evgenyevich Tamm.
Thus, within the FIAN Theoretical Department, a group of physicists was forming—a group destined, a few years later, to play a crucial role in the
creation of the hydrogen bomb and, in doing so, to spare humanity from the threat of a Third World War for many decades to come
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