Nobel laureates: Pyotr Kapitsa. Peter Kapitsa short biography

Soviet physicist Pyotr Leonidovich Kapitsa was born in the Kronstadt naval fortress, located on an island in the Gulf of Finland near St. Petersburg, where his father Leonid Petrovich Kapitsa, lieutenant general of the engineering corps, served. K.'s mother Olga Ieronimovna Kapitsa (Stebnitskaya) was a famous teacher and collector of folklore. After graduating from high school in Kronstadt, K. entered the faculty of electrical engineers at the St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute, from which he graduated in 1918. For the next three years he taught at the same institute. Under the leadership of A.F. Ioffe, who was the first in Russia to begin research in the field of atomic physics, K., together with his classmate Nikolai Semenov, developed a method for measuring the magnetic moment of an atom in a non-uniform magnetic field, which was improved in 1921 by Otto Stern.

K.'s student years and the beginning of his teaching work coincided with the October Revolution and civil war. It was a time of disaster, famine and epidemics. During one of these epidemics, K.’s young wife, Nadezhda Chernosvitova, whom they married in 1916, and their two young children died. Joffe insisted that K. needed to go abroad, but the revolutionary government did not give permission for this until Maxim Gorky, the most influential Russian writer at that time, intervened in the matter. In 1921, K. was allowed to travel to England, where he became an employee of Ernest Rutherford, who worked at the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge. K. quickly gained Rutherford's respect and became his friend.

The first studies carried out by K. in Cambridge were devoted to the deflection of alpha and beta particles emitted by radioactive nuclei in a magnetic field. Experiments pushed him to create powerful electromagnets. By discharging an electric battery through a small coil of copper wire (a short circuit occurred), K. managed to obtain magnetic fields that were 6-7 times greater than all previous ones. The discharge did not lead to overheating or mechanical destruction of the device, because its duration was only about 0.01 seconds.

The creation of unique equipment for measuring temperature effects associated with the influence of strong magnetic fields on the properties of matter, for example, magnetic resistance, led K. to the study of problems in physics low temperatures. To achieve such temperatures, it was necessary to have a large number liquefied gases. Developing fundamentally new refrigeration machines and installations, K. used all his remarkable talent as a physicist and engineer. The pinnacle of his creativity in this field was the creation in 1934 of an unusually productive installation for liquefying helium, which boils (transforms from a liquid state to a gaseous state) or liquefies (transforms from a gaseous state to a liquid state) at a temperature of about 4.3 K. Liquefaction of this gas was considered the most difficult. Liquid helium was first obtained in 1908 by the Dutch physicist Heike Kammerlingh-Onnes. But K.’s installation was capable of producing 2 liters of liquid helium per hour, whereas according to the Kammerling-Onnes method, it took several days to obtain a small amount of it with impurities. In K.'s installation, helium undergoes rapid expansion and cools before the heat of the environment has time to warm it; the expanded helium then enters the machine for further processing. K. also managed to overcome the problem of freezing of the lubricant of moving parts at low temperatures by using liquid helium itself for these purposes.

At Cambridge, K.'s scientific authority grew rapidly. He successfully moved up the levels of the academic hierarchy. In 1923, K. became a doctor of science and received the prestigious James Clerk Maxwell Fellowship. In 1924 he was appointed Deputy Director of the Cavendish Laboratory for Magnetic Research, and in 1925 he became a Fellow of Trinity College. In 1928, the USSR Academy of Sciences awarded K. the academic degree of Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences and in 1929 elected him as its corresponding member. The following year, K. becomes a research professor at the Royal Society of London. At the insistence of Rutherford, the Royal Society is building a new laboratory especially for K. It was named the Mond Laboratory in honor of the chemist and industrialist of German origin, Ludwig Mond, with whose funds, left in his will to the Royal Society of London, it was built. The opening of the laboratory took place in 1934. K. became its first director. But he was destined to work there for only one year.

The relationship between K. and the Soviet government has always been rather mysterious and incomprehensible. During his thirteen-year stay in England, K. returned several times to the Soviet Union with his second wife, née Anna Alekseevna Krylova, to give lectures, visit his mother and spend the holidays at some Russian resort. Soviet officials repeatedly approached him with a request to stay on permanent residence in the USSR. K. was interested in such proposals, but set certain conditions, in particular freedom of travel to the West, which is why the resolution of the issue was postponed. At the end of the summer of 1934, K. and his wife once again came to the Soviet Union, but when the couple prepared to return to England, it turned out that their exit visas had been cancelled. After a furious but useless clash with officials in Moscow, K. was forced to remain in his homeland, and his wife was allowed to return to England to their children. Somewhat later, Anna Alekseevna joined her husband in Moscow, and the children came after her. Rutherford and other friends of K. appealed to the Soviet government with a request to allow him to leave to continue work in England, but in vain.

In 1935, K. was offered to become director of the newly created Institute of Physical Problems of the USSR Academy of Sciences, but before giving consent, K. refused the proposed post for almost a year. Rutherford, resigned to the loss of his outstanding collaborator, allowed Soviet authorities buy equipment from Mond's laboratory and send it by sea to the USSR. Negotiations, transportation of equipment and its installation at the Institute of Physical Problems took several years.

K. resumed his research on low temperature physics, including the properties of liquid helium. He designed installations for liquefying other gases. In 1938, K. improved a small turbine that liquefied air very effectively. He was able to discover an extraordinary decrease in the viscosity of liquid helium when cooled to a temperature below 2.17 K, at which it transforms into a form called helium-2. The loss of viscosity allows it to flow freely through the smallest holes and even climb up the walls of the container, as if “not feeling” the action of gravity. The lack of viscosity is also accompanied by an increase in thermal conductivity. K. called the new phenomenon he discovered superfluidity.

Two of former colleagues K. by Cavendish Laboratory, J.F. Allen A.D. Misener performed similar studies. All three published papers presenting their findings in the same issue of the British journal Nature. K.'s 1938 paper and two other papers published in 1942 are among his most important works on low-temperature physics. K., who had an unusually high authority, boldly defended his views even during the purges carried out by Stalin in the late 30s. When Lev Landau, an employee of the Institute of Physical Problems, was arrested in 1938 on charges of spying for Nazi Germany, K. achieved his release. To do this, he had to go to the Kremlin and threaten to resign from his post as director of the institute if he refused.

In his reports to government commissioners, K. openly criticized those decisions that he considered incorrect. Little is known about K.'s activities during the Second World War in the West. In October 1941, he attracted public attention by warning about the possibility of creating an atomic bomb. He may have been the first physicist to make such a statement. Subsequently, K. denied his participation in the work on creating both atomic and hydrogen bombs. There is quite convincing data to support his claims. It is unclear, however, whether his refusal was motivated by moral considerations or a difference of opinion regarding the extent to which the proposed part of the project was consistent with the traditions and capabilities of the Institute for Physical Problems.

It is known that in 1945, when the Americans dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, and work on creating nuclear weapons began with even greater energy in the Soviet Union, K. was removed from his post as director of the institute and was under house arrest for eight years. He was deprived of the opportunity to communicate with his colleagues from other research institutes. He set up a small laboratory at his dacha and continued to do research. Two years after Stalin's death, in 1955, he was reinstated as director of the Institute of Physical Problems and remained in this position until the end of his life.

K.'s post-war scientific works covered a wide variety of areas of physics, including the hydrodynamics of thin layers of liquid and the nature of ball lightning, but his main interests focused on microwave generators and the study of various properties of plasma. Plasma is generally understood as gases heated to such a high temperature that their atoms lose electrons and become charged ions. Unlike neutral atoms and molecules of ordinary gas, ions are subject to large electric forces created by other ions, as well as electric and magnetic fields created by any external source. This is why plasma is sometimes considered a special form of matter. Plasma is used in fusion reactors operating at very high temperatures. high temperatures. In the 50s, while working on the creation of a microwave generator, K. discovered that high-intensity microwaves generate a clearly observable luminous discharge in helium. Measuring the temperature at the center of the helium discharge, he found that at a distance of several millimeters from the discharge boundary, the temperature changes by approximately 2,000,000K. This discovery formed the basis of the project fusion reactor with continuous plasma heating. It is possible that such a reactor will be simpler and cheaper than pulsed fusion reactors used in other fusion experiments.

In addition to his achievements in experimental physics, K. proved himself to be a brilliant administrator and educator. Under his leadership, the Institute of Physical Problems became one of the most productive and prestigious institutes of the USSR Academy of Sciences, attracting many of the country's leading physicists. K. took part in the creation of a research center near Novosibirsk - Akademgorodok, and a higher educational institution a new type - the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. Installations for liquefying gases built by K. were found wide application in industry. The use of oxygen extracted from liquid air for oxygen blasting produced a genuine revolution in the Soviet steel industry.

In his old age K., who had never been a member communist party, using all his authority, criticized the tendency in the Soviet Union to make judgments on scientific issues based on non-scientific grounds. He opposed the construction of a pulp and paper mill, which threatened to pollute wastewater Lake Baikal; condemned the measures taken by the CPSU in the mid-60s. an attempt to rehabilitate Stalin and, together with Andrei Sakharov and other representatives of the intelligentsia, signed a letter protesting the forced imprisonment of biologist Zhores Medvedev in a psychiatric hospital. K. was a member of the Soviet Committee of the Pugwash Movement for Peace and Disarmament. He also made several proposals on ways to overcome the alienation between Soviet and American sciences.

In 1965, for the first time after a break of more than thirty years, K. received permission to leave the Soviet Union for Denmark to receive the International Niels Bohr Gold Medal, awarded by the Danish Society of Civil, Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. There he visited scientific laboratories and gave a lecture on high-energy physics. In 1966, K. again visited England, in his old laboratories, and shared his memories of Rutherford in a speech he gave to members of the Royal Society of London. In 1969, K. and his wife made their first trip to the United States.

K. was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1978 “for fundamental inventions and discoveries in the field of low-temperature physics.” He shared his award with Arno A. Penzias and Robert W. Wilson. Introducing the laureates, Lamek Hulten from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences remarked: “K. stands before us as one of the greatest experimentalists of our time, an undeniable pioneer, leader and master in his field."

In 1927, during his stay in England, K. married a second time. His wife was Anna Alekseevna Krylova, the daughter of the famous shipbuilder, mechanic and mathematician Alexei Nikolaevich Krylov, who, on behalf of the government, was sent to England to oversee the construction of ships to order Soviet Russia. The Kapitsa couple had two sons. Both of them later became scientists. In his youth, while in Cambridge, K. drove a motorcycle, smoked a pipe and wore tweed suits. He retained his English habits throughout his life. In Moscow, next to the Institute of Physical Problems, a cottage in the English style was built for him. He ordered clothes and tobacco from England. In his spare time, K. liked to play chess and repair antique watches. He died on April 8, 1984.

K. was awarded many awards and honorary titles both in his homeland and in many countries around the world. He was an honorary doctorate from eleven universities on four continents, a member of many scientific societies, the Academy of the United States of America, the Soviet Union and most European countries, was the owner numerous awards and prizes for his scientific and political activity, including seven Orders of Lenin.

Nobel Prize laureates: Encyclopedia: Trans. from English – M.: Progress, 1992.
© The H.W. Wilson Company, 1987.
© Translation into Russian with additions, Progress Publishing House, 1992.

In the USSR, the name of academician Pyotr Leonidovich Kapitsa was well known, who received two Stalin Prizes one after another (1941 and 1943), was twice awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor (1945 and 1974), a Nobel Prize laureate (1978), almost permanently (since 1934). until his death in 1984, with the exception of a ten-year break in 1946-1955) director of the Institute of Physical Problems of the USSR Academy of Sciences, awarded many orders (he had six Orders of Lenin alone). If you do not pay attention to the break in the leadership of the institute (its reasons were not explained in Soviet literature and reference publications), Kapitsa appeared as a high-ranking figure of the scientific establishment, favored by the authorities under all communist rulers: Stalin, Khrushchev, Brezhnev.

And only from the late 80s did documents and memoirs begin to appear in the press, indicating that the scientist’s relationship with the Soviet rulers was by no means so cloudless, that he actively and courageously used his unique position as a brilliant physicist, whose research was urgently needed by the military. industrial complex, to protect their colleagues from the repressive machine, to criticize the evils of the system. Kapitsa was far from dissident. He did not, like A.D. Sakharov, openly challenge totalitarianism. His style was different: he combined courage and directness when it came to people of science arrested by the authorities, with pragmatism in relations with the authorities.

Our story, however, will be devoted to one, relatively short period in the life of a scientist - when he, having arrived in the USSR for a congress in 1934, was deprived of the opportunity to return to his laboratory. There are only mentions of this episode in Kapitsa’s life in the literature, although it was reflected in correspondence published in the West (see: “Kapitsa in Cambridge and Moscow: Life and Letters of a Russian Physicist”, Amsterdam, 1990).

In 1995, the magazine "Vestnik" published a bright article by Moses Kaganov with memories of P.L. Kapitsa and his institute and a selection of testimonies of people who knew the scientist closely (#15, pp. 41-51). But even in these materials, except for the monosyllabic mention of M. Kaganov, nothing is said about how, in fact, Pyotr Leonidovich was forced to stay in the USSR in 1934.

P.L. Kapitsa was born on July 9, 1894 in the family of a military engineer, colonel, and then a general of the Russian army (his father’s military titles were hidden in Soviet publications). Peter graduated from the Petrograd Polytechnic Institute in 1919, showing already in his student years the qualities of an outstanding scientist. In 1921 he managed to go abroad.

While in Great Britain, he turned to the famous physicist Ernest Rutherford with a request to accept him for an internship at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge. Rutherford initially refused, since the laboratory, according to him, was overcrowded with employees (there are already about 30 people). Then Kapitsa asked the master what accuracy he strives for in his experiments. “A 2-3 percent error is acceptable,” Rutherford replied. “In this case,” said Peter, “one extra researcher will not be noticeable; he will be absorbed by the permissible inaccuracy of the experiment.” The young scientist’s witty remark and relaxed manner, combined with his quite decent English, captivated Rutherford, so Kapitsa became his employee. Kapitsa often recalled this episode, but Rutherford forgot it. When the venerable scientist was asked what made him accept Kapitsa, he answered: “I don’t remember what exactly, but I’m very glad that I did it.”

Kapitsa worked in Cambridge for 13 years. Here he carried out a series of fundamental research, for which he received a Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1923. The young experimenter founded a scientific seminar in Cambridge in 1922, later called the Kapitsa Club. In 1925, he became deputy director of the Cavendish Laboratory, in 1926 he headed his own Magnetic Laboratory, and in 1930 he began construction of a powerful laboratory with funds bequeathed by the chemist and industrialist Ludwig Mond. This laboratory was inaugurated on February 3, 1933. On behalf of the University of Cambridge, it was “accepted” by the University Chancellor, the leader of the Conservative Party, Stanley Baldwin, who repeatedly served as Prime Minister.

Since 1926, Kapitsa often came to the USSR and returned to England without hindrance. In the Kremlin, he was considered a Soviet scientist who was on a “long trip abroad.” In 1929, Kapitsa was elected a full member of the Royal Society of London (this title is equivalent to an academic one in other countries). In the same year, he became a corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, as well as a consultant at the Ukrainian Institute of Physics and Technology (UPTI) in Kharkov (it was at this institute that A.K. Walter, A.I. Leipunsky and K.D. Sinelnikov in 1935 -1936 a linear electron accelerator was created and the first experimental splitting of an atomic nucleus was carried out). In the fall of 1929, having arrived in the USSR once again, Kapitsa spent about two weeks in Kharkov, where he lectured and gave consultations at the UPTI. In 1932 and 1933 he again visited Moscow, Leningrad and Kharkov, after which he returned to Cambridge.

Nothing foreshadowed a thunderstorm when, on September 1, 1934, Pyotr Leonidovich again came to the USSR together with his wife Anna Alekseevna, the daughter of the famous academician, mathematician and mechanic A.N. Krylov, to participate in the Mendeleev Congress. British friends warned Peter that his exceptional position could not continue indefinitely. But the scientist did not heed these words.

This time, the scientist’s every move was monitored by NKVD officers, who reported Kapitsa’s real and fictitious “anti-Soviet” statements to their superiors. There were also many informers among scientists. It should be noted that Kapitsa loved jokes, pranks, and, in short, making an impression. When he was once asked to give his home address, he replied: “England, Kapitsa.” Another time (in 1931), Kapitsa introduced the prominent Bolshevik figure N.I. Bukharin, who visited him in Cambridge, as “Comrade Bukharin.”

It is quite understandable that even completely innocent jokes from the point of view of common sense were classified by the NKVD in reports to the party leadership as dangerous counter-revolutionary agitation.

Kapitsa's personality became the center of attention of Kremlin leaders. A special government commission was even formed (secretly, of course), which was to decide his fate. On September 16, this commission, chaired by V.V. Kuibyshev, a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, made a decision: “Based on the considerations that Kapitsa provides significant services to the British, informing them about the situation in science in the USSR, and also that he provides major services to English companies, including the military, by selling them his patents and working on their orders, to prohibit P.L. Kapitsa from leaving the USSR.” As we can see, the resolution essentially paid tribute to Kapitsa’s scientific potential, and at the same time there was not a word about his “anti-Sovietism.” The latter was kept in reserve, in case it was “necessary” to exert force on the scientist.

The USSR government instructed the Deputy People's Commissar of Heavy Industry G.L. Pyatakov (formerly a member of the united opposition of Trotsky and Zinoviev, and now a zealous Stalinist sycophant, which did not save him from execution in 1938) to inform Kapitsa about the decision and enter into negotiations with him about the conditions of his work in the USSR. On September 21, Kapitsa came to Moscow to meet with the Deputy People's Commissar, who hypocritically invited him to “consider the proposal” to stay in the USSR and get involved in scientific activities “for the benefit of socialist construction.” Kapitsa rejected the offer, saying that he had an interesting scientific work, an excellently equipped laboratory, the necessary staff of scientists, and that he was well-off financially. Pyatakov tried to send Kapitsa to a higher authority - to V.I. Mezhlauk, deputy chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and chairman of the State Planning Committee (the chairman of the government was V.M. Molotov). Kapitsa, however, did not go to Mezhlauk and returned to Leningrad that same evening.

But the hope that he would be left alone was in vain. Immediately upon his arrival in Leningrad, Kapitsa received a telegram about a summons to Mezhlauk. The scientist simply did not pay attention to her. However, threatening phone calls followed from the secretariat of the deputy chairman of the Council of People's Commissars. As a result, on September 25, Kapitsa, again interrupting his participation in the Mendeleev Congress, came to Moscow. This time they tried to make him understand that he was only a small fry compared to the government bigwigs: for two days, Molotov’s deputy “was busy” and did not receive Kapitsa, and only on the third day “he found time” to talk with the scientist. This meeting did not produce any practical results. Kapitsa again expressed his desire to return to work in Cambridge. Mezhlauk stated that the USSR government considers the scientist’s departure abroad “undesirable,” but agreed to a trip to the UK for his wife and two young sons - 6-year-old Sergei and 3-year-old Andrei (now both of them are famous scientists: S.P. Kapitsa is a physicist, and A.P. Kapitsa is a geographer).

Only gradually and not yet completely did P.L. Kapitsa begin to realize the realities of the totalitarian system. The scientist found himself in a trap. At times he fell into despair. The sexots reported his words: “You can force me to dig canals, build fortresses, you can take my body, but no one will take my spirit. And if they mock me, then I will quickly commit suicide in any way, I would rather put a bullet in my forehead ".

The attacks of despair, however, quickly passed. Kapitsa decided to turn to Rutherford and other major scientists, in particular, Paul Langevin and Albert Einstein, with a request to appear in the press demanding that he be given the opportunity to leave the USSR. This attempt did not produce significant results. The pro-Soviet Langevin simply did not want to do anything to spite the “Kremlin highlander.” As for Einstein, shortly before this, in 1933, having emigrated from Germany to the USA, he saw in the USSR powerful force, capable of resisting Hitlerism and, although he was very critical of the Bolshevik experiment, did not want to be involved even in the slightest in an action that could be interpreted as anti-Soviet.

True, Rutherford, informed by Anna Kapitsa about what had happened, addressed a restrained, British-style protest to the Soviet plenipotentiary in Great Britain I.M. Maisky. Maisky, a former Menshevik who was now doing his best to curry favor with Stalin, responded much belatedly with a demagogic letter that read as follows: “The system in force in the Soviet Union is that the Soviet government plans not only the economy of the country, but also the distribution of labor resources, including the distribution of scientific workers. As long as our scientific institutions could solve the tasks assigned to them with the help of available scientific workers, the Soviet government did not raise any objections to the work of Mr. Kapitsa in Cambridge. Now, however, as a result of the extraordinary development of the national economy of the USSR, connected with it. With the accelerated completion of the First and vigorous implementation of the Second Five-Year Plan, the available number of scientific workers is not enough, and under these conditions the Soviet government considered it necessary to use for scientific activities within the country all those scientists - Soviet citizens who had hitherto worked abroad. Mr. Kapitsa falls into this category. Now he has been offered an extremely responsible job in the Soviet Union in his specialty, which will allow him to fully develop his abilities as a scientist and citizen of his country."

From the letter one could conclude that Kapitsa had come to terms with his fate. But this was far from the case. Despite the failure with international intervention, Pyotr Leonidovich found it possible to use internal leverage to break free. In his opinion, a group of Soviet academicians could turn to N.I. Bukharin, K.E. Voroshilov and M. Gorky “to organize a broad campaign” in his defense. Moreover, sexots reported that the scientist was trying to find out “where Comrade Stalin was - in Moscow or on vacation (Stalin usually vacationed in the south in the fall, and this was widely known - G.Ch.) - and to inform him about what happened."

It must be said that Kapitsa’s ups and downs aroused sympathy from some prominent Russian scientists. The secret report of the NKVD noted statements in support of Kapitsa by academicians V.I. Vernadsky, A.N. Krylov, A.F. Ioffe, N.N. Semenov, I.P. Pavlov, F.I. Shcherbatsky, A.E. Favorsky with an expression of sympathy. Vernadsky, for example, stated: “If the government’s decision not to allow entry into England is not canceled, an international scandal will occur. The English Royal Society, of which Kapitsa is a member, will take all measures to return Kapitsa. Science is international, and no one should be prohibited work where he wants and on topics he finds interesting." “You cannot create by order. Kapitsa will refuse to create,” said Favorsky. The mood of the academicians was summed up in the following way by the NKVD certificate: they “generally spoke out against the decision made regarding Kapitsa, and consider such a forcible separation of Kapitsa from his two children living in England, receiving education there, and the destruction of his well-equipped laboratory, unacceptable.”

But the only one who tried to move from words to action was Kapitsa’s father-in-law, Academician Krylov. He turned to the President of the Academy of Sciences A.P. Karpinsky with a request to specially come to Moscow to the Chairman of the USSR Central Executive Committee M.I. Kalinin so that he would help Kapitsa return to Cambridge. Alas, 88-year-old Karpinsky rejected Krylov’s request.

At the very height of this story, on September 26, 1934, the Izvestia newspaper (its editor was N.I. Bukharin) published an article by Kapitsa, provided long before and lying in his briefcase, on the problem of obtaining liquid helium and on joint work with UPTI scientists in this direction. The publication of the article created the appearance that the author’s position was stable and did not cause concern.

At the same time, the NKVD, through its agents, began to spread rumors that Kapitsa was working for British intelligence and was even collecting espionage data about the situation in the Far East, the capacity of the Siberian Railway, border fortifications, aircraft construction, etc., for transmission to the British. Against the background of these rumors, Pyatakov in a conversation with Academician Semenov, whose friendship with Kapitsa was known, he uttered words that sounded like a direct threat of arrest: “If rumors about Kapitsa’s secret work reach the GPU (the GPU no longer existed, but this abbreviation continued to be widely used in a very sinister sense - G.Ch.), this could cause severe reprisals against Kapitsa.”

Political, psychological and moral pressure eventually yielded results. Kapitsa began to be inclined to resume work in the USSR. Academicians Krylov and Semenov, who had an excellent understanding of Soviet realities, convinced him of the need to begin scientific work, but at the same time demanding decent conditions - this was the only possible way out of this situation. Kapitsa was an experimental scientist whose work required complex, expensive equipment developed under his direct supervision, located in the Mondov Laboratory in Cambridge. He was very skeptical about the possibility of transferring laboratory equipment to the USSR.

True, he resorted to some cunning - he began to tell his colleagues that he was ready to transfer his work to the USSR, but for this, they say, he needed to go to England for six months to “liquidate matters with Rutherford.” Of course, nothing came of this plan. N.N. Semenov appealed to government agencies several times, explaining that Kapitsa could really achieve the biggest scientific achievements only if a special laboratory is organized for it. In the end, Semenov was “recommended,” as it was said in a secret report from the NKVD, to leave Kapitsa alone and wait until he himself contacted the relevant Soviet institutions with a request to create a laboratory for him. The authorities wanted the surrender to be complete and public...

Letters to his wife in England testified to the scientist’s state of mind. One of them said: “...Life is amazingly empty for me now. Other times my fists clench, and I’m ready to tear my hair out and rage. With my instruments, on my ideas in my laboratory, others live and work, but I’m sitting here alone, and I don’t understand why this is necessary. Sometimes it seems to me that I’m going crazy.”

Still, the authorities did not wait for Kapitsa’s complete capitulation, and they decided to make a minor compromise. On October 31, the scientist was given a letter from V.I. Mezhlauk, in which the deputy chairman of the Council of People's Commissars asked Kapitsa to submit his proposals for scientific work in the USSR by November 3. In a reply letter, Kapitsa explained to the Bolshevik official that his work at Cambridge related to extremely technically complex areas of modern physics, that his laboratory was equipped with “the only and original instruments” manufactured by British industrial enterprises, which “willingly took on individual problems.” He stated that in the USSR he did not see an opportunity for himself to take responsibility “for organizing scientific research, similar to those on which he worked at Cambridge." Therefore, he decided to change the field of scientific research, taking up the problems of biophysics together with I.P. Pavlov.

In early November, Kapitsa came to Moscow for negotiations on the conditions of his work in the USSR. Negotiations dragged on. Time and again he had to explain to officials that without his laboratory, without reliable employees selected by him, without proven technology, he was not able to carry out fundamental research, and that it was impossible to expect direct “introduction into production” of the results of his research.

Perhaps all this red tape would have continued for a long time. However, Stalin intervened in the matter, who obviously realized that “the game is worth the candle.” In any case, in the twenties of December, things finally moved forward. On December 22, the question of Kapitsa was raised at the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks. The adopted resolution provided for the creation of the academic Institute of Physical Problems in Moscow, the approval of Kapitsa as the director of this institute, and the completion of the construction of institute buildings with laboratories equipped with the most modern equipment by September 1935. Kapitsa was given the right to staff the institute himself with qualified personnel and dispose of the allocated financial means outside the control of higher authorities. The resolution provided for the creation of the most favorable material conditions for Kapitsa, in particular - an apartment in the center of Moscow with 5-7 rooms, a dacha in Crimea and a personal car. So the iron cage in which the scientist found himself began to turn into gold.

The next day, December 23, 1934, the government’s decision to create the Institute of Physical Problems of the USSR Academy of Sciences was published. Kapitsa was immediately transferred from the abandoned Novomoskovskaya Hotel to the prestigious Metropol, where he was given a luxury room.

The transformation of P.L. Kapitsa into a “persona grata” did not at all mean an immediate overcoming of bureaucratic slingshots in dealing with scientists. On March 11, 1935, he wrote to his wife in England: “No one here can believe that all I want is just a good, trusting attitude towards myself. No one can believe that I really want to help organize science. Tragedy my position, that [it’s been] three months since I want to make people understand what I want, and I still have an incredulous and condescending attitude towards me. I feel like some kind of Don Quixote. I stand up for some kind of Dulcinea Science. and everyone makes fun of me."

Nevertheless, the strong will, organizational skills, enormous authority of the scientist, coupled with the invisible, but felt, patronizing attitude of the Soviet dictator gradually led to the necessary results. At the insistence of Kapitsa, the Soviet embassy in London entered into negotiations with the Royal Society on the purchase and transportation of equipment from the Mondov laboratory to the USSR.

The first foreign report about the detention of Kapitsa in the USSR appeared in the Russian newspaper "Last News" (Paris) on March 9, 1935. The newspaper expressed the opinion that the Bolsheviks captured Kapitsa as a hostage for the defector Gamow. The Western public apparently found this version not convincing enough, and for the next month and a half the press remained silent on this matter.

The storm erupted when the London News Chronicle published a conversation with Rutherford in its morning edition on April 24 under the headline “Cambridge Shocked by Soviets.” “Kapitsa is a brilliant worker,” said “Crocodile,” as the great scientist was called by friends and students, “and he would undoubtedly carry out a number of wonderful experiments here in the next year or two.” In the evening editions of 70 UK newspapers published responses to the conversation that day. "Russia detained him; end of Cambridge studies," wrote the Star. On April 25, comments appeared throughout the Western press under the headings “Russia detains a professor; England loses a great scientist,” “Disappeared professor,” “Loss for science at Cambridge,” etc. On April 26, Rutherford sent a letter to the London Times, published on April 29 under the title "Detention in Russia. Shock for the scientific world." Rutherford wrote that the report of the arrest indicated a violation of personal freedom. The Soviet authorities "requisitioned" Kapitsa's services without any prior notice. His student and friend was deeply shocked by the collapse of his work, his health was seriously damaged. “From the point of view of world science as a whole, it will be a great misfortune if, due to a lack of responsiveness or misunderstanding, conditions arise in which Kapitsa cannot give the world what he is capable of.” A group of leading American scientists appealed to the Soviet plenipotentiary representative in the United States, Troyanovsky, with a protest.

At the same time, it was Rutherford’s statement about the internationality of science that formed the basis for the decision of the Senate of Cambridge University on November 30, 1935, adopted at Rutherford’s proposal, to agree to the sale of the USSR for the Kapitsa Institute (this is exactly what was said in the decision, the official name of the institute was ignored ) scientific equipment of the Mondov laboratory. At the very end of 1935, the equipment arrived in the USSR, and at the beginning of 1936, construction of the Institute of Physical Problems was completed.

Kapitsa took full advantage of his right to staff the institute with scientific staff and freely dispose of the funds provided. There was even a kind of microscopic labor market at the institute, with positive results flowing from it. One day, shortly after the completion of construction, Kapitsa, extremely busy with research and scientific-organizational affairs, accidentally looked out of the window at the extremely cluttered courtyard. "How many janitors do we have?" - he asked the secretary. “Three,” came the answer. “Immediately fire two, and give the remaining one triple salary,” the director ordered. The next morning the yard sparkled clean...

Kapitsa was forced to come to terms with being in a “golden cage”. In January 1936, his wife and sons returned from Great Britain. Fundamental discoveries of the scientist followed - he developed a new method of air liquefaction, which predetermined the development throughout the world of large installations for the production of oxygen, nitrogen and inert gases, established a temperature jump (the “Kapitsa jump”) during the transition of heat from a solid to liquid helium, and discovered superfluidity liquid helium, etc.

At the same time, the unique position of a brilliant physicist and organizer of science, whose works were widely used in Soviet defense technology (although, as Kapitsa noted, much less effectively than would have been possible without bureaucratic delays and party interference), allowed him to preserve the relative (we emphasize - a very relative) independent position and speak out in defense of scientists who have been attacked and arrested.

Already in 1936, he addressed a letter to Molotov in support of the mathematician, academician N.N. Luzin, whom Pravda declared “an enemy in Soviet mask". The letter was returned with the resolution "It should be returned to Mr. Kapitsa as unnecessary. V. Molotov", but they did not dare to arrest Luzin. In February 1937, Kapitsa spoke out in defense of the arrested physicist V.A. Fok, who was soon released, and two years later elected academician. In April 1938, Kapitsa stood up for the arrested head theoretical department of his institute, L.D. Landau. This time, the troubles continued for a whole year - it was not easy for the director to achieve the release of the scientist who compared the Stalinist dictatorship with the power of Hitler. But in the end, Kapitsa achieved his goal - Landau was released under his personal guarantee.

During the war, P.L. Kapitsa was a member of the Scientific and Technical Council at State Committee defense and head of the Main Directorate of the Oxygen Industry under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR. Occupying such impressive bureaucratic posts, the scientist never betrayed himself. He wrote to Stalin, defending “idealists,” protested against administrative interference in science, and ridiculed statements like “if you are not a materialist in physics, you are an enemy of the people.” Regarding Pravda’s refusal to print one of his articles in strict accordance with the author’s edition, he even dared to write to Stalin that Pravda was a boring newspaper, to which “ best friend scientists" replied: "Of course, you are right, not Pravda."

After atomic weapons were created in the United States and then used for military purposes, on August 20, 1945, a Special Committee was formed in the USSR to manage “all work on the use of intra-atomic energy of uranium.” L.P. Beria became the chairman, and among the physicists only I.V. Kurchatov and P.L. Kapitsa were included. But clashes between Kapitsa and Beria immediately began. Twice, on October 3 and November 25, 1945, Kapitsa addressed letters to Stalin, pointing out that the incompetent intervention of an omnipotent person only hindered scientific developments. This time, however, Stalin took the side of his minion, and Kapitsa was removed from the committee.

Thus began the period of disgrace for the academician (he was elected a full member of the USSR Academy of Sciences in 1939). True, the cunning Stalin, realizing Kapitsa’s enormous scientific potential, even at this time maintained the appearance of patronage. On April 4, 1946, he writes to Kapitsa: “I received all your letters. There are a lot of instructive things in the letters, I’m thinking of meeting you someday and talking about them.”

In August 1946, Stalin signed a decree removing Kapitsa from all posts. From that time on, the scientist lived near Moscow, on Nikolina Gora, where he organized a home laboratory (remembering his directorship, he called it “a hut of physical problems”). As it now turns out, in the mid-30s, Kapitsa underestimated his strength - and in a makeshift laboratory, using equipment made by himself or friends, he conducted research in the field of mechanics and hydrodynamics, developed a new type of generator, and discovered a plasma cord in dense gases during high-frequency discharge. In December 1949, when “all progressive humanity” was singing praises on the occasion of Stalin’s 70th birthday, Kapitsa ignored the anniversary events. A month later, another revenge followed - he was expelled from his professorship at Moscow University.

Only after the death of the bloody dictator and the arrest of Beria, Kapitsa’s position in the scientific world and society was restored. In August 1953, the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences adopted a resolution to assist P.L. Kapitsa in his work, and in January 1955, after a meeting with N.S. Khrushchev, he again became director of the Institute of Physical Problems.

But Kapitsa continued to write and tell the rulers what he really thought. He warmly congratulated A.I. Solzhenitsyn on being awarded the Nobel Prize, but refused to join the shameful letter from academicians “condemning” A.D. Sakharov. “Save Sakharov. He is a great scientist of our country,” wrote Pyotr Leonidovich Brezhnev in 1981. Kapitsa also spoke out in support of dissident Vadim Delaunay. Among a group of cultural and scientific figures, he protested in 1966 against the process of gradual rehabilitation of Stalin, and his letter to Brezhnev undoubtedly had a certain influence, although the creeping, indirect justification of Stalinism occurred until Gorbachev’s “perestroika”.

Yes, it was possible to build for Kapitsa" golden cage“, but it was impossible to make him an “obedient cog” of the system, to force him to work in shackles. A man with a capital M and a brilliant scientist, Pyotr Leonidovich Kapitsa died in 1984, three months short of his ninetieth birthday.

Kapitsa's works are devoted to nuclear physics, physics and technology of superstrong magnetic fields, physics and technology of low temperatures, high-power electronics, and physics of high-temperature plasma. In 1920, together with N. N. Semenov, he proposed a method for determining the magnetic moment of an atom, implemented in 1922 by O. Stern and W. Gerlach.

In 1924, Kapitsa proposed a new method for producing pulsed ultra-strong magnetic fields and studied their effect on various physical properties substances. Established the law of linear increase in 1928 electrical resistance a number of metals on the magnetic field strength (Kapitsa’s law). Created new ones effective methods liquefaction of nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen and helium, designed new types of liquefiers (piston, expander and turboexpander units). Photo:

In 1934, he built an expander-type helium liquefier with a productivity hundreds of times greater than the machines existing at that time. In 1939, he developed and built a low-pressure installation for the industrial production of liquid oxygen from air. The Kapitza turboexpander forced us to reconsider the principles of creating refrigeration cycles used for liquefying and separating gases, which significantly changed the development of world technology for producing liquid gases.

Photo: ru.wikipedia.org

Having developed a technique for producing liquid helium, Kapitsa studied its properties. In a number of his experiments he showed that at temperatures below the critical temperature (2.19 K) the viscosity of liquid helium becomes extremely low (superfluid helium II), and he thoroughly studied the properties of liquid helium in this new state. In particular, he showed that it consists of two components - superfluid and normal. These studies formed the basis of the quantum theory of liquid helium developed by. In 1941, he observed a temperature jump at the solid-liquid helium boundary (Kapitsa temperature jump). In 1978, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for fundamental research in the field of low-temperature physics.

Photo: ru.wikipedia.org

In 1942, being evacuated to Kazan with his Institute of Physical Problems, he refused to participate in the project to create an atomic bomb that had begun there. In the post-war period, Kapitsa's attention was attracted to high-power electronics. He developed the general theory of magnetron-type electronic devices and created continuous magnetron generators. He put forward a hypothesis about the nature of ball lightning. In 1959, he experimentally discovered the formation of high-temperature plasma in a high-frequency discharge. Many of Kapitsa's works are also devoted to the history of physics and the organization of science.

Photo: ru.wikipedia.org

Pyotr Leonidovich Kapitsa died three months before his ninetieth birthday. He was buried in the 10th section of the Novodevichy cemetery in Moscow.

For fundamental discoveries and inventions in the field of low temperature physics. Born June 26 (July 8), 1894 in Kronstadt. He graduated from the Kronstadt Real School (1912), then from the Petrograd Polytechnic Institute (1918). The supervisor of Kapitsa's thesis was academician A.F. Ioffe. Kapitsa remained to work in his department after graduating from the institute. In 1921, together with Ioffe and other scientists, he went on a business trip to England. He was engaged in the acquisition of equipment for scientific institutions in Russia, worked at the University of Cambridge under E. Rutherford. Here he carried out research on a- and b-radiation and created a method for producing strong magnetic fields. For these works in 1923 he received the prize named after. J. Maxwell. In the same year he received his PhD from the University of Cambridge. Since 1924 - assistant director of the Cavendish Laboratory. In 1925 he was elected a member of the Council of Trinity College, in 1929 - a member of the Royal Society of London and a corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences. In 1930 he headed the laboratory named after. Mond of the Royal Society, specially created to carry out work under his leadership.

In 1934, Kapitsa went on vacation to the USSR, but was not allowed to return back to Cambridge. In 1935 he headed the Institute of Physical Problems in Moscow. In 1939 he was elected a full member of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Laureate of the Stalin Prizes 1941 and 1943 in physics.

In 1946, Kapitsa was removed from his post as director, and he had to do research in the home laboratory he created at his dacha. In 1939–1946 he was a professor at Moscow State University, and from 1947 a professor at MIPT. In 1955, Kapitsa was again appointed director of the Institute of Physical Problems. In the same year he became editor-in-chief of the Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics.

Kapitsa's greatest fame came from his innovative experimental research in the field of low-temperature physics, the creation of equipment for producing pulsed superstrong magnetic fields, and his work on plasma physics. In 1924 he managed to obtain a magnetic field with a strength of 500 kG. In 1932, Kapitsa created a hydrogen liquefier, in 1934 - a helium liquefier, and in 1939 - a low-pressure installation for the industrial production of oxygen from air. In 1938 he discovered an unusual property of liquid helium - a sharp decrease in viscosity at temperatures below critical (2.19 K); this phenomenon is now called superfluidity. These studies stimulated the development of the quantum theory of liquid helium, developed by L. Landau. In the post-war period, Kapitsa's attention was attracted to high-power electronics. He created continuous magnetron generators. In 1959, he experimentally discovered the formation of high-temperature plasma in a high-frequency discharge. Kapitsa was a member of many foreign academies of sciences and scientific societies, awarded the medals of M. Faraday (1942), B. Franklin (1944), M. V. Lomonosov (1959), N. Bohr (1964), E. Rutherford (1966).

“Life is an incomprehensible thing. I think people will never be able to understand human destiny, especially one as complex as mine.”
P. L. Kapitsa

Pyotr Leonidovich Kapitsa was born in Kronstadt on July 9, 1894 in the family of the tsarist general, military engineer Leonid Kapitsa. His mother, Olga Ieronimovna Stebnitskaya, worked as a philologist and wrote children's books, and her father, Peter's grandfather - Jerome Ivanovich Stebnitsky - was a famous military cartographer and surveyor, an infantry general. The future scientist also had a brother, named Leonid after his father.
In 1905, eleven-year-old Kapitsa was enrolled in a gymnasium, but a year later, due to problems with Latin, he left it and continued his studies at the Kronstadt Real School. Peter graduated with honors in 1912, after which he wished to enter St. Petersburg University. However, “realists” were not accepted there, and Kapitsa eventually ended up at the electromechanical department of the Polytechnic Institute. His physics teacher turned out to be the outstanding Russian scientist Abram Fedorovich Ioffe. He is rightly called the “father of Soviet physics”; at various times, Nobel laureate Nikolai Semenov, the creator of the atomic bomb Igor Kurchatov, physical chemist Yuli Khariton, and experimental physicist Alexander Leypunsky studied with him.

Already at the beginning of his studies, Ioffe drew attention to Pyotr Leonidovich and attracted him to studies in his laboratory. During the summer holidays of 1914, Kapitsa went to Scotland to study English language. But in August the First broke out world war, Kapitsa managed to return home only in mid-autumn. At the beginning of 1915, he volunteered to go to the front, where he worked as a driver of an ambulance, part of the medical detachment of the All-Russian Union of Cities. His work was by no means calm; the detachment often found itself in shelling zones.
Having been demobilized in 1916, Pyotr Leonidovich returned to his native institute. Ioffe immediately attracted him to experimental work in the physics laboratory he directed, and also obliged him to participate in his seminars - the first physics seminars in Russia. In the same year, the scientist married the daughter of a member of the Cadet Party, Nadezhda Kirillovna Chernosvitova. It is known that he even had to go to China for her, where she went with her parents. From this marriage Kapitsa had two children - son Jerome and daughter Nadezhda.

Pyotr Leonidovich published his first works in 1916, while a third-year student. In September 1919, he successfully defended his thesis and was retained at the Polytechnic Institute as a teacher in the Faculty of Physics and Mechanics. In addition, at the invitation of Ioffe, since the fall of 1918, he was an employee of the X-ray and Radiological Institute, which was reorganized at the end of 1921 into the Physico-Technical Institute.

During this harsh time, Pyotr Leonidovich became close to his classmate Nikolai Semenov. In 1920, under the leadership of Abram Fedorovich, young scientists developed a unique technique for measuring the magnetic moments of atoms in inhomogeneous magnetic fields. At that time, no one knew about the works of Soviet physicists, but in 1921 a similar experiment was repeated by the Germans Otto Stern and Walter Gerlach. This famous and later classic experiment remained in history under the name of Stern-Gerlach.

In 1919, Kapitsa's father-in-law was arrested by the Cheka and executed. And in the winter of 1919-1920, during the Spanish flu epidemic, a young scientist lost his wife, father, two-year-old son and newborn daughter in eighteen days. It is known that in those days Kapitsa wanted to commit suicide, but his comrades kept him from this act. However, Pyotr Leonidovich could not become the same and return to normal life - he walked around the institute like a shadow. At the same time, Abram Fedorovich turned to the Soviet authorities with a request to allow his students to go on an internship to leading English laboratories. The then influential Russian writer Maxim Gorky intervened in the matter, and as a result, Joffe’s letter was signed.
In 1921 Kapitsa as a representative Russian Academy In order to restore former scientific connections, he went to Western Europe. The Soviet scientist was not given permission to enter for a long time - Europe was fencing off in every possible way from the Bolshevik infection. In the end, entry was allowed, and on May 22 the young scientist arrived in England. However, here he encountered another problem - they did not want to let him into Rutherford’s laboratory, where he was sent for an internship. Ernest Rutherford himself bluntly stated that his workers were engaged in science, not in preparing a revolution, and Kapitsa had nothing to do here. All the Russian’s persuasion that he came for the sake of science had no effect on the British physicist of New Zealand origin. Then, according to one version, Pyotr Leonidovich asked Rutherford the following question: “What is the accuracy of your experiments?” The Englishman, surprised, said that somewhere around ten percent, and then Kapitsa said the following phrase: “So, with the number of employees in your laboratory being thirty people, you will not notice me.” After cursing, Rutherford agreed to accept the “impudent Russian” for a probationary period.

From a young age in Kapitsa, there was an engineer, a physicist and a master “golden hands” in one person. The Russian scientist's engineering acumen and experimental skill impressed Rutherford so much that he personally secured special subsidies for his work. A year later, Pyotr Leonidovich became the favorite student of the “father” of nuclear physics, remaining so until his death. Throughout their lives, the two legendary scientists maintained close human and scientific relations with each other, as evidenced by their numerous messages to each other.

The topic of Kapitsa’s doctoral dissertation was “Methods for producing magnetic fields and the passage of alpha particles through matter.” In 1923, having brilliantly defended it at Cambridge, he became a Doctor of Science, incidentally achieving the prestigious James Maxwell Fellowship. And in 1924, the Russian genius was appointed deputy director of the Cavendish Laboratory for magnetic research. His scientific authority grew rapidly. Rutherford, not given to praise, called Kapitsa “an experimenter from God.” The scientist was often invited by British companies to advise them.

However, Pyotr Leonidovich still paid his main attention to work at the Cavendish Laboratory. To study the processes of radioactive decay, he needed to create powerful magnetic fields. Kapitsa's experimental installation produced magnetic fields that were record-breaking for those years, exceeding all previous ones by six thousand times. As Landau put it, this made the Russian scientist a “magnetic world champion.” The physicist himself liked to repeat: “A good engineer must be 25 percent an artist. Cars cannot be designed, they must be drawn.”

In 1925, Pyotr Leonidovich became a member of the local Trinity College, where many members studied royal family, and in 1929 he was elected a full member of the Royal Society of London. His teacher Ioffe nominated Kapitsa as a corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences in 1929, which was later supported by other Soviet scientists. Also in 1931, Kapitsa was elected a member of the French Physical Society. By this time, Pyotr Leonidovich had developed warm and trusting relationships with many outstanding scientists.

The situation in Cambridge radically changed Kapitsa's condition and mood. At first he plunged headlong into scientific work, and then gradually returned completely to normal life. He studied English literature and history, bought land plot on Huntington Road and began building a house there to his own design. Subsequently, the scientist organized the so-called “Kapitsa Club” - seminars for the scientific community of the University of Cambridge, held once a week in Rutherford’s laboratory. At these meetings, a variety of issues regarding the development of sciences, literature and art were discussed. These meetings quickly gained wild popularity in England; they were attended by the most eminent English persons. And virtually all the “whales” of world science attended the discussion of physics issues - Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Wolfgang Pauli, Werner Heisenberg, Paul Dirac and many others.

In England, an unpleasant story happened to Kapitsa. The young scientist bought himself a motorcycle, which he rode at breakneck speed. One day he lost control, flew off his motorcycle, rolled into a ditch and only miraculously survived. However, he was badly damaged right leg and walked with a cane for the rest of his life.

Already in the mid-twenties, the experimental installations of the two great scientists became crowded in one laboratory, and Ernest Rutherford convinced the British government to begin construction of a new huge complex for physical experiments at ultra-high magnetic fields. In November 1930, the Council of the Royal Society, from money bequeathed by the industrialist and chemist Ludwig Mond, allocated fifteen thousand pounds to build new research facilities in Cambridge. The opening of the laboratory, called Mondovskaya, took place on February 3, 1933. The former Prime Minister of the country, Chancellor of the University Stanley Baldwin said: “We are glad that Professor Kapitsa is working as our laboratory director. We are firmly convinced that under his leadership it will make a huge contribution to the understanding of natural processes.”

At the same time, Kapitsa’s friends tried to arrange his personal life. However, the scientist himself categorically refused any serious relationship, continuing to demonstrate amazing advances in science. However, one fine day in 1926, Alexei Nikolaevich Krylov, the famous Russian shipbuilder and mathematician, came to Cambridge. Together with him was his daughter, Anna Alekseevna, who lived with her mother in Paris. Anna Alekseevna herself recalled: “Petya put me in the car, and we drove to museums all over England. We were always on the road together and, generally speaking, I expected some personal confessions from him... Day after day passed, but nothing changed. Without saying anything personal, Petya came to the station to see us off. However, a day later he appeared with us in Paris, again put me in the car, and the endless displays of now French sights began again. And I realized that this man would NEVER ask me to become his wife. I should have done this. And I did it...” All the people who knew Anna Alekseevna said that she was an outstanding woman. Her role in Kapitsa’s life is unique and indescribable; she never worked anywhere and devoted all her attention to the scientist. Pyotr Leonidovich almost never parted with her and idolized her until last day life. They got married in the spring of 1927, they had two sons: Sergei and Andrei. Subsequently, both became famous scientists. Despite the fact that Kapitsa’s children were born in Cambridge, everyone in the family circle spoke exclusively Russian. Sergei Kapitsa later wrote: “If my mother started speaking English, then my brother and I understood that now they would start scolding us.”

During thirteen years of work in England, Pyotr Leonidovich remained a devoted patriot of his country. Thanks to his influence and support, many young Soviet scientists got the chance to visit foreign laboratories. In 1934, Kapitsa wrote: “By constantly communicating with various scientists in Europe and England, I can assist those sent abroad to work in various places, which would otherwise be difficult for them, since my assistance is based not on official connections, but on favors.” , mutual favors and personal acquaintance with senior officials.” Also, Pyotr Leonidovich contributed in every possible way international exchange experience in the scientific field. He was one of the editors of the International Monograph Series in Physics, published at Oxford University. It was from these monographs that the world learned about the scientific works of Soviet theoretical physicists Nikolai Semenov, Yakov Frenkel and Georgy Gamov.

Kapitsa (left) and Semenov (right). In the fall of 1921, Kapitsa appeared in the studio of Boris Kustodiev and asked him why he painted portraits of celebrities and why the artist should not paint those who would become famous. Young scientists paid the artist for the portrait with a sack of millet and a rooster

The physicist's activities at Cambridge did not go unnoticed. The leadership of our country was concerned by the fact that Kapitsa provides consultations to European industrialists, and also often works on their orders. Repeatedly, officials turned to the scientist with a request to stay in our country for permanent residence. Pyotr Leonidovich promised to consider such proposals, but set a number of conditions, the first of which was permission to travel abroad. Because of this, the resolution of the issue was constantly postponed.

Every year Kapitsa returned to the USSR to visit his mother and comrades. At the end of the summer of 1934, the scientist once again returned to his homeland. Among other things, he was going to visit the city of Kharkov, since since May 1929 he had been a consultant to the local Ukrainian Institute of Physics and Technology, and also to take part in a major international congress dedicated to the centenary of the birth of Mendeleev. But on September 25, Pyotr Leonidovich was summoned from Leningrad to Moscow. There, Deputy People's Commissar of Heavy Industry Georgy Pyatakov recommended that he reconsider the offer to stay in the country. Kapitsa refused and was sent to a higher authority to Valery Mezhlauk, who was the chairman of the State Planning Committee. It was he who first informed the scientist that he would now be obliged to work in the USSR, and his English visa would be cancelled. Kapitsa was forced to live in a communal apartment with his mother in Leningrad, and Anna Alekseevna, who came with him, returned to her children in Cambridge.

Thus began one of the most difficult periods in the life of the brilliant scientist. He was left alone, without his favorite job, without his laboratory, without family, without students, and even without Rutherford, to whom he became very attached and who always supported him. At one time, Kapitsa even seriously thought about changing the field of his research and switching to biophysics, which had long interested him, namely the problem of muscle contractions. It is known that he turned to his friend, the famous physiologist Ivan Pavlov, on this issue, and he promised to find him something to do at his Institute of Physiology.
On December 23, 1934, Molotov signed a decree on the creation of the Institute of Physical Problems, which is part of the Academy of Sciences. Kapitsa was offered to become the director of the new institute. In the winter of 1935, Pyotr Leonidovich moved to Moscow and settled in the Metropol Hotel; a personal car was provided to him. Construction of the first laboratory building began in May on Vorobyovy Gory. From the very beginning of construction, Kapitsa began to be helped by the outstanding Soviet experimental scientist, future academician Alexander Shalnikov. It was he who had the honor of becoming the legendary physicist’s closest assistant for the rest of his life. Alexander Iosifovich said that the construction of the institute buildings took place in extremely difficult conditions; often he and Kapitsa “had to explain to the builders that there is a right angle...” And yet, thanks to the ebullient nature of Pyotr Leonidovich, they managed to build the institute in a record two years.

The most important problem of the new institution was the critical shortage of equipment and instruments for laboratories. Everything that Kapitsa did in England was unique, unfortunately, most of it was beyond the capabilities of our industry. In order to continue his advanced research in Moscow, Kapitsa was forced to inform the country's leadership that he needed all the scientific instruments and installations he had developed in England. If it was impossible to transport the equipment of the Mondov laboratory to the USSR, the physicist insisted on the need to purchase duplicates of these rare devices.

By decision of the Politburo, 30 thousand pounds were allocated for the purchase of Kapitsa equipment in August 1935. After difficult negotiations with Rutherford, the parties managed to come to an agreement, and in December 1935 the first devices arrived in Moscow. Equipment from Mond's laboratory continued to be supplied until 1937. The matter was constantly stalled due to the sluggishness of the officials involved in the supply, and Kapitsa needed to write more than one letter to the country’s top leadership. Also, to help Kapitsa install and configure the devices, two experienced English engineer: laboratory assistant Lauerman and mechanic Pearson.

The harsh statements characteristic of the talented physicist, as well as the exceptional conditions that the authorities created for him, did not contribute to establishing contacts with colleagues from the academic environment. Kapitsa wrote: “The situation is depressing. Interest in my works has fallen, many fellow scientists are indignant without embarrassment: “If they did the same for us, we still won’t do what Kapitsa did.” In 1935, the physicist’s candidacy was not even considered for election to membership in the Academy of Sciences. Kapitsa took part in meetings of the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences a couple of times, but then, in his own words, “withdrew.” All this led to the fact that in organizing the work of the Institute of Physical Problems, the scientist mainly relied on his own strength.

At the beginning of 1936, the scientist’s family received permission to return to the USSR, and soon Anna Alekseevna and her children joined him in the capital. Together with his relatives, Pyotr Leonidovich moved to live in a small cottage of several rooms located on the territory of the institute. And in the spring of 1937, construction finally ended. By this time, most of the scientist’s equipment had already been transported and installed. All this gave Kapitsa the opportunity to return to active scientific work.

First of all, he continued research into ultra-strong magnetic fields, as well as the field of ultra-low temperature physics. This work took him several years. The scientist was able to discover that in the temperature range of 4.2-2.19°K liquid helium exhibits the properties of an ordinary liquid, and when it is cooled to temperatures below 2.19°K, various anomalies appear in its characteristics, among which the main one is a surprising decrease in viscosity . The loss of viscosity allowed liquid helium to flow freely through the smallest holes and even rise along the walls of the container, as if not being affected by gravity. The scientist called this phenomenon superfluidity. In the studies of 1937-1941, Kapitsa discovered and examined other anomalous phenomena occurring in liquid helium, for example, an increase in its thermal conductivity. These experimental works by Kapitsa marked the beginning of the development of a whole new field of physics - quantum liquids. It should be noted that in his work on studying the properties of superfluid helium, Kapitsa was helped by Lev Landau, whom Pyotr Leonidovich invited to visit him from Kharkov.

Simultaneously with the activities mentioned above, Kapitsa was engaged in the design of installations for the liquefaction of various gases. Back in 1934, the scientist built a high-performance liquefaction apparatus designed for adiabatic cooling of gases. He managed to eliminate a number of key phases from the technical process, due to which the efficiency of the installation increased from 65 to 90 percent, and its price fell tenfold. In 1938, he modernized the existing turboexpander design, achieving extremely efficient air liquefaction. Compared to the world's best devices from the German company Linde, Kapitsa's turboexpanders had three times lower losses. This was a fantastic breakthrough; from now on, the production of liquid oxygen could be safely put on an industrial scale. In turn, this revolutionized the steel industry and it is not an exaggeration to note that during the war the production of huge numbers of tanks by Soviet industry would have been impossible without this discovery. By the way, Kapitsa did not stop there - he personally began implementing his methodology and did not give up until production started working. For this, in 1944, Pyotr Leonidovich was awarded the title of Hero of Labor. His works caused heated discussions among scientists, both in our country and abroad. On January 24, 1939, Pyotr Leonidovich was accepted as a full member of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
In 1937, the famous seminars, the so-called “Kapichniki”, began at the Kapitsa Institute, which soon gained all-Union fame. Pyotr Leonidovich invited not only famous physicists, but also engineers, teachers, doctors, and in general any person who had proven himself in some way. At the seminar, in addition to special physical problems, issues of social thought, philosophy, and genetics were discussed. After the seminar, all the main participants were invited to Kapitsa’s office for tea and sandwiches. The opportunity to speak frankly and the atmosphere of trust were characteristic features Kapitsa’s “club” and played the most significant role in the development of domestic physics.

The specific features of Kapitsa the citizen and scientist can be called absolute honesty combined with a complete absence of fear and a character as solid as a stone. The return of Pyotr Leonidovich to his homeland coincided with the repressions carried out in the country. Kapitsa at that time already had high enough authority to dare to defend his views. During the period from 1934 to 1983, the physicist, who was never a member of the Communist Party, wrote over three hundred letters “to the Kremlin,” of which fifty were addressed personally to Joseph Stalin, seventy-one to Vyacheslav Molotov, sixty-three to Georgy Malenkov, twenty-six to Nikita Khrushchev. In his letters and reports, Pyotr Leonidovich openly criticized decisions that he considered wrong, and proposed his own versions of academic systems and reforms of Soviet science. He lived in full accordance with the rule he himself established: “In any circumstances you can learn to be happy. Only the one who has entered into a deal with his conscience is unhappy.” Thanks to his activities, outstanding physicists Vladimir Fok and Ivan Obreimov were saved from death in camps and prisons. When Lev Landau was arrested on charges of espionage in 1938, Pyotr Leonidovich managed to secure his release, although to do this the scientist had to threaten to resign from his post as director of the institute. In the fall of 1941, the scientist attracted public attention by making a warning statement about the likelihood of creating an atomic one in the future. And in 1972, when the authorities of our country initiated the issue of expelling Andrei Sakharov from the Academy of Sciences, only Kapitsa spoke out against this. He said: “A similar shameful precedent has already happened once. In 1933, the Nazis expelled Albert Einstein from the Berlin Academy of Sciences.” In addition, Kapitsa always fiercely defended the position of scientific internationalism. In his letter to Molotov on May 7, 1935, he said: “I firmly believe that real science must be outside of political passions and struggle, no matter how they try to lure it there. I believe that the scientific work that I have been doing all my life is the heritage of all humanity.”

After the war began, the Kapitsa Institute was evacuated to the city of Kazan. Sergei Kapitsa wrote: “During the evacuation, my mother and father and I spent two nights in the tunnels of the Kursk station - the same ones from which passengers now exit onto the platforms.” Upon arrival, the Institute of Physical Problems was located in the buildings of Kazan University. During the war years, the physicist worked on introducing the oxygen plants he created into industrial production. On May 8, 1943, by decree of the State Defense Committee, the Main Directorate for Oxygen was established, of which Kapitsa was appointed head.

In August 1945, a Special Atomic Committee was created under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, which was entrusted with leading the development of the atomic bomb. Pyotr Leonidovich was a member of this committee, however this activity weighed on him. This was largely due to the fact that it was about making “weapons of destruction and murder.” Taking advantage of the conflict that arose with Lavrentiy Beria, who headed nuclear project, an outstanding scientist asked Stalin to relieve him of his work on the committee. The result was years of disgrace. In August 1946, he was removed from his post as head of the Main Directorate for Oxygen, and was also expelled from the institute he created. For eight years, Kapitsa was deprived of the opportunity to communicate with friends and colleagues and was under house arrest. He turned his dacha on Nikolina Gora into a small laboratory in which he continued to work research work. He called it a “hut laboratory” and conducted many unique experiments on hydrodynamics, mechanics and plasma physics there. Here he first turned to high-power electronics - a new direction of his activity, which became the first step towards taming thermonuclear energy.

In 1947, the Faculty of Physics and Technology began operating at MSU (which in 1951 became the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology), one of the organizers and founders of which was Kapitsa. He himself was appointed head of the department of general physics and began giving lectures to students. However, at the end of 1949, the famous physicist refused to participate in ceremonial meetings in honor of Stalin’s seventieth birthday. This behavior did not go unnoticed; Kapitsa was immediately fired.

The scientist’s rehabilitation began after the leader’s death. The Presidium of the Academy of Sciences adopted a resolution “On assistance to Academician Kapitsa in his work.” Petr Leonidovich was appointed head of the Physical Laboratory of the Academy of Sciences, editor-in-chief of the Journal of Theoretical and experimental physics", and in 1955 he was reinstated as director of the Institute of Physical Problems. From 1956 he also became the head of the Department of Low Temperature Engineering and Physics at MIPT, and from 1957 he was elected to the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences.

After Kapitsa returned to his institute, he was finally able to fully continue his research. Scientific activities physics in the 50-60s covered a variety of areas, including the nature of ball lightning and the hydrodynamics of the thinnest layers of liquid. However, his main interests focused on studying the properties of plasma and designing high-power microwave generators. Later, his discoveries formed the basis of a program to develop a thermonuclear reactor with continuously heated plasma.

In addition to his achievements in the scientific field, Pyotr Leonidovich proved himself to be a wonderful administrator and teacher. The Institute of Physical Problems, under his strict leadership, turned into one of the most prestigious and most productive institutions of the Academy of Sciences, attracting many famous Russian physicists to its walls. The success of Kapitsa’s organizational activities was based on one simple principle: “To lead means not to interfere with good people working.” By the way, Kapitsa did not have direct students, but the entire scientific atmosphere he created at the institute had enormous educational significance in the preparation of new generations of physicists. In this regard, all employees of this institution could safely be called his students. During the entire time that Pyotr Leonidovich headed the institute, not a single experimental work done there was sent to press without his careful study. Kapitsa liked to repeat to his colleagues: “True patriotism lies not in praising the homeland, but in working for its benefit, in correcting one’s mistakes.”

In 1965, after a thirty-year break, Kapitsa was given permission to travel abroad. He went to Denmark, where he visited leading scientific laboratories and gave a number of lectures. Here he was awarded the prestigious award of the Danish Engineering Society - the N. Bohr medal. In 1966, Pyotr Leonidovich visited England and gave a speech dedicated to the memory of Rutherford to members of the Royal Society of London. And in 1969, Kapitsa, together with Anna Alekseevna, visited the United States for the first time.

On October 17, 1978, the Swedish Academy of Sciences sent a telegram to Pyotr Leonidovich, informing him that the physicist had been awarded the Nobel Prize for research in the field of low temperatures. It took the Nobel Committee almost half a century to recognize the merits of the Russian scientist. Kapitsa shared his award with the Americans Robert Wilson and Arno Penzias, who jointly made the discovery of cosmic background microwave radiation. In general, during his life, Pyotr Leonidovich was awarded many high awards and titles. It is only worth noting that he was an honorary doctor of 11 universities located on four continents, as well as the owner of six Orders of Lenin. He himself took this calmly, saying: “Why do you need fame and glory? Only so that conditions for work would appear, so that it would be better to work, so that orders would be completed faster. Otherwise, fame just gets in the way.”

In everyday life, the great scientist was unpretentious, loved to wear tweed suits and smoke a pipe. Tobacco and clothes were brought to him from England. In his spare time, Kapitsa repaired antique watches and played excellent chess. According to his contemporaries, he put a lot of emotion into the game and really did not like to lose. However, he did not like to lose in any business. The decision to take on or abandon any task - social or scientific - was not a surge of emotion for him, but the result of the deepest analysis. If the physicist was sure that the matter was hopeless, nothing could force him to take it up. The character of the great scientist, again according to the memoirs of contemporaries, is best characterized by the Russian word “cool”. He stated: “Excessive modesty is an even greater disadvantage than excess self-confidence.” Talking to him was not always easy; Kapitsa “always knew exactly what he wanted, he could immediately and bluntly say “no,” but if he said “yes,” you could be sure that he would do so.” Kapitsa directed the Institute as he considered necessary. Regardless of the schemes imposed from above, he managed the institution’s budget independently and quite freely. There is a well-known story when, seeing garbage on the territory, Pyotr Leonidovich fired two of the three institute janitors, and began to pay the remaining one triple salary. Even during times of political repression in the country, Kapitsa maintained correspondence with leading foreign scientists. Several times they even came to the capital of Russia to visit his institute.

Already in his old age, the physicist, using his own authority, fiercely criticized the tendency, in his opinion, that had developed in our country to make decisions on scientific problems from non-scientific positions. He also opposed the construction of a pulp and paper plant that threatened to pollute Baikal, and condemned the attempt to rehabilitate Joseph Stalin, which began in the mid-60s. Kapitsa participated in the Pugwash movement of scientists for disarmament, peace and international security, and made proposals on ways to overcome the alienation between American and Soviet science.

Pyotr Leonidovich spent March 22, 1984, as usual, in his laboratory. At night he suffered a stroke and was taken to the hospital, where he died on April 8 without regaining consciousness. Kapitsa did not live long enough to reach his ninetieth birthday. The legendary scientist was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery.

Based on materials from the book by V.V. Cheparukhin “Peter Leonidovich Kapitsa: the orbits of life” and the site http://biopeoples.ru.