Alexander Lvovich Mints

Alexander Lvovich Mints (1894 / 5-1974) was a specialist in the field of physics, radio engineering, radio electronics and accelerator technology, full member of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1958). He worked at the Physics Institute of the Moscow Scientific Institute (1916-1918), at the Electro-technical factory in Rostov-on-Don (1919), commanded the radio divisions of the First Cavalry Army (1920-1921), and directed the Research Institute of Communication of the Red Army ( 1923-1924), supervised the design and construction of powerful radio stations (named after AS Popov, 1927, named after the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions, 1929, Komintern, 1933, PB-96, 1938, Kuibyshevskaya, 1943, etc.) in NII-ZZ (1937-1938, supervisor of studies), the Laboratory of Special Techniques of the NKVD USSR (1943-1946, chief), Radiotechnical Laboratory, then Rad Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1951-1970, director).

Alexander Lvovich Mints [also seen as Mintz, technically more correct, but not the way the company website renders the name] was born on January 8, 1895. His childhood and adolescence passed in a highly educated and wealthy family in Rostov-on-Don. He had an interest in science and technology from a young age. At the age of 8, he was carried away by chemistry, in 13 - by the construction of flying models of airplanes, in 15 - by the construction of gliders. He studied at one of the best Rostov gymnasiums, which he graduated with a gold medal in 1913.

In 1915 he enrolled in the physics department of the Don State University in Rostov-on-Don. The following year he entered immediately to the second year of Moscow University and simultaneously began to attend the Shanyavsky People's University, where the course of physics was brilliantly read by P.P. Lazarev (later an academician). University he graduated in 1918. Thus, the young specialist Mints received a brilliant education. And already during this period he showed himself as an outstanding researcher with the future scientist's makings. In the archives of Alexander Lvovich, there are many unique evidence of this, but one of them is particularly impressive. The certificate, dated 1916, issued to ALMintsu and signed by Nikolai Egorovich Zhukovsky.

Further in the fate of Alexander Lvovich was the introduction of a volunteer in the First Cavalry Army SM. Budyonny and immediately appointment as commander of a radio divisional. With the army Budennogo AL. Mintz went through her entire combat path and in 1921, after the end of the civil war, was sent to Moscow. Since that time his whole life has been connected with radio engineering.

It was the life of an amazingly gifted and talented person who has done so much in the field of radio engineering that it is difficult to believe in the reality of these accomplishments. And he did not just do it, but was a universally recognized genius of scientific and practical radio engineering, the pioneer of a huge number of hitherto unexplored scientific and technical trends. Not surprisingly, enumeration of them will take more than one page of text. Surprising is another. Every discovery or invention will begin with the word "first". And this is a historical fact. Here is a small illustration to what has been said.

In the years 1924-26, radio-telephone medium-wave transmitters with a power from 1.2 to 20 kW were built, with the 20-kilowatt transmitter at the time of its launch being the most powerful in the world. In addition to these transmitters, in 1926, the first transmitter in Europe with a power of 10 kW, operating in the short-wave (KV) range, was also built. On this transmitter in 1927 he was the first to transmit telegraphic messages by the method of frequency manipulation.

In 1929, the world's first radio station was developed and put into operation. The AUCCTU with a power of 100 kW. After it, four more such radio stations were built. In 1931, A.L. Mints starts designing the radio station "The Comintern", which was colossal for those years with a power of 500 kW. This station, the construction of which was included in the plan of the structures of the First Five-Year Plan, was put into operation in 1933. The experience of creating this station, which was familiarized with the specialists of the American company RCA, was used in the construction in 1937 of a similar radio station in the United States.

In the period 1930-33 years. there are still a number of important events in the life of A.L. Mints. In 1930, at the radio factory. He organized the first national television laboratory in the country. Just one year after its creation in this laboratory, under the direction of A.L. Mints and his collaborator A.Ya. Breitbart developed a whole complex of television equipment: an industrial TV model with a clearness of 1200 decomposition elements (30 lines at 12.5 fps) with a size of 27x27 cm image, studio equipment and an experienced TV transmitter with a bandwidth of 14 kHz.

1935-1938 Alexander Lvovich gets the task for several months to build the world's most powerful short-wave station RV-96 (120 kW) by the project he developed. Convincing the country's leadership that the real timing of the creation of such a station is at least six months, in 1938 under his leadership this radio station was built and put into operation.

With the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War, A.L.Minz received another task in the shortest possible time to create a medium-wave broadcasting station in Kuibyshev (Samara) with a fantastic capacity of 1200 kW, the transmission of which could be received in the occupied territory. The construction of this radio station went in the hardest conditions of wartime, but in 1943 the station was put into operation.

Significant became for A.L. Mintsa in 1946. His work was finally deserved recognition. For the creation of a superpowerful broadcasting station in Kuibyshev he became a laureate of the Stalin Prize of the 1st degree, and for scientific achievements in the field of radio engineering he was elected a corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences. In this same year, 1946, a new, no less fruitful stage of A.L. Mints. He is appointed the head of the newly created at the Physics Institute. Lebedev Academy of Sciences of the USSR Laboratory, which was to solve scientific and engineering problems associated with the creation of accelerators of charged particles. A year later the collective of this laboratory was transferred to the Laboratory of Measuring Instruments of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, headed by Academician I.V. Kurchatov. The work on the creation of accelerators in the country was classified as secret and was supervised by Beria himself.

Alexander Lvovich gathered around him a team of highly qualified specialists and under his leadership already in 1949 in Dubna the launch of a grandiose physical instrument was launched - the world's largest phasotron, which makes it possible to receive a beam of protons with an energy of 680 MeV, which is more than an order of magnitude higher than the energy of the existing ones in our country small cyclic accelerators (cyclotrons). For a set of outstanding works in the field of powerful radio engineering and other fields of radio engineering in 1950, the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences awarded him the Golden Medal. A.S. Popova. A.L. Mints became the third (after VP Vologdin and BA Vvedensky) scientists who received this high award. His work on the creation of the Phasotron was marked by the award to him in 1951 of the second Stalin Prize of the 1st degree.

In 1951, A.L. Mints was attracted to the country's top-secret work on the development of an anti-ballistic missile defense (ABM) system. To carry out these works and develop accelerators of charged particles in 1951, an independent Radio Engineering Laboratory of the USSR Academy of Sciences (RALAN) was created.

In 1957, on the basis of RALAN under the leadership of AL. Mints is organized by the Radio Engineering Institute (RTI) of the USSR Academy of Sciences. As director, A.L. Mints did a lot for the development of his institute. The scientific theme of RTI has been constantly expanding. He managed to organize the construction of a laboratory and production complex in Moscow, to significantly expand the staff of the Institute, especially in such specialties as system engineering, computational mathematics, and control systems. Graduates of the Moscow State University, MIPT, MEPI, MAI, MPEI came to the Institute. The average age of the employees was no more than 35 years.

The Institute became the largest radio engineering center in the country, in which unique work on the creation of particle accelerators and defense systems was carried out. In it, under the leadership of A.L. Mintz large-scale works on creation of powerful radars for the long-range detection of ballistic targets and space objects were launched. By the middle of 1967 the radar "Dniester" was created, which after the modernization was named "Dnepr". This radar was adopted by the Soviet Army, and it was equipped with a number of objects of warning systems on missile attack and control of outer space. Subsequently, the combat capabilities of the PRN and CCP systems were increased by the introduction of new radars Daugava and Daryal, developed by the RTI.

These radars for many years (some more than 30 years) carry constant combat duty, solving the most important state tasks. In the 1980s the multifunctional radar station of the anti-missile defense "Don-2N" was created by the Institute staff, which has unique probability-time and accuracy characteristics.