Prof. Alexei Alekseevich Ogloblin has passed away

Yesterday (23 February 2021), just two months short of his 90th birthday, our dear friend and colleague, Alexei Alekseevich Ogloblin, has passed away. He was an outstanding physicist, promoter of science, and a talented teacher; Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, and Professor at the Kurchatov Institute, where he has worked since 1954. He was the Head of the Department of Nuclear Physics and Beam Technologies of the Kurchatov Nuclear Physics Complex (KNPK). He excelled in the field of nuclear physics, nuclear reactions, and applications of nuclear physics. His most prominent achievements include:

  • Development of a method for measuring the radii of nuclei in short-lived excited states and the first observation of such states with anomalously large sizes.
  • Synthesis and study of nuclei beyond the neutron stability (6 out of 12 known cases).
  • Detection of states of unusual structure in exotic nuclei.
  • First observation of deep-bound hole states of nuclei.
  • The first study of reactions with lithium ions, detection of the mechanism of transfer of nucleon clusters, observation of highly excited alpha-cluster states.
  • Study of the nuclear rainbow, the interaction of nuclei at small distances, the equation of state of cold nuclear matter, and the mass of neutron stars.
  • The first independent confirmation of the phenomenon of cluster radioactivity, observation of new cases of cluster decay and their research.
  • Diagnostics of wear of synthetic machine parts using radioactive beams.
  • The first Russian production of 201Tl and 123I radioisotopes for medicine.

Alexei was in charge of the “Exotic nuclei school “. His former students include a dozen doctors and candidates of sciences and one corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He has supervised ten candidate dissertations. His ex-pupils are employees at cyclotron laboratories in Tashkent, Alma-Ata, and Tomsk. He was engaged in teaching activities at MEPhI, served as a member of the Scientific Council of the National Research Center “Kurchatov Institute”, and was a member of the dissertation council at Kurchatov and the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Moscow State University. He was a member of the program advisory committees of many laboratories and international conferences. He represented Russia in the IUPAP (International Union
of Pure and Applied Physics) nuclear physics commissions and the OECD Megascience Forum.

In 2003, Alexei was among the handful of leaders of major Russian experiments with a citation index of over 500. His work has received wide recognition; he delivered numerous invited talks at the major international conferences on nuclear physics. He was the author of many monographs and review papers published in Russian and international
journals. Alexei was actively working till the last days of his life. Several of his recent publications are among his most significant ones. He initiated and was an active member of collaborations with institutes in Dubna, Kiev, Alma-Ata, Germany, Japan, and Finland.

His awards included multiple Russian government medals (1966, 1970, 1997, 1998, 2010, 2016), the Badge of Honour and a medal for the 100th anniversary of V. I. Lenin. Alexei was a laureate of the gold medal awarded by the Kurchatov Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the international GN Flerov JINR prize, the 65th-anniversary medal of the Russian nuclear industry, a medal of merits in the development of atomic energy, laureate of 9 Kurchatov Awards, bearer of honour certificates from the nuclear power industry.

Farewell to Alexei Alekseevich Ogloblin will take place on 26 February 2021 at 11.45 in the morgue of hospital No. 67 at st. Salyama Adil, building 2/44.