Oral-History:Yury Gulyaev

About Yury Gulyaev

Yury Gulyaev was born on 18 September 1935 in Tomilino, a suburb of Moscow near the satellite town of Lyubertsy. He graduated from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, MIPT (1958), and was awarded Ph.D. (1962) and D.Sci. (1970) Degrees. He is a Professor and Head Chair of Solid State Electronics, Radiophysics and Applied Information Technologies (since 1971), Corresponding Member of Acad. Sci. USSR since 1979, Full Member (Academician) of Ac. Sci. USSR and Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) since 1984, now in the Division of Nanotechnologies and Information technologies of RAS. Starting in 1960 he worked at the Institute of Radio-engineering and Electronics (IRE) Ac. Sci. USSR (later RAS) as a Researcher, Senior Researcher and Head of the Department. He served as Deputy Director since 1972, Director of IRE RAS since 1988, and Scientific Supervisor of IRE RAS since 2004. Gulyaev is the author of more than 500 scientific papers and 11 monographs, and has more than 60 patents. For his scientific work, he was awarded the State Prize of the USSR in 1974 and 1984 and the State Prize of Russia in 1993 and 2006 for his works on Surface Acoustic Waves Devices. In 1995, he was awarded the A.S. Popov Gold Medal of RAS for his works in the field of radio-engineering and electronics. In 1979 Gulyaev was awarded the Europhysics Prize of European Physical Society. In 2006, he was awarded the prestigious IEEE Rayleigh Award for his work on physics and technology of SAW devices for information processing. In 1989-1991 Gulyaev was elected People’s Deputy of the USSR (Member of USSR Parliament) and the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and Informatics of the Committee on Transport, Telecommunications and Informatics of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Gulyaev was the President of IEEE Russian Section from 1988-2016, and is an IEEE Life Fellow. He is the President of Russian and International Unions of Scientific and Engineering Associations (RUSEA and IUSEA), Chairman of A.S. Popov Russian Science and Technology Society for Radioengineering, Electronics and Communications. Gulyaev is the Chairman of the Russian URSI (International Union of Radio Science) Committee.

About the Interview

Yury Gulyaev An Interview conducted by Victor Plessky, and Clemens Ruppel, Gorgier/Switzerland, July 13, 2017.

Interview #784 for the IEEE History Center, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.

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It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows:

Yury Gulyaev, an oral history conducted by Victor Plessky, and Clemens Ruppel, Gorgier/Switzerland, July 13, 2017

Interview

INTERVIEWEE: Yury Gulyaev

INTERVIEWERS: Victor Plessky, and Clemens Ruppel

DATE: July 13, 2017

PLACE: Gorgier/Switzerland

The Early Days

Ruppel:

Yury, you were born in 1935 near Moscow. Please tell us a little bit about your early days!

Gulyaev:

I was born on September 18, 1935 in the suburb of Moscow, called Tomilino near satellite town Lyubertsy, Moscow region. My father, Vasiliy Sergeevich Gulyaev, worked as an economist in the Ministry of Finances of the USSR. My mother, Eugenia Dmitrievna Anisimova, a medical doctor, worked at a local policlinic. We lived in a small private house (with 0,3 hectare of land) that was built in 1933 on the money of my grandfather. At the beginning of the Second World War in 1941 my father and mother were mobilized to the army. I was sent to my grandparents, to a small village named Gulyaevo (22 houses) on the bank of the Vyatka river near the Urals. In 1943, I have entered in an elementary (8 classes) school in the big village Shurma (23 km from Gulyaevo), where my mother worked in the hospital as a military doctor. She got a house where we lived. After the first week in the 1st class of the school I was transferred to the 2nd class, as I could already read, write and count. In 1945, my father was demobilized from the army and returned to Gulyaevo since he was not able to work at the Ministry of Finances due to heavy wounds.

Ruppel:

Please tell us more about your home village Gulyaevo!

Gulyaev:

I should tell some words about Gulyaevo village. It was a small village of 22 houses (families), and everybody had last name “Gulyaev”. As far as I know all the villagers before the end of serfdom in Russia in 1861 were serfs of the landlord, named Gulyaev. Therefore, after serfdom abolition all of them have kept that last name. Besides all of them were quite rich peoples. For example, my grandfather owned a big house with about 2 ha of land, 1 horse, 2 cows, several pigs, sheep and chicken. To grow harvest of wheat, potatoes, vegetables, etc. my grandfather used hired labor from poorer neighbor villages. In Russian terms, he could be called a “kulak”. The other families in Gulyaevo were equally rich and in fact quite good friends. So, nobody tried to write negative reports on each other because of envy. This explains the fact that during the Stalin repressive crackdowns in the 30ies nobody from Gulyaevo suffered. In the course of collectivization of the agriculture Gulyaevo’s inhabitants formed a collective farm or “kolkhoz’, where everybody had a certain position. For example, my grandfather became the head of the cattle-yard as he had some veterinary education. During the Second World War, almost all men of the age from 18 up to 50 years old were taken to the army and the majority of them were killed. So, in the 40ies and 50ies the welfare at Gulyaevo was quite poor, the household management was performed mainly by women, old men and children.

My farther became the head of Gulyaevo collective farm (“kolkhoz”) as he had agricultural education and as many working age men from Gulyaevo were killed in the war. In 1950, the health of my father significantly improved due to fascinating nature of Gulyaevo (river, forest, fishing, etc.). I graduated from the last 8th class of the school and all of our family returned to Tomilino (Moscow region). In that time, our family consisted of father, mother, me and 2 my brothers: Boris (born 1941) and Valeriy (born in 1948). About their present positions, I will tell later. In September 1950, I entered the 9th class of the middle school (10 classes) in an adjacent Lyubertsy town and graduated from it in 1952. Entering that school, I was afraid that it would be more difficult to study there due to the nearness to Moscow and higher requirements. However, in reality it turned out that it was easier to study in this school. The point is that in Shurma’s elementary school, the teachers on physics, mathematics and literature were professors in exile and the level of teaching of mentioned subjects was very high!

Education, Diploma and PhD

Plessky:

Please tell us how you decided to study physics.

Gulyaev:

After finishing school, I decided to enter journalistic department of the Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU). Why journalistic?

The point is that in Lyubertsy’s middle school the Russian language and literature were taught by an excellent teacher and a wonderful person Dr. A. Lapitsky, to whom all of us indebted and respected. His lessons were extremely interesting. Therefore, it is quite understandable that my favourite subject was literature. I myself wrote several booklets of poetry and prose although never shared it with anybody and it had never been published. However, I was interested in other subjects: physics, mathematics, history, etc. I had an excellent score on all subjects that we studied. At home I carried out experiments in a new highly developing branch of physics: radio physics. For example, I constructed and made a radio receiver in accordance with Dr. Momot ideas, that was able to receive the signals of jammed stations including the Voice of America. Nevertheless, I have chosen the journalistic department. But the God decided it in another way!

To enter the Journalistic Department of the MSU, we, me and my classmate and friend Rail Safarov, came to Mokhovaya Street in the center of Moscow, where it is located up to now. However, our documents were not accepted since we had only certificates regarding graduation from the school, but not yet formal Diplomas (which have been given to us later). At the moment when we were thinking what to do, one tall young man (later we found out that he was 2nd year student of Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT), assisting at entrance exams) and said that our desire to get into MSU Journalistic Department is at least stupid. Maximum on what we can hope it is the Chief Editor position at some regional newspaper in province. And he added: by the way in the same corridor there is Entrance Exams Commission of MIPT, or so called PhysTech, and physics is the most perspective science with brilliant future. We have thought once more and submitted documents to PhysTech commission, where they accepted us even without Diplomas. Thus, my coming to physics was to certain degree accidental. We have passed entrance exams with highest marks «5» and were accepted to PhysTech in spite of competition 13:1. Thus, in 1952 I was accepted to Radiophysical Department of Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (PhysTech).

Plessky:

When and why did you start with sports?

Gulyaev:

As award for entering to the High School my father bought me the voucher to spend one month at resort near Moscow, where I soon understood, to my regret, that I was not attractive as a man: very small (1,64 m) and weak. The girls didn't pay attention on me and I was very sorry with this circumstance. So, I got into sport exercises especially in swimming and running. Later at PhysTech I continued regular sport training in swimming, boxing and heavy athletics. Suddenly I have started to grow and after 1st year of studies my height was already 1,78 m. So, during 1 year I have grown up by 14 cm and got rid of my complex of infantility!

Ruppel:

Studying physics in Moscow is a little bit different to what I know. Please tell us about the system at PhysTech!

Gulyaev:

In the beginning of the first year of study my pendulum moved to the other side: in the first semester of the 1st year I practically did not visit lectures and seminars and was completely busy with sport and girls, but before Winter exams I remembered that always at the school I had highest marks (5) and it is not good to fall down to lower level. So about one month before exams I started seriously study physics, mathematics and English (at school I studied German) using textbooks. Later when I understood who were higher level scientist who made lectures to us I deeply regretted that I didn’t listen their lectures. For example, general physics was presented by Prof. G.S. Landsberg, who discovered combination light scattering independently from Raman, Mathematical analysis was given by Prof. F.R. Gantmakher, famous mathematician in the matrix theory.

Nevertheless, the first exam session I passed with only the high (5) marks as all the other sessions during my training at the PhysTech.

However, one subject I studied regularly from the beginning: it was English. As I already mentioned at the school I studied German, but at the Institute it becomes clear that for the future work English language is much more important. Since I didn’t know English at all, I started training at so called “retarded” group (for beginners or for those who knew English weakly), but with very good teacher Vera Belokryltseva. After one year training, she provided the level of my English enough to join the advanced group (who studied English from the beginning at the school) where she also was a teacher. After completing of my training in the PhysTech I was speaking and writing in English fluently as majority of PhysTech graduates! I always remember her with the feeling of great gratitude.

So, my everyday life at PhysTech began. A few words about education system at PhysTech: it has official name “PhysTech System”. Main feature of this system is that only 1st year students have training at main MIPT Campus in Dolgoprudny city, 30 km from Moscow. There they have training in general subjects: mathematics, general physics, chemistry, foreign language (by choice), drawing, sport, etc. with corresponding practical training. Starting from the 2nd year some part of education is performed at affiliated chairs, so called “bases”, which are usually at the institutes of Russian Academy of Sciences or at high-level industrial enterprises. There students have lectures and practical seminars in special subjects, concerning with their future professional activity. After 4th year education is almost 100% at the bases. Usually after graduation with diploma of engineer-physicist between 5th and 6th year of training student stays at the base for work as a scientist. The best students are recommended to continue education for next three years for candidate of science degree (some analog of PhD, but a little bit more) either at PhysTech itself or at the base. Later, in the case of success, researcher could get D.Sc. degree, usually 5-10 years after candidate degree, already been well known specialist. Of course, there are exceptions: for example, one of the creators of the Russian Atomic and hydrogen bombs Prof. Ya.B. Zeldovich received D.Sc. degree not having even Diploma about graduation from the school!

So, on the 2nd year of training in 1953 I was directed to the base, high level industrial institute, that specialized in radars and radio navigation devices development, to antennas department. But after half a year I understood that it is not very interesting direction for me and passed to the newly opened semiconductor department headed by one of the leaders of semiconductor physics and technology in USSR Prof. S.G. Kalashnikov. This was the time of rapid growth of semiconductor industry in the World and investigations at Kalashnikov’s department were made on high international level. I can tell here some sad story. Two Kalashnikov’s co-workers have seen the influence of current through one contact on the current through adjacent contact on the surface of semiconductor, i.e. point transistor effect 3 month before discovery of the transistor. But Kalashnikov decided that it is influence of some dirt at the surface and asked them to clean the surface to avoid this effect. During the time of cleaning of the surface famous Nobel paper by Bardeen and Brattain on invention of the point transistor was published. Thus, Russia didn’t get this Nobel Prize, but it was so closely!

In January 1955, whole Kalashnikov’s department was moved to newly created Institute of Radio- engineering and Electronics of the USSR Academy of Sciences (Now IRE RAS), where I work already for 62 years. Here I got acquainted with outstanding physicist-theoretician Victor Bonch-Bruevich, who worked part time in Kalashnikov’s department. He suggested me to work with him in the field of semiconductors theory. When I have agreed, he said me that we depart for two years. During that period, I should pass through all (or part) famous Landau theoretical minimum. I knew that it is very heavy task and it is the condition for work in Landau School, but I decided to do it. After three months of preparations during day and night to first exams (in Mathematics). I called Landau and said that my name is Yury Gulyaev and I want to start passing through his theoretical minimum exams. He answered: “So far, I am not interested to know your name. Come to my room at the Institute of Physical Problems on Tuesday next week at 10 o’clock”, and he gave me the address. I came at appointed time. The door was opened by very beautiful young woman (as I knew later it was his wife Kora). She accompanied me to completely empty room: only table and two chairs. She suggested tea or coffee. Soon Landau entered, proposed three problems for solving from the field of differential and integral calculations and disappeared not asking me about anything. During about 3 hours when I was solving these problems (not using any textbooks or materials because of their absence) Kora came three times bringing coffee. Finally, I said her that I am ready. Landau came and almost not asking me questions in 5 minutes understood that I solved problems correctly. Then he smiled and asked about my name and about educational institution, where I have training. I answered that I’m PhysTech student with the base at IRE RAS. He said that he is very glad that at PhysTech (of which he was one of creators) there are good students. Then he said that next exam (mechanics) I should pass to E.M. Lifshits, when I will be ready. I left his apartment being enchanted by personal contact with one of the greatest scientists in the World. In 2 years, I had passed 5 exams (from 9) and Bonch-Bruevich said me that this is enough, since I’m going to work in the theory of solid state, not in nuclear physics. My diploma work was devoted to some corrections to Conwell-Weisscopf formula for scattering of electrons on impurities in semiconductors when Born approximation is not valid. When I brought the paper about this work for publication in a journal and asked Bonch-Bruevich to sign it as co-author, he became angry and rejected to sign. He said: “I never sign the papers about research, in which I didn’t take essential participation. And this is the case, so maximum what I can allow you, to express my gratitude for discussion on the theme”. This was a good lesson to me for the future. My paper was published in the beginning of 1959 in the first issue of newly created journal “ Solid State Physics” under only my name.

During PhysTech years I was quite deeply involved into sport: swimming, boxing and weightlifting, but not in politics. However, as one of the best students I was delegated to 7th November 1952 demonstration on Red Square. For the first (and the last) time I have seen Stalin alive. When he died on 5th of March 1953 I was between the first people who passed near his coffin in the Hall of Columns (Moscow). At that day, many people died or were injured in huge crowds moved to see Stalin coffin. My parents were quite anti-stalinists (but never spoke about it outside of home). So, this funerals for me were more sporting event rather than some political action.

Dissertation under guidance of Prof. V.L. Bonch-Bruevich

Ruppel:

What came next after graduation in 1958?

Gulyaev:

After graduation from PhysTech I was recommended to continue education for the next three years either at PhysTech or at the base. I preferred the base and in 1958 became the PhD student at IRE Academy of Sci USSR under guidance of Prof. V.L. Bonch-Bruevich. Topic of my dissertation was the consideration of some questions of recombination of carriers in semiconductors, in particular recombination on dislocations. It the same time I continued swimming almost professionally: I was member of All-Union sport team “Burevestnik” in swimming and was going to get highest sport title “Master of Sport”. In 1958, I got married. My wife was a student in economics. In 1959, we have got a son. My postgraduate student’s stipend was not enough to keep the family, so I was compelled to stop big sport and started to make money by teaching: training of young scholars to join PhysTech, Lomonosov MSU and Moscow Institute of Physics and Engineering (MIPE). I have got a state license and was giving private lessons. Our life became more or less normal.

Soviet Union after Stalin

Ruppel:

When Nikita Khrushchev came into office many thing changed in your life!

Gulyaev:

In general, our life in Soviet Union after famous speech by Nikita Khrushchev at the XXth Congress of CPSU with denunciation of Stalin ‘s purges was drastically changed. Nobody now was afraid that at night any car could come and take off him to jail, everybody could speak freely in the streets, etc. So, all of us felt the wind of freedom: it was called “Khrushchev thaw”. In 1960, I joined IRE Acad. Sci. USSR as Junior Researcher and in 1962 successfully defended my Candidate of Science dissertation. The main achievements of my dissertation work were the theory of “impact recombination” of carriers in semiconductors (inverse process of so called “ impact ionization”) and the theory of carriers recombination on dislocations.

Soon the possibility to go to England for temporal work in certain University during one year was opened. To do this it was necessary to pass through some competition including knowledge in English. Together with 30 young specialists, I was recommended and in July 1962 was invited to be Assistant Professor in Manchester University at Physical Department headed by Lord Brian Flowers, one of the creators of the British atomic bomb. In practice, I was working with Prof. Samuel F. Edwards (later Sir Sam) on the theory of electronic properties of heavy doped semiconductors with the application of Feynman path integrals technic.

It was wonderful year in my life. For the first time I was abroad in completely different World and where? In the cradle of capitalism, in England. Besides of the interesting work in outstanding team of physicists I again started sport training and was a member of swimming team of Manchester University, showing on 100-yard distance 3rd time in the team (the first result had a bronze medalist of previous Olympics!). During this year, Edwards and me published 2 papers in Proc. of Royal Soc. and Proc. of Phys. Soc., where we developed steepest descent method for Feinman continual integrals and obtained general expression for conductivity of disordered heavily doped semiconductor which later, by other authors, was used in the theory of semiconductor lasers. The paper is cited in mathematical textbooks and is one of the most cited my works.

Ruppel:

When coming back to Moscow, you start working in the area of acoustic waves!

Gulyaev:

After returning to the USSR, I became interested in the problem of conversion of the energy of d.c. current to the energy of high frequency oscillations (microwaves) by solid state devices. Of course, there have been known and quickly developing transistors, but they at that time couldn’t work at microwave frequencies 100 mHz-100 GHz or more. So, everybody was seeking for mew physical phenomena. One of such phenomena was amplification of acoustic waves in piezoelectric semiconductor CdS, experimentally observed by Hudson, McFee and D.L. White in 1961. Theoretically, this effect has been predicted by Tolpygo and Uritsky and independently by Weinreich in 1956. This effect opened possibility of creation of solid state analog of famous vacuum travelling wave tube (TWT). However, soon it became clear that to realize this device with the use of known piezoelectric semiconductors (CdS, ZnO, etc.) practically is not possible as mobility of electrons in such materials is very low, so one should use very high driving voltages and crystals burn out.

Thinking of this problem I came to idea to use for amplification surface acoustic waves (SAW). SAW travelling along the surface of piezoelectric is accompanied with the wave of electric field over the surface. By this field, SAW can interact with electrons in adjacent to surface material (metal, semiconductor, etc.) and vice versa, electric fields in adjacent material can interact with SAW travelling along the surface of the piezoelectric. If, for example, adjacent material is semiconductor in which exists supersonic drift of electrons in the direction of SAW propagation, then SAW will be amplified – already in full analogy with TWT. Only now one can use as adjacent material non-piezoelectric semiconductor with high mobility of electrons. This idea and corresponding calculation of amplification coefficient I presented in 1963 to Bonch-Bruevich seminar. Bonch-Bruevich immediately estimated the physical sense and practical value of this idea and suggested me to report it at the most prestigious in Moscow seminar of acad. V.L. Ginzburg. When in 1964 I claimed for the report at this seminar, I was said that there is a big queue and to the seminar there is presented a report on the same topic by Ginzburg’s post-graduate student Vladislav Pustovoit (with whom I was not acquainted). So, they put our reports at the same seminar. The idea in both reports was the same, only we used different calculation methods. The results of course were the same. After the seminar Ginzburg advised us to join together and apply first for the patent on new device and then for joint publication. Finally, we sent the article to Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics (JETP) where it was published in Dec. 1964.

The invention of the Interdigital transducer in 1965

Plessky:

A revolution in the development in SAW technology happen in 1965!

Gulyaev:

In the next year, 1965, American scientists R.M. White and F.W. Voltmer suggested further development of the idea of SAW interaction with the electric fields and electrons in adjacent to the surface conducting material – interaction with periodic grating of metallic electrodes on the surface of piezoelectric – interdigital transducer.<refname="refnum10">R.M. White, F.W. Voltmer, Appl. Phys.Lett., 1965, 17, 314</ref> This brilliant work opened possibility of direct effective way to excitation and detection of SAW. In fact, it was some kind of so called “travelling wave antenna’ used for excitation and detection of electromagnetic waves . Our work and work of White and Voltmer<refname="refnum10"/> were as far as I know the first publications on the use of SAW in microwave electronics. Both ideas were experimentally realized in 1968 – 70 in several works. In our work there was suggested the idea and developed the theory of SAW amplification by the electron beam propagating near the surface of piezoelectric dielectric. Later this effect was experimentally obtained in the work.

Ruppel:

First applications for SAW technology was signal processing?

Gulyaev:

Next fundamental step in the problem of signal processing with the help of SAW have been done in 1969 by Tancrell et al, where they suggested a dispersive delay line with an interdigital transducer with periodicity of electrodes changing gradually from one end to another end of a transducer. Hartemann and Dieulesaint, Kovalev and Yakovkin and Tancrell and Holland suggested to make “weighting” of electrodes (different overlapping of electrode length) for formation of required frequency curve of the transducer, in particular for reduction of the side lobes of the compressed pulse. It allowed to create on the basis of SAW famous Kallman filter with arbitrary amplitude-frequency curve (AFC). For to avoid the parasitic effects in SAW filters Yu.V. Gulyaev at al and independently D. Malocha et al suggested so called “capacitive tap weighting” of electrodes in interdigital transducer. This construction of transducer is much more flexible for formation of required AFC and allows to make SAW filters with better quality.

Eric Ash proposed a grating structure (analog of Bragg reflector for light) for reflecting of SAW and made the first SAW resonator. Also, he invented SAW waveguide. Ted Paige et al. invented the multistrip coupler. Gordon Kino at al proposed an analog convolver computing analogically the convolution of two different signals.

Kiel Ingebrigtsen proposed phenomenological method for calculation of SAW devices characteristics. It was based on introduction of so called “effective dielectric constant” obtained from the measurements of SAW velocity on free and metallized (when piezoelectric fields are shortened) surfaces of piezoelectric. Ingebrigtsen’s method if widely used in calculations and construction of SAW devices even in complicated cases.

I would say that the years 1962-1975 could be called the “golden years” of a new branch of physics and technology which got the name “acoustoelectronics”. This term first appeared at the Sendai symposium 1968 (Japan) and in narrow sense meant investigations of phenomena connected with interaction of high frequency acoustic waves (ultrasound with frequencies higher than 1MHz) with electrons and electric fields in various solids -- piezo electrics, ferro-electrics, non-piezoelectric dielectrics, metals, etc. These ultrasonic waves (both bulk and surface) occurred to be very good new tool for investigation of electronic and mechanical properties of solids. Now under term “acoustoelectronics” one understands all phenomena in solids connected with participation of high frequency (over 1 MHz) acoustic waves. Sometimes these phenomena are called “ microwave acoustics”. There appeared a lot of publications both theoretical and experimental, in USA, USSR, England, France, Japan, Germany etc.in this field.

Becoming Head of Laboratory in Fryazino

Plessky:

In 1965, you moved to Fryazino!

Gulyaev:

In 1965, I moved to Fryazino part of our Institute (30 km from Moscow) where I became the Head of Laboratory dealing with the investigations of electronic properties of semiconductors. In fact, we studied electro physical properties of semiconductors and acoustoelectronic phenomena. It was not big laboratory – 5 candidates of science (PhD) and about 5-6 postgraduate and undergraduate students, mainly from PhysTech. Nevertheless during 12 years (1965-1977) we published more than 50 papers in leading journals – JETP, JETP Letters, FTT (soviet physics-solid state), FTP (Physics and Technology of Semiconductors), Physics Letters, Transactions of IEEE on Sonics and Ultrasonics etc. Among the main our achievements during these years there are prediction and theoretical investigation of a new class of kinetic phenomena in semiconductors connected with the drag of electrons by acoustic waves: acousto-magneto-electric (AME) effect, acousto-thermal effects, Peltier effect due to drag of electrons through contact of two materials, acoustoelectric effect in semiconductors with “hot” electrons, heated by the acoustic wave, acousto-magneto-thermal effect, acousto-concentration effect and acousto-luminescence etc.

There were predicted giant quantum oscillations of acoustic wave absorption coefficient in quantizing magnetic field, developed theory of acoustoelectric effect on SAW in semiconductors including “ transverse” acoustoelectric effect, later experimentally found by Kmita and Medved. There was created the analytical nonlinear theory of acoustic wave absorption and amplification at arbitrary large amplitude, developed nonlinear theory of acousto-optic phenomena in conducting and active solids. In the works of Auld et al and Gulyaev and Plessky it was shown that along the periodically rough surface of any solid there can propagate pure shear SAW – in analogy with slow electromagnetic waves in slowing comb structures. These waves are used today to decrease the losses in delay lines and filters and to increase Q-factor of SAW resonators.

Ruppel:

Could you told me was there the registration of discoveries in the Soviet Union?

Gulyaev:

Yes, in Soviet Union at that time there existed a rule to register and certificate on the State level “ discoveries” in science, similar to certification of patents. So, mine with Eric Epstein theoretical prediction and experimental observation of AME effect by Korolyuk and Roy were registered as our “discovery”. The referee of our work was famous scientist M.A. Leontovich (“boundary conditions by Leontovich” are well known in electrodynamics). He knew me personally, so he “opened himself” and said to me: “You know that I am against State registration and certification of discoveries. Scientists themselves know, is this work a discovery or not. But this your work is indeed good and as there is a rule to register discoveries, I wrote positive conclusion on that work”. That was enough for corresponding Committee to award us with the Diploma for discovery No 133.

Ruppel:

What about the team in Fryazino?

Gulyaev:

Almost all members of my Fryazino team became well known scientists: doctors, professors, including previous postgraduate students. Two of them: Alexandr Bugaev and Sergei Nikitov were elected members of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Several of my pupils live and work abroad: Victor Plessky, one of the leading world scientists in the theory of SAW devices, now works in Switzerland, Alexander Kozorezov is outstanding scientist, professor of physics at Leicester University (England), specialist in solid state theory; Boris Elenkrieg now is in Canada, specialist in electrical engineering and microwave technique; Andrey Matlashov is a scientist in the field of biomedical radio electronics in Los-Alamos (USA), etc. I have very good relations with all of them, visit them, exchange with them scientific ideas and problems.

Bleustein-Gulyaev waves

Ruppel:

Could you please detail the history of Bleustein-Gulyaev waves?!

Gulyaev:

Now I would like to tell the story about the discovery (suggestion, theory and experiment) of principally new acoustic phenomena – pure shear surface acoustic waves in piezoelectric crystals, called “Bleustein-Gulyaev waves” (BG waves). When in 1967 I began to prepare my D.Sc. thesis (dissertation), I wrote down a general system of equations describing acoustic waves propagation in piezoelectric crystals (dielectrics, semiconductors) taking into account the symmetry of the crystals, piezo-effect, electrostriction, interaction of acoustic waves with electrons via piezo-effect and via deformation potential etc. When solving this system of equations, in addition to bulk acoustic waves I found a solution which corresponds to the known Rayleigh SAW modernized due to the presence of piezo-effect and the interaction with free electrons via both the piezo-effect and the deformation potential. This wave generally has two components of mechanical displacements – longitudinal, in the direction of the wave propagation, and transverse, perpendicular to the surface. Of course, in anisotropic crystals the directions of mechanical displacements may be at certain angles with respect to the propagation direction and to the normal to the surface.

During careful investigation of the general solution of the system of equation mentioned above I suddenly noticed that at certain symmetry of the crystals (for example, Cv) there is another exact solution in the form of pure shear SAW with mechanical displacement parallel to the surface and perpendicular to the direction of the wave propagation. For some symmetries of crystals (for example, for cubic crystals) such solution doesn’t exist. In dielectrics without piezo effect this wave turns to a usual shear bulk acoustic wave, i.e. the surface character of this new SAW is due to presence of piezo effect. In piezoelectric semiconductors, the surface character of the wave may be changed due to the interaction of the electrons with the acoustic wave. In May 1967 I reported these results at the Bonch-Bruevich seminar in IRE. Bonch-Bruevich was very skeptical: he said: "This is classics". I’m sure that this solution is in textbooks, you should better go to the library and read books more attentively. I advise you to forget about this wave and continue to work on non-linear theory of acoustoelectronic interaction”. So, I did, and returned to the question about this wave only at the end of 1968, when I went to Lenin library, looked through all textbooks on acoustics and… didn’t found this wave! I came again to Bonch- Bruevich and asked what to do. He said: “To be funny in science is possible only once, after this everybody will consider you not to be serious." Publish, if you want, but this is a big risk”. In spite of his opinion, I’ve sent the paper for publication to JETP Letters on Oct.17, 1968. It was published in January 1969 issue of the journal. In February 1969 in Journal Appl.Phys. Lett, Dec.1968 I found the paper by J. Bleustein on the same Shear SAW with the same result, besides it was only for piezodielectrics. I immediately looked to the date of submission of Bleustein’s paper and found that it was 20 days (!) later than the date of submission of my paper. So, it is obvious that two works and were made independently – my paper was submitted for publication earlier, but his paper, due to shorter time of publications in Appl. Phys. Lett., was published earlier. If in spite of skepticism of Bonch-Bruevich I submitted my paper in May 1967 then my paper would be published much earlier, say in August 1967. But it happened what happened! In summer 1969, being at the Conference on Sonics and Ultrasonics in Aviemore (Scotland) I met young handsome scientist and engineer Charles Maerfeld. He told me that his colleague Pierre Tournois and him are doing experiments on observations of so called “Bleustein waves”. I said him that I know about Bleustein paper, but that I predicted and made the theory of these shear SAW earlier than Bleustein. At that time, the January 1969 issue of JETP Lett. with my paper was already translated and published in English.

Next year, 1970, I have been working for a half of the year in USA at Berkeley University with Prof. R.M. White and at Ultrasonics Symposium at New Hampshire I again met Maerfeld and Tournois, who presented the report on experimental observation and amplification of, as they called them, “Bleustein-Gulyaev Shear Surface Acoustic Waves”. It was an excellent example of scientific purity and delicacy! I’m very grateful to them for this. After their paper, everywhere – in articles, textbooks, etc. these waves are called Bleustein-Gulyaev waves, or BGW.

Other types of acoustic waves

Ruppel:

What about Maerfeld-Tournois waves?

Gulyaev:

Here I should say, that approximately at the same time BGW were observed also in CdS by scientists from parallel to my group laboratory in our Institute IRE, A.I. Morozov and M.I. Zemlyanitzyn. But they even didn’t inform me about their experiments, so I consider C. Maerfeld, F. Gires and P. Tournois as pioneers in experimental observation of new phenomenon in acoustics – existence of shear surface acoustic waves in piezoelectric materials. C. Maerfeld and P. Tournois themselves predicted the existence of another new shear surface acoustic wave, which under certain conditions can propagate along the interface of two different media, in some sense counterpart of Stoneley waves, which are called “Maerfeld-Tournois waves”. Various types of surface acoustic waves in inhomogeneous media are described in our book. Other types of shear surface acoustic waves in solids are described in my review paper.

Now I want to notice that there exists and is widely investigated a wide class of so called “quasi BGW”, the “ almost shear” waves, whose surface character is provided by the piezo-effect. The point is, as I already told, that the BG wave is exact solution of the system of acoustic waves propagation equations only for certain symmetries of the crystals and for certain cuts and propagation directions. If you change some of these conditions, say change a little bit the cut of the crystal, the BG wave will be no more the exact solution, it becomes a little bit “ leaky” and besides shear mechanical displacement will have some other displacements, so will be “quasi shear wave”. But in some cases the piezoelectric properties of these “quasi BGW” improve, the velocity also changes in necessary way, so in spite of some “leakage” these waves may be better for applications in SAW devices. It happens for some cuts of LiNbO3, LiTaO3, where “leaky” SAW, used in SAW filters, by their structure are mainly shear SAW with strong piezoelectric coefficient, and are quite close to BGW.

SAW devices fabrication in Soviet Union

Plessky:

Let’s talk about the development of SAW devices fabrication in the Soviet Union!

Gulyaev:

In 1970-1990 wide investigations of the physical phenomena connected with the interaction of SAW with electric fields and electrons in piezoelectric dielectrics and semiconductors and in layered structures piezoelectric-semiconductor were carried out in Europe, USA, USSR, Japan, Germany and in other countries. It led to intensive development of acoustoelectric devices for various radio-electronic systems of information processing and for telecommunications (see for example an excellent review paper by D. Morgan and the book).

At the beginning of 70th there started a wide production of SAW devices – band pass and dispersive filters, delay lines (including dispersive), resonators and generators, coding-decoding devices, fast Fourier transformers, digital Nykwist filters, frequency synthesizers, convolution and correlation devices, sensors etc. Many firms took part in this production such as Murata, Kyoto Ceramics, Fujitsu, Hitachi, NEC, Samsung, SAWTEK, Thompson CSF, Vectron, Motorola, Siemens, EPCOS and others. We in the Soviet Union organized production of SAW filters for TV-Secam in Cherkassy (Ukraine) and Minsk (Belorussia), both now it is out of Russian Federation. Today in Russia SAW devices are produced by Morion, Butis-M, Phonon, ONIIP and some other not big firms.

At the end of the 70th I with my coworkers, besides the USSR authors certificates and patents, had 15 foreign patents of the USA, Great Britain, France, Japan and Germany for SAW filters with capacitive tap weighed electrodes. In connection with the existing rules in the USSR at that time all the patents belonged to the State as they had been received during the work for the state budget. So, the USSR was the owner of the patents and it had rights to sell them. For example, the State (Ministry of trade) sold our patent to the Japanese firm “ Murata”. We received a single-time reward for three authors. Another patent was used in “Samsung” and three members of my team went for 6 months to Seoul to help in the organization of production of TV filters there.

Unfortunately, today in Russia there is no production of national TV sets, automobile radios, radio broadcasting receivers, cellular telephones etc. So, there is no need in wide scale production of SAW filters and other acoustoelectronic devices in Russia, what is very sad!

Future developments in the field of acoustic wave technology

Ruppel:

What do you expect in future development of SAW technology?

Gulyaev:

What future I see for acoustoelectronic devices (in particular for SAW devices)? I will point out several directions, which are already seen:

1. First of all – it will be SAW RFID tags, after the improvements (better reception sensitivity, solution of “collision” problems, etc.) they can be widely used everywhere – from commodity goods to planes, rockets, weapons, trains, automobiles etc. – up to personality identification.
2. Use in acoustoelectronic devices bulk acoustic waves of very high frequency (more than 3GHz), where Rayleigh SAW has big losses in the surface layer due to polishing treatment. These BAW filters will be used in clocks, telecommunications, cellular phones navigation systems (GPS type), measurements and control technique, rocket and space technologies, etc. The alternative to it – the use of Bleustein-Gulyaev waves or ”quasi BGW”, which penetrate to a solid much deeper and so the surface treatment is less harmful.
3. Development of SAW sensors. Today they are already used for identification of gases, vapors and liquids. The improvements of constructions, using various new types of SAW, BAW and plate modes (see for example,) will allow to use these sensors for detection of poisons and narcotics.
4. The forth direction in my opinion may be connected with the interaction of SAW and BAW with free electrons in piezoelectric semiconductors and layered structures piezoelectric-semiconductor. I could mention at least 5 such devices:
   1. Already mentioned amplifier of SAW by supersonic drift of electrons in layered structures piezoelectric-semiconductor of the TWT type. This amplifier has the advantage with respect to transistor amplifier – it’s input and output are electrically completely isolated from each other.
   2. So-called “acousto-injection transistor” where signal amplification is connected with modulation of conductivity between collector electrodes due to the bunching of electrons by the acoustic wave.
   3. Charge coupling devices (CCD) connected with the charge transfer by the acoustic wave.
   4. Convolvers and correlators based on transverse acoustoelectric effect of SAW. Due to their much higher efficiently in comparison with the convolvers on piezodielectrics, one may hope for their wide use for pattern recognition and other information processing.
   5. One more application of transverse AE effect is a device for reading images with the help of a short acoustic pulse, propagating in layered structure piezoelectric-photosensitive semiconductor. This pulse produces local transverse AE effect [35] in accordance with local conductivity. It is a solid-state analog of the famous “videkon” where reading of conductive profile is executed by the electronic beam in vacuum.

Friends and awards

Ruppel:

What about friends and awards?

Gulyaev:

For a more detailed history of acoustoelectronics development in the world in 60th and 70th years see our review paper with my friend and colleague the outstanding scientist and engineer Fred. S. Hickernell who unfortunately passed away a few years ago.

In general, I should say that in my experience of scientific work all colleagues with whom I worked (including, of course, my pupils) become usually my quite close friends, partly because I never was envious to successes of my colleagues and always was happy when my pupils and friends had some good achievements. Maybe it goes up to main life principle of my father – “Don’t be a scoundrel and work hard” –which he accepted from peasants of his native village Gulyaevo and inculcated upon me in my childhood. I was lucky: in each field of science where I worked, I always had good friends-colleagues. There are so many of them that I cannot give here all the names. I can only name (in arbitrary order) several scientists of the old generation, who were the founders of acousto-electronics such as Vladislav Pustovoit, Vadim Gurevich, Igor Yakovkin, Igor Victorov, Sergey Bogdanov, Vitaliy Ljamov, Sergey Karinskiy, Vladimir Shevchik, Nikolay Sinitsyn, Yury Zyuryukin, Edgar Semenov, Peter Zilberman, Eric Epstein, Anatoly Morozov, Valery Proklov, Georgy Mansfeld, Sergey Ivanov, Vladimir Anisimkin, Anatoly Kmita, Alexander Medved’, Alexander Bagdasaryan (USSR), Dick White, Cal Quate, John Shaw, Gerry Farnell, Bert Auld, Gordon Kino, Ken Lakin, Don White, Henry Spector, Art Oliner, Pankaj Das, Wen Wang, Clinton Hartmann (USA), Eric Ash, Ted Paige, Jeff Collins, Richard De La Rue (Great Britain), Pierre Tournois, Charles Maerfeld, Eugene Dieulesaint, Philippe Nosier, Gerard Quentin (France), Nobuo Mikoshiba, Kasuo Ioshida, Jun-Ichi Nishizawa, Tetsuo Sasaki, Kimio Shiosaki, Sumio Hamakawa (Japan), Kjell Ingbrigtsen, Helge Engan (Norway),Clemens Ruppel (Germany), etc.. Many of them unfortunately already passed away… I also can name my direct pupils who contributed a lot into development of acoustoelectronics, such as (in arbitrary order) Alexander Bugaev, Gennady Shkerdin, Victor Plessky, Sergey Nikitov, Iosif Kotelyansky, Alexander Kozorezov, Natalia Polzikova and younger colleagues, such as Victor Orlov, Sergey Alexeev, Natalia Naumenko, Iren Kuznetsova, etc.

In the other fields of science in which I worked, I also have many friends-colleagues such as Nikolai Sinitsyn, my co-author in the discovery of strong electron emission from carbon nanotubes or Peter Zilberman, my co-author in the field of magneto-electronics and spintronics, or Vladimir Cherepenin with whom I work now investigating influence of strong pulsed electric fields on various media. Vladimir Cherepenin and Yury Maslennikov are also my close colleagues in the investigations in the field of biomedical radio-electronics.

During my long life in science (about 60 years!) I had more than 80 postgraduate students, majority of whom received PhD and about 25 of them became D. Sci. and professors in Physics. I consider this as one of my main achievements in science.

In 1979 five European scientists E. Ash, J. Collins, Yu. Gulyaev, K. Ingebrigtsen and E. Paige were awarded by the prestigious Europhysics Prize of European Physical Society for the development of physical foundations of Surface Acoustic Wave Devices (see fig.1). In 2006, I received IEEE Rayleigh Award for my works on physics and technology of SAW Devices for information processing. For my works in the field of acoustoelectronics I was awarded by the State Prize of the USSR (twice, in 1974 and 1984) and of Russia (twice, in 1993 and 2006).

Plessky:

What other research directions did you follow?

Gulyaev:

Another interest at that time was so called spin-wave electronics. The point is that system of atom spins in magnetic materials is in some sense “lighter” than the system of atoms themselves, so spin-wave devices should work at higher frequencies than their acoustic wave analogs, which are based on the motion of heavy atoms. In 1965 I predicted existence of so called “second spin waves” in ferromagnets (analog of “second sound” in liquid helium, predicted by L.D. Landau) – the waves of spin-wave density. I developed the hydrodynamic theory of these waves, which later was confirmed in the works of physicists from Ural school.

Later with P.E. Zilberman, E.M. Epstein, V.P. Plessky, S.A. Nikitov and our coworkers we developed kinetic theory of spin-wave interaction with free electrons in ferrites, layered structures ferrite-semiconductor and in periodic structures at the surface of ferromagnets. On this basis, there could be developed high frequency (and with high Q-factor) filters and delay lines at microwave frequencies. We performed wide investigations of the phenomena connected with spin-oriented currents (this direction is called “spintronics’) and experimentally observed terahertz electromagnetic radiation due to spin injection in ferromagnets. Together with V.P. Plessky and S.A. Nikitov we introduced a new type of metamaterials – “magnonic crystals” – a periodic medium with the period equal to the length of spin wave (analog of known “photonic” and “ phononic” crystals). Now these magnetic metamaterials are widely investigated as new materials for information processing.

The third direction of my scientific work since 1980 was vacuum microelectronics based on the phenomenon of “cold” electrons emission to vacuum from micro tips, made of molybdenum and other materials. These works have been carried out in Saratov division of our Institute which I organized in 1977–79 in accordance with the proposal of academician N.N. Semenov (Nobel Laureate in chemistry, who was born in Saratov) and 1st secretary of communist party of Saratov region V. Gusev, also chemist by education. There were objective reasons for creation of IRE division in Saratov as here was historically excellent classical University with strong radio-electronic department and many high levels industrial enterprises in the field of microwave electronics, some of which were transferred from Moscow and Leningrad during the Second World War. Indeed, Saratov was intellectual center of low Volga region. In 1977, the representative delegation of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR headed by Vice-President of the Academy, director of our institute Academician V.A. Kotel’nikov came to Saratov and as the result Presidium of Academy of Sciences of the USSR decided to create Saratov’s Scientific Center of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, consisting of several Institutes in different scientific directions – precise mechanics, biology, agriculture and radio-electronics. The organization of the Center was entrusted to me, as I already was closely working with the scientists from Saratov University in the field of acoustoelectronics and microwave acoustics since early 60th.

The Saratov Institute

Ruppel:

Yury, IRE had several Institutes in different locations. One was the Saratov Institute.

Gulyaev:

One of the Institutes of Saratov Centre was the Division of our Institute of Radioengeneering and Electronics Ac.Sci. USSR (SIRE Ac.Sci USSR).

In 1977-1985 I was spending large part of my time in Saratov carrying out both administrative and scientific work. In Saratov’s industrial enterprises there was organized production of microwave acoustic delay lines both on BAW and SAW including dispersive ones on SAW and compression filters on SAW on the technical level, similar to filters made at that time, say, at Thomson CSF. Existing at that time in the World so called “cold war” accelerated the production of those components. In Saratov division of our Institute I organized excellent group of scientists and engineers (educated in Saratov University and in Saratov Polytechnic Institute), who were by their qualification on the best world level. Level of the other Saratov’s Institutes was also very high, not lower than in Moscow or Leningrad. My Deputy head of Saratov Scientific Center Prof. A.F. Rezchikov, who helped me in creation of the Center, headed excellent Institute of Precise Mechanics and Control Systems whose works were very important for the whole country.

At that time, due continuing “cold war”, Saratov Institutes besides agricultural and biological were secret. They could not receive the foreign colleagues, their publications in open journals were sent to print through the Institutes of similar profile in Moscow or Leningrad. For example, our Institute of Radioengineering and Electronics (IRE) had Divisions in Fryazino and Saratov (and later in Ulyanovsk), which by number of scientists were comparable with central Institute in Moscow. But all publications were sent strictly from the Central Institute. Our foreign colleagues were surprised with such outstanding productivity of our scientists!

Saratov in general was closed city for foreigners as during the Second World War to Saratov there were evacuated many military industrial enterprises and some of them didn’t return to previous places. Even touristic ships with foreigners who travelled along Volga river in 60th and 70th didn’t stop in Saratov!

All of this changed with Gorbachev’s “perestroika”, but about it – later.

Carbone Nanotubes

Ruppel:

Tell us a little bit about the discovery of carbon nanotubes!

Gulyaev:

In 1991, there was discovered a new allotropic state of carbon – so called nanotubes. It was further development of known “fullerene” state – ball-like molecules of many C atoms, for example C60. First considerations on topological possibility of existence of carbon nanotubes I’ve heard in 1991 from Prof. Leonid Chernozatonsky, my friend at the Institute of Chemical Physics of RAS, the teacher of my wife Irina Ermolaeva. He called them “tubelenes”. Experimentally these carbon nanotubes were obtained practically simultaneously in 1991 by Iijima in electrical arc discharge and by Chernozatonsky et al by laser sputtering of graphite source. The experimentalist in the team there was Zoya Kosakovskaya, a brilliant scientist and engineer, beautiful and pleasant woman, later from our Institute. I immediately (in 1991) sent her experimental results to Kroto, Nobel Prize Laureate for discovery of fullerenes, and he promised to put it into his survey paper which he was writing for journal “Nature”.

As since 1980 I was involved at Saratov in vacuum microelectronics research I’ve got the idea, that carbon nanotube could be the effective and reliable source of electron emission to vacuum. Indeed, the diameter of nanotube (or the thickness of its wall) is of the size of one atom, so it is very sharp tip. If, due to very strong electric field some atoms of carbon will fly away, the sharpness of the nanotube will not be worse – in difference from used before the molybdenum tips, which after flying away some atoms become blunter. I said this idea to the head of my experimental group in Saratov Division of IRE Prof. Nikolay Sinitsyn- known specialist in microwave electronics in general and microwave microelectronics in particular. He immediately organized the experiment and (O, glory!) indeed obtained very strong electron auto emission from carbon nanotube tips. In April 1993, we submitted our report to the International Conference in Grenoble.

It was the first publication on auto emission of electrons from carbon nanotubes and foundation of a new direction in vacuum microelectronics. Today there are hundreds of publications all over the World on that subject, and many devices already have been done. For example, there are already constructed micro vacuum diode and triode, where distance between cathode (carbon nanotube) and anode is less than mean free path of electron at atmospheric pressure. It means that it doesn’t need to be pumped out! There are made already micro vacuum integrated circuits, which can work under the conditions of very strong radiation or lightning, at high temperatures, etc. – in contrary to usual semiconductor IC. The other advantage is very high working frequency as the electrons there are free and don’t collide with atoms. I continue to work actively in vacuum micro and nanoelectronics, investigating, in particular, possibilities of creation the new types of bright displays.

The research project “extrasenses”

Plessky:

How did you get involved in the “strange” research project “extrasenses”?

Gulyaev:

In 1977 Acad. Yu. B. Kobzarev outstanding scientist in the field of electrodynamics and statistical radio physics, who was a Head of the Department at our Institute, invited me to visit at home Acad. I.K. Kikoin, one of the creators of Russian atomic bomb. Also, there were invited Acad. A.N. Tikhonov, famous mathematician, the author of “Tikhonov’s regularization method”, Prof. V.B. Braginsky from MSU, outstanding physicist - experimentalist in the field of gravitational waves. Prof. G.D. Mansfeld from my Lab, brilliant experimentalist in the field of acoustoelectronics, and some other people. There was invited a woman from Leningrad Ninel Kulagina with her husband and medical doctor. She was declared to be so called “extrasens”, person, who has some unusual abilities: telepathy, introvision, telekinesis (replacement of objects without touching them) etc.

Here I should say, that at that time (the end of Brezhnev’s “stagnation” period in the USSR, end of 70th – beginning of 80th) that kind of people became very popular, as USSR people didn’t know where to go. The idea of Communism was exhausted but alternative ideology was not suggested. So, various extrasenses, wizards, exorcists, shamans, healers, astrologists, witches were flourishing and scrambling people’s brains. The “super – true” scientists considered all of this just as a rubbish and didn’t want to pay attention on it. But some scientists wanted to go deeper and understand if there is something that it is worth to study (for not to” throw out a child with water from the basin”). That was the goal of the meeting at Acad. Kikoin’s home mentioned above.

Somebody put light objects (pieces of smashed paper, cup of the pen) on the glass over the table and asked Mrs. Kulagina to move them without touching. She tried with big strain and … nothing happened, the objects didn’t move. She said immediately that she is influenced by the children’s eyes from photographs of Kikoin grandchildren under the glass over the table. So, the table glass was covered by newspaper. She repeated the efforts and finally the objects started to move (!), both to her and out of her depending on her hands position. All of us, spectators, were in great shock! Acad. Tikhonov even tried to measure with the ruler the path which the object travelled. It was about 25 cm. We kept our eyes very attentively on her hands and the objects and didn’t notice any threads or the other devices. It seemed that it was not a trick! But what it was? All of us were the scientists and didn’t believe to any miracles! Everybody started to propose explanations of what we have seen.

My idea was that there is some kind of chemical emanation from her hands as she always kept opened palms over the objects as if she was throwing down some substance from her palms on the objects. The motion of the objects more or less followed the movements of her palms, as if there was some interaction between palms and the objects. The other effect which she made was strong etching at the skin of anybody when she touched some area of skin with the palm of her hand. Prof. Braginsky even got noticeable burn of his hand from her touch. During all the experiments medical doctor measured her pulse and blood pressure. It reached by times very high level: 200 heart bits per minute and 270 mm Hg blood pressure. At the end she was completely exhausted. We returned home in deep thoughts what all of it could be. Anyway, I was interested to understand what I’ve seen: is it really some phenomenon or very clever trick? I made some inquiries about Kulagina and learned that some experiments with her already have been done by Acad. Rem Khokhlov, Rector of MSU. Unfortunately Khokhlov at that time already died, but eyewitnesses said that Kulagina could decline and scatter the laser beam! We decided to repeat his experiments. We made from cartoon the vertical tube 10 cm in diameter with 2 pairs of holes along the diameter, one pair over another by 5 cm, and let laser beam to pass through these pairs of holes. At the bottom of this tube we put small piezoelectric transducer (receiver of sound).

We invited Kulagina to come to Moscow again and asked her to move this transducer inside the tube. When Kulagina put her palms over upper opening of the tube and started moving the transducer we saw that laser beams began to tremble and scatter, one after another, and piezo-transducer registered sound flips. It looks like some “clouds” were falling down from her palms with certain velocity, scattered the laser beams and then produced sound flips, registered by the transducer. Knowing distance between laser beams we easily calculated the velocity of ‘clouds” and found that it was approximately equal to velocity of water drops, freely falling down in the atmosphere. So it became more or less clear to us that the picture of the “phenomenon” was the following: she somehow could throw out from her palms the perspiration clouds which have electric charge. These clouds on its way down scatter the laser beams and falling on the transducer produce sound flips. The transducer becomes electrically charged and Kulagina’s palms, which are also charged, could move the object (transducer), not touching it, by usual electromotive force.

It is well known that Human skin (including palms) usually is electrically charged due to friction of our feet upon the floor, ground, etc. Part of this charge Kulagina can throw out with the perspiration to the object, which thus becomes charged. Indeed we noticed that her palms after the experiments were very wet. Thus, so called “ telekinesis” is explained simply by electromotive forces! We even made the device which we called the “ witchescope” for direct measurements of the electric charge which Kulagina was throwing out of her palms. It consisted of 2 metallic plates parallel to each other with the distance between them about 5 cm. These plates were switched into a circuit consisting from the electric battery, ampermeter and voltmeter joined together by wires. In absence of Kulagina the current in the circuit was equal to zero and the voltmeter showed the voltage of the battery. When Kulagina started to throw out the clouds of her charged perspiration (in fact, clouds of some kind of electrolyte) into the space between the plates, there appears a current which is measured by the ampermeter. Knowing the sizes of the plates and current’s value one can easily calculate the amount of electric charge between the plates. It occurred to be quite enough to provide necessary electromotive force for “ telekinesis”.

The question is why she had so abundant perspiration from her palms. May be it is her physiological peculiarity. Everybody knows that some people are sweating more than another. But we even had the idea, that maybe she, before the experiments, rubbed into her palms some chemicals. This could explain the etching by her palms mentioned above: so simple! Anyway, from delicacy we didn’t investigate these experiments in such details. Unfortunately, Mrs. Kulagina soon died and we had no possibility to continue the experiments. We learned that some other people were showing similar type of “telekinesis”, but they rejected to be investigated scientifically. So our experiments with “telekinesis” were completed.

I reported the results of our experiments with Mrs. Kulagina to our Director, Acad. V.A. Kotel’nikov (He also was Vice-President of Ac.Sci. USSR) and, by his advice, to the President of Ac.Sci. USSR, Acad. A.P. Alexandrov and to the Seminar at the Institute for Physical Problems Ac. Sci. USSR. All of them accepted our possible explanation of “telekinesis”. But the question about physiological mechanism of such an abundant charged Human perspiration (even if it is due to artificial rubbing into the palms of some chemicals) was not solved up to the end. However, the positive result of this story for me was the appearance of the interest to study Human physiological functions by radiophysical methods. I should say that so far all the experiments with

Kulagina have been performed unofficially, mainly in my home. But soon there appeared the occasion which helped to transfer our experiments to official laboratory.

At the end of 1980 the Head of the State Committee on Science and Technology (SCST) Acad. G.I. Marchuk invited Acad. Evgeny Velikhov, who was at that period Vice –President of the Ac. Sci. USSR on Physics, and me, as Deputy Director of the Institute, whose activity was connected with the receiving and processing of weak signals during our investigations of Space and Planets by radars and sputniks. For example, our Institute participated in radar investigations of the planet Venus. We made the first map of Venus relief in spite of clouds in its atmosphere always covering the surface of the planet. American scientists performed the similar radar mapping of Venus one year later. I together with American colleagues reported about these achievements through the American CNN Television. Also my experiments with Kulagina were quite known and Acad. Marchuk knew about them. He said to us that the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Mr. Leonid Brezhnev asked him to clear up the situation with a woman of Assyrian origin named “Djuna”, who performs treatment of several top leaders of the USSR and himself (with positive effect!) using methods not approved by official medicine. Marchuk asked us to organize some investigations of Djuna’s “healing” abilities from the point of view of physics. We agreed to try.

Research in the area of medicine

Ruppel:

Later in your career you started to look into medical topics, and use highly sensitive sensors, which were developed for the project “extrasenses”!

Gulyaev:

I decided to consider more wide problem: to use the possibilities of our Institute for reception and processing of weak signals, coming out from any Human body due to life activity. I had in mind electric and magnetic fields, electromagnetic radiation of various frequencies, brain waves, heart beating, breathing, microwaves, heat (IR radiation), light (“aura”), acoustic radiation and chemical content of the micro-atmosphere around a human body (Fig.2). The idea was that if these signals are measurable and are modulated by life functions then they could be used for noninvasive diagnostics of a Human body.

I organized a new laboratory in the Institute called “ELDIS” (Electronic Diagnostic Systems) and invited to work very good experimental physicist Edward Godik from our Institute and a group of postgraduate and undergraduate PhysTech Students (including both of my sons, Andy and Michael, also PhysTech Students). Together with Godik we worked out the Program of investigations of the physical fields and radiations mentioned above, from any Human. We’ve got some grants from the government to buy necessary equipment and rented a part of a small old house in a quiet street of Moscow (for less electromagnetic noise from the street transport). Finally, in 1981 we created a unique completely computerized measuring complex for precise measurements of electric and magnetic fields (changing in space and time), infrared, microwave, optic and acoustic radiations and for the analysis of the micro-atmosphere around a human. For example, the dynamic IR thermography system gives temperature distribution over the Human skin with the accuracy higher than 0.01o C. The dynamic radio thermography system gives 3D temperature distribution inside a Human body with accuracy higher, than 0.1o C at the depth up to 10 cm. The dynamic system for measuring magnetic fields of muscles, heart and brain, based on SQIDS in combination of the second order gradientometer has sensitivity 10FT/ Hz1/2 within the band up to 100Hz. This measuring complex allowed us to monitor the behavior of various organs of a Human body and the Human as a whole in the norm and with various pathologies.

On that basis there was developed a set of new types of noninvasive medical diagnostics.. Some devices from this complex are produced by the industry and are used in many clinics: IR cameras, magneto- cardiographs, electric impedance mammographs etc. invented by us device against falling asleep of a person fulfilling dangerous work, based on so called “skin-galvanic effect”, is used by the engine-drivers on all railways in Russia.

Finally, I should say that all of these diagnostic devices are completely noninvasive and relatively cheap. For example, electric impedance mammograph gives practically the same knowledge about woman breast pathologies as X-ray mammograph, but it is absolutely harmless and is about 20 times cheaper. I hope that this computerized diagnostic complex will be a part of future preventive individual medicine equipment.

A few words about Djuna who, unfortunately, recently passed away. We have not found any difference of the fields and radiations from her body in comparison with any of us. But she had unusually high sensitivity of her organs of feelings. For example, she felt difference in temperature of two objects 0.20C with her fingertips, while for average person this figure is 0.40C. She had very quick reaction on every word or motion of a person to whom she was speaking or putting questions. Besides of this she was high level specialist in massage and, in our opinion, quite good psychotherapeut. We come to conclusion that all of it plus known effect “placebo” perfectly explains her “healing” abilities.

Plessky:

Yury, I know that you have spent a lot of time for the social activity: in Gorbachev Parliament, for example. Could you tell some words about it?

Gulyaev:

All the scientific and technical achievements, described above, were mainly obtained in the Soviet Union period, even before Gorbachev’s “Perestroika” (i.e. before 1985). The Soviet Union had quite a militarized economics. Therefore, since Stalin period physics, mathematics, chemistry and technical sciences were in favor as they obviously have direct relation to military power of the country. I wouldn’t say this about biology, genetics and cybernetics which were considered as “bourgeois sciences”, contradicting Marxist-Leninist ideology and they were damped. It was very stupid, as future development have shown that these sciences are no less important even for military power of the state. Many outstanding biologists and geneticists were under repressions, put into jails and executed, as famous biologist and geneticist Acad. Nickolai Vavilov. Even some physicists, chemists and engineers, if they do not strictly follow communist party ideology, were repressed: put into to so called “Sharashkas”, some kind of jails where prisoners were doing science. Some very great physicists and engineers like L.D. Landau, S.P. Korolev, A.N. Tupolev have been in Sharashkas. Great Russian writer A.I. Solzhenitsyn also was working in Sharashka on speech recognition problems. But in the whole the financing and other support of physical, chemical and technical sciences was quite good. On one month’s salary of junior researcher it was possible to buy a suit, shoes, shirts and feed the family. Very important role in this there had the existence of “cold war”.

With Gorbachev’s Perestroika’ everything drastically changed. Of course, there were many positive things: freedom of speech, press publications, appearance of books and movies, which earlier were not possible, free television with criticism with respect to anybody, even Gorbachev and later Yeltsin, and, which is especially important for scientists, freedom to travel to foreign countries and personally communicate with close colleagues. But on the other hand, as USA and Western countries now were not considered as the enemies of the Soviet Union, “cold war” ended (unfortunately, temporarily!), the expenses on military related sciences dropped down very much. By the way, my colleagues from abroad told me about the same situation in USA, England, France, etc. In the Soviet Union many military technical Institutes were closed or tried to transfer to civil production. The difference between the West and the Soviet Union was that if the Western military enterprises always actively participated in civil production, in the Soviet Union it was on much lower scale. As high technology military industries dropped down there were no big need in the academic fundamental science. So on one hand the financing of the academic institutions by itself was reduced and from the other hand, it became very difficult to find contracts with the industry. The situation became even worse after falling down the Soviet Union in the Autumn of 1991. Financing of our Institute of Radioengineering and Electronics, for example, immediately dropped down by 20 times. At that time I was already the Director of the Institute and main task for me was the survival of the Institute.

Coming a little bit back in time, in 1979 I was elected the Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. After 5 years in 1984 at the age of 49 years old, I was elected a Full Member (Academician) of Ac. Sc. USSR. In 1987, our Director Academician V.A. Kotel’nikov suggested me to became the Director of the Institute and I was elected to this position. In the situation of those days I decided to find for the high physical and technical potential of the Institute some civil applications. They were: the new methods of medical diagnostics and curing, ecology of our country and the Planet Earth as a whole, fundamental works in low dimension systems electronics and in vacuum microelectronics, material sciences including metamaterials, generation and investigation of super strong pulsed electromagnetic fields and their interaction with the various media, including gold and platinum containing ores and even Human organism, etc.

In the Spring of 1989 I was elected as People’s Deputy (Member of Parliament) to Gorbachev’s Parliament. It was called “The Meeting of People’s Deputies of the USSR”. These elections have been partly from regions of the country and partly from the social organizations. I was elected from the social organization “The Union of

Scientific and Engineering Associations of the USSR” (USEA of the USSR). This organization had a quote of 16 representatives in the Parliament. For the comparison, I can say that the Academy of Sciences of the USSR had comparable number - 25 representatives. Soon after elections to the Parliament I was elected to be the President of the USEA. In the Parliament I was appointed the Chairman of Subcommittee on Telecommunication and Informatics of the Committee of Transport, Telecommunications and Informatics of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

In the beginning of my work in the Parliament Mr. Gorbachev asked me to create in the main Hall of the Kremlin Palace (with 6000 seats!) the machine for electronic confidential voting for the delegates. With the help of Phillips Company we did it. So before opening of every Parliament General Session Gorbachev asked me to explain to delegates how to use my machine, as it was very new for everybody.

The first thing that I decided to do at this high position was to create the complex Program of development of the telecommunications systems in the USSR and, in general, informatization of the USSR. At that time in the USSR in average there were only 9 telephones per 100 inhabitants (for comparison, in the African Republic of Zimbabwe there were 13 telephones per 100 peoples and in the USA and England there were about 90 telephones per 100 inhabitants). All of these telephones were stationary with wire connections. Era of cellular phones at that time only just started. The principle of cellular telephone was proposed by Bell Telephone Company in the USA in 1940, and it reminds the principle of estafeta (relay) in sport when one runner passes the stick to the other runner and the team overtakes the distance faster than it would be one sportsman. But it couldn’ t be realized in practice, as for duplex communications the mobile equipment was as big and heavy as at the main station. Only after the invention and development of SAW compact filters and effective solid state compact amplifiers in 80th the cellular phone could be placed into lady’s sac or men’s pocket.

As far as I know the first countries which started to produce and sale cellular stations and mobile telephones were Scandinavian countries (for example, Finnish system NMT-450) and then France with their GSM technology, England, USA and the other countries. In the USSR in 1989 there were no cellular telephones at all and they even were unknown to majority of population. My idea was to work out the Program based on 4 main directions:

1. Transition to digital telecommunication systems (at that time we in the USSR had mainly analog systems).
2. Wide use of fiber optic communication lines especially for long and principal lines (at that time fiber optic communications in the USSR just started).
3. Much wider use of the satellite (sputnik)g communication lines as our country USSR has very big territory and in some parts, is very weakly inhabited.
4. Wide use of cellular communications. This was especially important as in the USSR more than half of apartments had no cables for landline phones and using of cellular telephones in spite of their high price would be economically more profitable than to establish wire lines.

I organized the working group of the specialists in telecommunications problems and we worked out this Program taking into account the real situation in various regions of our great country. In 1989-1991 I have published several papers on the various aspects of this Program in the Soviet press and abroad. For example, in 1990 I presented at London Congress on Cellular Telephony the report under the title “Will Cellular Save the Soviet Union?”, in which on real examples I was proving the economical profit of cellular telephony for the USSR. I took participation in the first three Davos Economic Forums where I represented telecommunications part of the USSR delegation. At the end of 1989 I organized the tender between foreign and Soviet companies for installation and production of cellular telephone systems in the USSR. From 11 companies-participants the winner was Finnish company «Nokia» with their system NMT-450. So on 10th of October 1989 in Moscow there was the first ring of cellular phone. Era of cellular communications started in the Soviet Union and later in Russia.

During 3 years (1989-1991) of my work in Gorbachev's Parliament I was deeply involved into routine parliamentary work: meetings, adopting new laws and making corrections to old laws, supporting or not supporting the appointments of Ministers and Directors of the main enterprises in the field of telecommunications and informatics, etc. In this period I almost had no time for research.

But I should admit here that this new type of activity in the Parliament was very interesting and pleasant for me. There were several reasons for that. The first is that due to free elections to Gorbachev's Parliament (may be for the first time in the whole history of Russia, including Tsarist period and Communist Soviet Union) there were elected many outstanding personalities from the intellectual elite of the Country like Academicians: Andrey Sakharov, Vitaly Ginzburg, Zhores Alferov, Evgeny Velikhov, Yury Ryzhov, Yury Ossipian, Igor Gorynin,

Evgeny Primakov, Georgy Arbatov, Nikolai Petrakov, Leonid Abalkin, Professors: Svyatoslav Fedorov (ophthalmologist), Anatoliy Sobchak, Tel’man Gdlyan, Galina Starovoitova (lawyers), Alexander Lebed' ( General); economists Gavriil Popov and Yuri Boldyrev, politicians Boris Yeltsin and Alexander Yakovlev, astronaut-engineers Victor Gorbatko and Rector of Bauman University Prof. Alexey Eliseev, priest Pitirim, etc. With almost all of them I was acquainted personally in various circumstances and had close political views on the desired future of our Country. We all worked for the sake of making the Soviet Union as the democratic country.

One of the first decrees by our Parliament was the abolition from the USSR Constitution, one of the main positions about the leading role of Communist Party in our society. Of course, me and all mentioned above people's deputies voted for this decree! In the Soviet Union General Secretary of the Communist Party was the real head of the state. At that time on this position was Mikhail Gorbachev. In the new situation after acceptance of this decree the structure of high power in Soviet Union was changed and Gorbachev was elected as the first (and the last!) President of the Soviet Union.

Unfortunately, the economic policy of Gorbachev’s government was far from optimal. Governmental counsellors were suggesting one program after another, like the sad memory 500 days Program for getting out from crisis. The industry was not working, ruble was falling down with respect to USA dollar, the shelfs at the shops were empty. At the regions of the USSR there started upraising of the people, firstly in Georgia, then in Baltic Republics, who wanted to go out from the Soviet Union. These attempts were damped by the military force. It dropped down the authority of the Central Government and Gorbachev personally. At that critical moment in August 1991 Gorbachev went for the vacations to the Black sea resort and there occurred the coup-d’ état in Moscow, headed by the conservative part of Gorbachev’s governing elite. They formed governing organ SCCS (State Committee on Critical Situation), in Russian “G.K.Ch.P.” and claimed the necessity to save the previous Soviet Union with not too much of so called “Western democracy”.

At that time in Russian Federation, which is the biggest part of the Soviet Union, there was already its own leader, Boris Yeltsin, with his Russian Parliament. As Moscow is inside the Russian Federation, so Yeltsin formally had the rights to command by the Russian military troops there. On 19th August 1991 SCCS Head, Vice-President of Gorbachev’s Parliament Gennady Yanaev gave order to Defense Minister of the USSR General Yazov to move the troops including groups of tanks from the Moscow suburbs to Moscow White House, where Yeltsin’s Parliament was sitting. But Yeltsin called to Yazov and convinced him to give the order to tanks group officers not to shoot to anybody. So General Lebed’, the commander of tanks group rejected to shoot to the White House. At that time, the Moscovites, who already felt the wind of freedom, made the barricades around the White House for defense of Yeltsin’s Parliament and government. Finally, everything ended without a single tank shot, but unfortunately, 3 young boys died under armored infantry carrier, trying to stop it. This was unforgettable nights and days from 19th up to 21th August. My wife Irina and me were visiting the White House to join the defenders of Yeltsin’s democracy. and we all had been very happy with Yeltsin’s victory.

Next morning Yeltsin gave his famous speech from the tank tower promising to the country the freedom and flourishment. In one of the next days Gorbachev came back to Moscow after his vacations and found completely different country. He already did not have any real power. All members of SCCS were arrested and put to jail. After some time of coexistence of the Soviet Union with Gorbachev as the formal Head, the President, and New Russia with President Yeltsin as real power in Russia, in October 1991 the three Heads of Russia, Ukraine and Byelorussia at Byelorussian resort signed the agreement of decomposition of the USSR into a group of independent States with the boundaries between them as they were at that moment. These three Heads, Yeltsin, Kravchuk, and Shushkevich suggested to the Heads of the other Republics of the Soviet Union to join the agreement and all of them did it with pleasure. The Soviet Union was already doomed. With the Soviet Union it’ s Parliament stopped to exist. So my active political life came to the end.

Ruppel:

When Yeltsin came to power in New Russia in 1991, you were only 56 years old. What have you been doing after coming back to academic activity?

Gulyaev:

I came back to my work in the Academy of Sciences as Director of our Institute. My Program of Informatization of the Soviet Union, described above, in the main part concerning Russian Federation (Russia) was accepted by new (Yeltsin’s) Parliament and is now practically realized in Russia. Today for 145 mio.

population of Russia there are more than 200 mio. of cellular phones! All the other directions of the Program also are developing on average international level.

In the Academy of Sciences itself there happened some significant changes at that time. I will tell about it in more detail.

In the Soviet Union, there were existed several Academies: the Ac.Sci. USSR, which was mainly consisted of the members living on the territory of the Russian Federation with a few members from the other USSR Republics, and a bit low level Academies in Republics Ukraine, Byelorussia, Kazakhstan, Georgia, etc.

After August 1991 events all the Republics became the independent States. Therefore, their Academies of Sciences became the National Academies. In Russian Federation there was no Academy of Sciences as the Ac.Sci. USSR was always unofficially considered as Russian Academy of Sciences. In Russia there existed (even in tsarist period) the group of scientists who were in opposition to the Academy because they were not elected to the Academy by various reasons, mainly due to their not very high level as scientists. Now these people, using the situation, came to Boris Yeltsin and reminded him that in the other Republics there exist Academies of Sciences, but in Russia there is no one. So, they said, let us create a new Academy of Sciences in Russia. In this case, Ac.Sci. USSR should be demolished as reminder of hated Soviet Union. Yeltsin agreed and gave them 150 vacancies for election of members of new Academy. We in Ac.Sci. USSR were just shocked with this President's decision and started to fight against it. Our foreign colleagues, for example from the USA National Academy, Royal Society, Max Plank Institute etc., have written the letters of support to Ac. Sci. USSR.

However, our opponents made crucial mistake. They proposed as the President of new Russian Academy of Sciences Academician of the Ac. Sci. USSR Yury Osipov, mathematician from Ekaterinburg, the native city of President Yeltsin. Academician Yury Osipov, outstanding scientist, was, of course, against demolition of Ac. Sci. USSR, as all of us, and at the same time he was acquainted with Boris Yeltsin from the period, when he was the 1st Secretary of the Communist Party of the Ekaterinburg region. On November 21, 1991, a group of academicians of Ac. Sci. USSR have met with Yeltsin at the airport Vnukovo, when he was going to fly abroad and was in a good humor. They reminded him about the great merits of the Ac. Sci. USSR in the main achievements of USSR during the latest years such as atomic project, rockets, space flights and investigations, etc., in which the Ac. Sci. USSR had outstanding role. They pointed out that Ac. Sci. USSR in fact was almost 99% Russian Academy of Sciences and proposed him just only to change the name of the Ac. Sci. USSR to “ Russian Academy of Sciences” (RAS), as the Academy was called between 1724-1925.

Yeltsin found their arguments reasonable, suggested to use those 150 vacancies for elections of new deserving members and signed proposed text as a decree. So since the 21th November 1991 our Academy of Sciences is called the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS).

In December 1991 Yury Osipov was elected as the President of the New Old Russian Academy of Sciences. I was elected as the Member of the Presidium (governing body) of the Russian Academy of Sciences and was appointed as responsible person for the relations between the Academy and the Ministry on Telecommunications and Informatics of Russia. So again I had a lot of administrative work, but also much more time for research.

My main interests there were the investigations in the field of carbon nanotubes electron emission devices, spintronics and biomedical radio-electronics, as I already described earlier. Also, I was interested to study the influence of strong pulsed electric field on various media, in particular on gold and platinum containing ores.

Economics of Russia after “shock therapy” of 1992-1993 showed some increase, but after default in 1998 dropped down again. All that time the financing of the Academy Institutes was low, although some growth took place. Our opponents outside of the Academy were not quiet. The point is that the Academy of Sciences of the USSR had a lot of high level property: good buildings in the central parts of Moscow, Leningrad, Ekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, etc., advanced expensive equipment, special hospitals and resorts, etc. All of these belongings were not yet privatized. For many organizations, including our opponents, this Academy’s property was very desirable piece.

So in June 2013 we suddenly learned that there is prepared a project of law about liquidation of Russian Academy of Sciences and transferring of all academic institutes (about 550) to some new State institution called Federal Agency of Scientific Organizations (FASO),( in Russian FANO). Nobody new (and nobody knows now!) who was the author of this law. President of RAS Acad. Vladimir Fortov was informed about this project just several hours before the Meeting of the Government, the member of which he was. Of course, he and some members of the Government objected, but it was too late. The project with some small corrections was submitted

to Duma (Russian Parliament) for consideration and adopting. At the next day, all the World knew about this event: “Russian Academy of Sciences, one of the best scientific Centre in the World, created by Peter the Great about 300 years ago is going to be liquidated! This is a great shock for all World science!” That was the reaction of Russian and International Scientific Community. There was a big meeting (several thousand peoples) in front of the building of the Presidium RAS at Leninskiy Prospect in Moscow and extraordinary Meeting of the Presidium RAS itself, similar meetings in Leningrad (which was renamed back as Saint Petersburg), in Ekaterinburg, in Novosibirsk, etc. As the result, the final decision on that project by Duma was postponed until the Autumn. During all the summer, there were a lot of meetings, publications in Press, TV programs, Internet publications, etc. I personally wrote a big open letter to the President of Russia Vladimir Putin (he inherited Yeltsin in 2000) in which I presented to him many considerations against adoption of this law. This letter was placed at the Academy’s website for a month or longer period. Many outstanding scientists wrote analogous letters to Putin, to the Government, to Duma, etc. Foreign Academic people from USA National Academy of Science, Royal Society, Max Plank Institute, etc. also supported Russian Academy of Sciences.

Of course, such a pressure had some effect, but it was not able to change intended decision. On 18th September 2013 (at my Birthday!) the project was approved by the State Duma and became the law. In accordance with this law Russian Academy of Sciences was not liquidated (as it was planned!) but it was reorganized like Academic society (to certain aspect similar to NAS USA, Royal Society, etc.) The Institutes were taken off from the Academy and economically submitted to FASO, so budget financing of the Institutes was made through FASO. The Role of RAS was to determine directions of research in the Institutes and to provide expertize of all scientific and technical projects in the country. But it is known that “who pays for the girl, he is dancing with her”. So up to now this principle of “two keys” is not working properly. Apparently, it takes time to establish this new system.

In new structure RAS –FASO on the position of the Director of the Institute can be elected persons only below 65 years old. In July 2014 my last 5 years term as the Director of IRE RAS ended and I was retired from the Director position (I was Director of the Institute for 27 years). I was elected as the Scientific Supervisor of the IRE RAS. So, I have now only scientific duties, consisting of supervising the research directions in the Institute. Of course, as usual, I’m doing my personal work as physicist- theoretician in the field of Solid State Physics. So my scientific career continues.

Plessky:

What about your social activity?

Gulyaev:

In the Soviet Union there existed the Union of Scientific and Engineering Associations of the USSR (USEA USSR). It was successor of the Russian Technical Society, founded in 1866. After decomposition of the Soviet Union USEA of the USSR was transformed to the Union of Scientific and Engineering Associations of the countries from which USSR was consisted. It was called the International Union of Scientific and Engineering Associations (IUSEA). One of the members of IUSEA was RUSEA- Russian Union of Scientific and Engineering Associations. So I was elected in 1991 as the President of both IUSEA and RUSEA. In fact, they are the Unions of Engineers of both - previous USSR and Russia. There is quite a big amount of social work. IUSEA is a member of International Engineering organization WFEO (World Federation of Engineering Organizations). RUSEA is a Member of European Engineering Organization FEANI. The aim of IUSEA and RUSEA is to join in all aspects to the World engineering organizations in education, standards of engineers, reeducation of engineers in connection with scientific and technical tendencies, etc. We in Russia organize competition for the best engineer of Russia with Prizes and Diplomas, competition for All Russian Prize to young engineers “The Hope of Russia”, do some work to improve the conditions of work of engineers, help international contacts of Russian engineers, organizing of the International Conferences, etc. In the frames of RUSEA I am also the President of A.S. Popov Scientific and Engineering Society for Radioengineering, Electronics and Telecommunications, which is Russian analog of IEEE.

On international level I am the President of Russian division of URSI (International Radio Science Union), and Past President of the Russian section of IEEE (I organized this section in 1988 and was its President until 2016). So in spite of my age 81 years I am working hard and, in general, with big pleasure.

Some words about my family. My wife, Ermolaeva Irina Vasilievna, PhD, State Prize of Russia Laureate in Physics, now retired. My elder son, Andrey, born in 1959, is an electrical engineer, he works at Moscow’s

Division of Swedish firm “Scania”. My junior son, Michael, born in 1966, also is an electrical engineer, now in business, he is the owner of not big firm, which deals with computerization of aluminium industry. As I already mentioned, I have two brothers, both electrical engineers and both retired. I also have one granddaughter and two grandsons.

In conclusion, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my colleagues and friends Victor Plessky and Clemens Ruppel for their initiative, insistence and hard work with this Interview.