Interview by Vestnik Kavkaza
On October 11-13 Moscow will host the 8th Festival of Science. The president of Moscow State University (MSU), Viktor Sanovnichiy, invited pupils, students, scientists, and everybody who finds science interesting to it. The main platform, the intellectual center is the Fundamental library of MSU. Viktor Sadonvnichiy told journalists about the festival and science in general.
- What do you think will be the most interesting thing at the Festival of Science?
- I wish I could listen to the lectures of leading scientists. They will speak about the latest innovations, discoveries in the modern science. I think I will have an opportunity to watch all expositions. It is always a pleasure. I watch them before the opening ceremony. It is too little time to see everything. I am interested in projects by young scientists and in projects which can be touched – a vehicle or a virtual experiment, a virtual room; I am also interested in serious abstract lectures.
You should come to the Festival of Science because you will learn a lot there. Science is your future. Think about your future, come to the Festival of Science, enjoy the science, be a scientist or a person who appreciates and supports science.
- Why should science be promoted?
- It should be promoted to make it live and develop. When we speak about promotion, we try to attract young people to understanding of certain scientific events, discoveries. If the youth come to science, science will have the future. Moreover, promotion of science is needed for the society to understand that science should be supported, that state resources which are spent on science are used effectively. It is very important as well. The society should understand that it supports its future by paying taxes.
- Please tell us about the most interesting experiment in your childhood.
- I had postwar childhood, and we dreamt about photo cameras. I heard about the camera FED and decided to made my own camera, to copy FED. I made a frame, found a lens from a binocular, there were a lot of them after the war, made a mechanism of rolling a film stock from sewing spools and bought a photo film. Our group went hiking. And our supervisor told me to shoot the most interesting moments of the hike. It was 1953 or 1954, you can imagine how we lived then. I made some pictures, but when I processed the film, all pictures were out of focus. When our supervisor I asked me to give him the photos as a gift, I was shy and didn’t want to do this because the photos were out of focus. Finally I agreed and gave away the photos. But our supervisor was a very good teacher and he said: “The photos are lovely!” It was my first serious invention – a handmade camera.
- How does science develop in the Caucasus?
- There are several wonderful universities in the Caucasus. I would like to mention the one I know the best – Kabardino-Balkaria University; it has a nice president Barasbi Karamurzov. I have visited the university and its innovative expositions. There are many good discoveries, good exhibitions and results. We are connected with the university in the sphere of studying mountains. There is a station on Elbrus where we are working together, geographers and physicians. It is about studying particles. There are other strong universities in Dagestan, North Ossetia. At the same time, due to some reasons development of universities in regions should be supported. It concerns not only a university. It is more than a university. It is a cultural center, a bond in the region, a bond which unites Russian regions. We need a special program and pay special attention to development of the North Caucasus universities. A lot is being done, but we need more.
- Are there any joint scientific projects with countries of the South Caucasus?
- We have very nice relations with Abkhazia, we have signed a treaty with Sukhumi University, we have a powerful base there. In Azerbaijan we have a branch of Moscow State University in Baku, one of the strongest branches of MSU. I will fly to Baku soon. We will open a branch in Yerevan, it will be another point. We are ready to build relations with other countries, including Georgia.
- What are the most striking scientific discoveries of recent years for you?
- For sure, they are in the science of life. A great breakthrough in genetics, understanding of life materials and life organisms has been achieved. The fact that we are close to understanding how life appeared and why human being appeared in its form is an achievement of our scientists. I think the biggest breakthroughs will be connected with biology, genetics, cognitive sciences. And of course microphysics achieved great results. The most striking is discovery of black holes; science explains appearance of the universe.
