On the Occasion of His 80Th Anniversary)

Crystallography Reports, Vol. 46, No. 4, 2001, pp. 521–522. Translated from Kristallografiya, Vol. 46, No. 4, 2001, pp. 583–584. Original Russian Text Copyright © 2001 by the Editorial Board. In Memory of Boris Konstantinovich Vainshtein (on the Occasion of His 80th Anniversary) On July 10, 2001, Boris Konstantinovich Vainsh- In 1945, Vainshtein entered the postgraduate course tein, an outstanding physicist–crystallographer and of the Institute of Crystallography and was bound for- member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, would ever with this institute. In 1950, he defended his Candi- have celebrated his eightieth birthday. date and, in 1955, Doctoral dissertations in physics and mathematics. In 1959, he organized and headed the Academician Vainshtein, an outstanding scientist Laboratory of Protein Structure. In 1962, Vainshtein and a remarkable person, has made a great contribution was elected a Corresponding Member and, in 1976, a to the creation and development of modern crystallog- Full Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences. raphy. He was a talented organizer of science and the Being appointed the director of the Institute of Crys- director of the Shubnikov Institute of Crystallography tallography in 1962, Vainshtein continued the scientific for more than 34 years. traditions laid by A.V. Shubnikov and developed crys- Boris Konstantinovich Vainshtein was born in Mos- tallography as a science combining studies along three cow in 1921. He graduated with distinction from two main integral parts—crystal growth, crystal structure, higher schools—the Physics Faculty of Moscow State and crystal properties. The great organizational talent University (1945) and the Metallurgy Faculty of the characteristic of Vainshtein flourished during his direc- Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys (1947) and torship—he managed to gather around him people received a diploma as a physicist and an engineer- devoted to science and transformed the Institute of researcher. Crystallography into unique scientific center well known throughout the world. Vainshtein’s natural gifts and manysidedness was The first studies performed by Vainshtein were ded- revealed even in his student years. He was a brilliant icated to electron diffraction. He was the first to use the student, deeply interested in physics, mathematics, and Fourier analysis of the electrostatic potential and literature; he also painted, wrote verses, edited a news- derived the basic formulas of the electron diffraction paper, and played chess. structure analysis; he was also the first to determine the 1063-7745/01/4604-0521 $21.00 © 2001 MAIK “Nauka/Interperiodica” 522 IN MEMORY OF BORIS KONSTANTINOVICH VAINSHTEIN positions of light hydrogen atoms in a number of struc- other international conferences, seminars, and meet- tures. Later, Vainshtein also solved many problems of ings. Vainshtein was the chairman of the Organizing the theory of X-ray diffraction analysis, which allowed Committee of the Seventh International Congress and him to start studying and successfully solve the struc- Symposium organized by the International Union of ture of a number of complicated objects—various Crystallography (IUCr) in Moscow in 1966. For a num- amino acids, peptides, and complicated natural ber of years, he was a member of the Executive Com- biopolymers–proteins. Vainshtein and his coworkers mittee and the vice president of the International Union determined the structures of synthetic polypeptides and of Crystallography of the IUCr. some amino acids. He also made an important contribu- Vainshtein’s scientific and organizational achieve- tion to the theory of X-ray diffraction from polymer ments were highly estimated and he was awarded high molecules and liquid crystals. Analyzing structures of governmental decorations: the Order of Lenin, the biocrystals, he also widely used electron microscopy, Order of the October Revolution, two Orders of the Red developed the direct method of three-dimensional Banner of Labor, the Order for Merits before Russia, reconstruction of the structure, and applied it to struc- and many medals. ture determination of protein molecules and bacte- riophages. Vainshtein and his colleagues have studied Vainshtein scientific work brought him numerous the three-dimensional structures of more than twenty of decorations and honorary degrees, including the high- the most complicated active compounds, antibiotics, est national and international crystallographic proteins, and viruses. awards—the Fedorov and the Ewald prize and medals. He was elected a member of many foreign scientific Boris Konstantinovich Vainshtein is the author of societies and institutions. He was a member of the more than 400 scientific articles, reviews, and mono- Leopoldina Academy in Germany, a foreign member of graphs. His well-known monographs Structure Analy- the Polish Academy of Sciences, a corresponding sis by Electron Diffraction (1956) and Diffraction of member of the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Barce- X-rays by Chain Molecules (1963) were soon translated lona, a member of the New York Academy of Sciences, into English. One of his last works was the four-volume a doctor Honoris Causa of Stockholm University, a Modern Crystallography (1994) written by his initia- doctor of science of the University of Keele, an honor- tive, with his active participation as an author and edi- ary doctor of the University of York, an honorary mem- tor, which was also immediately translated into ber of the Roland Eótvós Physical Society of Hungary, English. and an associate fellow of the Catalonian Institute of Sciences. Vainshtein published a series of articles on the most general problems of crystallography, which included In Vainshtein’s directorship, scientific activity the relation of crystallography to the adjacent fields of always prevailed over administrative activity. Penetrat- the knowledge, the place of crystallography among ing into the crux of the problems solved at the institute, other sciences, the relation and mutual influence of he determined the main directions in the activity of all both fundamental and applied crystallography. Vainsh- the laboratories. Vainshtein always stimulated and sup- tein was also the editor of crystallographic articles in ported new researches. the Large Soviet Encyclopedia and himself wrote many The name of Vainshtein will always remain in the articles for this edition. He was the editor-in-chief of history of the Russian and world crystallography. The the journal Kristallografiya (Crystallography Reports) best tribute to Vainshtein as a scientist and an organizer and the member of the editorial boards of various Rus- of science would be new achievements of Russian crys- sian and foreign journals. tallography and, first of all, of the Institute of Crystal- lography, where he had worked for more than 50 years For many years, Vainshtein had been the recognized and headed for almost 35 years. leader in crystallography in our country. Being the assistant academician–secretary of the Department of This issue of Kristallografiya (Crystallography General Physics and Astronomy of the USSR (Russian) Reports) is dedicated to the memory of Vainshtein and Academy of Sciences and the chairman of the Councils is comprised of articles presented by the scientists from on Physics of Crystals and Electron Microscopy, he the Institute of Crystallography and, thus, reflects the coordinated all the studies performed in these fields in major directions of the present research at this institute. our country. Some other articles dedicated to the memory of The many-sided scientific activity of Vainshtein had Vainshtein will also be published in the next issue. won him the worldwide recognition. Since 1957, Vain- shtein had participated in all the Congresses of the International Union of Crystallography and in many Translated by L. Man CRYSTALLOGRAPHY REPORTS Vol. 46 No. 4 2001 Crystallography Reports, Vol. 46, No. 4, 2001, p. 523. Translated from Kristallografiya, Vol. 46, No. 4, 2001, pp. 585–586. Original Russian Text Copyright © 2001 by Kovalchuk. To the Memory of Academician Vainshtein It has now been five years that Boris Konstantinovich condensed matter (including the X-ray diffraction anal- left us, a period sufficient for letting go of the charisma ysis of proteins, small-angle scattering, electron of this great man and to make an attempt to estimate microscopy, X-ray diffractometry, topography, etc.); objectively the influence of his personality, ideas, and and new technologies for growing new crystals that had deeds on the development of modern crystallography. no natural analogues such as lasing crystals. Boris Konstantinovich Vainshtein won world recognition in his own lifetime. His famous monographs are It is important that Vainshtein, who created and in constant use in those research laboratories all over developed new fields of the crystallographic science, the world which apply the diffraction methods and also cared about and efficiently used the scientific study the structure of condensed matter of any nature. potential of the Institute of Crystallography that he A great poet once said that the places where once a inherited from Shubnikov. great man lived remain sacred even after a thousand Today, being a unique physical institute possessing years. Such a sacred place for Vainshtein himself had the culture and the basis for studying biological and always been the Institute of Crystallography of the Rus- organic objects, the unique set of physical and, first of sian Academy of Sciences, which he

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