Chronicle

On the Seventieth Anniversary of the Birth of Nikolai Nikolaevich Andreev

On December 1, 1950, an open ceremonial meeting of the Academic Council of the Physics Institute named after P. N. Lebedev of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR was held at the Moscow House of Scientists, with the participation of the scientific and industrial community of the capital, devoted to the seventieth anniversary of the birth of the eminent scientist, one of the oldest leaders of Soviet acousticians, Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR Nikolai Nikolaevich Andreev.

In his opening address, the late President of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, S. I. Vavilov, noted the outstanding services of N. N. Andreev in the creation and development of Soviet acoustics and in the training of numerous pupils. Special emphasis was placed on the great importance of the courses delivered by N. N. at Moscow University: the theory of oscillations, statistical mechanics, the electron theory of dielectrics, and thermodynamics, which were at the level of advanced science, and some of which were read in Russia for the first time. N. N. Andreev, together with his pupils, laid the foundation in the USSR for the scientific development of questions of musical, architectural, and defense acoustics and noise suppression.

The report by L. M. Brekhovskikh and the co-report by A. A. Kharkevich, read by L. D. Rozenberg, gave a detailed account of the many-sided activity of N. N. Andreev as a scientist, organizer of science, teacher, and public figure.

N. N. was born in Moscow on July 27, 1880. In 1898, after completing his secondary education, he entered the Moscow Technical School, but the following year was exiled to Saratov Province for participation in student disorders. After returning to Moscow, N. N. continued his studies in 1899–1900 at the Technical School, from which he transferred as an auditor to Moscow University, where from the first year he worked under Bugaev, at the same time serving as his assistant. Two years later N. N. went abroad and in 1909 graduated with distinction from the University of Basel in Switzerland with the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. During these years N. N. repeatedly came back to his homeland, where, carrying out various engineering work, he obtained funds for living and study.

Having graduated from the University of Basel, N. N. returned to Moscow and from 1909 to 1917 taught physics in various secondary educational institutions in Moscow. At the same time, from 1912 he worked as a laboratory assistant at Moscow University; in 1914, having passed the master’s examinations, he received the title of Privatdozent of Moscow University and taught courses there: the theory of oscillations, statistical mechanics, the electron theory of dielectrics, and thermodynamics.

N. N.’s first scientific works belonged to the field of optical phenomena (1908–1909); from 1909 he began work on the study of oscillations.

In N. N.’s scientific activity, what is striking is the astonishing foresight with which he undertook the theoretical development of new questions, which later received extensive development and practical application. It is enough to recall that in 1913 N. N. worked out questions of spectral decomposition; the most interesting investigations, containing ideas entirely new for their time, were published by him in 1915. In these works, which retain their significance to the present

NIKOLAI NIKOLAEVICH
ANDREEV

day, he gave an exhaustive treatment of the question of the spectra of damped waves and of how a diffraction grating and a resonator respond to them.

Long before the practical applications of piezoelectricity, N. N. carried out his well-known investigation, published under the title “Equilibrium and Oscillations of a Piezoelectric Crystal” (1928). In this classical work, with perfect rigor and exceptional completeness, all the basic relations governing piezoelectric phenomena were established.

It should be noted that N. N. did not confine himself to the analysis of the physical side of questions, but was always also interested in technical applications. Thus, the generally known “bimorph” piezoelement was invented and proposed for practical use by N. N. in 1930.

Having become interested in questions of the acoustics of musical instruments, N. N. writes the study “On Wood for Musical Instruments” (1934). This work played an enormous role in resolving confused and unfounded ideas in the physics of musical instruments. The practical result of this remarkable work was the cessation of imports of wood for musical instruments and the transition of the musical industry to domestic raw material.

N. N. indicated the principal paths in a number of other areas of acoustic research as well—for example, in the fields of noise control, military sound ranging, hydroacoustics, and others. In the field of acoustic measurements, N. N. developed and introduced into use the exceptionally precise method, now included in all textbooks, for measuring the amplitude of vibrations of vibrating bodies—the so-called method of the singing sand grain.

Possessing a broad outlook, N. N. understood perfectly well that the serious development of any new branch of science is unthinkable without well-trained specialists. In accordance with this, he very successfully organized special departments at a number of higher educational institutions, directing them himself and staffing them with his own students.

In 1936 N. N. organized a department of acoustics in the Engineering-Physics Faculty of the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute.

From 1947 N. N. has headed the Department of Electrophysics of the All-Union Correspondence Power Engineering Institute in Moscow.

In order better to assess this aspect of N. N.’s activity, one should take into account that in those years departments of acoustics and specialization in acoustics were still a novelty, and therefore great energy and the personal authority of N. N. were required for the introduction of these innovations. Later, the need to teach acoustics in specialized institutions of higher education became quite obvious, and departments of acoustics were organized in a whole series of institutions; moreover, at their head stood pupils and followers of N. N.

The activity of N. N. as an organizer of scientific research attained still greater scope.

In 1920 he organized the Acoustic Laboratory at the State Experimental Electrotechnical Institute (subsequently VEI).

In 1926, after moving from Moscow to Leningrad, N. N. organized the Acoustic Laboratory at LFTL (subsequently LETI), which played a major role both through the acoustic problems developed by him and through the concentration in it of a large group of talented pupils and colleagues of N. N., who formed the second generation of Soviet acousticians.

In 1931 N. N. organized the Musical-Acoustic Laboratory, which soon became the Research Institute of the Musical Industry. This institution, unique in the world in its profile and tasks, worked fruitfully for a number of years under N. N.’s direction and solved many intricate problems in the physics of musical instruments.

In 1933 N. N. was elected a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR.

In 1940, after moving to Moscow, N. N. began work on the creation of a new Acoustic Laboratory of FIAN.

N. N.’s scientific and public activity proceeded chiefly in the Acoustic Commission organized by him in Moscow under the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, of which he remains chairman to this day. This Commission, which is an authoritative leading body on all questions of acoustics, conducts systematic work in acoustics, convenes conferences and meetings, coordinates research work, and publishes collections of papers on acoustics. One of the largest works of the Acoustic Commission was the work carried out by a special brigade created by N. N. under the Acoustic Commission for scientific supervision and guidance of the development of acoustic problems arising in connection with the design and construction of the Palace of Soviets.

On the initiative of N. N. and with his assistance during the construction of the Palace of Soviets, a sector of acoustics was organized; qualified personnel in architectural acoustics and electroacoustics were trained, and under N. N.’s direction they carried out a considerable number of investigations in a short time. N. N. is also chairman of the recently created Commission on Ultrasound of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR.

At the present time N. N. still energetically and tirelessly directs the Acoustics Laboratory, the Acoustics Commission, the Commission on Ultrasound, and the Department of Electrophysics of the All-Union Correspondence Power Engineering Institute.

Over the 40 years of his scientific activity N. N. has written about 90 scientific and popular-science works.

The outstanding scientific, public, and organizational activity of N. N. Andreev was highly appreciated by the Soviet government, which awarded N. N. two Orders of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, and medals.

After the reports had been read, the jubilarian was greeted by: G. S. Landsberg—from the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR; V. M. Vul—from the Department of Physical and Mathematical Sciences; V. L. Levshin—from the Directorate of the Physics Institute; B. A. Vvedenskii—from the Department of Technical Sciences; the jubilarian was also greeted by representatives of the Ministry of Higher Education of the USSR, the Ministry of Cinematography of the USSR, the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences of the Kazakh SSR, the Academy of Architecture of the USSR, and a number of universities and scientific institutions. Several dozen congratulatory telegrams were received in the name of the jubilarian.

Then N. N. Andreev was greeted in friendly fashion by G. S. Landsberg, who about 40 years ago had begun working together with the jubilarian. The last to warmly congratulate and greet the jubilarian was the venerable academician S. I. Vavilov.

N. N. Andreev then delivered a warm reply. The jubilarian expressed profound gratitude for all the greetings, adding that he considered the appraisal of his activity exaggerated. He then recalled the conditions of scientific and research work in prerevolutionary times and noted with gratitude his teachers and supervisors, headed by N. V. Bugaev. Turning to his work in the Soviet period, N. N. Andreev noted the immeasurably increased scale of scientific research and his satisfaction at taking part in it. He noted the colossal attraction to knowledge among young people, which has been ensured by our Communist Party, which has “stirred up” the popular masses, awakened in them a striving for knowledge and science, and created all the conditions for the satisfaction of these aspirations.

Efursi