The Moscow Fiztekh: A start in life

Abstract

Russian society is in the midst of a stormy discussion concerning the reform of both secondary and higher education. The novelties of recent years, spontaneous and rash in many respects, have engendered great disappointment. The general conclusion is not encouraging: the quality of education is steadily decreasing, and we are losing those positions that had been won. Meanwhile, the national experience is rich not only in established traditions but also in successful experiments. Undoubtedly one of the most brilliant among them is the well-known system of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (Fiztekh), which has been defending the truth of its basic principles for more than half a century. The article below presents a story about the formation of this system as told by one of the first students of the Department of Physics and Technology of Moscow State University, who was later to act as rector of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology during what was, in all probability, the most difficult decade in the history of the institute (1987–1997).