Another extract from the same book (Yuri Orlov
"Dangerous Thoughts" ISBN 0-688-10471-1) , for
those who may be interested. Orlov describes the Physico-
Technical Department of Moscow University in 1947.
Stalin himself signed the order to establish this department
after the war. The mission was to prepare specialists for
fundamental nuclear and rocket research.
Ludwik Kowalski
.............................................................
Our teachers included the best Soviet scientists, such as
Kapitsa, Landau, [both received Noble Prizes later] and
Landsberg. Leading nuclear experts and rocket scientists
had shaped the department to fit their idea of scientific
training, and the result was an unheard-of autonomy and
a wildly un-Soviet regime. We, the department's very
first students, took great pride in that.
Only laboratory work, examinations, and problem-sets
were obligatory. We did not have to attend seminars and
lectures—not even the lectures on Marxism, although
official doctrine still declared that without thorough study
of Marxism it was impossible to understand science! We
were exempt from military training. And instead of the
usual school spirit of collectivism and support for the
untalented and backward, we met respect for individual
uniqueness and a spirit of competition.
[Students were selected to this Department on the basis
of a highly competitive entrance examinations. After
that they were required to sign the state security form
stating that:]
Neither I nor my closest relatives served in White armies.
I did not participate in the opposition.
I had not been abroad.
I was not a subject of punitive measures.
I was not expelled from the Bolshevik Party.
I did not vacillated in carrying out the Party line.