I had two opportunities to see Alexander Lvovich in informal settings.
The banquet after that party. The first came when Orlova flattered me, an RTI novice, with an invitation to a closed session of Science and Technology Council on the subject of “The Work of Scientific Departments,” which was actually a party to honor Mintz on the occasion of his 70th birthday (January 17, 1965). I have yet to see or hear anything approaching the combination of wit and feeling that were on display that evening for a man on his birthday. Although, pardon me, I have: in 2004 I attended Yevgeny Grigoryevich Yasin’s 70th anniversary party. This was the only anniversary party over a stretch of 40 years comparable to the Mintz’s.
I remember one more detail of that party, or rather of the banquet that followed. If I haven’t dreamt it up, standing among his colleagues Mintz told us that he had been arrested three times, but pardoned only twice. Was it really so?
The second opportunity to see Mintz in an informal setting presented itself again in 1965, when I, had the privilege of inviting Alexander Lvovich to a banquet honoring a group of MAI authors who had received the Academy of Sciences Popov Award for their 1964 book, “Scanning Antennas In Microwave Systems.” This anthology featured the work of post-graduate students of two professors, important specialists in the antenna technology – Lev Nikolayevich Deriugin and Lev Davidovich Bakhrakh. At the time of the awards banquet, one of the authors, me, was working at Mintz’s Institute; and another, Misha Kuznetsov, with Kisunko. Apparently no one, including the all-knowing Bakhrakh, knew about the complicated relationship between Mintz and Kisunko, and invited them both. Neither had expected to meet the other at the banquet. But everything went well and was even lovely. The banquet took place in the Balaton hall of the Budapest restaurant. The budget (1,500 rubles) barely covered it. Bakhrakh played the tune “Murka” on the piano, which for the times was quite daring. By the way, Bakhrakh soon became the informal leader of Soviet antenna specialists and was elected, with the decisive support of A.L. Mintz, a member of the Soviet Academy of Sciences.
Also at the banquet, two old buddies met who hadn’t seen each other for a long time: Alexander Lvovich Mintz, the Chair of the Radio-Transmitter and Antenna Devices at MAI (where I had worked before RTI), and Mikhail Semyonovich Neiman.
I witnessed an interesting conversation between these two venerable characters (I was invited to “sit with two old men” – but they forgot about me fairly quickly.) Neiman relayed that “contemplation” gave him the most pleasure. It was obvious that the light administrative duties of a Chair were not bringing Neiman much satisfaction. I think that he gradually assumed the role of lone scientist. For a Chair, there are comparatively few co-authored books on his list of published works.
Mintz, in turn said that not only contemplation appealed to him, but “creation” as well.
For me, and evidently not only for me, every conversation with Alexander Lvovich was a joyous event. I can’t explain why; it was simply the effect his charismatic personality had on me.

I would characterize the role of Mintz at the Institute as that of a leader, a commander – something different from the role of the head of scientific research, the generator of ideas or the chief design engineer. None of these definitions fit Mintz, or at the very least, he wasn’t limited by them. Now, after so many publications about the men who created Soviet science and technology, I see similarities in the styles and work of Mintz, Korolyov, Kurchatov.
The Institute began its day at 8:15 am. Between 8:00 and 8:05, Mintz’s ZIM was at the front entrance, with the director walking towards his office, saying hello left and right. This automatically made others more disciplined.
…If you had an appointment with the director, you had to be in his office at the appointed time, sharp. I never saw a crowd, or even a line in his waiting room. Such punctuality I’ve since seen only one other time – Vladimir Borisovich Bulgak, the Minister of Communications, and later, Vice Prime Minister of Russia was almost (but only almost) as strict about time.
…When saying good-bye to a visitor, be it a general or a janitor, Mintz would get up and walk him to the door.
Mintz was not a smoker, but smoking was not prohibited anywhere within the walls of the Institute (“It’s better if they smoke at their desks, provided nobody minds, than waste their time in smoking rooms”).
Mintz was not a member of the Communist Party, and under his tutelage, I did not notice any of the Party’s usual influence at the Institute. So, when I was hired as an SSR, and later became the head of a lab, it would have been simply ridiculous to think of Mintz coordinating these decisions with the Party Committee. I myself, incidentally, lived out my life without joining the Party, and for a short time was, it was rumored, the only non-Communist lab director.

Igor Kaplun

A few years after Mintz, things changed and the influence of the Party Committee sharply increased. Thus, the position of Senior Scientific Researcher became a part of the Party nomenclatura. When I tried to hire Igor Kaplun, a very clever guy for the position, the Committee would not give it’s approval, despite the director also having authorized it. In my presence, a kind soul, deputy director Lev Glinkin called the secretary of the Party Committee – Kartashov, I think – asking him to reconsider, assuring him that “Kaplun” is not at all “Kaplan”, and that “Kaplun” in Ukranian is like “Oshanin” in Russian. All to no avail.

The good man Oleg Oshanin, a deputy chief design engineer, at the time just appointed head of one of the biggest Specialized Departments, was at the height of his career. It took a long time for me to find his casual portrait in my archive: here he is, in the company of two wives – his and mine. This is the first time this photo is published. Would be interesting to see if he can remember where and when it was taken.
On second try, the partyless Igor passed by one vote. Kaplun was among the 0.1% of the RTI employees who later managed to create successful businesses.

1| 2| 3| 4| 5| 6| 7|