KHIZHNYAK NIKOLAY ANTONOVICH

All life of N.A. Khizhnyak is an example of devotion to science, urge for knowledge of the laws of nature and selfless service to Her Majesty the Truth. was born in the family of a worker in May 18, 1929 in the village Cherkasskaya Lozovaya of Kharkov region. Difficult years of childhood, the severe 1930’s and war and after-war 1940’s, did not prevent him from leaving a secondary school and in 1944 he was admitted to Kharkiv Special School of Air Forces, and then to the Department of Physics and Mathematics of Kharkov State University. After graduating it in 1952 he worked in Ukrainian Institute of Physics and Technology, where he realized himself both as a scientist and a talented leader and educator of young scientists. He went a long way from a young scientist to the Doctor of Physics and Mathematics, Professor, Academician of the International Academy of Applied Radio Electronics, Deputy Director of the Institute of Plasma Electronics and New Methods of Acceleration of the National Science Center “Kharkov Institute of Physics and Technology”. He obtained fundamental results in various fields of physical science. The first scientific work carried out under the supervision of Y.B. Feinberg was the study of electromagnetic wave propagation in layered spatially periodic dielectrics. Published in “Journal of Technical Physics” in 1955, this work became an impetus for numerous studies on slow-wave structures and gave rise to a new mechanism for generating electromagnetic waves (parametric Cherenkov radiation), now intensively investigated already in the X-ray wavelength range both in Ukraine and abroad. In 1957 he (in co-authorship) predicted the phenomenon of parametric electromagnetic radiation of a charged particle moving linearly and uniformly in the layered medium, and in 1958 he defended his Candidate Degree thesis “Some Problems of Electrodynamics of Heterogeneous Environments”. At this time appeared his early works on the theory of integral equations of macroscopic electrodynamics, the main provisions of which have been significantly developed and expanded within the following decades. In these years many of the fundamental problems in different theories and directions were solved: the theory of electromagnetic waves in dielectric and magnetic bodies with arbitrary parameters of anisotropy in free space and in waveguides, the theory of artificial dielectrics, the dynamics of charged particles and plasma clots in electromagnetic fields of complex geometry. His later works completed in creative collaboration with K.D. Sinelnikov became the basis of his Doctor Degree thesis “Some Problems of the Theory of the Interaction of Plasmoids with External Fields”, which he successfully defended in 1968. In 1969 N.A. Khizhnyak was the Head of the laboratory, and then the Head of the experimental department in Ukrainian Institute of Physics and Technology, which under his supervision designed and built unique types of linear accelerators of protons and charged ions, and for the first time in the world realized modified alternating phase focusing. In the 1980's and early 1990's a collective accelerator of electronuclear energy was successfully designed, new equipment for increasing electronuclear security and ecologically friendly energy production, for the production of nuclear membranes and short-lived medical isotopes was developed. N.A. Khizhnyak is an author of more than 570 scientific articles, including five books and more than fifty inventions. In 1986 he published the fundamental work “Integral Equations of Macroscopic Electrodynamics”, the result of his many-year work, which is the key to solving many internal and external problems of electrodynamics. The scientific activity of Professor N.A. Khizhnyak is widely known throughout the world and awarded the State Prize in Science and Technology: the USSR State Prize in 1979 for active participation in the development and creation of linear electron accelerators, the USSR State Prize in 1986 for the monograph “Integral Equations of Electrodynamics”, Ukrainian State Prize in 1996 for his work on the modified alternating phase focusing. First in the national physics together with his staff he began designing small high frequency accelerators of protons and deuterons for different economic purposes (Gold Medal and the First Degree Diploma at the Soviet National State Exhibition of Achievements in Economy in Moscow (now VVC)). In 1993 he was elected a Member of the Academy of Sciences of Applied Radio Electronics in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. N.A. Khizhnyak was an Honored Scientist of Ukraine, a member of Russian Nuclear Society, American Physical Society, he also participated in the activities of Ukrainian Physical Society. A distinctive feature of his work is a combination of research and lecturing. In 1958, together with Professor M.I. Korsounskiy he founded the Department of Special Physics in Kharkov Aviation Institute. For many years, Professor N.A. Khizhnyak taught in Kharkov State University. His contribution to establishing the Faculty of Radio-Physics and formation of its scientific interests is hard to overestimate. Since 1970 he is a Professor of the Department of Applied Electrodynamics of the Faculty of Radio-Physics. A huge portion of his time he devoted to fostering highly qualified specialists, under his supervision 53 post-graduate students received Candidate, and 18 Doctor Degrees. He was a member of several academic and research councils. For many years N.A. Khizhnyak was an editor and associate editor of “Radio Physics and Electronics”, the Bulletin of Kharkov State University. For 20 years his workshops “Integral Equations of Macroscopic Electrodynamics” were held regularly. A rare combination of a wonderful theorist and an experimentalist stipulated N.A. Khizhnyak’s unique multifaceted creative work, and his inherent exceptional benevolence to colleagues and students is the root of sincere respect and deep gratitude of a great number of physics and radio physicists of different generations. N.A. Khizhnyak was a highly educated man who was interested both in physics and other areas of natural sciences, as well as philosophy, history, religion, and arts. He is remembered as a wonderful father of his family, incredibly kind and friendly person, and an optimist with a great sense of humor. On October 16, 2001 he passed away.