Mints, Alexander Lvovich

Born on December 27, 1894 ( January 8, 1895 ) in the family of a Rostov manufacturer , was fond of chemistry and aircraft modeling . ^[2]

In 1913 he graduated with a gold medal from the 2nd Rostov Gymnasium of N.P. Stepanov. In 1915 he entered the Physics and Mathematics Faculty of Don University , the next year - immediately to the second year of Moscow University and at the same time to the A. L. Shanyavsky People’s University , where the future academician P. P. Lazarev taught the physics course. He invited a capable student to begin scientific work in his laboratory. On September 30, 1916, Mintz announced his first invention - “The system of paralyzing the operation of an enemy radio station”, based on the use of frequency modulation ^{[3] [4]} .

In 1918 he graduated from Don University.

In 1920, units of the First Cavalry Army entered Rostov-on-Don with fighting. The Mintsev family, fearing reprisals, hurriedly left the city, but Alexander flatly refused to leave. He tried to resist the expropriation of his father’s house and was arrested, he was expected to be shot. However, he managed to interest Budyonnovtsy with the idea of ​​using radio communications in the cavalry army. He was not only released, but also appointed commander of a new unit - the radio division. Mints was subordinate to 13 radio stations and 125 people ^[4] .

In 1921, the 1st Cavalry Army was disbanded. Mints was sent to Moscow, to the Higher Military School of Communications of the Red Army, where he worked as head of the radio faculty and head of the radio laboratory. Under the scientific supervision of a major radio specialist M.V. Shuleikin, Mints conducted research on the propagation of short waves , and also was engaged in the transfer of military radio communications from spark radio stations to tube ones . In 1922, he created the country's first army tube radio telegraph station, which in 1923 was adopted under the ALM index (Alexander L. Mints). It was made in the amount of 220 sets and was used before the start of World War II ^{[3] [4]} . By 1928, spark radio stations were removed from the supply of the Red Army ^[5] .

In August 1923, Mintz was appointed head of the Research and Testing Institute of the Military Technical Council for Army Communications (SRI VTSS RKKA), created in April of the same year on the basis of the Military Radio Engineering Laboratory (VRTL) ^[6] . Under his leadership, the first radio broadcasts of concerts, operas and performances from theater halls, as well as chronicles from streets and squares were made. Studying room acoustics, he proposed a method of mixing a signal from several microphones. Mints actively supported radio enthusiasts - he led radio circles, gave consultations under the pseudonym “A. Modulator ”wrote articles for popular science magazines ^[3] .

In 1928, when, at the initiative of G.K. Ordzhonikidze , the construction of powerful broadcasting stations was unfolding in the country, a small group of specialists led by Mints was transferred to Leningrad , receiving independent status as the “Bureau of Powerful Radio Engineering”. This team became the basis of the Komintern Powerful Radio Engineering Plant, which included several factories, as well as scientific, design and installation organizations. In the fall of 1929, the 100 kW kW All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions Radio Station designed here brought the USSR to the world leaders in radio engineering. Foreign experts came to learn the experience of building powerful radio stations ^{[3] [4]} .

Working in Leningrad, Mintz became interested in radar , as well as the development of television technology. In 1930, he organized the first television laboratory in the USSR ^[7] .

In February 1931, A. L. Mints, the head of the radio transmitting department of the Central Radio Laboratory , was arrested along with six scientists on charges of "wrecking work in the radio communications of the Red Army." On June 6, 1931, Mints was assigned 5 years in prison. But already on July 18 of that year, he was released by a resolution of the OGPU board - a decision was made to build a new long-wave broadcasting station of unheard of then power of 500 kW (at that time the largest radio transmitter in Europe had a power of 120 kW, in the USA - 50 kW) ^{[4 ]} .

In 1932, Mintz externally graduated from the Moscow Communications Training Plant and received a patent for an out-of-band image scanning device, the principle of which became the basis of the interlaced scanning system ^[3] . Under his leadership, A. Ya. Breitbart developed an industrial complex of television equipment - a mechanical television with an image size of 27x27 cm and a resolution of 1200 decomposition elements (30 lines at 12.5 frames per second), a transmitter with a frequency band of 14 kHz and studio equipment ^[7] .

On May 1, 1933, the unique Comintern Radio Station (500 kW) developed under the direction of Mintz came into operation. To achieve this power, he created a special transmitter output stage (six parallel-connected 100 kW generators receiving in-phase excitation from a common preliminary cascade) and antennas allowing, without the appearance of a corona, to introduce a peak power of 2 MW corresponding to a 100% modulation coefficient. Later, the American company RCA, based on the principle proposed by Mintz, built a radio station near Cincinnati ^{[3] [8]} .

In 1934, Mintz was awarded the degree of Doctor of Technical Sciences without defending a dissertation ^[4] .

A. L. Mintz is one of our largest radio specialists. ... It is enough to indicate that he designed and built all the powerful broadcasting stations of the USSR. Five stations of 100 kW and a heavy duty of 500 kW. When designing and managing the construction of both these stations and a number of other types of transmitters, he had to find new solutions to overcome these or those difficulties, and he showed exceptional skill and ingenuity.

- Academician L.I. Mandelstam , 1934 ^[9]

In 1937, the (150 kW) was launched, in 1938 the short-wave RV-96 Radio Station (120 kW) was launched .

On May 7, 1938, shortly after returning from a business trip to the United States, the chief engineer of the Research Institute-33 of the People’s Commissariat of the Defense Industry A. L. Mints was again arrested, now on charges of participating in the "anti-Soviet right-wing Trotskyist organization, on behalf of which he carried out wrecking work at the plant No. 208 and was engaged in espionage in favor of one of the foreign states. Being under investigation, Mintz continued to work in the "Department of Special Design Bureau of the NKVD of the USSR." On May 28, 1940, the military collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR sentenced A. L. Mints in absentia to 10 years in prison camps ^[4] . On July 10, 1941, he was released on Stalin’s personal order - the war began, and in Kuibyshev it was decided to create a medium-wave broadcasting station of fantastic power at that time - 1200 kW, the transmission of which could be received in the occupied territory. This station began to operate in 1942 ^{[8] [10]} .

Since 1946 - corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences . In the same year, to solve scientific and engineering problems within the framework of the Soviet atomic project , which was supervised by Lavrenty Beria , “Laboratory No. 11” was organized as part of the LPI (since 1947 - as a part of LIPAN ). Colonel engineer A. L. Mintz was appointed head of the laboratory. His employees were tasked with developing wide-range microwave generators for electron and proton accelerators , controlled thermonuclear fusion units, and radio-physical applications ^[11] .

In the 1950s, work began on the creation of large ground-based radar stations for space monitoring systems, early warning of missile attacks and missile defense . In 1956, by the Decree of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR “On Missile Defense”, A. L. Mints was appointed one of the chief designers of early warning radars. In 1957, his laboratory was transformed into an independent Radio Engineering Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences .

In 1956 he was rehabilitated in the second case , in 1958 - in the first ^[4] .

Since 1958 - academician , since 1963 - member of the Bureau of the Department of General Physics and Astronomy of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

He headed the RTI of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR until 1970.

Spouse - architect E.I. Mints (1899-1973). Son - Professor of the Institute of Geography of the USSR Academy of Sciences Alexey Mints (1929-1973).

Died December 29, 1974 . He was buried in Moscow at the Novodevichy cemetery (plot number 7) ^{[12] [13]} .

Alexander Mints created scientific schools in the field of radio engineering and accelerator technology. His field of research is radio engineering, accelerator physics and technology (the creation of accelerators and electronic circuits for them). Designed and built radio stations of increasing power. He was the supervisor of the development of radio-electronic systems for large Soviet cyclic and linear accelerators , in particular, a 10 GeV synchrophasotron , a 7 GeV rigid focusing proton ( ITEP ), and a U-70 70 GeV Serpukhov proton synchrotron ( IHEP ).

In 1961, he proposed a new principle of operation of the accelerator - the use of automatic control of the accelerator parameters according to information received from the accelerated particle beam (the principle of auto-correction) ^[14] .

In 1967, he put forward a new method for the formation of rotating relativistic electron rings in vacuum ^[14] .

In 1969, he substantiated the possibility of creating a proton synchrotron with an energy of 4–5 TeV using superconducting magnets .

• Cathode lamps and their use in radio engineering (1925)
• Grounds for the calculation of modulation at the anode (1927)
• Grounds for the calculation of modulation on the grid (1929)
• Powerful Broadcasting Stations of Western Europe (1936)
• Modeling and System Reliability (1970)

In 1976, the Nauka Publishing House published two volumes of Selected Works by Academician A. L. Mints (compiled by N. A. Grigoriev ):

• Mints A.L. Selected Works. Radio engineering and powerful radio engineering. - M .: Nauka, 1976 .-- T. 1 .-- 296 p.
• Mints A.L. Selected Works. Radio engineering and powerful radio engineering. - M .: Nauka, 1976 .-- T. 2 .-- 264 p.

• Hero of Socialist Labor (1956);
• four orders of Lenin (1951, 1953, 1956, 1964);
• two orders of the Red Banner of Labor (1934, 1943);
• two orders of the Red Star (1945, 1967);
• Stalin Prize of the first degree (1946) - for the development of systems of powerful broadcasting stations;
• Stalin Prize (1951) - for the creation of the synchrocyclotron ;
• Lenin Prize (1959) - for the creation of a 10 GeV synchrophasotron ;
• medals, including the Gold Medal named after A.S. Popov (1950).

• In 1975, the USSR postage stamp dedicated to A. L. Mints was issued.
• The name of A. L. Mints is the Radio Engineering Institute founded by him.
• A plaque on the building of the institute ^[15] .
• A memorial plaque on a school building in Rostov-on-Don.
• Starting from 2010, every year, on the birthday of A. L. Mints (January 8), the Prize for scientific and technical achievements in three categories is awarded in the RTI ^[16] :
  • for achievements in the field of science and technology on the subject of OJSC RTI;
  • for his great contribution to the pedagogical activity of training and education of young specialists;
  • for achievements in the field of science and technology on the subject of OJSC RTI to a young specialist under 30 years old.

• Mints Alexander Lvovich // Great Soviet Encyclopedia : [in 30 vol.] / Ch. ed. A.M. Prokhorov . - 3rd ed. - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1969-1978.
• Hramov Yu. A. Mints Aleksandr Lvovich // Physicists: Biographical Reference / Ed. A.I. Akhiezer . - Ed. 2nd, rev. and add. - M .: Nauka , 1983 .-- S. 189. - 400 p. - 200,000 copies. (per.)
• Melnikov V. The great designer with a difficult fate // Army collection: Scientific and methodological journal of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation . - M .: Editorial and publishing center of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, 2016. - No. 01 . - S. 29-32 . - ISSN 1560-036X .
• N. Grigoryeva. Classic powerful radio engineering // "Radio". - 1985. - No. 6 . - S. 10-12 .
• A. Longinov, I. Grill. On the 95th anniversary of the birth of A. L. Mints. Pages biography // "Radio". - 1990. - No. 2 . - S. 30-31 .
• Kudryashov N.A. Three arrests of academician Mints // Beria and Soviet scientists in the atomic project . - M .: NIIUU MEPhI, 2013 .-- S. 247-264. - 528 s. - ISBN 978-5-7262-1825-0 .
• A. L. Mints. The beginning of the way. Pages from the diary // "Radio". - 1974. - No. 7-10 .
• Laureate of the gold medal named after A. S. Popov // Radio. - 1950. - No. 6 . - S. 6 .

• Mints, Alexander Lvovich (Russian) . Site " Heroes of the country ".
• Mints, Alexander Lvovich on the official website of the RAS
• In memory of A. Mintz - biography and obituary // " Advances in Physical Sciences ". - 1975. - Vol. 116 . - S. 165–167 .
• Biography and awards on the Chronos website
• Who is who in the history of Dubna
• Vyacheslav Zvyagintsev. Academician Mintz is either a white spy or a red cavalryman ... (unopened) . Portal " Pravo.ru " (January 12, 2010).