Armenia’s cooperation with the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research began with cosmic ray physics and gradually grew into a network of around 20 joint projects — from nuclear physics and computer science to ecology, medicine, and new materials. JINR Director Grigory Trubnikov believes that the main resource of this cooperation is not only facilities and technologies, but also people: young Armenian scientists gain access to major international infrastructure and can then bring that experience back to their country.

Today, JINR’s ties with Armenia go beyond high-energy physics. In joint projects, researchers analyze soil pollution, build computing capacity, work on medical and pharmaceutical technologies, and train a new generation of specialists.

It All Started with Cosmic Rays

The history of this cooperation, as Trubnikov told NEWS.am Tech, dates back to the 1960s. One of the first areas was high-energy physics, in particular cosmic ray research and work with the observatory on Mount Aragats.

Later, theoretical physics took on a central role. Even today, theorists remain one of the main connecting links in cooperation between Armenia and Dubna.

The reason is quite practical: theoretical work does not require a huge facility. A scientist needs a computer, paper, a pen, and an environment where ideas can be discussed calmly. According to Trubnikov, Yerevan knows how to create such an environment, which is why international conferences and scientific forums on theoretical physics, mathematical physics, and computational methods are regularly held there.

Later, the cooperation expanded into experimental nuclear physics as well. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, major scientific infrastructure emerged in Armenia on the basis of the Yerevan Physics Institute, now the A. Alikhanyan National Science Laboratory. JINR took part in creating the accelerator and the relevant facilities.

Since then, the scale of interaction has changed dramatically. Whereas in the past hundreds of specialists could take part in joint work, today the cooperation is more targeted, while at the same time covering significantly more scientific fields.

Twenty Projects — from Nuclear Physics to Ecology

At present, the joint JINR-Armenia programs involve Yerevan State University, the National Polytechnic University of Armenia, the Russian-Armenian University, the A. Alikhanyan National Science Laboratory, and several institutes of the National Academy of Sciences. In total, according to Trubnikov, there are about 20 joint projects.

Their scope is noticeably broader than the usual idea of a nuclear research institute. These include materials science, computer science, nuclear physics, medicine and biology, virus diagnostics, pharmaceutical technologies, and drug delivery systems.

There is also a project where nuclear physics is used to solve a very down-to-earth task — environmental monitoring in Armenia. Scientists collect plant and soil samples across the country and then analyze them in Dubna using activation analysis methods and neutron beams. The studies make it possible to determine the content of heavy metals, radioactive substances, and other pollutants.

Such data are needed not only to document pollution: by analyzing the chemical composition of soil and water, researchers can try to identify its source and then use the information, for example, in planning agricultural work and choosing suitable cultivation technologies.

In this case, fundamental physics turns out to be a tool for a completely practical task: understanding what is happening to the environment and making decisions based on measurements.

Access to Infrastructure That Does Not Exist in the Country

One of the main effects of this cooperation, Trubnikov believes, is personnel training. Every year, dozens of students from Armenian universities come to Dubna for internships, summer and winter schools, thesis projects, and other educational programs. JINR provides grants for this.

Moreover, according to the institute’s director, Armenian students are quite well prepared. This is largely due to the fact that, thanks to joint programs, young people begin engaging in science as early as their third or fourth year of study. So by the time they arrive in Dubna for a thesis project, they are no longer just students, but early-career researchers already familiar with real scientific work.

For them, access to infrastructure that simply does not exist in Armenia is especially important. As a JINR member state, Armenia can use the institute’s international research base, and young specialists work there in teams with colleagues from different countries.

“In this international melting pot, they receive very good training and qualifications,” Trubnikov says.

At the same time, this is not only about physicists. The international environment allows young specialists to learn how to work in large scientific collaborations, where the result depends not on a single researcher or laboratory, but on teams from different countries.

Why Talented People Still Go into Physics Even Though There Are More Profitable Professions

Today there is an obvious problem: fundamental physics requires long training, complex mathematics, and extensive research work, while the financial return is far from always obvious.

However, Trubnikov does not believe that young people’s interest in this field is disappearing.

According to him, around a thousand young people from different countries come to Dubna every year — students, master’s students, PhD candidates, and early-career scientists. Some come for a week, some for several months, some for a thesis or a scientific school. In the end, about 30–40 people stay to work at the institute itself. About the same number return to their home countries and continue doing science there.

This situation shows that fundamental research is still capable of attracting young people, although in the end not all of them remain in science. Those who stay are, first and foremost, the strong young scientists who are drawn to major challenges:

“A truly talented person is ambitious — and wants to leave a mark on this earth.”

For a physicist, such a challenge may be the attempt to understand the origin of the Universe, the nature of matter, or the structure of the fundamental laws of nature. It is precisely this sense of belonging to something bigger, Trubnikov believes, that can keep a person in science.

How the Physics of the Universe Becomes Technology

Physics attracts scientists not only because it offers a way to answer fundamental questions about the nature of the Universe. Its results often end up, decades later, in places where no one originally expected to see them — in the most ordinary technologies of everyday life.

Trubnikov gives a simple example — the smartphone on which his conversation with the NEWS.am Tech correspondent was recorded.

Modern phones contain sensors that measure distance and movement, determine environmental parameters, and perform many other functions. But the technologies underlying these capabilities were often created for reasons entirely unrelated to smartphones.

Touchscreen technology, for example, appeared in high-energy physics back in the 1970s — long before smartphones became widespread. It took decades before another industry was able to find a commercial application for it.

That is why, the JINR director believes, the demand to immediately explain the practical benefit of fundamental research may be misguided. Decades can pass between a scientific discovery and a product, and in the end the result may be used by a completely different industry.

The same applies to theoretical physics. A researcher may study the origin of the Universe, and the mathematical methods they develop may later prove useful for problems in condensed matter physics, new materials, or quantum technologies.

Trubnikov cites graphene and superconductivity as examples: today these are already fields considered in the context of future materials and energy technologies.

Therefore, in his view, fundamental science should not try to deal on its own with every possible applied task. Its mission is to create knowledge and methods that can then be taken up by other fields.

“Harmony and success lie in the interaction of different sciences,” he says.

People Are the Main Resource of Cooperation

That is why not only joint facilities, experiments, and publications matter for Armenia, but also the constant exchange of specialists.

JINR is already connected to the country’s scientific infrastructure. For example, the institute recently created a computing cluster together with Yerevan State University, linked to Dubna through high-speed networks. Armenian researchers can send computational tasks to Dubna, while JINR specialists can use YSU’s computing resources for joint projects.

This model is gradually transforming cooperation from an exchange of separate visits into a shared scientific infrastructure.

At the same time, Trubnikov considers it important that young specialists not simply leave to work abroad, but return with the knowledge they have gained.

It is here that international scientific infrastructure can work as a kind of accelerator for national science: a young researcher gains experience working on world-class facilities, gets to know international teams, defends a dissertation, and then brings those skills back to a university or institute.

“We Are Marathon Runners”

Trubnikov views the prospects for Armenian-Dubna cooperation quite optimistically. According to him, Armenia’s strategy for developing science, technology, and education, which was presented to JINR representatives, largely совпадает with the institute’s own development priorities.

This includes increasing science funding, creating new laboratories, and developing such areas as life sciences, materials, computing, and chemistry.

But most importantly, the JINR director believes, is to keep building the system for years ahead.

Fundamental science rarely produces quick results. An experiment can take years, decades can pass between a discovery and a technology, and a scientific school is formed over generations.

That is why Trubnikov suggests assessing cooperation between Armenia and Dubna not only by the number of conferences or publications. Its real result lies in how many young researchers get the opportunity to work with major international infrastructure and how many of them can then apply that experience at home.

For science, this truly is a long-distance race. And that is exactly why Trubnikov compares JINR to a marathon runner: the institute is counting not on a quick effect, but on the ability to keep moving despite the changes around it.