Institute of Theoretical Physics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine

Institute of Theoretical Physics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (Інститут теоретичної фізики НАНУ ім. М.М. Боголюбова; Instytut teoretychnoї fizyky NANU im. M. Boholiubova). A scientific research institute at the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in Kyiv. It was established in 1966 out of the theoretical division of the Institute of Physics of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR. Institute for Theoretical Physics (ITP) is Ukraine’s leading center of fundamental research in theoretical, mathematical, and computational physics. Initially, ITP consisted of three research departments: mathematical methods in theoretical physics (headed by academician Ostap Parasiuk), nuclear theory (headed by academician Oleksander Davydov), and the theory of elementary particles (headed by Albert Tavkhelidze). The department of theory of nuclear reactions was added in 1968, followed by the department of statistical theory of condensed matter in 1969 in Lviv. Later this department was reorganized into the Lviv division of statistical physics of ITP (in 1980) and then into the Institute of Condensed Matter Physics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (1990); it has been headed by academician Ihor Yukhnovsky, who was also a prominent statesman. Another department—of the theory of hadrons—was established in Uzhhorod in 1970. Later it was transformed into the Uzhhorod division of the Institute for Nuclear Research of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR (1979). ITP’s staff included a number of prominent physicists such as Nikolai Bogoliubov, Davydov, Parasiuk, Oleksii Sytenko, Aleksei Z. Petrov, Viktor Baryakhtar, Elmar Petrov, Ihor Yukhnovsky, Dmytro Loktev, Dmytro Petryna, Anatolii Zahorodnii, Vitalii Shelest, and Petr Fomin (all of them either academicians or corresponding members of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR).The institute also developed several scientific schools in theoretical physics, including the Bogoliubov-Parasiuk school in mathematical physics and quantum field theory; the Davydov school in theoretical physics; the Sytenko school in nuclear and plasma theory; and the Fomin school in relativistic astrophysics, cosmology, and elementary particles.

ITP has 7 research departments (astrophysics and elementary particles; high-density energy physics; theory of quantum processes in nanosystems; mathematical methods in theoretical physics; theory of nonlinear processes in condensed matter; synergetics; and theory of nuclei and quantum field theory), 6 laboratories (astrophysics and cosmology; theory of integrable systems; strongly-correlated low dimensional systems; biophysics of macromolecules; mathematical modeling; and structure of atomic nuclei), a department of computer maintenance, a graduate program, and a center for collective usage (including grid cluster, cloud portal, and Ukrainian national grid). Its scientists (including 46 doctors and 44 candidates of physical-mathematical sciences) conduct fundamental research in the fields of solid-state physics, quantum field theory, theory of nuclei and nuclear reactions, theory of elementary particles and relativistic astrophysics, nanophysics of molecular and metallic systems, mathematical methods and statistical physics, theory of condensed matter physics, plasma theory, and biophysics of macromolecules. The institute published in Russian the periodical collections Fizika molekul (10 vols, 1975–81) and Fizika mnogochastichnykh sistem (18 vols, 1982–91). Together with the Institute of Physics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, ITP publishes the periodical Ukraїns'kyi fizychnyi zhurnal/Ukrainian Journal of Physics (67 vols, 1956–). Its scientific library has 148,000 volumes, including 323 titles of periodicals with the total of 70,000 issues. It has been directed by Nikolai Bogoliubov (1966–73), Oleksander Davydov (1973–88), Oleksii Sytenko (1988–2002), and Anatolii Zahorodnii (2002–). The institute’s halls are decorated with Ivan Marchuk’s ceramic bas-reliefs and mosaics depicting motifs from Ukrainian cultural history.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Instytut teoretychnoї fiziky im. M.M. Boholiubova NAN Ukraїny. 1966–2016 (Kyiv 2015)
The Institute’s official website: http://bitp.kiev.ua/

Serhiy Bilenky

[This article was updated in 2022.]