Архивы read — Т-инвариант / T-invariant

“You don’t even represent us”. As a result of falsifications, the Academic Council of IPPI RAS was headed by Dissertnet figures

T-invariant has repeatedly described how the Ministry of Education and Science and the leadership of the Russian Academy of Sciences are destroying the Institute for Information Transmission Problems (IPPI RAS). The demonstrative cancellation of the contract with the head of the institute, Andrei Sobolevsky, ignoring the opinion of scientists, led to a conflict between the scientific staff and the new directorate, the departure of a number of employees to MIPT, and the appointment of Dmitry Repin, a scientist with a dubious reputation, as deputy director. The Academic Council of IPPI has recently been headed by Dissertnet members.

State Corporation “Unified Perimeter”.
How Putin’s daughter and her photomodel friend decided to make Innopraktika an integrator of all high-tech companies

The Innopraktika Foundation of Vladimir Putin's daughter, Katerina Tikhonova, has made a number of statements about its readiness to gather development institutions into "one perimeter". The public speaker to promote these initiatives was Tikhonova's friend Natalia Popova, a former photo model and now the first deputy general director of Innopraktika. Over the past few years, Popova has been lobbying for Innopraktika's interests in Africa and the BRICS countries, and probably wants to continue the reform of development institutions that began in 2020 but was interrupted.

Tatiana Glezer: “95 per cent of journalists cite data from the Gaza Ministry of Health – that is, Hamas”

An international team of scientists analysed 1,378 stories in the world's leading media about casualties of the war in Gaza. It turned out that 85 per cent of these publications did not distinguish between fighters and civilians, and 95 per cent used data provided by the Gaza Ministry of Health, which is run by Hamas. Why are reputable publications using inaccurate information and what can Israel do to counter this? T-invariant spoke to the initiator of the study - sociologist Tatiana Gleser.

Swiss cross on Russian students: famous Zurich university imposes sanctions on them for “security reasons”

The ETH Zurich has adopted new security rules that effectively make it impossible for Russian students to enrol in the university's master's and doctoral programmes. T-invariant managed to speak to students who have lost the opportunity to study at this prestigious institution and to take comments from the ETH itself.

Prosecutors pulled the crystal owl over the Russian globe: how the CHGKs became undesirable

In November 2024, the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation recognized the International Association of Intellectual Games (IAIG) as an undesirable organization. This absurd, at first glance, decision was preceded by a long history of ethical transformation and split of the once united intellectual community. Today, this confrontation looks like it was caused by a war, and everyone writes about it. However, it is based on deep contradictions and psychological deformations that have been embedded since Soviet times.

Sovereign Journals for Sovereign Science: How the System of Scientific Periodicals in Russia is Collapsing

The redistribution of the market for the publication and distribution of academic scientific journals has led not only to serious delays in the publication of scientists' works, but also to Russia's self-isolation in the global market of scientific periodicals. By the beginning of December 2024, almost 75% of Russian academic scientific journals have not gone to press on time. This is the price of striving to publish scientific journals with a "Russian identity" and without foreign influence. T-invariant tells us what has already happened to Russian scientific periodicals and what else may happen to them.

The Joyous Science. An Essay on the Biography and Scientific Activity of George Gamow

The fifteenth essay in the series "Creators" is dedicated to Georgy Gamov, an outstanding physicist and cosmologist, professor at George Washington University and the University of Colorado at Boulder, who made a huge contribution to nuclear physics, cosmology and theoretical biology. Together with RASA (Russian-American Science Association) T-invariant continues publishing the series of biographical essays "Creators".

Andrei Yakovlev: “It will not be the late USSR, but a thawed outcast with a nuclear truncheon”

Today one can hear more and more often that Russia in the coming decades will live under "eternal Putin". The political regime is stable, the economy shows stability. Will the country turn into the USSR 2.0 or into an "orthodox Iran"? Are there prerequisites for regime change in Russia? T-invariant spoke to Andrei Yakovlev, a well-known economist and associate researcher at the Davis Centre at Harvard University.

Leaders of education. Who leads universities in Russia?

Viktor Sadovnichy, the 85-year-old rector of Moscow State University, has been reappointed for a seventh term. This is not quite a typical situation: today the average age of a rector is under 60. T-invariant has studied the biographies of the heads of Russian universities in detail and realised that the problem with the rector corps is different: it is remarkably monotonous, as if they have specially selected people according to the average statistical pattern. Both the rector of Moscow State University and the heads of unremarkable regional universities have similar biographies and typical careers.

“Kovalchuk proposes that our scientists become a dish on the table of an ogre.” Why Russia has failed to maintain relations with CERN

on 30 November 2024, the five-year agreement between the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) and the Russian Federation will end. T-invariant recalls how dramatically CERN and Russia have severed their relations over the past years and publishes an interview with a witness to these events - scientist Andrei Seriakov from St Petersburg.

And Bakhtin could not cover it up. the “impure turn” taken by anthropologists from the two capitals could not be swept under the carpet of censorship

Russian philosopher Mikhail Bakhtin explored carnival and laughter culture in the stagnant years of the late Soviet Union and called such topics "material-bodily bottom. Half a century later, anthropologists held a conference about excrement in St Petersburg entitled Anthropopology: Brown Studies and the Unclean Turn.

“First Student”. Why SPbSU rushed to ban its staff from publishing in open access scientific journals

St. Petersburg State University was the first Russian university to ban its employees from publishing in international open access journals published by Elsevier. There are good reasons for this: as Elsevier told T-invarinat, the funds received from Russian authors are indeed sent to Ukraine.

Ekaterina Zhuravskaya: “Expectations from the sanctions were clearly too high”

One of the winners of the George Gamow Prize this year was Ekaterina Zhuravskaya, a professor at the Paris School of Economics. In an interview with T-invariant, she told how modern economic science works, whether it is possible to evaluate the results of sanctions and what studies of Goebbels' propaganda can tell us about the current military mobilization of Russian society.

To dig or not to dig? Will the construction of a museum centre hinder the salvation of the Novgorod birch-bark literatures?

"The Troitsk excavation under threat", "The last chance to learn our history", "Archaeologists ask for help " - only a small part of the publications that appeared this autumn. Fears of losing ancient Novgorod literatures are connected with the construction of the historical and archaeological centre, which is due to start this year.

Cultural Layer. An Essay on the Biography and Scientific Activity of Mikhail Rostovtsev

The fourteenth essay from the series "Creators" is dedicated to Mikhail Ivanovich Rostovtsev, an outstanding archaeologist and historian of Antiquity, professor at St. Petersburg University and professor at Yale University, who made a huge contribution to historical science. Together with RASA (Russian-American Science Association), T-invariant continues publishing the series of biographical essays "Creators"

…but it is possible to sell authorship. How a Moscow company forges scientific articles and places them in foreign journals

Recently, American scientist Sam Payne received a review of his own article published three years earlier, but now its authors were five employees of Sechenov University. So the world scientific community learnt about the Russian company "International Publisher", which is engaged in the production of fake scientific articles and places them for money in major foreign journals. More details - in the material T-invariant.

Global Challenges and the Search for Harmony in the Context of the Sakharov Paradigm

The problems of various countries, including Russia, Ukraine, Israel, the USA and China, are part of the global agenda of the future of humanity, including technological and humanistic issues that are being revised today and worry many of us. About the new "dispute of physicists and lyricists" in the context of the Sakharov paradigm "Peace, progress, human rights" - in the column of the professor of the University of North Carolina Alexander Kabanov.

The winners of the 2024 Georgiy Gamov Prize have been announced

The Russian-American Association of Scholars has announced the names of the winners of the prize, which is awarded to members of the Russian-speaking scientific diaspora. This year they were Professor Ekaterina Zhuravskaya of the Paris School of Economics and Professor Vladimir Vapnik of Columbia University.

Late Flight. An Essay on the Biography and Scientific Activity of Michael Stroukoff

The thirteenth essay from the series “Creators” is dedicated to Michael Stroukoff , an engineer, architect and aircraft designer who built both the famous knowledge in Washington and one of the most famous planes of the Vietnam War. Together with RASA (Russian-American Science Association) T-invariant continues publishing the series of biographical essays "Creators".

Selecting the best vs academic equality: why DEI practices are not catching on in Germany

A recent article by a group of American professors on the introduction of DEI into university practice in the United States has caused a wide resonance. To what extent can DEI be considered a purely American phenomenon, and to what extent has it been assimilated by academic communities in other countries? Germany is a curious example. This is the subject of an article prepared for T-invariant by Alexander Libman, Doctor of Economics, Professor of Russian and East European Politics at the Free University of Berlin.

“Sunny Peak” of Sparrow Hills.
How big computational science at Moscow State University became secret and what Putin’s daughter has to do with it

Moscow State University has announced the creation of the "world's second or third most powerful" supercomputer, having purchased components for it through a Chinese firm trading on AliExpress. T-invariant tells us how, under conditions of total sanctions on Sparrow Hills, they managed to assemble a classified computing complex and what Vladimir Putin's daughter Katerina Tikhonova and her Institute of Artificial Intelligence have to do with it.

Non-free laser on free electrons. How scientists from Russia lost the opportunity to work on a unique facility?

As of 30 November, Russian scientists will no longer have access to the facilities of the European Organisation for Nuclear Research. This is not the only scientific instrument to which access has been closed due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. T-invariant takes the example of the European XFEL free electron laser to understand what this means for science and what scientists who have lost access to this state-of-the-art research method are doing.

Acting deputy director of IPPI RAS became a scientist with a scandalous reputation

In early September, it became known that Dmitry Repin, who previously held the position of Advisor to the Rector of the Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, was appointed Acting Deputy Director of IPPI RAS. The appointment took place against the background of the ongoing public conflict between the scientific staff of the institute and the recently appointed acting director of IPPI Maxim Fedorov. T-invariant tells what is known about the new administrator of the institute.

“Competent” assistants: how “Dissernet” defendants advise the Ministry of Education and Science

Students of the "School of District Anti-Corruption" together with Groza and T-Invariant studied the composition of expert councils at the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation. It turned out that more than 10 per cent of the experts who influence decision-making "on the most important issues of the ministry's activities" are plagiarists and violators of academic ethics.

History

What is happening to the vessel Akademik Nikolai Strakhov and to the Russian scientific fleet

In the Kara Sea, for the second week now, a drama has been developing around the research vessel “Akademik Nikolay Strakhov”, which is stuck there. T-invariant describes the broad context of the problem and tells what role Mikhail Kovalchuk can play in the emergency, who tried in the summer to bring the Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences into the structure of his Kurchatov Center.

Dmitry Dubrovsky: “Our classes are an opportunity to be a little free in an already unfree country”

How do universities in exile try to preserve academic freedoms for those who have lost them? Why and at what point does the idea of boycotts of universities begin to contradict academic freedoms? T-invariant spoke to Dmitry Dubrovsky, PhD in History, Professor at the Free University.

Infofield of battle: how and where propagandists are trained in Russian universities today

Since September 1, a number of Russian universities have begun training "information warfare specialists". Such programs were "tested" even before the full-scale invasion, but this year there have been significantly more of them. T-invariant found out which universities have such programs and who will teach students propaganda.

Scientists Who Created the Future: Academic Resistance in Nazi Germany

The internal German resistance to the National Socialist dictatorship is a phenomenon that is not well known to anyone other than specialists. Nevertheless, there were many hotbeds of such struggle. T-invariant tells the story of a group of scientists and teachers who united around professors from the University of Freiburg. Its members worked closely with other German resistance groups and, despite the risk of exposure and threats to their lives, remained true to their professional and civic duty.

“Hypersonic Horror Continues.” What Physicist Alexander Shiplyuk’s Fifteen-Year Sentence Says

The harsh sentence for the scientist is not an exception to the rule, but the current norm. It was not by chance that the prosecution asked to give Shiplyuk the maximum possible 20 years: the cruelty of the repressions is directly related to the war in Ukraine. Moreover, in the summer of 2023, amendments were made according to which life imprisonment can be given for high treason.

“The Great Russians’ Phase Transition to the Inertial Phase of Ethnogenesis.” How Russian Scientists Are Studying the War in Ukraine

Over the two and a half years that the war in Ukraine has been going on, more than two thousand scientific articles dedicated to the "special military operation" have been published in Russia. Among them are some that have almost no relation to science, as well as quite professional studies by Russian scientists in the fields of law, psychology, sociology, and military affairs. T-invariant has read these articles and tells us what they are about.

Sanity Check: How and Why Security Forces Destroyed Russia’s Supercomputer Industry

T-invariant is starting a series of materials about the state of the supercomputer industry in Russia and the world. Today we will tell you about the brightest player in this small but strategically important market — the company T-Platforms and its founder — Vsevolod Opanasenko, who has been living under a criminal case for the last five years.

“Not all physicists are hackers.” FSB accuses young scientist of organizing DDoS attacks, then of treason

33-year-old physicist Artem Khoroshilov is accused of treason. The FSB declared him a hacker who, on orders from the Ukrainian Armed Forces, organized "attacks on critical information infrastructure facilities." The employee of the Prokhorov General Physics Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences could face life imprisonment.

Sociologist Vladimir Zvonovsky: “Those who support Putin cannot really explain his decisions”

This summer, Vladimir Zvonovsky and Alexander Khodykin published a book “Russian Public Opinion in the Conditions of Military Conflict.” T-invariant spoke with Doctor of Sociological Sciences Vladimir Zvonovsky about the results of the study.

Buy an article cheap: which universities order research in dubious scientific journals

RSUH, RUDN, Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, MGPPU were among the universities that founded and published journals with violations. "Laboratory of University Transparency" (Lupa) and T-invariant checked government procurement of 100 higher education institutions and found out that some of them conclude contracts with dubious publications.

“VK Video will simply postpone oblivion and media death. It’s a video hospice.” Popularizers of science and million-follower bloggers on the cessation of YouTube in Russia

The full-fledged work of the YouTube video service in Russia is gradually ceasing. What do scientists, leading million-viewer channels, and bloggers who popularize science think about this? Astrophysicists Sergey Popov, Vladimir Surdin, historian Mikhail Rodin, popularizers of science Vlad Goncharuk, Evgenia Timonova and Vitaly Egorov answer.

Igor Efimov: “If DEI principles prevail in the US and European universities, talent will start leaving.”

The DEI ideology is diversity, equity, inclusion. What will happen to science if DEI principles win? T-invariant talked about this with one of the authors of the article “Politicizing science funding undermines public trust in science, academic freedom, and the unbiased generation of knowledge”, professor of biomedicine at Northwestern University in Chicago Igor Efimov.

“Service” experts: Tomsk linguistics students prepare conclusions on real court cases during their studies

Tomsk State University graduated the first masters of the pilot program "Legal Linguistics". As graduation theses, students defended a portfolio of linguistic research and expert assessments on real criminal and administrative cases.

Academic exchange at the FSB rate. American Physical Society stands up for Russian scientists

The FSB has been persecuting members of the Russian Academy of Sciences Sergey Abramov and Oleg Kabov for several years now. Their criminal cases are so unprecedented that the American Physical Society, one of the largest in the scientific world, is worried about their fate. Its representatives are sending letters to the President of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation.

Microscope and shell. An essay on the biography and scientific work of Pavel Galtsov

The twelfth essay in the series "Creators" is dedicated to Pavel Semyonovich Galtsov, an outstanding marine biologist who changed the entire oyster industry in America and became the founder of mollusc biology. Together with RASA (Russian-American Science Association) T-invariant continues publishing a series of biographical essays "Creators" about people from the Russian Empire who made a significant contribution to world science and technology, about those to whom we owe our new reality.