University of Massachusetts Amherst

From the SelectedWorks of Otto Vogl

January, 2013

My Relations with Russian Polymer ScienceOtto Vogl, University of Massachusetts - AmherstFrank T. TraceskiFriderikh Diachekovski

Available at: https://works.bepress.com/otto_vogl/280/

File: Russian12113 My Relations with Russian Polymer Science

Otto Vogl (in cooperation with Friderikh Diachekovski and Frank T. Traceski)

Introduction It was 45 years ago in Kyoto, that I met my first Russian colleague. However, this

is not quite correct because I had met Alfred A. Berlin a year before at the IUPAC

Macromolecular Symposium in Leuwen, Belgium. There may have been other

personal contacts as well, but I do not recall them. This Macromolecular

Symposium opened significantly the door for my scientific career. At this

Symposium under the chairmanship of George Smets, the chairman of the

Macromolecular Division and soon-to-be President of IUPAC, introduced me in

private meetings to the leading polymer scientists (including the Russians). Or

better said, it was the Soviet polymer scientists.

I arrived in Kyoto as the newly appointed Industrial Professor of Kyoto University.

The professorship was created for less than one semester for me (and DuPont).

Had it been for one full semester it would have made me a government

employee of Japan with pension rights, etc. One day as I was giving my lecture I

noticed twin blue eyes from the last row of students staring at me. They were not

oriental eyes.

I asked the person to see me. It turned out to be a Russian visitor who had been

allowed to spend some time abroad. It was Erik Diatchekovski. He had been

assigned to lead a group of scientists at the Institute of Chemical Physics on

coordination polymerization to prove the established mechanism of

polymerization and find better and more efficient catalysts that could be used.

Diachekovski had chosen Japan, where this field was being vigorously

investigated. This Institute of Chemical Physics of the Soviet Academy had four

Departments and Diachekovski's group was designated to be a fifth. Erik

(Friderikh Diaxhekvski) and I became well acquainted and I asked him for his

background. So he said I will tell you my story:

My history in chemistry is very simple.

My father was professor of colloid and inorganic chemistry in Gorkii (now it is

beNiznii Novgorod) University. In my childhood I visited his lab very often and

smelled of chemistry. From 1950-1955 I was a student at the Chemical Faculty of

Gorki University. At the University, the brilliant Professor Razuvaev taught us

organic chemistry. Razuvaev’s history was complicated. He was student of

Professor Ipatiev and worked with him many years. Ipatiev finally immigrated to

the USA and made a strong impact in the petrochemical industry. Besides that

Professor Razuvaev worked with Professor G. Wiland (Nobel Prize winner) in

a concentration camp. Finally he was freed (by Nikita Krushchev), but he was

allowed to live only in the suburb of Gorki (Moscow and Leningrad were

prohibited). So we were lucky having him at Gorki University.

a. Diachekovski, Friderikh b. Institute for Chemical Physics, Moscow Moscow, Russia

I was accepted to do my University diploma at the Institute of Chemical Physics

in Moscow. I graduated the University in 1955 with honors and published two

scientific papers concerning the nature of activated complexes under super high

pressure. From 1955-1958 I was a post-graduate student at ICPh and my

supervisor was Professor N.N. Semenev, who had just received the Nobel Prize

in Chemistry. My thesis title was "Free radical formation in bi-molecular

reactions." Semenov was very powerful in academia and in government. He sent

me to work with Professor Steacy at NRC in Canada to work in the field of

photolysis. In a few years he decided that I should go to Brooklyn Institute to H.

Mark to study polymerization catalysis. The first time I saw H. Mark at his office in

Brooklyn Poly, he immediately took a fabric, ignited the torch and put the fabric

into the flame. Nothing happened with the fabric. Then we talked about polymers,

about Semenov and others.

At Brooklyn Poly I worked mostly with G. Overberger at the same time with J.

Moor. We did a good piece of science at Brooklyn.

To go to Japan was my initiative. Prof. Norio Ise at the Kyoto University studied

at that time electro-conductivity in polymer systems. I also studied the ionic

nature o1f active centers in polymerization catalytic systems. So it happened 43

years ago! One story I want to tell. I visited different Japanese universities

giving lectures about free radical reactions and complex polymerizations. I do not

remember the universities; I do not remember the city. But once I had a

discussion with an old professor in organic chemistry and I told him about

Semenev's work, about my studies in free radicals, about complex catalysis.

The Professor was about to fall asleep. I do not why, but I mentioned, that it was

during WW II that was the turning point for plastics use. For some applications

polymer aortas were essential. After the war the polymer (plastics) industry

found that many materials could be working with him in Germany! He was a

Russian bear! Please tell me about him. And our talk was for many hours and I

got the highest level of attention. Then I met professor Otto Vogl and I keep a

very warm feeling of the time we spent together in Japan.

Scientific Relationship with Eastern Europe

At the start of the symposium series on Ring Opening under the leadership of the

Polish professor, Stan Penczek. I knew a number of Soviet polymer scientists,

mostly professors from the Institute of Chemistry of the Soviet Academy of

Sciences.

My Russian connection also extended to the Moscow State University and

1

Lomonosoff University. One day when I was firmly established at the University

of Massachusetts and had a nice research group, I received a note from the

newly appointed head of the Polymer Science Department, student and

successor of the famous Kargin Victor Kabanov. He asked if one of his Assistant

Professors could join my group for the summer and finish some work that we had

been doing. We had been working on the copolymerization of chloral with

p-chlorophenylisocyanate, and a Polish scientist from Lodz had come to help me

with the subject. I checked with the U.S. Homeland Security and they found no

reason not to give Zubov the required visa. Vitaly Zubov completed his

assignment successfully. During this period Victor visited here in Amherst.

This contact was not the first time that I had met Kabanov. Back a few years and

a few political upheavals in 1968 the so-called Prague Spring occurred. Then

Prime Minister Alexander Dubcek tried (unsuccessfully) to ascend the control of

the party over the government. He was replaced. At the same time the Director of

the Institute of Macromolecular Science, Otto Wichterle, was also venerable and

was replaced – but, not before he had created a symposium in Strbske Pleso, in

the High Tatra’s in Eastern Slovakia. It was the IUPAC Macromolecular

Symposium that had been assigned to Czechoslovakia (because Wichterle was

the chairman of the IUPAC Committee.

a. Victor Aleksandrovich Kabanov b. Lomonosov State University, Moscow

Lomonosoff University had good working relationship with the Polytechnic

Institute in Brooklyn. I continued my good working relationship with Victor,

especially when I went to Brooklyn and he had become the Vice-President of the

chemistry for the Soviet Academy of Sciences. He died in 2003 and is buried in a

famous cemetery in Moscow as is Khrushchev. I am still in contact with his son,

who is a Professor in Nebraska. I had another Russian scientist for a year at the

end of the decade from the Institute of the Azerbaijan University, the Institute of

Organic Chemistry. He came from Baku (still Russian) and was quite an eye

opener for members of my research group.

By chance, my friend Przemek Kubisa was here again in Amherst, working with

me for 9 months. He was a very good analyst and writer, and was also fluent in

Russian. Przemek and Shamil cleaned up the questions at the end stages of the

choral/isocyanate copolymerization. Again, by chance Nikolai Plate had become

Editor-in-Chief of the Russian Journal of Polymer Science. He asked me to

submit a paper if I could do it, preferably in Russian (Cyrilli)

Since I had Shamil and Przemek I was ready to comply. This was probably the

only article from the West that had appeared there. At least in their first period of

publication. Nicolai Alfredowitch and I met very frequently, He had become the

Vice-President of the Russian Academy of Sciences and a frequent world

traveler. Victor Kabanov died at the age of 73. His remains were buried in

Novodevichevo Cemetery in Moscow where other prominent Soviet celebrities

like N. Khrushev and selected academicians and politicians are buried.

a. a. .

a. Kabanov, plaque, Memorial b. After Kabanov’s funeral in the cemetery in Moscow Moscow State University.

By 1960 Polymer or Macromolecular Science was well-established within the

Natural Sciences, primarily through the effort of the older generation of scientists,

Staudinger, Marvel, Mark, Sadron, Champetier and in Moscow Kargin.

a b Alfred A. Berlin in Louvain (1967) b. Participants of International Symposium . on Polymer Synthesis, Amherst (1971)

A new generation of polymer scientists was born after 1910. It was more

international and is represented by Flory, Smets, Manecke. The next half-

generation younger solidified the position of polymer science as a scientific and

technological part of life as a number of polymers were commercialized.

Representatives of this era would be Overberger, Bailey, Benoit, Butler, Ranby,

Bawn, Bamford, Stockmayer, Lindberg and Schurz. – But a new generation was

peeking over the horizon: Vogl, Stein, Saegusa, Tsuruta, Kennedy, Reneker,

Baer and Coleman, Heitz and Penczek, and from the UK Jeffrey Allen and

Burnett. On the continent Marburg, Sigwalt and Wichterle.

As polymer science coagulated as a separate branch of the sciences, the

important meetings on Macromolecular Science (under the leadership of IUPAC

or locally organized) were held in Europe. As air travel became available (and

affordable), options for meetings worldwide became accessible.

These symposia were still somewhat restrictive. The IUPAC Macromolecular

meeting was held in Prague in 1965 and was primarily attended by the scientists

form the eastern countries. An important redirection occurred at the Leuwen

(Louvain) Symposium in 1967. In part it was because George Smets was the

Chairman and organizer, in part, because Louvain was a suitable city for this kind

of meeting, because the time was right.

It was there where I met the first young Russian polymer scientists, Alfred A.

Berlin and Nicolai Sergewitch Enicolopian. Berlin was a Deputy Head of a

Department in the Institute of Chemical Physics of the Soviet Academy of

Science and Enikolopian a head at the same institute.

Several years later the IUPAC Macromolecular Symposium was held in Boston. I

had changed from DuPont and had been appointed Professor at the University of

Massachusetts. We were planning a restricted Symposium of a select group of

polymer scientists in Amherst. I invited Enikolopian and he came. By that time I

had become the Chairman elect of the Division of Polymer Chemistry of the

Mexican Chemical Society.

The next year I was invited by the Soviet Academy of Scientists as their guest for

two weeks in the Soviet Union with my wife and to lecture and interact in several

institutions.

It was tradition, to spend one week in Moscow under the sponsorship of the

inviting institution, in my case, the Institute of Chemical Physics, one half week in

Leningrad, and the rest somewhere else. This "someplace else” depended on

common interests in institutions in the town, personal contact and last but not

least, permission for western persons, especially scientists, to visit. My third

scheduled place to visit was scheduled Kiev (now the capital of the Ukraine). A

number of circumstances did not allow it and I ultimately ended up in Riga, nova

Latvia.

Moscow

In June we were ready to go to Moscow. We traveled separately for common

reasons. I arrived in Moscow, was met by my hosts, settled and was ready to

meet my wife. She was coming with a Sabena flight from Brussels. We were

ready for her (now with our permanent host Igor Bieligrski), and the black

Volga, the car of the Academy at Sheremitsevo Airport.

a b a. Enikolopov, b. Enikolopov;s grave in Moscow Nikolai Sergevitch

I was told the next or the real flight from Brussels will depart from Brussels in 8

hours. Back we went to Moscow (Shemitsevo is about 20 miles from Moscow). At

the indicated time we were again at the airport. The customs officer (the same

was still on duty) by now knew me. I had stopped to see him when we were there

earlier, for every plane’s arrival.

He said. Tell the young man to buy a dozen red roses. He said it and I did it. The

plane landed this time on time and he said, young man now you walk out to the

tarmac and welcome your wife to Moscow and so it happened.

My wife came out (after the first class passengers), down the ramp and I

welcomed her. The stamp in the passport was only a formality. So was her

reception in Moscow.

My first work day in Moscow was about to begin and I arrived at the Institute of

Chemical Physics in Enikolopians office at 8:30. My lecture “Polymerization

under Extreme Pressure (Conditioned)” was scheduled for 10:00. He explained

that in the Soviet Union a substantial change had occurred in the middle 50’s and

the emphasis was from the state/ military support to the development and

application of science.

The Academy of Sciences was reorganized and institutes placed under their

administration. The Prime Institute in Moscow was the Institute of Chemical

Physics. The Head, Professor and Nobel Laureate was Semenev. He had

received the Nobel Prize for his work on chemical radicals. He had in the institute

5 Divisions. Emmanuel, Enikilopian, someone else and Erik Diachekovski, whom

I had met some years ago in Kyoto. His junior department was responsible for

catalysis and coordination polymerization.

This was the time when Khruschev had become head of the Soviet Union and

these changes seem to have been carried out under his supervision or sanction.

Several new institutes were created in the Soviet Union and satellite cronies:

among them, the Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry in Prague and the

Institute of Organic Chemistry in Riga, Soviet Union.

Back to Enikolopian. He turned out to be a very personable scientific leader with

enthusiastic character, courageous in science, with a fresh approach and

pizzazz. He liked to do original research with high risk and had no reluctance to

accept failures. He had started with Shubaev with radical reactions and changed

into polymer research. When I visited Moscow, a plant (or semi-work operation)

was under way in Brats, Siberia for the preparation of POM from trioxide

(homopolymer) with acetate capping.

Enikolopian was interested in polymerization under unusual conditions and he

was working on polymerization under great shear forces. This is why he was

interested in our earlier work at DuPont on polymerization at 65,000 atm.,

conditions that are more likely to occur closer to the inside of the Earth.

I had to learn what Russian or Armenian hospitality was when I arrived for my

lecture. Berlin joined us and the small bottle of Armenian cognac was brought in

and served – no questions asked. Enikolopian’s mother still lived in Yerevan the

capital of Armenia and supplied him regularly with this special Cognac. I had to

learn a few years later at the first Ring Opening Symposium in Jablona, Poland,

what it means to eat and drink a more elaborate Armenian snack.

The talk went well and the discussions with many scientists were of excellent

caliber. I spent two days at the Institute with an excellent dinner with Berlin and

his wife at the restaurant Warsawa (7th floor), where we met by chance my friend

Plate.

(I think it is most appropriate to add here a linguistic comparison: When I was in

Moscow Enikoloopian called himself Enikolopov. In family names the end often

indicates the sex or other generalities. For instance the German ending –mann,

spelled in English –man is equivalent to –ov in Russian, ian in Armenian, -ko in

Ukrainian and –ic in other Slavic languages.) Even in the first (or middle name

family relationship can be noticed in the first (given) name and the middle name.

Enikolopovs name is Nicolai Sergevitch, Nicolai the son of Sergio, or Nicolai

Alfredowich Nicolai the son of Alfred. In other words, the middle name of the son

is the first name with the explanation „wich“), the father.

In the mean time my wife was entertained and saw some of the sites in Moscow,

including Red Square, Basil Basilica and last but not least, Lenin and Stalin

under nitrogen.

My scientific and personal relationship with Enikolopov was not at an end.

As I mentioned earlier, a formal invitation by the Soviet Academy at that time

required the visit and lectures in Moscow for one week, Leningrad for 3-4 days

and a third city to be determined. My wife and I were getting ready for Leningrad.

Nikolai Sergevitch had dinner arranged at the Café Ararat (Ararat being the

highest mountain).

Sometime around 1980 Nicolai Sergewich informed me that he was planning to

come to this country for a visit. At that time, I had become a major consultant for

Du Pont and my former lab partner Burt Anderson was the Director of Research

of the F & F Department of Du Pont. I mentioned Enikolopov’s visit to him,

pointed out that he was a good synthetic polymer chemist with unusual ideas and

he should invite him to the DuPont Experimental Station in Wilmington. Burt

invited him and told me later that:

Enikolopov had this catalyst system probably for methyl methacrylate

polymerization that gives unusual polymers. It contained cobalt ions that are

apparently part of the system. I heard nothing for years and then Burt told me the

story. F & F people had worked on the catalyst system and had indeed found that

when Co+ was part of the system it could make PMMA of controlled molecular

weight. It is described in a patent that is rarely quoted. They could make

polymers up to a MW of 10,000 with control of the MW and to some extent

distribution.

It turned out that this type of MW (still with a vinyl group at the end

(polymerizable) allowed them to make copolymers that are branched PMMA’s,

and the branch length could be controlled by the length of the “polymerizable

oligomer.”

As a consequence, Enikolopov is one of the pillars on which controlled radical

polymerization is based, the transition ion controlled radical polymerization. (The

other pillar is Ezio Rizzardo of the CRIO in Melbourne Australia, who discovered

N-oxides as a means to control the radical polymerization).

Since that time, controlled free radical polymerization has exploded. Hundreds,

even thousands of articles have been written and some symposia have been

held and have made “controlled free radical polymerization” an important part of

polymer science and polymer synthesis The polymerization is, however, slow

and cumbersome and to my knowledge has not led to a commercial product.

Back to Moscow. The day after my visits to the Institute of Chemical Physics I

was scheduled to visit Lomonosov University, the State University of Moscow

and the primary university in the Soviet Union. The famous Professor Kargin had

built the Department of Macromolecular Science and it was flourishing with 5

subdivisions and plenty of attention. Kargin had died and the young Kabanow

had become the Department Head. That meant that he was destined to become

influential in the Academy.

a b a. Nikolai Alfredovich Plate, b IUPAC Macromolecular Symposium

Merseburg 1987, GDR

I had a chance to meet most of the important scientists including Shubaev and

Plate and younger scientists. We had a chance to discuss various aspects of

polymer synthesis and structure and I realized a solution of their research was

being directed in polymer aspects, synthetic polymers for medical applications.

In the evening my wife and I had dinner with the Kabanov and Plate in a sturgeon

restaurant in Moscow where everything was on the menu from soup, filet and of

course Beluga caviar. I still see the green painted building and Victor driving us in

his old Moscovich car. It was crowded and we parked where we could. The

whole menu consisted of sturgeon and each course in the menu was derived

from sturgeon. Plate brought the vodka.

By the time we were finished, the Moscowich was the only parked car left. Victor

had ordered a taxi to take us home. No taxi came and the Moscovich became the

only car parked near the restaurant. In desperation Kabanov said I will drive. So

we went at midnight down the 8 empty, 8 Lane Leninski Prospect and Victor

deposited us across Academy Hotel. Victor was gone and my wife and I started

to cross directly the empty boulevard. Suddenly sirens started to howl, police

cars closed in us and we were guided into the Hotel (not quite arrested).

The receptionist and the manager told us that this was against the Soviet law and

we were a disgrace for the Academy. Our apologies helped little, the legal Zebra

crossing was about ¼ mile from our crossing point.

The last official day I was allowed to visit briefly some Academy Institutes:

Hydrocarbon Chemistry, Elemental Chemistry and Korshaks Institute of Organic

Chemistry.

Moscow was not only work, my Russian hosts made sure that I saw something

about Moscow. Not museums but the city by car. Between visits to institutions we

drove past places of interest and I saw what I wanted. For the last day Igor B had

arranged an Academy car for a small excursion into the Moscow countryside. We

went up the Moscow River and viewed the dachas of the Russian celebrities,

artists, politicians, etc. Our goal was a town, which Igor called Archangelsk. We

drove and drove and became lost. All of a sudden the driver panicked. He said,

that we were 40 km from Moscow way-out of the allowed zone for foreigners,

which was about 25 km.

We had seen no sign of Archangelsk nor did we see any town, and we had been

through only a few small hamlets. It was by now way beyond lunchtime and there

was nothing to eat in sight. Igor was getting worried. We did not even see a sign

that said MOSCOW. We turned into a direction, which we thought would bring us

back to Moscow. On a hillside we found a stand like a hamburger stand that

actually was open and prepared to make for us (by now 2:00) Shashliks, ground

hamburger on a stick. Fortunately it went well, we found signs that brought us

back to the main road to Moscow. We arrived there happy and content. What

would have happened if the driver had a slight accident or if the police for some

reason would have stopped us? We will never know!

Leningrad

We spent the last night with the Enikolopov’s and departed for Leningrad.

Armenia he thought for gusto has some culinary experience of the country where

he had grown up. After a delicious dinner and an exciting car ride in his black

Volga through the empty streets of Moscow we arrived at midnight at the railroad

station to take the train, the red arrow to Leningrad.

After getting settled near Newski Prospect I was taken by Igor Bielikorski to the

Institute. The Institute meaning the Institute for Macromolecular Chemistry on the

other side of the Newa River. The head of the institute, Professor Koton was out

of town, Consequently I spent much of the time talking with the younger

generation of scientists and, of course Yerusalimsky. He was in the midst of

exploring anionic polymerization.

a b a. Mikhail Mikchailovich Koton b. Hermitage in Leningrad

Yerusalimsky’s even greater fame was his expertise to make real Russian tea.

Take the gas with the silver holder. Fill it to ¼ with sugar and ¼ with tea leaves,

to the Samovar located in the corner and fill the glass with boiling water. Refill w

d with some luck at one time during this procedure the tea is excellent.

One curious incident happened during my visit to the Institute. I had (as I was

told) occupied the room of the Director and was talking with one scientist.

Suddenly the door opened, a rather meek looking man appeared, placed his hat

on the hat rack, looked at us, and said. Excuse me in English. When I asked later

who this man might have been I was told: This was KOTON.

In its early stages in the 1950’s the Institute for Macromolecular Chemistry was

the center of polymer research and people scientists from the socialist countries

spent some time working there; Ferenc Tudos and Gyula Hardy from Hungary

(Budapest), Kalal from Prague, Solomon from Rumania, Ms. Li from Bejing and

Ponyatov from Bulgaria. Years later, the Leningrad connection had achieved

prominent positions in their own country.

Our visit to Leningrad did not only contain the scientific contact, but also some

sightseeing to get to know the city. Our arrival was scheduled to coincide with the

white nights, the summer time in Leningrad when it never gets dark – took a little

bit of adjustment. But it was wonderful to wander on a balmy midnight along the

river with thousands of other people.

Needless to say we saw the fortress the building of the admiralty and some of the

hermitage. The cathedral was closed for repairs. We saw also some palaces in

the surrounding of Leningrad, Pushkin for example. Leningrad was a magnificent

city and even more was the rejuvenated St. Petersburg.

But everything had to come to an end. My wife left from Leningrad to Helsinki

and returned via Finn Air home. I went to my third destination – Riga.

Institute of Organic Chemistry, Latvian Academy of Sciences, Riga, Latvian

Soviet Republic.

Three stops had been planned for my invitation to the academic institutions in the

Soviet Union. The third was originally Kiev. But we were told an agricultural fair

would interfere with my visit. I should go somewhere else. Since Enikolopian was

the primary host he said. Why don’t you go to Soviet Armenia, to Yerevan, a nice

place. My mother still lives there. We tried but Armenia required a special

separate visa, which could not be obtained in the short time. So he said how

about Riga. Latvia is still one of our socialist republics and requires an additional

visa. This is necessary for the Baltic Republics. This time we succeeded and I

was on the way in an Antonov 24 a two engine propeller plane to Riga.

Riga, Latvian Soviet Republic, Institute of Organic Chemistry

In the two weeks in the Soviet Union, I had learned to be patient, to say “Yes Sir”

when needed and enjoy what was presented.

After a 1½ hr flight we were prepared for landing (for me spoken in English). A

truck arrived and unloaded something. I was sure a 4-Star General of a party

functionary was on the plane. Nothing. The red carpet was rolled out, I was

asked to step forward, smile on the plane entrance and wave in all directions,

which I did. As I walked down the carpet, a young lady came to greet me with a

dozen roses and we were brought to the hotel.

The hotel was a Stalinistic structure, nothing that I had expected in a major city of

the Hanseatic league. The hotel was like a giant dentist’s office. The young lady

guided me to my room (it had a brown door, not white as the rest.) She was the

Secretary of the Director Solomon Aronovich Hillers and party secretary of the

Institute. The room was obviously wired and I made sure that the door remained

wide-open as we exchanged gifts. I had been warned at home to be careful. After

a delightful dinner in the evening I was ready for my day at the Organic Institute.

Solomono Aronovich Hillards (Geller)

The next morning I asked the Director Solomone Hillers to tell me all about this

wonderful reception. He told me we are now in the Baltikum, in the social

Republic of Latvia everything is Soviet style but not quite. Solomone Hillers told

me, for example I am the President of the Latvian Academy of Sciences but I am

not a Member of the Soviet Academy. Behind my desk I have a beautiful carved

face of Favorsky, my favorite scientist but I also have one of Lenin.

I had been stunned that he had an up-to-date Xerox machine. I said, how’s that?

We work on cancer drugs. And we work with a Japanese firm. To be sure it is

socialist oriented but it pays in hard currency. The receipts are ½ for the Institute

(which remains in hard currency) and half to the State, and I do not care what

they make with it.

Another story. About Hillers or Giller, all of a sudden he said: We still have a

number of German speaking people around here. We will ask if the audience

wishes to hear your lecture in English or German. English won fortunately 60:40.

We had a delightful lunch and at 12 o’clock another surprise had been prepared

for me. The Director and President of the Academy presented prizes for young

ladies and girls, they looked like our girl scouts, except they had red scarfs. Of

about 14-16 with red scarves for their accomplishments and achievements. He

said, they like to see an American alive. Why not I shook all the hands that were

presented to me.

I gave my lecture, and so ended my short trip to Riga. The next day I returned

home via Moscow, Sheremitisewo Airport.

I am still in regular contact with Erik Diachekovski, with his son in Syracuse and

the sons of Kabanov and Enikolopov. The latter are Professors in the universities

and with the son of Khorshak in Moscow.