The Last Workshop on Theoretical Physics in the Soviet Union

TL;DR

This paper provides a personal historical account of a 1990 workshop on Theoretical Physics in the Soviet Union, highlighting the political and scientific context during a pivotal time before the USSR's collapse.

Contribution

It offers a unique autobiographical perspective on the scientific and political atmosphere of Soviet-era physics just before the USSR's dissolution.

Findings

Personal anecdotes from the 1990 workshop

Insights into Soviet scientific community

Historical context of USSR's collapse

Abstract

Twenty years ago, in October 1990, I found myself attending a workshop on Theoretical Physics in Chernomorka (Ukraine) intended only for Soviet physicists. That trip to the USSR/CCCP as well as the preceding months at CERN were highly surrealistic with plenty of adventures, crucial events and anecdotes, the most amazing one involving Niels Bohr. A few months later the Soviet Union collapsed. In this article I make a personal account on the happenings of 1990, with emphasis on my incursions into the European communist world during, and also before, that year.