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Vekua Sukhumi Institute of Physics and Technology (SIPT), Tbilisi
SIPT was created in 1945 in Sukhumi in Abhazia in the Black Sea coast as a home for German nuclear scientists captured at the end of the war, and Soviet scientists, to help develop technology for acquiring fissionable material for the creation of nuclear weapons. In the 1950s, its main activity was in separating uranium isotopes. From 1959 it started working on developing a nuclear generator for space weapons systems. It also became involved in research on thermonuclear issues. From 1980 SIPT was involved in research on new materials, for example, studies of deformation under the influence of explosive shock waves. At its peak in the late 1970s and 1980s, SIPT employed over 7,000 people of whom some 5,000 were engaged in scientific work. At the close of the civil conflict in Abhazia, most of the remaining staff fled. The Institute was then formally re-established by the Government of Georgia in Tbilisi under the Academy of Science. It was transferred to the Ministry of Defence in 2011 as part of a major national reorganisation of research institutions. This transfer has led to a marked improvement in conditions, with significant salary increases (from a very low level) for staff. SIPT was obliged to move home on a number of occasions. In 2011 it was given accommodation which it believes will be permanent, taking two floors in a building which it shares with another institute in the outskirts of Tbilisi. At present the Institute is developing metal-ceramic and mass alloys Si-Ge and thermo-batteries of various purposes and designs for experimental high-temperature helio-thermo-electric generators. The Institute is also engaged in elaborating ion-implanted transitional refractory metals (W, Mo, Kr, Ti) with radically improved surface properties and on other issues of material science and radiation physics. SIPT together with the Mining Institute worked on the creation of resilient and highly radiation-resistant materials for the manufacture of containers for radiation materials and wastes and in developing technologies relating to the production of alloys and composition materials. The Institute now has 61 staff. In addition, there are more than 100 specialists from SIPT located in Tbilisi who are not employed in the Institute because of lack of funds. Some of these people continue to work in research, for example in one or other of the universities, but retain a links with the Institute. - Vekua Sukhumi Institute of Physics and Technology | |
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