Экзамен - Темы - 2008 / soviet achievements

TEXT. SOVIET ACHIEVEMENTS IN SCIENCE

Soviet science has more than once achieved outstanding successes in major areas of world scientific and technological progress.

The goal set by the. Party is clear, it is a sharp turn of thecountry towards intensive development by accelerating scientific and technical progress.

Our scientists and inventors have enriched science and technology with great achievements and brought fame to Soviet science.

Many discoveries of great theoretical and practical signif­icance have been made in our country recently. They deal with various fields of science such as chemistry, physics, bi­ology, metallurgy and so on.

In the field of chemistry our scientists have created new polymers which, possess valuable properties for our industry. Thus one kilogram of polymer constructional material can replace four to five kilograms of rolled ferrous metals. The production of one ton of plastic parts requires two or three times less energy than the manufacture of the same amount of metal parts.

Our great scientist N.N. Semenov has made great discov­eries in the field of chain reactions. He has formulated the theory of chemical chain, branched reactions.

N. D. Zelinsky's works have-formed the basis for the syn­thesizing of a large number of new compounds.

A team of Soviet researchers has evolved a new method of extracting phenol and aceton from benzene and propylene.

A very interesting experiment has been carried out by the research workers of the Institute of High Pressure Physics. This experiment has resulted in obtaining metallic hydrogen, which possesses very important properties, namely the prop­erty of superconductivity at high temperatures.

Another great,discovery has been made in the Kurchatov Nuclear Energy Institute by V. Mostovoy, the head of the Neutron Physics Laboratory. His research is concerned with an analysis of the probability of isomeric U fission, when in­teracting with thermal or slow neutrons. For his work he was awarded the Kurchatov Gold Medal. Soviet scientists are occupied with ecological problems. They have drawn up a large programme of experiments dealing with environmental pollution. They have investigated the state of the air and wat­er, the changes in climate and weather as a result of extensive environmental pollution.

Outstanding investigations have been made in the field of space.

Soviet space research has opened a whole new era of scientif­ic knowledge. Great successes in space research have been the result of experimental activity of our scientists.