Once, back in the last century, no one needed to explain what a research institute is. Everyone knew the meaning of the acronym. Many have worked in these institutions. Almost every family had a relative who worked or had once worked in a research institute.
First Research Institutes
The first research institutes appeared before the 1917 revolution. Although people have always built scientific institutions (one of the earliest found in the excavations of Babylon). The word "institute" (l'institute) was first used in Paris. The National Institute of Sciences and Arts, designed to improve science, having undergone some changes over time, became known as the Institute of France. The date of its foundation is October 25, 1795.
Following the example of the French scientific institution, research institutes (research institutes) spread throughout Europe and by the middle of the twentieth century became the cells of national scientific activity. The need for intersectoral research and practical development on a scientific basis has led to the creation of industry, international research institutes and research centers.
Now there are 1812 official addresses of research institutes in Russia alone. They are located throughout the country, from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk to Pskov, and work on the problems of the entire national industrialcomplex.
Closed research institutes in ZATOs
The first closed territorial formations (ZATO) are associated with the creation of nuclear weapons in 1946-1953. During the Cold War era of the USSR, some research institutes were built in cities closed to the uninitiated. They were not on the maps, and it was not easy to get there: the pedigree was checked almost to the seventh generation in order to avoid leakage of classified information. Employees working in such research institutes signed a non-disclosure agreement. The settlement itself was often surrounded by barbed wire and a strict access control was introduced.
They were called not by the name of the geographical village where they were located, but by adding a cipher to the name of an ordinary city: Krasnoyarsk-26, Penza-19 or Chelyabinsk-65. In Zagorsk-6 there was a base of the Research Institute of Microbiology, which stored strains of bacteriological weapons - smallpox, for example. In Sarov-16 is the Research Institute of Experimental Physics. They developed weapons, including nuclear ones.
For special conditions, all residents received monetary compensation and a good supply of goods and products. They were not allowed to travel abroad even several years after their dismissal or retirement. Meetings with relatives who lived outside the city, even in a neighboring village, were only possible on vacation or with a special pass.
Mailboxes
NII were civil (VNIISENTI - economic information, NIIBT - drilling equipment) and military. The latter was assigned a mailbox number, based on the interests of the object's secrecy. They were included instructure of the military-industrial complex and worked for defense.
The salary in the "box" was higher, workers received holiday "orders" - sets of scarce products. The polyclinic, as a rule, also had its own or had the opportunity to visit a departmental one. Medical services there were an order of magnitude higher. Departmental kindergartens and pioneer camps worked for the children of employees, which also had a serious material base.
From time to time, outbound trade from the military trade was invited to the enterprise and provided with scarce things - clothes and shoes. It was impossible for those working in the “box” to go abroad.
Sharashkin offices
From the thirties, special institutions from the NKVD, where prisoners worked, began to use the labor of engineering and technical workers not at the logging site, but in closed research institutes. Most of them were convicted under Article 58, "for wrecking." These scientific research institutes were nicknamed by the people "sharashkin offices". In fact, they were science and technology prisons.
Many worthy people worked in sharashkas. For example, A. Tupolev, V. Chizhevsky, A. Solzhenitsyn. Many did not know what the research institute was doing. In Magadan, for example, VNII-1 carried out research work on the exploration of gold deposits. NIIOKhT was engaged in research on the creation of chemical weapons, experiments were carried out on people. Marfinskaya Sharashka (Research Institute of Communications) - was engaged in the development of equipment for radio intelligence.
The latest military equipment, compositions of gunpowder and armorfor tanks, aircraft, space equipment - everything that worked for defense was produced in the USSR by convicted engineers.
Women's team
Civil Research Institute is predominantly a female team. Recall the beginning of the movie "Office Romance": a mass tidying up in the workplace. This is not an invention of the director, but the truth of life. If you live in the Moscow region, you simply don’t have time to put on makeup before work: you must not be late for the train, so as not to be late for the bus later. Moreover, after transport during rush hour, you need not only to put on a new make-up, but also take a shower sometimes.
Times have changed, but women haven't. All the same, they need to first put themselves in order in the morning, drink coffee, and only then get to work. True, you will not see such a massive “beauty salon” anymore. This is an eighties stamp.
At present, the percentage of women working in research institutes has become larger. The salary, as it was small, remained the same. But many are satisfied with white payments, paid vacation and sick leave. Opportunity to go on maternity leave and parental leave without losing your job.
Research Institute in the period of stagnation
Is it possible to knit at the workplace? What about sewing, laying out patterns on a drawing board? Since the mid-eighties, this has been a common thing in research institutes. It was impossible to be late for work even from lunch, since entry and exit are fixed in secure enterprises. And this is fraught with deprivation of the award. But at the workplace it was possible to do needlework if the boss turned a blind eye to it.
There were almost no jobs, in the sense of workload, for the employees of the research institute. According to the instructions, it was supposed to study the technical documentation at these moments. Many read fiction, putting the volume “Processor” or “SNIPs” on top. Often a good thing was given to read for one day, by appointment. So the entire institute read The Master and Margarita, Viola Danilov, the Strugatskys and the entire Samizdat. Salary was then called "wasted". It was almost impossible to make a career in the research institute.
In September, several people from the department were sent to collect potatoes, all were required to periodically patrol the streets as a member of the "People's Brigade". Advertisements for cosmetics were hung in the toilet, and household appliances, distributed in limited quantities per department, were drawn by lot.
The planned economy assumed the distribution of university graduates for three-year work at enterprises and research institutes. The young specialist received from ninety to one hundred and twenty rubles and did not get close to a well-established bureaucratic mechanism. Becoming a senior researcher was not easy, it was required to write and defend a dissertation. Few went for it. Most, after working the allotted time, went to more profitable places.
Soviet research institutes are a special culture. A special type of intellectual. There are still former engineers who consider trade an unworthy occupation. Instilling in their grandchildren the idea of compulsory higher education. Convinced that in life you need to be able to "get settled", and not arrange it for yourself. Honest and principled, but possessingan unnecessary profession in our age. Moms, dads, grandparents. NII is their youth, and no matter what happens, they remember it with warmth.
