What led you into science and your chosen area of research?

Probably two things affected my choice of Physics Department: a na_ve wish to know what everything consists of, and an excellent book “An introduction to the meaning and structure of physics” by Leon Cooper. Maybe a more interesting question would be why I didn't leave physics after graduating from the University or defending the Ph.D. The most significant reasons are Igor Dremin, my Ph.D. supervisor, and our Theory Department – a really most unique place in the world.

Can you describe the results in your paper and their importance for your field?

Our paper on wavelets (2001) gives a practical introduction to this fairly new tool for signal processing, illustrated by our favourite examples. These examples are taken from our publications in very different areas such as pattern recognition in hadronic interactions producing very many particles, analysis of instability in aircraft engines, automatic blood cell classification, image compression etc. Wavelets thus give us valuable hints revealing patterns invisible to traditional analysis.

What research projects are you working on at the moment?

We are developing a computer program performing Monte Carlo simulation of QCD cascades in the medium. We are also working on predicting (by using wavelet analysis of course) a specific instability in gas turbines – the so-called flutter.

What do you think will the next big breakthrough be in your field?

I hope the long-awaited LHC collider provides us with new experimental data on the structure of matter. And maybe some of it turns up a surprise.

What book are you reading right now?

A.I.Denikin, Essays on Times of Revolt in Russia (“Ocherki russkoi smuty”). Sometimes many answers about the future are found in the past.

If you could have dinner with any 3 people, past or present, who would they be and why?

Paul Dirac as the most non-trivial physicists of the 20th century, Vladimir Lenin as the most non-trivial state leader of the 20th century and Jesus Christ -- just to know what he had really been saying. Of course such a dinner would be very asymmetric.

What has been the most exciting moment in your career so far?

Of course the defence of my Ph.D. thesis. Also having our result cited and discussed in several talks at the International Europhysics Conference on High Energy Physics – it was very exciting.

What would you like to say in connection with the 90th anniversary of the “Uspekhi Fizicheskikh Nauk”?

It is a very honourable age, even for a journal. In fact, this is just another reason to continue being one of the best review journals in the world.