NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN THE STUDY OF GRAVITATION At the end of June 1961 the First Soviet Conference on Gravitation was held in Moscow. The conference was convened by the Physics Faculty of Moscow State University [MGU] and the Shternberg State Astronomical Institute [GAISh]. At the time of the conference, significant advances were being made in gravitational research, and physicists were beginning to have at their disposal more and more experimental means for the investiga tion of gravitation. Artificial satellites and space rockets, the latest techniques of nuclear physics (utilization of the Mossbauer effect, i.e., of recoilless gamma rays), the development of atomic and molecular time standards ("clocks"), and finally the advances made in radio physics, all combined to make possible an experimental check of the effects predicted by the gravitation theory based on the general theory of relativity, both under terrestrial conditions and on the scale of the entire solar system.
It should be noted that at this time considerable changes were also occurring in the theoretical methods used to study gravitation. In recent studies of the general theory of relativity, extensive use was made of the methods of relativistic quantum field theory (quantization of the gravitational field). Moreover, the relation between the general theory of relativity and elementary-particle theory was investigated (the transmutation of gravitation into ordinary matter and vice versa, the existence of antigravitation, etc.), and the group-theoretical approach was applied to gravitation (the compen sating-field interpretation of the gravitational field). A number of attempts were also made to go beyond the traditional framework of Einsteinian geometry. Thus, such problems as the variation of the gravitational constant and the introduction of generalized geometries were posed, both in order to provide geometrical interpretations of the already known fields and to use these interpretations to predict new fields and physical effects (the twisted field). Finally, certain studies offering a fresh treatment of
Einstein's original equations had appeared.
These factors made it imperative to hold an All-Union Conference on Gravitation. The conference was intended to provide an overall view of current gravitational research, to appraise the results obtained, and to promote further studies of the general theory of relativity.
Many scientific and educational institutions of the USSR were notified of the forthcoming conference. The number of participants and reports was more than three times that anticipated by the organizers. The scientists participating in the conference came from many Soviet cities and towns, including Leningrad, Kazan, Tartu, Minsk, Kharkov, Dubna, Kiev, Yerevan, Samarkand, Sverdlovsk, Krasnodar, Odessa, Poltava, and Tbilisi.
The following major institutions of physical science in Moscow were represented: Moscow State University, the N. E. Bauman Moscow Technical College [MVTU], the P. N. Lebedev Physics Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences, the S. I. Vavilov Institute of Physical Studies, the Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Physics, the Institute of Earth Physics, the Institute of Chemical Physics of the USSR Academy of Sciences, the Aeronautical Institute, and many others. Scientists from the major Soviet laboratories at Dubna (Joint Institute for Nuclear Research) [OIYaI] also participated actively.
Over 900 reports were presented at the conference. These were divided according to subject matter into several groups, and each group of problems was discussed at a separate session. Seven individual sessions were held. Two of these were devoted to classical gravitation problems, and one session each was devoted to the following subjects: problems in the quantum theory of gravitation; non-Riemannian generalizations of geometry; cosmology; the fundamental problems of gravimetry; and experimental investigations.