That’s me at a banquet of the chair of the construction engineering institute. I am celebrating my thesis and read out a congratulation telegram. The photo was taken in Tomsk in 1972.
I got an offer from the construction institute to teach resistance of materials, construction mechanics and the theory of resilience.
During my work at the institute I wrote a candidate thesis and defended it. I understood that they might put a spoke in my wheel. There was a chance to defend a dissertation without post-graduate studies, if the work was excellent. I was used to being independent and wrote my dissertation myself, without a supervisor, without post-graduate department.
In 1972 I defended my thesis in the Moscow Engineering and Construction Institute and got a unanimous vote of the board. I chose that institute myself. I knew if my work was good it would be approved there, if I did it in some hick places, there would be one or two unskilled specialists and the result couldn’t be predicted.
There were true, excellent, fair professor of the old school. I was conferred a degree of the candidate of science. I hadn’t changed my job and obtained the title of assistant professor. That was it, there was no new fear for me; I had just improved my educational level.
