Since the post-war years, the life and work of academician Vitaly Nykyforovych Grydnev, an outstanding scientist and educator, a talented organizer of science and higher education, has been closely connected with KPI.
At that time, he already had vast experience in scientific and teaching work. Since the mid-1930s, he had been working at the Dnipropetrovsk Metallurgical and Physical-Technical Institutes together with Academicians V. Svechnikov and G. Kurdyumov, world-renowned specialists in metallurgy.
During the Great Patriotic War, V. Grydnev was directly involved in the development of alloy steel production for the defense industry, the development of technological modes for their heat treatment, and the quality control of finished products at the Magnitogorsk Metallurgical Plant. Here, V. Grydnev's talent as an outstanding scientist, organizer, and inquisitive researcher of phase and structural transformations in carbon and alloy steels was revealed.
V. Grydnev's scientific and organizational abilities were fully revealed in Kyiv when, in February 1945, he was assigned to the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR and enrolled as a senior researcher at the Institute of Ferrous Metallurgy, and in March 1945, as an associate professor at the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute.
During the period of restoration of the national economy destroyed by the war, the problem of training engineering personnel of various profiles, and in particular such an important one as metallurgy, became acute. The metallurgical training of engineers at the KPI's Faculty of Metallurgy, established in 1944, was headed by Academician V. Svechnikov, head of the Department of Metallurgy and Heat Treatment, which was reorganized in 1948 with the creation of the Department of Metallurgy under the leadership of V. Svechnikov and a new department – Heat Treatment. The latter was headed by Professor V. Grydnev, who at that time summarized his scientific research in his doctoral dissertation.
V. Grydnev's activities during this period were exceptionally active, and their results were quite impressive. His teaching skills and methodological perfection in conducting the educational process, as well as his organizational qualities, received due recognition: in August 1947, V. Grydnev was appointed deputy director for scientific and educational work at KPI.
In 1948, KPI began accepting students for the specialty “Physics of Metals.” The first three years of study corresponded to general technical training, and only in 1952 was the training of specialists in physics of metals organized at the new Department of Heat Treatment and Physics of Metals, headed by Prof. Grydnev. He invited Associate Professor V.G. Permyakov from the Ural Polytechnic Institute, who provided training for senior students in physical methods of metal research, and retained graduate O. Bilotsky as an assistant at the department. At that time, such prominent scientists of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine as Academician A. Smirnov, G. Pysarenko, and Corresponding Member A. Lesnik took an active part in training specialists.
The graduation of specialists in metal physics became an important link in the development of a new institute in the system of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine – the Institute of Metal Physics, with which the fate of V.Grydnev was connected from the moment of its creation – March 1, 1955 – and for the next thirty years, when he was the permanent director of this institution.
As head of the Department of Heat Treatment and Physics of Metals, V. Grydnev paid a lot of attention to the development and implementation of new modern research methods, the development of original experimental techniques, and the strengthening of the department's material base. He managed to create a creative atmosphere in the department, successfully combining the educational process with research work. It was a school where scientific and pedagogical personnel grew and were educated.
In August 1952, V. Grydnev was appointed rector of KPI, a position he held for three years. In 1957, the scientist was elected a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and moved to a permanent position at the Academy of Sciences, while maintaining ties with KPI and the department, where he worked part-time. He handed over the leadership of the department to Associate Professor V. Permyakov, who defended his doctoral dissertation in 1959 and headed the department until 1973.
Thus, about 15 years of the creative work of Academician V. Grydnev were connected with Kyiv Polytechnic. In recent years, while serving as director of the Institute of Metal Physics, during creative anniversary meetings, Vitaly warmly recalled the years of intense work, when he had to put a lot of effort and energy into developing the department and the institute, establishing new scientific directions, training personnel, equipping facilities, and establishing ties with scientific and industrial organizations.
Suffice it to recall that in the favorable creative atmosphere created by V. Grydnev at the Department of Heat Treatment and Physics of Metals, the following candidates defended their dissertations: Yu. Kocherzhynsky, V. Trefilov, V. Cherepin, O. Bilotsky, M. Bilous, V. Nechiporenko, O.I. Yefimov defended their candidate dissertations, and V. Permyakov, O. Bilotsky, and M. Bilous defended their doctoral dissertations.
The creative ties between the department and the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, and in particular with the Institute of Metal Physics, grew stronger from year to year. Many graduates of the department joined the departments of the Institute of Metal Physics, the Institute of Materials Science Problems, the Institute of Superhard Materials, the E. Paton Electric Welding Institute, and others. Currently, more than half of the Institute of Metal Physics is staffed by graduates of the department and the IFF. For almost half a century, the deans of the faculty – Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine D. Chernega, Prof. A. Syomik, Prof. O. Bialyk – have been persistently working to expand these ties.
With the support and active assistance of Academician V.Grydnev, branches of the departments were established in the relevant divisions of academic institutes, which later became the basis for the creation of the educational and scientific Association “Materials Science” between the IFF of NTUU “KPI” and academic institutes: V. Kurdyumov Institute of Metal Physics, I. Frantsevich Institute of Materials Science Problems, E. Paton Electric Welding Institute, V. Bakul Institute of Superhard Materials, and the Physical-Technological Institute of Metals and Alloys.
Academician V.Grydnev was a talented leader of a scientific school who foresaw the future. The work he started continues at the Academy of Sciences and NTUU “KPI.”