EUROPE'S ENERGY DEFICIT IS COMING TO US ...Farabi University

One of the only persons who is involved in science in the city of Almaty, located under the slopes of the Alatau mountains - Dosbolaev Merlan Kylyshuly, a native of Karatobinsky district Merlan Kylyshuly works in the Kazakh National University named after Al-Farabi as an associate professor and is a candidate of physical and mathematical sciences. Scientists and science do not speak and do not write. Therefore, we decided to conduct a small interview with a specialist in this field.

- Merlan Kulyshuly, introduce yourself. Tell us about your hometown, school, educational institution.

- I am a simple Kazakh kid who grew up with my grandparents in my native village. I was born on January 1, 1982, in Saralzhyn village of Karatobinsky district of West Kazakhstan region (now Mukhit village). I have been living in Almaty for 22 years. I am married, have a wife, a daughter, and two sons. The older ones are in elementary school, the younger son has just started walking.

Graduated from Bakytzhan Karatayev secondary school in his native village in 1999. From 2000 to 2005 I studied at the Faculty of Physics of the Kazakh National University named after Al-Farabi. Specialty - engineer-physicist in the field of radio physics and electronics. In 2009, while working at the university, I received the degree of Candidate of Physical and Mathematical Sciences. Currently, I am an associate professor at the university, which has contributed to my growth and prosperity as a qualified specialist.

- What motivated you to study science? What interested you in this field?

- When I was at school, I dreamed of becoming an engineer, that is, I loved to work with technical devices, to design, equip, and create them. In the village next door, the very skillful late Sagynbai had a collection of Modelist-Konstruktor magazine for several years. In this magazine, methods and technical solutions for making various products and devices were written in it. His son Nurbol and I used to discuss the various drawings in the magazine and try to make Afghan products by hand. Once, after reading the book "Journey to Childhood", I made several copies of a submachine gun as it is written there. We tested it a lot with my classmates. I was drawn to the technique by my dad. My father, who worked as an electrician in the village for many years, is now a pensioner. My uncle Aral is a master at making knots out of iron. Interestingly, I have never seen this man holding a paper or any drawings in his hands when he was designing various mechanisms. Apparently, he had everything in front of his eyes. I was very interested in my uncle's work.

When we were in the top grade, universal computers came to our school, which at that time were innovations in education. Its language was studied in math, and computer science lessons by Abat Ashikov, a graduate of a rural school, and a young teacher of the physics and mathematics faculty of the West Kazakhstan State University. With such initiatives, I came to the big city. Having received a specialty of engineer-physicist at the university, I opened my small way oriented to science.

- After graduation, you worked at the Research Institute of Experimental and Theoretical Physics (IETP). Wasn't it difficult for a young specialist to deal with this work?

- There was a research institute of experimental and theoretical physics at our university. One day I heard from senior students that one of the laboratories needed a physics engineer. I turned to the scientific director of the laboratory, Prof. Tlekkabyl Sabitovich. It was the time when I was preparing for graduation. Tlekkabul Sabitovich told me about the plan of work I would be doing in the future and explained all the circumstances. I also liked the working conditions. However, in order to create new research, it was necessary to design and run an experimental unit. This task was challenging. It took me only four months to accomplish this. My supervisor, must have noticed this ability, suggested that I do scientific work in the future. I agreed.

Doing research, and science means inventing something new. It is a way of solving a complex problem. It means new results in experimental or computer modeling. It means, ultimately, proposing new technologies, and creating technologies that are necessary for the good of humanity. This has been said about the exact sciences, and I think the overall meaning of the word is clear. In this regard, the founder of our scientific school, honored teacher, academician Fazylkhan Bayimbetov noted that "labor is life, not pay". I remembered the saying: "Labor is a revolution, smart citizens". If to speak directly about myself, I received a specialty as an engineer-physicist in the field of radio physics and electronics. And on the way to scientific research, I had to deal with a completely different field. Therefore, I spent a lot of time independently mastering a new field.

- Merlan Kulyshuly, you have defended your Ph.D. thesis on "Experimental study of the properties of plasma-dust structures in DC glow discharge". Briefly describe the content of your work.

- Toward the end of the last century, the new field of plasma physics aroused great interest among scientists all over the world, intensive research began to be carried out. It is associated with obtaining a plasma crystal in laboratory conditions. For the first time plasma crystal was observed by employees of the company "IBM" during processing and manufacturing of universal computer microprocessors in a plasma environment. Processing of semiconductor elements and devices included in the structure of microchips and application of plasma technology to improve some of their properties is the only solution. And plasma is the fourth state of matter. As a rule, the general school program provides comprehensive data on three states of matter: gas, liquid, and solid states. Say, a gas is when it consists of atoms and molecules weakly bound to each other, whereas in the plasma state of matter, some of these atoms, and in some cases almost all of them, are ionized. The process of ionization is the release of at least one electron from an atom and hence the formation of a pair of charges with positive and negative charges. This is what we call plasma, a state of matter consisting of such equilibrium charges. Plasma is widely distributed in nature that we don't observe in everyday life, but when viewed from a global perspective, about 99 percent of all matter space is in a plasma state. The stars in global space that we observe, especially at night, including the Sun, are in a plasma state. The plasma state of matter is found in Thunderstorms, Siberian Lights, TV screens in households, luminescent electric lamps, arc discharge in welding machines, and sparks when electrical wiring is short-circuited. Due to its unique structure, plasma is a medium very rich in physical processes and phenomena. It has a unique light-emitting property that produces interesting waves and oscillations, solitons. Plasma has a wide range of electrical conductivity and thermal conductivity. The high-temperature medium in which specific processes occur is only in the plasma state. For example, the source of life is based on atomic-level processes in which the Sun radiates and releases heat at high temperatures. If we give accurate quantitative data regarding the temperature on this earth, the temperature at the surface of the Sun is about 5500 degrees Celsius, and toward the middle of it, the temperature reaches fifteen million degrees. Low-temperature plasma is found in everyday life. For example, the temperature of plasma in lamps that produce gas discharges whose temperature is about the same as that of the human body. Thus, plasma occurs at a wide range of temperatures, and this is a property inherent only in the plasma state of matter.

And in the case of dust plasma (plasma crystal), that is, pure plasma includes submicron (about a thousand times smaller than granules) particles, and the character of the plasma associated with the formation of a plasma crystal becomes even more noticeable. Careful research is needed to understand the physical processes on the earth, to determine their origin and development, and to study the relationship of these phenomena to the internal and external environment. Related to this was the research work I have been engaged in while preparing my thesis. To date, about 160 research papers have been published. The vast majority of my work was based on one of the states of matter described above, the results of research on the properties of plasma and plasma crystals. In addition, plasma methods of nanomaterials production, experimental modeling of plasma processes in fusion plants and the results of the work done on studying the interaction of plasma flow with living organisms were covered.

- Students under your supervision have developed innovative projects. What are these projects?

- Every year, together with students, masters and Ph.D. students, we prepare several innovative projects and conduct research. Usually they become diploma theses of applicants. However, valuable projects can be made usable for the benefit of mankind. So, I will focus on the first three projects. The first one is a wind turbine with variable blade surface area, which depends on the wind speed. The energy produced by a wind turbine is directly dependent on the three degrees of wind speed and blade surface area. Therefore, it is necessary to establish an effective relationship between them. A special feature of this project is to determine the conditions for efficient utilization of wind energy. Often used nowadays three-wing wind turbines do not fit the geographical parameters of our country. Therefore, it is necessary to establish an effective relationship between them. The peculiarity of this project is to determine the conditions for efficient utilization of wind energy. The tri-wing wind turbines often used nowadays do not fit the geographical parameters of our country. Therefore, it is necessary to proceed with the design and assembly of a new wind turbine. In general, it will be time for us, like European countries, to experience energy shortages in the future. In this regard, research results in this field are of great value. Similarly, there are problems with energy transportation. The second project is also related to this topic. That is the transmission of electricity through a single wire using a Tesla transformer. Normally, two wires are used to transmit electricity and as the energy density increases, the cross-sectional area of the wires needs to be increased. However, this leads to the cost of more expensive materials such as aluminum and copper. The third project aims to prepare an efficient heating system. Today we have to spend a huge amount of energy to heat buildings. If we were to utilize the electrical effect of hydro-impact, which we are researching, relatively inexpensive heat energy could be produced. Like these, we have a versatile electric car for electric transportation and plasma engines that we use to move small spacecraft around in orbit. Of course, the level of research work in these projects is different. The main thing is that the research continues uninterrupted.

- You now have 10 innovative patents. Are they currently being used?

- All innovative patents are the results of the important scientific research mentioned above. There is probably no need to repeat this. I will now focus on the scope of these patents and give two examples. Our latest patent is called "Solid State Pulsed Plasma Engine". This engine is used to maintain and orient spacecraft in their orbit. Normally, these spacecraft do not have an engine. Thus, they fall to Earth faster due to the Earth's gravitational pull over time from the level of the launched orbit. If we place an engine in such vehicles, they will last longer than the previous ones. Now, how do we implement such engines in our country, how developed is our space field? This is a big question. Secondly, it is not an easy task to bring a finished NIOKR result to production, only the capabilities of scientists are not enough for that.

Another of our innovative patents is "Increasing the light output of a fluorescent electric lamp based on nanotechnology". Such lamps emit light based on processes occurring in a plasma environment, which means that this product is directly related to the area in which we conduct research. For example, improving the properties of diode lamps, which are widely used today, is not research related to our industry. For example, on the basis of this patent, with the help of the Science Foundation, a small production facility was set up to manufacture fluorescent electric lamps with improved light transmission properties. However, the demand for finished products is not high. This is because such electric lamps are disqualified from the market. This is a requirement of the modern market, which is difficult to understand unambiguously.

- Will the government support Kazakhstan's science, and scientists practicing the science? What is the interest of students in science?

- Of course, all of the above research work was done with the support of government funding. Much depends on you, and if you sit tight, the government will not throw a swamp tail in front of you.

Every year the Ministry of Science announces competitions for grant funding of research and development works at different levels for up to three years. In recent years, activity has increased significantly, especially with several competitions for young scientists. Therefore, I can say that there is great support from the state. In our research institute, every scientist has at least one grant, which I believe is a very good indicator and gives a huge boost to the development of science in our country. As a result of such work, the output of numerous scientific articles recognized by international scientific centers and individual foreign scientists and the intensity of training of qualified specialists increases. Thus, young scientists have excellent opportunities to do science. Students turning to science, in general, are usually not many, only one-on-one. This is a long-standing phenomenon. However, it is not worth bragging about not finding science.

In most cases, established scientific schools have a great influence on the growth of young highly motivated applicants. For example, research laboratories "computer modeling of Processes in Plasma" and "dust plasma and plasma technologies", created under the leadership of Academician Ramazanov Tlekkabyl Sabitovich, are successfully working today. In addition to teachers of the Department of Plasma Physics, Nanotechnology, and Computer Physics, it includes undergraduate and graduate students engaged in scientific research in this interesting field, which have prepared and successfully defended theses and dissertations on the results of these studies. This offers great opportunities for young scientists doing research and interacting with top-ranked scientists to gain a wealth of experience in their working life.