“I have lived a good, interesting, and happy life”: To the 100th anniversary of the birth of Academician V.I. Gol’danskii

This article is devoted to the life and work of the outstanding chemical physicist Academician Vitalii Iosifovich Gol'danskii (1923–2001). His scientific interests were wide and included chemical physics, high energy chemistry, nuclear chemistry and physics, particle physics, and biophysics. Among his achievements is the discovery of secondary neutrons arising from the bombardment of nuclei of heavy elements, which formed the basis for the production of plutonium from uranium-238; discovery of electromagnetic polarization of hadrons and quantitative determination of polarizability constants; pioneering work in the field of Mössbauer and positron spectroscopy; discovery of solid-phase polymerization at ultralow temperatures. Touches to the portrait of the scientist are added by the memories of his friends and colleagues.