Discusses his path into science; his education at Kharkiv University, student life, and first teachers; beginnings of his science career in the Theory Department of Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology; work with G. Lyubarsky; electron stretcher calcuations; history of Theory Department including the pre-war time, Paul Ehrenfest, Lev Landau, foreign visitors, Landau's pupils, theoretical physics after World War II, the Atom project, Ilya Lifshits, and O. Akhiezer. Describes the daughter institute - Physiotechnical Law temperature Institute in Kharkiv; being head of the Theory Department; structure of divisions; research on nonlinear phenomena in plasma, the theory of adiabatic invariants, structure and phase stability of irradiated solids, amorphous solids, and nuclear energy.