ABSTRACT
On November 10, 1987, I arrived at Moscow for one day from Leningrad to play the role of an opponent at a defence at the Institute of Problems of Mechanics of the USSR Academy of Sciences. That morning, I stopped by to see Yakov Borisovich, with whom I’d enjoyed many years of friendship, at his home. Yasha was in good spirits, cheerful, as always, and energetic. He shared some new thoughts about fundamental problems of interest to him in cosmology and some family news. We also discussed the dissertation for which I had come to Moscow to act as opponent. It was dedicated to problems in adsorption-a field in which Yakov Borisovich had carried out fundamental work in 1939, and which, though not formally published, was well-known to all workers in that area. Alas, it was less than a month later when the telephone call from Moscow came, informing us of the death of Yakov Borisovich from a heart attack.
