ABSTRACT
On 2 December, 1987, Academician Yakov Borisovich Zeldovich died suddenly from a heart attack. He was an outstanding physicist, who made enormous contributions to many branches of science and technology. I am not a specialist in every sphere of his activity (indeed, he was probably unique in the breadth of his interests), and hence I will touch on certain sides of his work only in broad outline. From 1948 to 1968, however, the two of us worked closely together, and I know a great deal of about that period of his life.
