At the end of November 1963, an evening was held with great success at the Central Lecture Hall of the All-Union Society "Knowledge * - the first of a series of conversations on pressing problems of science. It was devoted to the structure of the substance. At the beginning of the evening, a brief opening remarks were made by the chairman of the board of the All-Union Society "Knowledge," vice-president of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Academician V, A. Kirillin.