Our life flows rapidly, and the modern generation of NDT inspectors has a faint idea about the history of the development of nondestructive methods. Even the very good book Nerazrushayushchii kontrol'. Rossiya 1900-2000 g. (Nondestructive Testing: Russia 1900-2000) gives too brief an account of many important events. In this paper, I would like to recall the circumstances that furthered the recognition of ultrasonic nondestructive testing of welded joints as a full-scale independent (sorting-out) acceptance technique and its corresponding recognition by the supervising agencies and designers of heavily loaded structures. A method is considered independent and applicable for acceptance tests if it ensures a complete process-inspection cycle, including the quality assessment without using additional methods and estimates of experts. Beginning with the invention of the ultrasonic testing technique by S. Ya. Sokolov, a corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, ultrasonic flaw detection became the universally recognized leading method for testing forged pieces and rolled stock. This came to pass because competing methods for detecting internal flaws in deformed metals did not exist at that time and have not been developed until now. In fact, radiation testing is incapable of detecting strongly compressed defects of such billets and is economically unprofitable.
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