Zhores Ivanovich Alferov
Encyclopedia
Zhores Ivanovich Alferov is a Soviet and Russia
n physicist
and academic who contributed significantly to the creation of modern heterostructure physics and electronics
. He is an inventor of the heterotransistor and the winner of 2000 Nobel Prize in Physics
. He is also a Russian politician
and has been a member of the Russian State Parliament, the Duma
, since 1995. Lately, he has become one of the most influential members of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation
.
, BSSR, Soviet Union
to a Belarusian
father and a Jewish mother. In 1952 he graduated from V. I. Ulyanov (Lenin) Electrotechnical Institute in Leningrad
. Since 1953 he has worked in the Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute
of the USSR Academy of Sciences. From the Institute he earned several scientific degrees: a Candidate of Sciences in Technology in 1961 and a Doctor of Sciences in Physics and Mathematics in 1970. He has been director of the Institute since 1987. He was elected a corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences in 1972, and a full member in 1979. From 1989 he has been Vice-President of the USSR Academy of Sciences and President of its Saint Petersburg
Scientific Center. Since 1995 he is a member of the State Duma
on the list of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation
. He received 2000 Nobel Prize in Physics
together with Herbert Kroemer
, "for developing semiconductor heterostructures used in high-speed- and optoelectronics".
Alferov invented the heterotransistor. This coped with much higher frequencies than its predecessors, and apparently revolutionised the mobile phone and satellite communications. Alverov and Kroemer independently applied this technology to firing laser lights. This in turn revolutionised semiconductor design in a host of areas, including LEDs, barcodes readers and CDs.
Hermann Grimmeiss, of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which awards Nobel prizes, said: "Without Alferov, it would not be possible to transfer all the information from satellites down to the Earth or to have so many telephone lines between cities."
heterostructures. His contributions to physics and technology of semiconductor heterostructures, especially investigations of injection properties, development of laser
s, solar cell
s, LED
's, and epitaxy
processes have led to the creation of modern heterostructure physics and electronics.
He has an almost messianic conception of heterostructures, writing: "Many scientists have contributed to this remarkable progress, which not only determines in large measure the future prospects of solid state physics, but in a certain sense affects the future of human society as well.
Alferov was elected to the Russian State Parliament, the Duma
in 1995 as a deputy for the political party Our Home is Russia
, generally considered to be supportive of the policies of President Boris Yeltsin
. In 1999 he was elected again, this time on the list of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation
. He was re-elected in 2003 and again in 2007, when he was placed second on the party's federal electoral list behind Gennady Zyuganov
and ahead of Nikolai Kharitonov, even though he is not a member of the party.
He was one of the signers of the Open letter to the President Vladimir V. Putin from the Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences against clericalisation of Russia.
Foreign Awards
Other Awards
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n physicist
Physicist
A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
and academic who contributed significantly to the creation of modern heterostructure physics and electronics
Heterojunction
A heterojunction is the interface that occurs between two layers or regions of dissimilar crystalline semiconductors. These semiconducting materials have unequal band gaps as opposed to a homojunction...
. He is an inventor of the heterotransistor and the winner of 2000 Nobel Prize in Physics
Nobel Prize in Physics
The Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded once a year by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895 and awarded since 1901; the others are the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Peace Prize, and...
. He is also a Russian politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
and has been a member of the Russian State Parliament, the Duma
Duma
A Duma is any of various representative assemblies in modern Russia and Russian history. The State Duma in the Russian Empire and Russian Federation corresponds to the lower house of the parliament. Simply it is a form of Russian governmental institution, that was formed during the reign of the...
, since 1995. Lately, he has become one of the most influential members of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation
Communist Party of the Russian Federation
The Communist Party of the Russian Federation is a Russian political party. It is the second major political party in the Russian Federation.-History:...
.
Birth and education
Alferov was born in VitebskVitebsk
Vitebsk, also known as Viciebsk or Vitsyebsk , is a city in Belarus, near the border with Russia. The capital of the Vitebsk Oblast, in 2004 it had 342,381 inhabitants, making it the country's fourth largest city...
, BSSR, Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
to a Belarusian
Belarusians
Belarusians ; are an East Slavic ethnic group who populate the majority of the Republic of Belarus. Introduced to the world as a new state in the early 1990s, the Republic of Belarus brought with it the notion of a re-emerging Belarusian ethnicity, drawn upon the lines of the Old Belarusian...
father and a Jewish mother. In 1952 he graduated from V. I. Ulyanov (Lenin) Electrotechnical Institute in Leningrad
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
. Since 1953 he has worked in the Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute
Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute
Ioffe Physical-Technical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences is one of Russia's largest research centers specialized in physics and technology. The institute was established in 1918 in Petrograd and run for several decades by Abram Fedorovich Ioffe...
of the USSR Academy of Sciences. From the Institute he earned several scientific degrees: a Candidate of Sciences in Technology in 1961 and a Doctor of Sciences in Physics and Mathematics in 1970. He has been director of the Institute since 1987. He was elected a corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences in 1972, and a full member in 1979. From 1989 he has been Vice-President of the USSR Academy of Sciences and President of its Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
Scientific Center. Since 1995 he is a member of the State Duma
State Duma
The State Duma , common abbreviation: Госду́ма ) in the Russian Federation is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia , the upper house being the Federation Council of Russia. The Duma headquarters is located in central Moscow, a few steps from Manege Square. Its members are referred to...
on the list of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation
Communist Party of the Russian Federation
The Communist Party of the Russian Federation is a Russian political party. It is the second major political party in the Russian Federation.-History:...
. He received 2000 Nobel Prize in Physics
Nobel Prize in Physics
The Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded once a year by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895 and awarded since 1901; the others are the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Peace Prize, and...
together with Herbert Kroemer
Herbert Kroemer
Herbert Kroemer , a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara, received his Ph.D. in theoretical physics in 1952 from the University of Göttingen, Germany, with a dissertation on hot electron effects in the then-new transistor, setting the stage...
, "for developing semiconductor heterostructures used in high-speed- and optoelectronics".
Alferov invented the heterotransistor. This coped with much higher frequencies than its predecessors, and apparently revolutionised the mobile phone and satellite communications. Alverov and Kroemer independently applied this technology to firing laser lights. This in turn revolutionised semiconductor design in a host of areas, including LEDs, barcodes readers and CDs.
Hermann Grimmeiss, of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which awards Nobel prizes, said: "Without Alferov, it would not be possible to transfer all the information from satellites down to the Earth or to have so many telephone lines between cities."
Research area
Since 1962 he has been working in the area of semiconductorSemiconductor
A semiconductor is a material with electrical conductivity due to electron flow intermediate in magnitude between that of a conductor and an insulator. This means a conductivity roughly in the range of 103 to 10−8 siemens per centimeter...
heterostructures. His contributions to physics and technology of semiconductor heterostructures, especially investigations of injection properties, development of laser
Laser
A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of photons. The term "laser" originated as an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation...
s, solar cell
Solar cell
A solar cell is a solid state electrical device that converts the energy of light directly into electricity by the photovoltaic effect....
s, LED
LEd
LEd is a TeX/LaTeX editing software working under Microsoft Windows. It is a freeware product....
's, and epitaxy
Epitaxy
Epitaxy refers to the deposition of a crystalline overlayer on a crystalline substrate, where the overlayer is in registry with the substrate. In other words, there must be one or more preferred orientations of the overlayer with respect to the substrate for this to be termed epitaxial growth. The...
processes have led to the creation of modern heterostructure physics and electronics.
He has an almost messianic conception of heterostructures, writing: "Many scientists have contributed to this remarkable progress, which not only determines in large measure the future prospects of solid state physics, but in a certain sense affects the future of human society as well.
Political activity
Duma
A Duma is any of various representative assemblies in modern Russia and Russian history. The State Duma in the Russian Empire and Russian Federation corresponds to the lower house of the parliament. Simply it is a form of Russian governmental institution, that was formed during the reign of the...
in 1995 as a deputy for the political party Our Home is Russia
Our Home Is Russia
Our Home – Russia , abbreviated as NDR, was a Russian political party between 1995 and early 2000.Our Home – Russia was founded in 1995 by then Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin. It was a liberal, centrist political movement, founded for the purpose of rallying more technocratic-reformist...
, generally considered to be supportive of the policies of President Boris Yeltsin
Boris Yeltsin
Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin was the first President of the Russian Federation, serving from 1991 to 1999.Originally a supporter of Mikhail Gorbachev, Yeltsin emerged under the perestroika reforms as one of Gorbachev's most powerful political opponents. On 29 May 1990 he was elected the chairman of...
. In 1999 he was elected again, this time on the list of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation
Communist Party of the Russian Federation
The Communist Party of the Russian Federation is a Russian political party. It is the second major political party in the Russian Federation.-History:...
. He was re-elected in 2003 and again in 2007, when he was placed second on the party's federal electoral list behind Gennady Zyuganov
Gennady Zyuganov
Gennady Andreyevich Zyuganov is a Russian politician, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation , Chairman of the Union of Communist Parties - Communist Party of the Soviet Union , deputy of the State Duma , and a member of Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe...
and ahead of Nikolai Kharitonov, even though he is not a member of the party.
He was one of the signers of the Open letter to the President Vladimir V. Putin from the Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences against clericalisation of Russia.
Awards
Russian and Soviet Awards- Order of Merit for the FatherlandOrder of Merit for the FatherlandThe Order of Merit for the Fatherland was instituted on 2 March 1994 by Presidential Decree. The statutes describe it as a decoration for merit, not an order of knights....
:- 1st class (14 March 2005) - for outstanding contribution to the development of national science and active participation in legislative activities;
- 2nd class (2000);
- 3rd class (June 4, 1999) - for outstanding contribution to the development of national science and training of highly qualified personnel in connection with the 275th anniversary of the Russian Academy of Sciences;
- 4th class (March 15, 2010) - for services to the state contribution to the development of national science and many years of fruitful activity
- Order of LeninOrder of LeninThe Order of Lenin , named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was the highest decoration bestowed by the Soviet Union...
(1986) - Order of the October RevolutionOrder of the October RevolutionThe Order of the October Revolution was instituted on October 31, 1967, in time for the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution. It was awarded to individuals or groups for services furthering communism or the state, or in enhancing the defenses of the Soviet Union, military and civil...
(1980) - Order of the Red Banner of LabourOrder of the Red Banner of LabourThe Order of the Red Banner of Labour was an order of the Soviet Union for accomplishments in labour and civil service. It is the labour counterpart of the military Order of the Red Banner. A few institutions and factories, being the pride of Soviet Union, also received the order.-History:The Red...
(1975) - Order of the Badge of Honour (1959)
- State Prize of the Russian FederationState Prize of the Russian FederationState Prize of the Russian Federation is a state honorary prize established in 1992 as the substitute for the USSR State Prize. In 2004 the rules for selection of laureates and the status of the award was significantly changed making them closer to such awards as Nobel Prize or the Soviet Lenin...
(2001) in Science and Technology (August 5, 2002) for his work, "Fundamental studies of the formation and properties of heterostructures with quantum dots and the creation of lasers based on them" - Lenin PrizeLenin PrizeThe Lenin Prize was one of the most prestigious awards of the USSR, presented to individuals for accomplishments relating to science, literature, arts, architecture, and technology. It was created on June 23, 1925 and was awarded until 1934. During the period from 1935 to 1956, the Lenin Prize was...
(1972) - for basic research in semiconductors and heterojunction development of new devices based on them - USSR State PrizeUSSR State PrizeThe USSR State Prize was the Soviet Union's state honour. It was established on September 9, 1966. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, the prize was followed up by the State Prize of the Russian Federation....
(1984) - for developing isoperiodic heterostructures based on quaternary solid solutions of A3B5 semiconductor compounds
Foreign Awards
- Order of Francisc SkorinaOrder of Francisc SkorinaThe Order of Francisc Skorina is an award of Belarus. It is named after Francisc Skorina, a noted academic who, in the early 16th century, participated in the formalisation of Belarussian as a separate, recorded language and therefore the establishment of a national identity. It is a single level...
(Belarus, 17 May 2001) - for his great personal contribution to the development of physical science, the organization of the Belarussian-Russian scientific and technical cooperation, strengthening the friendship between the peoples of Belarus and Russia - Order of Prince Yaroslav the WiseOrder of Prince Yaroslav the WiseThe Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise is an award of Ukraine. It is awarded for distinguished services to the state and people of the Ukrainian nation. The Order was instituted on August 23, 1995 by the Ukrainian President, Leonid Kuchma....
(Ukraine, 15 May 2003) - for personal contribution to the development of cooperation between Ukraine and the Russian Federation in the socio-economic and humanitarian spheres
Other Awards
- Nobel Prize in PhysicsNobel Prize in PhysicsThe Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded once a year by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895 and awarded since 1901; the others are the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Peace Prize, and...
(Sweden, 2000; with Herbert KroemerHerbert KroemerHerbert Kroemer , a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara, received his Ph.D. in theoretical physics in 1952 from the University of Göttingen, Germany, with a dissertation on hot electron effects in the then-new transistor, setting the stage...
and Jack KilbyJack KilbyJack St. Clair Kilby was an American physicist who took part in the invention of the integrated circuit while working at Texas Instruments in 1958. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics in 2000. He is credited with the invention of the integrated circuit or microchip...
) - for the development of semiconductor heterostructures for high-speed optoelectronics - Nick Holonyak Award (Optical Society of U.S., 2000)
- Hewlett-Pakkardovskaya Prize (European Physical Society, 1978) - for new works in the field of heterojunctions
- AP Karpinsky Prize (Germany, 1989) - for his contributions to physics and technology of heterostructures
- AF Ioffe award (RAN, 1996) - for work, "Photoelectric converters of solar radiation on the basis of heterostructures"
- Demidov PrizeDemidov PrizeThe Demidov Prize was a national scientific prize in the Russian Empire awarded annually to the members of the Russian Academy of Sciences. One of the most prestigious and oldest scientific awards in the world, its traditions influenced other awards of this kind including the Nobel Prize...
(Scientific Demidov Foundation, Russia, 1999) - Kyoto PrizeKyoto PrizeThe has been awarded annually since 1985 by the Inamori Foundation, founded by Kazuo Inamori. The prize is a Japanese award similar in intent to the Nobel Prize, as it recognizes outstanding works in the fields of philosophy, arts, science and technology...
(Inamori Foundation, Japan, 2001) - for success in creating semiconductor lasers operating in continuous mode at room temperature - a pioneer step in optoelectronics - Vernadsky Award (NAS, 2001)
- "Russian National Olympus". The title "living legend" (Russia, 2001)
- International Energy Prize "Global Energy" (Russia, 2005)
- H. Welker Gold Medal (1987) - for pioneering work on the theory and technology of devices based on III-V compounds of groups
- The Stuart Ballantine Medal (Franklin InstituteFranklin InstituteThe Franklin Institute is a museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and one of the oldest centers of science education and development in the United States, dating to 1824. The Institute also houses the Benjamin Franklin National Memorial.-History:On February 5, 1824, Samuel Vaughn Merrick and...
, USA, 1971) - for the theoretical and experimental studies of double-heterostructure laser, which were created by laser light sources of small size, operating in continuous mode at room temperature - Popov Gold Medal (Academy of Sciences, 1999)
- SPIE Gold MedalSPIE Gold MedalSPIE Gold Medal, or Gold Medal Award of SPIE, is the highest honor of SPIE , and is considered as one of the highest award in the fields of photonic and optical engineering and related instrumental sciences. The Gold Medal started awarding annually since 1977, and the award includes a medal and...
(2002) - Award Symposium on GaAs (1987) - for pioneering work in semiconductor heterostructures based on III-V compounds and group development of diode lasers and photodiodes
- Awarded "Golden Plate" (Academy of Achievement, USA, 2002)
- XLIX Mendeleev ReaderMendeleev readingsMendeleev readings — a solemn act, the annual reports of leading Soviet/Russian scholars on topics affecting all areas of chemistry and its related sciences: physics, biology and biochemistry...
- 19 February 1993 - Honorary Professor of the medal and MIPT (2008)
- Honorary Doctor of the Russian-Armenian (Slavonic) University (State Educational Institution of the Russian-Armenian (Slavic) University, Armenia, 2011)
External links
Zhores Alferov website at the Communist Party of the Russian Federation- Biography, on the website of Ioffe Physico-Technical InstituteIoffe Physico-Technical InstituteIoffe Physical-Technical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences is one of Russia's largest research centers specialized in physics and technology. The institute was established in 1918 in Petrograd and run for several decades by Abram Fedorovich Ioffe...
- Autobiography, on the website of Nobel Foundation web group in StockholmStockholmStockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
- Open letter to the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir V. Putin