Ioffe opening. Chief Academician. How Papa Ioffe created Soviet physics. The Stalin Prize Laureate was reminded of "Munich pubs"
ABRAM FEDOROVICH
IOFFE
(1880-1960)
Biography of one of the founders of physics, academician A.F. Ioffe attracts close attention of historians of science.
A.F. Ioffe was born on October 29, 1980 in the small town of Romny, Poltava province. In Romny there was no gymnasium - there was only a men's real school., In which he entered. It is noteworthy that his classmate was S.P. Timoshenko - later a major mechanic, a foreign member of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Ioffe became interested in physics while still at school. He often stressed that this happened not due to the influence of teachers, but rather in spite of him: the level of teaching at the school was very low, the teachers were, first of all, loyal officials.
As you know, before the revolution, to enter universities, it was necessary to know the ancient languages, which were taught only in gymnasiums. Therefore, after graduating from a real school A.F. Ioffe opted for the St. Petersburg Institute of Technology, where, in his opinion, physics could be taught to the greatest extent. Outstanding scientists taught at this institute, in particular I.I. Borgman, N.A. Gezehus, BL Rosing and others. Along with physics, Ioffe worked a lot in the field of its biological applications, which in the late 19th - early 20th centuries. It was more than unusual. Although scientifically, these studies did not give any significant outlet, they strengthened him in the conviction of the fruitfulness of the application of physics to the problems of biology.
At the Technological Institute, Ioffe was also engaged in purely engineering work, mainly during his summer practice.
After graduating from the Technological Institute (1902) A.F. Ioffe, having enlisted the recommendations of N.A. Gezehus and director of the Chamber of Weights and Measures, Professor N.E. Egorov, went to Munich, where V.K. X-ray.
During the years of work in the Roentgen laboratory (1903-1906) A.F. Ioffe carried out a number of major studies. These include a precision experiment to determine the "energy power" of radium.
The works of A.F. Ioffe, according to the mechanical and electrical properties of crystals, made in the Munich years, were systematic. In the process of their implementation, using the example of crystalline quartz, he studied and correctly explained the effect of elastic aftereffect.
The study of the electrical properties of quartz, the effect of X-rays, ultraviolet and natural light on the conductivity of crystals was led by A.F. Ioffe to the discovery of the internal photoelectric effect, the clarification of the limits of applicability of Ohm's law for describing the passage of current through a crystal, and the study of peculiar phenomena occurring in the near-electrode regions.
All these works of Ioffe consolidated his reputation as a physicist, deeply pondering the mechanisms of the processes he studied and with exceptional accuracy conducting experiments that broaden the understanding of atomic-electronic phenomena in solids.
A.F. Joffe, having refused Roentgen's flattering offer to stay in Munich - to continue research and teaching at the University of Munich, after a brilliant defense there in 1905 of his doctoral dissertation.
Since 1906 A.F. Ioffe began working as a senior laboratory assistant at the St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute. In the physics laboratory of the institute, headed by V.V. Skobeltsyn, Ioffe in 1906-1917 Brilliant work was done to confirm Einstein's quantum theory of the external photoelectric effect, to prove the granular nature of the electron charge, to determine the magnetic field of cathode rays (master's thesis, Petersburg University, 1913). Along with this A.F. Ioffe continued and summarized in his doctoral dissertation (Petrograd University, 1915) studies begun in Munich on the elastic and electrical properties of quartz and some other crystals. Academy of Sciences, in 1914 awarded A.F. Ioffe Prize. S.A. Ivanova.
To these important cycles of research A.F. Ioffe, add two more:
One of them is the theoretical work of the scientist devoted to thermal radiation, in which the classical studies of M. Planck were further developed.
Another work was also carried out by him in the physics laboratory of the Polytechnic Institute in co-authorship with the teacher of this institute M.V. Milovidova-Kirpicheva. The work investigated the electrical conductivity of ionic crystals. The results of studies on the electrical conductivity of ionic crystals were later, after the end of the First World War, brilliantly reported to A.F. Ioffe at the Solvay congress in 1924, caused a lively discussion among its famous participants, and received their full recognition.
In 1926, Ya.I. Frenkel, based on the experiments of A.F. Ioffe and MV Milovidova-Kirpicheva on the thermal dissociation of the lattice, developed the kinetic theory of transport phenomena in solids, and in 1933 developed the hole theory of the electrical conductivity of semiconductors.
Along with intensive research work, A.F. Ioffe devoted a lot of time and effort to teaching. He lectured not only at the Polytechnic Institute, of which he became a professor in 1915, but also at the courses of P.F. Lesgaft, at the Mining Institute and at the university. However, the most important thing in this activity of Ioffe was the organization in 1916 of a seminar on new physics at the Polytechnic Institute. It was during these years that A.F. Ioffe - first a participant and then a leader of the seminar - developed that wonderful style of conducting this kind of meetings, which made him well-known and characterized him as the head of the school. Ioffe's seminar at the Polytechnic Institute is rightfully considered the most important center of crystal physics.
The development of plans for the physical and technical department of the future State Roentgenological and Radiological Institute was undertaken by A.F. Ioffe. This institute was founded on September 23, 1918, and in 1921, its physical and technical department was separated into an independent State Physicotechnical X-ray Institute (PTI), which was headed by A.F. Ioffe.
Along with the creation of the Physicotechnical Institute, A.F. Ioffe is credited with organizing a new type of faculty at the Polytechnic Institute in 1919: physics and mechanics, of which he was also dean for more than 30 years.
The scientific work of A.F. Ioffe was concentrated within the walls of the Physicotechnical Institute, one of the laboratories of which he invariably headed, although the topic of its research, like the name, had undergone changes. In the 1920s, the main direction of work was the study of the mechanical and electronic properties of solids.
The beginning of the 30s was marked by the transition of the Physicotechnical Institute to a new subject. Nuclear physics has become one of the main directions. A.F. Ioffe was directly involved in it, but observing the rapid rise of this area of \u200b\u200bphysics, he quickly appreciated its future role in the further progress of science and technology. Therefore, since the end of 1932, nuclear physics has become an integral part of the work of the Physicotechnical Institute.
Since the beginning of the 30s, A.F. Ioffe focused on another problem - the problem of semiconductor physics, and his laboratory at the Physicotechnical Institute became a semiconductor laboratory.
In 1950 A.F. Ioffe developed a theory, on the basis of which requirements were formulated for semiconductor materials used in thermopiles and ensuring the maximum value of their efficiency. Following this, in 1951, L.S. Stilbans under the leadership of A.F. Ioffe and Yu.P. Maslakovets developed the world's first refrigerator. This was the beginning of the development of a new field of technology - thermoelectric cooling. Corresponding refrigerators and thermostats are now widely used all over the world to solve a number of problems in radio electronics, instrument making, medicine, space biology and other fields of science and technology.
The last years of A.F. Ioffe passed under the sign of joyful creativity within the walls of the Institute of Semiconductors, which he created. Since 1954, the number of publications of the venerable scientist in scientific journals, reflecting his scientific activity, has increased dramatically. His performance could not but cause surprise and admiration. No wonder one of A.F. Ioffe on the topic of thermoelectricity was called “the bible on thermoelectricity”.
Abram Fedorovich died on October 14, 1960, two weeks before his 80th birthday. But thanks to his outstanding abilities as a physicist and organizer of science, thanks to his high personal qualities, Abram Fedorovich Ioffe managed to create within the walls of the Physicotechnical Institute an exceptionally fertile ground for the rapid maturation of talents. This is his enduring service to the Motherland and science.
2000 year
Abram Fedorovich Ioffe was born on October 29, 1880 in the town of Romny, Poltava province, in the family of the second guild merchant Fayvish (Fedor Vasilyevich) Ioffe and housewife Rachel Abramovna Weinstein. He received his secondary education in a real school (1889-1897), where he met Stepan Timoshenko, the father of continuum mechanics, friendly relations with whom he supported in adulthood.
In 1902, AF Ioffe graduated from the St. Petersburg Institute of Technology, in 1905 - from the University of Munich in Germany, where he worked under the direction of Roentgen and received his Ph.D.
From 1906 Abram Fedorovich worked at the Polytechnic Institute, in 1918 he organized the Physics and Mechanics Faculty to train physicists. In 1911 Joffe accepted Lutheranism in order to marry a non-Jewish woman.
In 1911 Ioffe determined the electron charge, using the same idea as Millikan: charged metal particles were balanced in the electric and gravitational fields (in Millikan's experiment - oil droplets). However, Ioffe published this work in 1913 (Millikan published his result a little earlier, so the experiment got his name in the world literature).
In 1913, Abram Fedorovich Ioffe defended his master's and in 1915 his doctoral dissertation in physics. Since 1918 - Corresponding Member, and since 1920 - Full Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
In 1918 he created and headed the Physics and Technology Department at the State Roentgenological and Radiological Institute, being also the President of this Institute (the director was Professor Nemenov). IN 1921 Ioffe became director of the Physico-Technical Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences, created on the basis of the department and is now named after him. In 1919-1923 - Chairman of the Scientific and Technical Committee of Petrograd Industry, in 1924-1930 - Chairman of the All-Russian Association of Physicists, since 1932 - Director of the Agrophysical Institute.
Ioffe's seminar was always held in the building of the Polytechnic on Thursdays. We started at 7, finished at 11, so that we could catch the last tram, the famous "twenty-first number" glorified in all student songs from Lesnoye to the city.
The participants of the seminar: Kapitsa, Lukirsky, Semenov, Frenkel, Dorfman ... then they were not yet academicians, not professors, but simply students and junior teachers - they discussed all the most interesting things that appeared in science.
Scientific seminar Ioffe. After the meeting, they took pictures: Frenkel, Semenov, Yushchenko, Ioffe, Schmidt, Bobr, Nestrukh, Dobronravov. Kapitsa is standing, next to him is Lukirsky, Milovidova-Kirpicheva and Dorfman, the same Yakov Grigorievich Dorfman, who was a student, then a cadet who refused to defend the Winter Palace. It was Ioffe who told him in a crowded Petrograd tram that a revolution was also beginning in physics.
Abram Fedorovich Ioffe - one of the initiators of the creation of the House of Scientists in Leningrad (1934). At the beginning Patriotic War he was appointed chairman of the Commission on Military Equipment, in 1942 - chairman of the military and military engineering commission at the Leningrad City Party Committee.
In 1944 AF Ioffe, in turn, took part in the fate of the Physics Faculty of Moscow State University. On his behalf, a letter from four academicians was written to Molotov, which initiated the resolution of the confrontation between the so-called "academic" and "university" physics.
In December 1950, during the campaign against cosmopolitanism, Ioffe was removed from the post of director and removed from the Academic Council of the Institute. In 1952 he headed the semiconductor laboratory of the USSR Academy of Sciences. In 1954, the Institute of Semiconductors of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR was organized on the basis of the laboratory.
Abram Fedorovich Ioffe was distinguished by his ability to select and attract young talents to work, as well as his ability to promote science among the reading public.Abram Fedorovichcarried away the interlocutors with dreams of the future of technology. Some of her achievements, which seemed easy and feasible to Ioffe, still remain in many ways dreams, and some came true unexpectedly quickly for him.
Below are excerpts from a conversation with AF Ioffe, published in No. 5 "Around the World" for 1931.
"Journey to the Future"
Editor: What are the main problems of technology of tomorrow and technology of the distant future?
AF Ioffe: One of the main technical issues is energy. What sources of energy can humanity use to solve the energy problem in the future? Undoubtedly, a large role should be played by the continuously coming to us solar energy ... Now only that which falls on deserts and on the seas can be considered free solar energy. Most of the arable land is used for plant materials. Is it correct?
Wrong for the future. Plants, however, use solar energy, but human technology will soon overtake living nature in this respect. Plants use 6% of the energy of the sun's rays falling on them, while chemical and photochemical technology can use solar energy in much higher ranges - up to 92-95%. This ratio shows that plants are unlikely to survive on Earth when our technology has achieved corresponding success.
Bread or artificial food
One must think that the main food product - bread - will eventually play the role of a flavoring agent, like tangerine, that is, as one of the elements that add variety to food. We eat bread because we do not know how to get the main food artificially, synthetically. On the other hand, soil fertility will allow you to go extremely far ahead. The area occupied by cereals will be significantly reduced. When you think about the problem of solar energy, you involuntarily come across the idea that the main mass of solar energy is taken by the fields.
Third dimension
Editor: What are the routes of air transport?
AF Ioffe: Speaking about the future, of course, one cannot ignore the issues of air transport. The whole problem of flying is associated with 1908. Since this year, humanity has flown, passed from two dimensions to the third. This happened not because some new principles were discovered, but because by 1908 technology had reached a certain ratio of the weight of the machine to its power, it had reached such a limit that it made it possible to fly. The bird flies because there is a certain ratio between its weight and the power of its wings. The lightest motor is an electric motor with a fairly light source of electricity. If this task were fully resolved, then with the help of such light accumulators all aeronautics would be much more widely used. If the galvanic cell was charged by the sun or some other type of energy, and this cell would be lighter than the lead one, so that the weight of the battery plus the weight of the electric motor would become small enough - then we would switch to electrical control, which makes the whole thing extremely easy. For a distant, not even excessively distant future, this is the solution to the problem that I draw. Then the person will fly like a bird, almost sitting in a chair. It is necessary to come up with a very powerful small battery, relatively light, and then a person can fly straight out of a window or out of a door.
On the airy streets
Editor: If the future of transport is in the air, then obviously it must be completely automated.
A. F. Ioffe: Undoubtedly. In this area, in a rather short period of development of our technology, complete automaticity will be achieved. The control of an aircraft can and should be completely automated. On site, you can set the entire path to the device. The person will not need to worry about the airplane capsizing. To this we must add that it is much easier to move in the air than on the ground, since in the air we can avoid crossing paths, which on the streets in two dimensions presents great difficulties in movement. In three dimensions, this will not present any difficulties. There will be certain paths, there can be no collisions. You get into an airplane and thus fly, the airplane will do the work itself. Another thing is also possible. The energy source is on the ground, control is from the ground, you have only regulating devices.
Intra-atomic energy
Editor: Are there other sources of energy that we do not use at all?
AF Ioffe: If we talk about intra-atomic energy, then there is a colossal supply of it. Some of it can probably be used. It is not entirely correct to call this energy "reserves". This is not a source of energy, but her graveyard. The atom is a sign of what enormous reserves of energy that previously existed in the world have already been spent. But this minimum is not always absolute. There are unfinished atoms - radioactive atoms, where further reduction can be made. If you take four hydrogen atoms, combine their nuclei with two electrons, and leave two, then you get a helium atom - and then a huge amount of energy is released. If we knew how to convert hydrogen into helium in this way, it would be a great source of energy.
Links
- About Ioffe on the portal of the Russian Academy of Sciences
The greatest merit of Ioffe is the founder of a unique physics school, which made it possible to bring Soviet physics to the world level. On the initiative of Ioffe, starting from 1929, physical and technical institutes were created in large industrial cities: Kharkov, Dnepropetrovsk, Sverdlovsk and Tomsk. For the eyes, both students and other colleagues with love and respect called Abram Fedorovich "Papa Ioffe".
The future Nobel laureates Kapitsa began their scientific activities under the leadership of A.F. a lot others.
http://www.people.su/45832
Abram Fedorovich Ioffe - physicist, academician, founder of a scientific school, laureate of the Lenin (1961) and Stalin Prizes, Hero of Socialist Labor. Born on October 29, 1880 in the small town of Romny, Poltava province. There was no gymnasium in Romny - there was only a male real school, to which he entered. In 1902 he graduated from the St. Petersburg Institute of Technology and in 1905 the University of Munich, where he worked for V. K. Roentgen. Upon returning to his homeland in 1906, he worked at the St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute. In the physics laboratory of the institute, headed by V.V. Skobeltsyn, Ioffe in 1906-1917 brilliant work was carried out to confirm Einstein's quantum theory of the external photoelectric effect, to prove the granular nature of the electron charge, to determine the magnetic field of cathode rays (master's thesis, Petersburg University, 1913). Along with this, A.F. Ioffe continued and summarized in his doctoral dissertation (Petrograd University, 1915) studies begun in Munich on the elastic and electrical properties of quartz and some other crystals.
In 1913 he received the title of Master of Physics, and in 1915 for the study of elastic and electrical properties of quartz - the degree of Doctor of Physics. In 1913 he was elected professor.
Along with intensive research work, A.F. Ioffe devoted a lot of time and effort to teaching. He lectured not only at the Polytechnic Institute, of which he became a professor in 1915, but also at the courses of P.F. Lesgaft, at the Mining Institute and at the university. The most important thing in this activity of Ioffe was the organization in 1916 of a seminar on new physics at the Polytechnic Institute. Since 1918 - the head of the physical and technical department of the State. the roentgenological and radiological institute in Petrograd, and then until 1951 - the director of the Physico-technical institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences, created on the basis of this department.
Abram Fedorovich is credited with organizing a new type of faculty at the Polytechnic Institute in 1919: Physics and Mechanics, of which he was also dean for more than 30 years. His scientific work was concentrated within the walls of the Physicotechnical Institute, one of the laboratories of which he was invariably in charge, although the topics of its research, like the name, had undergone changes. In the 1920s, the main direction of work was the study of the mechanical and electronic properties of solids.
The beginning of the 30s was marked by the transition of the Physicotechnical Institute to a new subject. Nuclear physics became the main focus. A.F. Joffe was directly involved in it. Since the beginning of the 30s, A.F. Ioffe focused on another problem - the problem of semiconductor physics, and his laboratory at the Physicotechnical Institute became a semiconductor laboratory.
On his initiative, starting from 1929, Physicotechnical Institutes were created in large industrial cities (Kharkov, Dnepropetrovsk, Sverdlovsk, Tomsk), the Institute of Chemical Physics of the USSR Academy of Sciences. During the war, Ioffe was a participant in the construction of radar installations in Leningrad, during the evacuation in Kazan, he was the chairman of the Naval and Military Engineering Commissions. In 1952-1955 he headed the semiconductor laboratory of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
In 1950 A.F. Ioffe developed a theory, on the basis of which the requirements for semiconductor materials used in thermo-batteries were formulated to ensure the maximum value of their efficiency. Following this, in 1951, L.S. Stilbans under the direction of A.F. Ioffe and Yu.P. Maslakovets developed the world's first refrigerator. This was the beginning of the development of a new field of technology - thermoelectric cooling.
Ioffe is the author of many monographs and textbooks. His Lectures on Molecular Physics (1919) enjoyed great popularity, he wrote the 1st volume of the Course in Physics - Basic Concepts from the Field of Mechanics. Thermal energy properties. Electricity and Magnetism (1927, 1933, 1940), as well as (together with N.N. Semenov) the first part of the 4th volume of Molecular Physics (1932, 1935). In the mid-1930s, under his leadership, a discussion of the principles of constructing a physics course for technical universities was held; One of the results of these heated discussions was the publication of a remarkable course in general physics by G.S. Landsberg. Ioffe was a member of many academies of sciences: Göttingen (1924), Berlin (1928), American Academy of Sciences and Arts (1929), honorary member of the German Academy of Sciences "Leopoldina" (1958), Italian Academy of Sciences (1959), honorary doctor of the University of California (1928) , Sorbonne (1945), Universities of Graz (1948), Bucharest and Munich (1955).
physicist, organizer of science, academician (1920), vice-president of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1942–1945). Founder and director of the Leningrad Institute of Physics and Technology (until 1950). Since 1945, a member of the Technical Council under the Special Committee and a member of the NTS PSU under the Council of Ministers of the USSR. Hero of Socialist Labor (1955), winner of the Lenin (1961, posthumous) and State (1942) prizes of the USSR.
Abram Fedorovich Ioffe was born on October 17 (29), 1880 in the city of Romny (now Sumy region, Ukraine) in the family of a merchant of the second guild Fayvish (Fedor Vasilyevich) Ioffe. In 1888-1897 he studied at the Romnensk real school. Upon graduation, he moved to St. Petersburg and entered the St. Petersburg Technological Institute, which he graduated in 1902.
In 1903 he went to Munich to see the first Nobel Prize winner in physics V.K. Roentgen, the best, according to the St. Petersburg professors, an experimental physicist, to gain experience in setting up an experiment to test the resonant theory of smell and sense of smell created by Ioffe during his years of study at school. At first he worked as a trainee, living on his own funds, then got a job as an assistant. During his years at the Roentgen laboratory, A.F. Ioffe carried out a number of major studies. These include a precision experiment to determine the "energy power" of radium. The works of A.F. Ioffe, according to the mechanical and electrical properties of crystals, made in the Munich years, were systematic. In the course of their implementation, using the example of crystalline quartz, he studied and correctly explained the effect of elastic aftereffect.
The study of the electrical properties of quartz, the effect of X-rays, ultraviolet and natural light on the conductivity of crystals was led by A.F. Ioffe to the discovery of the internal photoelectric effect, the clarification of the limits of applicability of Ohm's law for describing the passage of current through a crystal, and the study of peculiar phenomena occurring in the near-electrode regions. All these works of Ioffe consolidated his reputation as a physicist, deeply pondering the mechanisms of the processes he studied and conducting experiments with exceptional accuracy that expand the understanding of atomic-electronic phenomena in solids.
After a brilliant defense of his doctoral dissertation at the University of Munich in 1905, A.F. Ioffe rejects his teacher Roentgen's flattering offer to stay in Munich to continue joint research and teaching and returns to Russia.
Since 1906 A.F. Ioffe began working as a senior laboratory assistant at the St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute. In the physical laboratory of the Institute in 1906-1917. brilliant work was carried out to confirm Einstein's quantum theory of the external photoelectric effect, to prove the granular nature of the electron charge, to determine the magnetic field of cathode rays.
In 1911 A.F. Ioffe determined the charge of an electron using the same idea as R. Millikan: charged metal particles were balanced in the electric and gravitational fields (oil droplets in Millikan's experiment). However, Ioffe published this work in 1913, and Milliken published his result a little earlier, so the experiment got his name in the world literature.
Ioffe's first work, which constituted the subject of his master's thesis, was devoted to the elementary photoelectric effect. He proved the reality of the existence of an electron independently of the rest of matter, determined the absolute value of its charge, investigated the magnetic effect of cathode rays, which are a stream of electrons, and proved the statistical nature of the emission of electrons under an external photoelectric effect.
In 1913, after defending his master's thesis, A.F. Joffe became an extraordinary professor.
In 1914, the Academy of Sciences of Russia awarded A.F. Ioffe Prize named after S.A. Ivanova.
The most important research cycles of A.F. Ioffe, it is necessary to add two more: one of them is the theoretical work of the scientist devoted to thermal radiation, in which the classical studies of M. Planck were further developed. Other work was also carried out by him in the physics laboratory of the Polytechnic Institute in co-authorship with the teacher of this institute M.V. Milovidova-Kirpicheva. The work investigated the electrical conductivity of ionic crystals. The results of studies on the electrical conductivity of ionic crystals were later, after the end of the First World War, brilliantly reported to A.F. Ioffe at the 1924 Solvay congress, caused a lively discussion among its famous participants, and received their full recognition.
At the same time, he became an active member of the Physics Department of the Russian Physicochemical Society, collaborating with the outstanding Dutch theoretical physicist P. Ehrenfest, who was then working in St. Petersburg. At the same time, he does not stop research, which began in Munich. This period includes his work on the study of X-rays and the electrical properties of dielectrics, the elementary photoelectric effect and the magnetic field of cathode rays, the mechanical strength of solids and ways to increase it.
Joffe's next extensive research was the continuation of his work carried out in Roentgen's laboratory. It was devoted to the study of the elastic and electrical properties of quartz and some other crystals and formed the basis of his doctoral dissertation. Both of these works were distinguished by phenomenal scrupulousness and accuracy, as well as a constant desire to bring all the observed effects into a single harmonious scheme - features inherent in all students of the Ioffe school. After defending his doctoral dissertation (Petrograd University, 1915) A.F. Ioffe becomes a professor at the Department of General Physics.
Along with intensive research work, A.F. Ioffe devoted a lot of time and effort to teaching. He lectured not only at the Polytechnic Institute, of which he became a professor in 1915, but also at the courses of P.F. Lesgaft, at the Mining Institute and at the university. However, the most important thing in this activity of Ioffe was the organization in 1916 of a physics seminar at the Polytechnic Institute. It was during these years that A.F. Ioffe, first a participant and then a leader of the seminar, developed that wonderful style of conducting this kind of meetings, which made him well-known and characterized him as the head of the school.
Ioffe's seminar at the Polytechnic Institute is rightfully considered the most important center of crystal physics. A broad outlook and ability of foresight, an outstanding talent of a scientist and organizer gave Ioffe the opportunity to educate a large corps of physicists, to show the importance of physics for technology and the national economy. The seminar was attended by young scientists from the Polytechnic Institute and the University, who soon became Ioffe's closest associates when organizing the Physico-Technical Institute (1918) and, more broadly, Soviet physics as a whole. Well-known Soviet physicists emerged from the Ioffe school, many of whom became the founders of their own schools: Nobel laureates and N.P. Semenov, academicians, P.I. Lukirsky, I.V. Obreimov, Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences Ya. I. Frenkel, Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR A.K. Walter, V.E. Lashkarev, and many others.
On the initiative of A.F. Ioffe, in October 1918, a physical and technical department was created at the Roentgenological and Radiological Institute in Petrograd, reorganized in 1921 into the Physicotechnical Institute, which for more than three decades was headed by A.F. Ioffe.
In 1918 he was elected a corresponding member, and in 1920 - a full member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Along with the creation of the PTI A.F. Ioffe is credited with organizing a new type of faculty at the Polytechnic Institute in 1919: physics and mechanics, of which he was also dean for more than 30 years. The faculty became the prototype for educational institutions of this type in the country. On his initiative, starting in 1929, Physicotechnical Institutes were created in large industrial cities (Kharkov, Dnepropetrovsk, Sverdlovsk, Tomsk), the Institute of Chemical Physics of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
The scientific work of A.F. Ioffe was concentrated within the walls of the Physicotechnical Institute, one of the laboratories of which he invariably headed. In the 1920s, the main focus of work was the study of the mechanical and electronic properties of solids. In many articles published by the Physicotechnical Institute in 1920-1940, the name of Ioffe is not among the authors, although his contribution to them is visible to any specialist. The scientist's exceptional scientific generosity corresponded to his moral principles and was part of the "art of leading young colleagues."
In 1924-1930. A.F. Ioffe - Chairman of the All-Russian Association of Physicists. Since 1925 - a full member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, in 1927-1929 and 1942-1945. - Vice-President of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
Another area of \u200b\u200bresearch where Ioffe obtained important results was the physics of crystals. In 1916-1923. he studied the mechanism of conductivity of ionic crystals, in 1924 - their strength and plasticity. Together with P.S. Ehrenfest discovered the "quantum" nature of shears, which received a theoretical explanation only in the 1950s, and also discovered the phenomenon of material "hardening" (Ioffe effect) - the "healing" of surface cracks. Ioffe summarized his work on the problems of solid state physics in the well-known book "Physics of Crystals", written on the basis of a lecture given by him in 1927 during a long trip to the USA.
In 1932 A.F. Ioffe founded the Agrophysical Institute in Leningrad, which he headed until 1960.
The beginning of the 1930s was marked by the transition of the Physicotechnical Institute to a new subject. Nuclear physics has become one of the main directions. A.F. Ioffe, observing the rapid rise of this area of \u200b\u200bphysics, quickly appreciated its future role in the further progress of science and technology. Therefore, since the end of 1932, nuclear physics has become a part of the work of the Physicotechnical Institute.
Own scientific work of A.F. Since the early 1930s, Ioffe focused on the problem of semiconductor physics, and his laboratory at the Physicotechnical Institute became a semiconductor laboratory. The first work in this area was carried out by Ioffe himself together with Ya.I. Frenkel and concerned the analysis of contact phenomena at the metal-semiconductor interface. They explained the rectifying property of such a contact within the framework of the tunnel effect theory, which was developed 40 years later when describing tunneling effects in diodes. Work on the photoelectric effect in semiconductors led Ioffe to a bold hypothesis that semiconductors are capable of efficiently converting radiation energy into electrical energy, which served as a prerequisite for the development of new areas of semiconductor technology - the creation of photovoltaic generators (in particular, silicon converters of solar energy - "solar cells") ... These studies laid the foundation for whole areas in the physics of semiconductors, which were successfully developed in subsequent years by his students.
For research in the field of semiconductors in 1942 A.F. Ioffe was awarded the Stalin Prize.
Ioffe and his students created a classification system for semiconductor materials, developed a method for determining their basic properties. The study of thermoelectric properties of semiconductors was the beginning of the development of a new field of technology - thermoelectric cooling. The Institute of Semiconductors has developed a series of thermoelectric refrigerators, which are widely used all over the world to solve a number of problems in radio electronics, instrumentation, space biology, etc.
At the beginning of the Patriotic War A.F. Ioffe became the chairman of the Commission on Military Equipment, participated in the construction of radar installations in Leningrad. In 1942, during the evacuation in Kazan, he was appointed chairman of the Naval and Military Engineering Commissions.
The maximum approximation to practice of the results achieved in fundamental fields of knowledge, the widest dissemination of this knowledge - such was the aspiration of A.F. Ioffe. His initiative in creating the famous Laboratory No. 2 (Institute of Atomic Energy, National Research Center "Kurchatov Institute") was especially striking. No less important was the proposal of A.F. Ioffe put one of his students at the head of this research -. By the way, it was A.F. Ioffe contributed to the reorientation in the early 1930s from ferroelectric to nuclear problems and supported this work in every possible way, which created conditions for solving the nuclear problem in the Soviet Union in the shortest possible time.
As part of work on the Soviet atomic project on August 20, 1945, I.V. Stalin signs a decree on the creation of a uranium work management body - the Special Committee under the USSR State Defense Committee. By the same decree, for the direct management of scientific research ... and industrial enterprises for the use of the intra-atomic energy of uranium and the production of atomic bombs at the Special Committee, a Technical Council of 10 people was created, which included A.F. Ioffe. In the Technical Council, he headed the commission on the electromagnetic separation of uranium-235.
In December 1950, during a campaign against cosmopolitanism, A.F. Ioffe was removed from the post of director and removed from the academic council of the institute. In 1952-1955. headed the semiconductor laboratory of the USSR Academy of Sciences. In 1954, on the basis of the laboratory, the Institute of Semiconductors of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR was organized, which Academician Ioffe directed until the end of his life.
By the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of October 28, 1955, Abram Fedorovich Ioffe was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor with the Order of Lenin and the Hammer and Sickle gold medal.
A.F. Ioffe was awarded 3 Orders of Lenin, laureate of the Stalin Prize (1942), Lenin Prize (posthumously, 1961). Honored Scientist of the RSFSR (1933). Corresponding member of the Göttingen (1924), Berlin (1928) Academy of Sciences. Honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in Boston (1958), the German Academy of Sciences "Leopoldina" (1958), the Indian Academy of Sciences (1958). Member of the Italian Academy of Sciences (1959). Honorary Doctor of the University of California (1928), Sorbonne (1945), the Universities of Graz (1948), Bucharest and Munich (1955). Honorary Member of the French, British and Chinese Physical Societies. Honorary member of VASKHNIL (1956).
In addition to scientific achievements, his most important merit is considered the creation of the Soviet school of physicists, from which many prominent Soviet scientists emerged. For the variety of problems that in 1920-1930. its representatives were engaged, its large numbers, the results obtained by this school and its head, it is perhaps the largest physical school formed in the XX century.
In many ways, the successes of the Ioffe school were predetermined by the scientist's personal qualities, his great talent as an experimental physicist, outstanding organizational skills, the ability to quickly and accurately navigate the complex problems of the new physics that was being born at that time, and a flair for something new. These qualities attracted numerous students to him not only from all over our country, but also from abroad.
A.F. Ioffe died on October 14, 1960 in his office. He was buried at Literatorskie mostki, Volkovsky cemetery in Leningrad (St. Petersburg). A monument by M.K. Anikushin.
In November 1960 the name of A.F. Ioffe was assigned to the Physico-Technical Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences. In 1964, a bust of A.F. Ioffe, memorial plaques were installed on the buildings where he worked. Also, a memorial plaque is installed on the building of the former real school in the city of Romny, where A.F. Ioffe. In 2005, in commemoration of the 125th anniversary of the birth of A.F. Ioffe at this school was held an international scientific seminar "past, present and future of thermoelectricity." In 1988, a research vessel of the USSR Academy of Sciences was named in his honor. A minor planet, a crater on the Moon, a square in St. Petersburg, streets in Adlershof (Germany) and Romny (Ukraine) are named after him.
Literature
Frenkel V.Ya. Abram Fedorovich Ioffe (Biographical sketch)
// UFN, 1980, vol. 132, no. 9. - S. 11-45
The contribution of academician AF Ioffe to the formation of nuclear physics in the USSR: [Collection]
/ USSR Academy of Sciences, Phys.-tech. in-t them. A.F. Ioffe, Leningrad. branch of Arch. Academy of Sciences of the USSR. - L.: Science: Leningrad. branch, 1980 - 39 p.
Who is this song about?
If you are already tired,
They sat down, got up, sat down, got up.
You are not afraid of the Arctic and Antarctica.
Chief Academician Ioffe
Proven cognac and coffee
You will be replaced by sports and
Prevention.
These terms are from a popular song Vladimir Vysotsky "Morning exercises" are familiar to tens of millions of residents of the former Soviet Union... And although to this day there is a dispute about who the bard really meant by “chief academician Ioffe”, in the late 1960s, when this song appeared, listeners were sure that it was about the famous physicist Abram Fedorovich Ioffe.
Abram Ioffe. 1934 year. Photo: RIA Novosti
The song of Vladimir Vysotsky appeared when Academician Ioffe was no longer alive, but his name remained on everyone's lips. It was an amazing time when scientists, first of all, physicists became heroes of the era. The names of Soviet physicists, laureates of various prizes, including the Nobel Prize, thundered all over the world.
This success and universal recognition would not have been possible without Abram Ioffe, who during his lifetime received the unofficial title of "Father of Soviet Physics".
Knowledge is power
He was born on October 29, 1880 in the small town of Romny, Poltava province, into a family merchant of the second guild Fyodor Vasilyevich Ioffe and housewives Rachel Abramovna Weinstein.
In the last decades of its existence, the Russian Empire did not favor the Jews who lived on its territory. Getting a decent education was a serious problem for them.
In Romny, where Ioffe lived, there was no gymnasium, but only a real school, which Abram entered. There he became interested in physics, which became for him the main business of life. As the academician himself recalled much later, this happened not thanks to the teachers, but in spite of them - the teachers at the school were busy not so much with teaching as with taking care of discipline and identifying unreliable students.
Despite all the difficulties, thanks to his character, diligence and undoubted talent, Abram Ioffe managed to successfully graduate from college and enter the St. Petersburg Institute of Technology, where the best Russian physicists of that time taught.
At the institute, student Ioffe was always in good standing and upon graduation in 1902 received recommendations for work in Germany, in a laboratory William Roentgen, the first Nobel laureate in physics in history to discover the so-called X-radiation, now better known as X-ray.
Returner
In the laboratory of Roentgen Ioffe worked until 1906, conducting important scientific experiments. Ioffe's works were devoted to the study of the mechanical and electrical properties of crystals. The young scientist managed to study and correctly explain the effect of elastic aftereffect using the example of crystalline quartz.
The study of the electrical properties of quartz, the effect on the conductivity of crystals of X-rays, ultraviolet and natural light led Ioffe to the discovery of the internal photoelectric effect, to clarify the limits of applicability of Ohm's law for describing the passage of current through a crystal, and to study the peculiar phenomena occurring in the near-electrode regions.
In 1905, Abram Ioffe successfully defended his doctoral dissertation at the University of Munich. He has already established a reputation as a talented and very promising physicist. That is why Ioffe received an extremely tempting offer from Roentgen to continue working in his laboratory. Despite all the flattering proposal of the Nobel laureate, Ioffe decided to return to Russia.
In 1906, Abram Ioffe was appointed senior laboratory assistant at the St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute. In the physics laboratory of the institute, the scientist performs world-class work, such as confirming Einstein's quantum theory of the external photoelectric effect, proving the granular nature of the electron charge, determining the magnetic field of cathode rays, and many others. Some of Ioffe's works could well qualify for the Nobel Prize, but for various reasons he was not awarded this award.
In 1914, the Russian Academy of Sciences awarded Abram Ioffe the S. A. Ivanov Prize.
Seminars of Professor Ioffe
Continuing to actively engage in scientific activities, Ioffe, who in 1915 became a professor at the St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute, took up teaching.
He lectured not only at the Polytechnic Institute, but also at well-known courses in the city. P.F.Lesgaft, at the Mining Institute and at the university.
Ioffe's teaching talent allowed him to become the founder of a unique physics school, which in the second half of the 20th century will gain worldwide fame.
Seminar AF Ioffe at the Polytechnic Institute. 1915 year. Sitting (from left to right): Ya. I. Frenkel, N. N. Semyonov, A. P. Yushchenko, A. F. Ioffe, Ya. R. Schmidt, I. K. Bobr, K. F. Nestrukh. Standing: P. L. Kapitsa, P. I. Lukirsky, M. V. Milovidova-Kirpicheva, Ya. G. Dorfman. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
In 1916, he organized the first scientific seminar in physics, attended by employees and students of the Polytechnic Institute and the University. The seminar was the first experience of collective study of scientific topics. This form of scientific work will then be adopted by Ioffe's students, and then by physicists all over the world.
Ioffe was the real engine of physics seminars. As the scientists who worked with him recalled, after each report Ioffe concisely summarized its content, and he did it absolutely amazingly. He possessed an exceptional gift for instantly revealing and summarizing the essence of any report, no matter how complex or well-presented it was.
Having summarized the report, Abram Fedorovich usually focused the participants' attention on the shortcomings of the article presented, on unsolved problems, and then a discussion of possible ways of solving these issues began. All participants of the seminar took part in the discussion on equal terms. Joffe never exerted pressure, patiently listening to any objections and comments. At the seminar, a friendly, benevolent, thoughtful atmosphere always reigned.
"Dad" can do anything
Ioffe knew how to engage in scientific activity in the most difficult conditions. In 1918, when the country began to plunge into the abyss of the Civil War, he sought the signing of a government decree on the creation of the Physico-Technical Department of the State X-ray and Radiological Institute, which three years later became an independent Physico-Technical Institute. The head of the institute, which is logical, was Ioffe himself, who in 1920 was elected a full member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Ioffe knew how to interact with the authorities in the name of science. On his initiative, starting from 1929, physical and technical institutes were created in Kharkov, Dnepropetrovsk, Sverdlovsk and Tomsk.
The list of those who began their scientific activities under the leadership of Ioffe is huge. Among them Nobel laureates Pyotr Kapitsaand Nikolay Semyonov, father of Soviet atomic weapons Igor Kurchatov, famous atomic physicists Yakov Zeldovichand Julius Khariton, one of the founders of nuclear power and president of the USSR Academy of Sciences Anatoly Aleksandrovand many, many others.
Among Ioffe's students there was a young man who, at a seminar, once sarcastically threw in the face of an academician: "Theoretical physics is a difficult science, not everyone understands it ..." Ultimately, this student went his own way, creating his own scientific school. However, in teaching his own students, the venerable physicist applied the methods gleaned from Ioffe. His name was Lev Landau- another Soviet Nobel laureate in physics.
Abram Fedorovich Ioffe devoted so much time to organizational and teaching work, he cared so much about the scientific cadres of the future that the playful nickname Papa Ioffe was assigned to him.
Soviet physicists (from left to right): Abram Ioffe, Abram Alikhanov, Igor Kurchatov. Photo: RIA Novosti / Elanchuk
The Stalin Prize Laureate was reminded of the "Munich pubs"
Ioffe knew how to foresee the challenges of the future. Dealing with the problems of semiconductor physics since the early 1930s, he drew attention to the rapid development of nuclear physics. Even before the war, the academician achieved the creation of a separate laboratory for the study of nuclear reactions, headed by Igor Kurchatov. In 1942, it was on its basis that the Soviet atomic project was launched.
Ioffe himself tried to keep up everywhere. Dealing with the organization of science, he did not forget about research - in 1942 the scientist was awarded the Stalin Prize for research in the field of semiconductors. During the war, without stopping his scientific activities, Ioffe headed the Commission on Military Technology.
Despite all the merits and authority, in 1950, Joffe fell victim to a campaign to combat cosmopolitanism. Apparently, the persecution of Ioffe was, as they say, "an initiative from below." In addition to those who treated Pope Joffe with respect and reverence, there were also those who wove intrigues, dreaming of career growth.
Joffe was blamed for work in Germany at the beginning of the century, they said something about "Munich pubs", in which the academician allegedly "forgot about the Motherland." Despite the absurdity of the accusations, he was removed from the post of director of the Leningrad Physics and Technology Institute and removed from the Academic Council.
At a meeting of the USSR Academy of Sciences. From right to left: A. Bach, A. Ioffe, E. Tarle, A. Orlov. January 28, 1939. Moscow. Photo: RIA Novosti / B. Vdovenko
A man with a big heart
Ioffe never returned to the institute that he created. But at the top they quickly came to their senses - already in 1952, Ioffe headed the semiconductor laboratory of the USSR Academy of Sciences, which in 1954 was transformed into the Institute of Semiconductors of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
The new institute seemed to give Joffe new strength. The scientist, who was already well over 70, amazed young people with incredible energy and efficiency. The number of Ioffe's publications in scientific journals, reflecting his scientific activity, increased sharply during this period.
In 1955, Abram Fedorovich Ioffe was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor.
Joffe was never a "dry bread" in whose life nothing but science existed. He loved merry companies, loved mountain walks, loved picking berries in the forest. In most of his photographs, Academician Ioffe is captured with a smile.
Physicists, academicians of the USSR Academy of Sciences Igor Kurchatov (left) and Abram Ioffe. Photo: RIA Novosti
And how can a person be called a "cracker" who was inflamed with fiery love for his student, who was a quarter of a century younger than himself and only five years older than the academician's daughter? This love ended with a wedding and many years of a happy life.
And the daughter of the "father of Soviet physics", Valentina, in her youth acted as a rider in the circus, and the proud academician took his colleagues and students to watch her performances. Circus youth did not prevent Valentina Abramovna Ioffe later became the head of a laboratory at the Institute of Silicate Chemistry of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
In the fall of 1960, relatives, friends and colleagues were preparing to celebrate the 80th birthday of Academician Ioffe. He himself, however, thought of the anniversary as the last thing - there was a lot of important work ahead. On October 14, 1960, the heart of Abram Fedorovich Ioffe stopped in his office.
The name of the scientist is the Physico-Technical Institute, a crater on the Moon and a minor planet, created by him. But here's an amazing thing: when Academician Ioffe is mentioned, the majority of the first thing that pops up in the memory of the lines of Vladimir Vysotsky, which, probably, were not originally devoted to physics.
But, of course, Abram Fedorovich Ioffe, with his whole life, has earned the right to remain in the memory of his compatriots.
