Zhores Ivanovich Alferov is a Belarusian, Soviet and Russian physicist
and academic who contributed significantly to the creation of modern
heterostructure physics and electronics. He is the 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.
Birth and education Alferov was born in Vitebsk,
Byelorussian SSR, Soviet Union, to a Belarusian father, Ivan Karpovich
Alferov, a factory manager, and a Jewish mother, Anna Vladimirovna. Zhores was
named after French socialist Jean Jaurès while his older brother was named Marx
after Karl Marx. In 1947 he completed high school 42 in Minsk and started
Belarusian Politechnic Academy. In 1952, he graduated from V. I. Ulyanov
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. In 2000 he
received the 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. Alferov 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 semiconductor heterostructures. His contributions to physics and
technology of semiconductor heterostructures, especially
investigations of injection properties, development of lasers, solar cells,
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." Political activity
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. Non-profit service
Alferov serves on the advisory council of CRDF Global.
Awards Russian and Soviet awards
Order of Merit for the Fatherland: 1st class - for outstanding contribution
to the development of national science and active participation in legislative
activities; 2nd class;
3rd class - 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 - for services to the state contribution to the development of
national science and many years of fruitful activity
Order of Lenin Order of the October Revolution
Order of the Red Banner of Labour Order of the Badge of Honour
State Prize of the Russian Federation in Science and Technology for his work,
"Fundamental studies of the formation and properties of heterostructures with
quantum dots and the creation of lasers based on them"
Lenin Prize - for basic research in semiconductors and heterojunction
development of new devices based on them USSR State Prize - for developing
isoperiodic heterostructures based on quaternary solid solutions of A3B5
semiconductor compounds Foreign awards
Order of Francisc Skorina - for his great personal contribution to the
development of physical science, the organization of the Belarusian-Russian
scientific and technical cooperation, strengthening the friendship between the
peoples of Belarus and Russia Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, 5th
class - for personal contribution to the development of cooperation between
Ukraine and the Russian Federation in the socio-economic and humanitarian
spheres Officer of the Legion of Honour
Other awards Nobel Prize in Physics - for the
development of semiconductor heterostructures for high-speed
optoelectronics Nick Holonyak Award
Europhysics prize - for new works in the field of heterojunctions
AP Karpinsky Prize - for his contributions to physics and technology
of heterostructures AF Ioffe award - for work,
"Photoelectric converters of solar radiation on the basis of
heterostructures" Demidov Prize
Kyoto Prize - for success in creating semiconductor lasers operating in
continuous mode at room temperature - a pioneer step in optoelectronics
Vernadsky Award "Russian National Olympus". The title
"living legend" International Energy Prize "Global
Energy" H. Welker Gold Medal - for pioneering
work on the theory and technology of devices based on III-V compounds of
groups Stuart Ballantine Medal - 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
SPIE Gold Medal Award Symposium on GaAs - for pioneering
work in semiconductor heterostructures based on III-V compounds and group
development of diode lasers and photodiodes
Awarded "Golden Plate" XLIX Mendeleev Reader - 19 February 1993
Honorary Professor of the medal and MIPT Honorary Doctor of the Russian-Armenian
University University, Armenia, 2011) See also
List of Jewish Nobel laureates References
External links (Russian) Zhores Alferov website at the
Communist Party of the Russian Federation
Biography, on the website of Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute
Autobiography, on the website of Nobel Foundation web group in Stockholm
Open letter to the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir V. Putin