Chief Academician. How Papa Ioffe created Soviet physics
IOFFE ABRAM FEDOROVICH
(b. 1880 – d. 1960)
Soviet physicist, organizer of physical research in the USSR, teacher. Academician of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1916), RAS (1920), USSR Academy of Sciences (its vice-president in 1942–1945), Honored Scientist of the RSFSR (1933), Hero of Socialist Labor (1955). Founder and director (1918–1951) of the Physico-Technical Department of the State Radiological and Radiological Institute, director of the Physico-Technical Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences, director of the Institute of Semiconductors of the USSR Academy of Sciences (since 1955). His main works are devoted to solid state physics. His work laid the foundation for physics and semiconductor technology. The head of a large school of physicists. Laureate of the Stalin (1942) and Lenin Prizes (1961, posthumously). Author of the biographical book “Meetings with Physicists.”
When it comes to Abram Fedorovich Ioffe, one gets the impression that most of the major Russian physicists of the mid-20th century were directly or indirectly students of this St. Petersburg academician. Although he was not a Nobel laureate, his contribution to physics and to the creation of the domestic scientific school of physicists is enormous. He practically created a school comparable in level to the schools of E. Rutherford in Cambridge and M. Born in Göttingen. Famous Soviet physicists came out of Ioffe’s school, many of whom themselves became the founders of their own schools: academicians A. P. Aleksandrov, A. I. Alikhanov, L. A. Artsimovich, P. L. Kapitsa, B. P. Konstantinov, G. V. Kurdyumov, I. V. Kurchatov, P. I. Lukirsky, I. V. Obreimov, N. N. Semenov, Yu. B. Khariton; Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences Ya. I. Frenkel, Academicians of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences A. K. Walter, V. E. Lashkarev, A. I. Leipunsky, K. D. Sinelnikov and many others. Among scientists he was called the “father of Soviet physics” or even “Papa Ioffe.” In many ways, the successes of Soviet physics were predetermined by his 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 emerging at that time, his amazing flair for the new, which allowed him already in the 1920s years to understand the importance of nuclear physics, and in the 1930s - semiconductor and polymer physics. An extremely important quality of Ioffe’s comprehensively gifted personality was the gift of a Teacher and Ioffe’s highest responsibility to the country where physics was in its infancy. He raised a new type of physicists - “physically minded” people who could quickly understand the essence of new problems that unexpectedly arise in front of them, and not just have a good knowledge of all the theory and practice of certain established issues of technology.
Abram Fedorovich was born on October 29, 1880 in Romny, Poltava province, into the family of a merchant of the 2nd guild. Since there was no gymnasium in the small town, but only a men's secondary school, he entered it. It is noteworthy that Ioffe’s classmate turned out to be S.P. Timoshenko, who later became a prominent mechanic. Abram became interested in physics while still in school. He often emphasized that this did not happen due to the influence of teachers, but rather in spite of it: the level of teaching at the school was very low. The gifted young man dreamed of entering a university, but, as is known, before the revolution, to enter universities it was necessary to know ancient languages, which were taught only in gymnasiums. Therefore, after graduating from real school, Ioffe chose the St. Petersburg Institute of Technology, where, in his opinion, it was possible to learn physics to the greatest extent. Outstanding scientists taught at this institute, in particular I. I. Borgman, N. A. Gezehus, B. L. Rosing. Along with physics, Ioffe worked a lot in the field of its biological applications, which was more than unusual at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, and also did purely engineering work, mainly during summer internship.
In 1902, a graduate of the Institute of Technology, having secured recommendations, went to Munich to gain experience in setting up an experiment to test the resonance theory of smell and sense of smell that he had created during his years at the school. In those years, the best, according to the reviews of St. Petersburg professors, experimental physicist V. K. Roentgen worked there. At first, Abram was an intern and lived on his own, and then received a position as an assistant. A fruitful and most trusting relationship developed between the Nobel Prize laureate and the aspiring physicist. During the years of work at the Roentgen laboratory (1903–1906), Ioffe conducted a number of major studies, among which was an experiment to determine the “energy power” of radium, work on the mechanical and electrical properties of crystals, etc. These studies secured his reputation as a physicist who thought deeply about mechanisms of the processes he studies and with exceptional precision conducts experiments that expand the understanding of atomic-electronic phenomena in solids. Already in his doctoral dissertation, completed in the Roentgen laboratory in Munich, Ioffe showed the skill of an experimenter and solved the important issue of elastic aftereffect in crystals at that time, for which he was awarded a doctorate with highest honors.
In 1906, Abram Fedorovich, refusing Roentgen’s flattering offer to stay to continue research and teaching work at the University of Munich, returned to Russia and took a position as a senior laboratory assistant at the St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute. In 1906–1917, in the physics laboratory of the Ioffe Institute, he performed brilliant work to confirm Einstein’s quantum theory of the external photoelectric effect, prove the granular nature of the electronic charge, and determine the magnetic field of cathode rays. In 1913, after defending his master's thesis, he became an extraordinary professor, and in 1915, after defending his doctoral dissertation, he became a professor in the department of general physics at his institute. For research on the elastic and electrical properties of quartz and some other crystals, the Academy of Sciences awarded him the Prize in 1914. S. A. Ivanova.
In addition to these important studies, Ioffe was engaged in theoretical developments in the field of thermal radiation, in which the classical studies of M. Planck were further developed. And the results of research on the electrical conductivity of ionic crystals (co-authored with M.V. Milovidova-Kirpicheva) were subsequently, after the end of the First World War, brilliantly reported by him at the Solvay Congress in 1924 and, having caused a lively discussion among its famous participants, they received full recognition. Along with intensive research work, Abram Fedorovich devoted a lot of time and effort to teaching. He lectured not only at the Polytechnic Institute, but also at the well-known courses of P. Lesgaft in the city, 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 Ioffe, first a participant and then the leader of the seminar, developed that remarkable style of conducting such meetings, which created for him well-deserved fame and characterized him as the head of the school. Ioffe's seminar at the Polytechnic Institute is rightfully considered the most important center in the field of crystal physics.
In October 1918, on Ioffe’s initiative, a physico-technical department was created at the X-ray and Radiological Institute (soon reorganized into the Physico-Technical Institute), and a year later - a physico-mechanical department at the Polytechnic Institute, of which he was also dean for more than 30 years. The creation of the Physico-Technical Institute later gave rise to an extensive network of research institutes in physics (15 affiliated institutes, including physico-technical institutes in Kharkov, Dnepropetrovsk, Tomsk, etc.).
His broad outlook and ability to foresight, his outstanding talent as a scientist and organizer allowed Ioffe to carry out the reform of physics in the USSR, train a large group of physicists, and show the importance of physics for technology and the national economy. Until 1954, Ioffe was the director of the Physico-Technical Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences, and then headed the Institute of Semiconductors of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
The scientific work of A.F. Ioffe in the 1920s was focused on the study of the mechanical and electronic properties of solids; from the beginning of the 1930s, nuclear physics became one of the main directions. The scientist quickly appreciated its future role in the further progress of science and technology. Therefore, nuclear physics has firmly entered the scope of work at the Physicotechnical Institute. At the same time, Ioffe's own scientific work focused on another problem - the problem of the physics of semiconductors as new materials for electronics. He created a method for determining the main parameters characterizing the properties of semiconductors and a system for classifying these materials (1931–1940). These works served as a prerequisite for the development of new areas of semiconductor technology - the creation of thermo- and photoelectric generators and refrigeration devices. In the late 1930s, Ioffe proposed a mechanism for rectifying current in semiconductors, which found application in the production of diodes, and put forward the idea of plasma thermoelectricity. All these works were distinguished by phenomenal scrupulousness and accuracy, as well as an invariable desire to reduce all observed effects into a single harmonious scheme - traits absorbed by all students of Ioffe’s school.
However, the life of the prominent physicist was not cloudless. His fate was affected by all the methods of moral terror, with the help of which the authorities tried to excommunicate many prominent scientists from science. True, Ioffe never conflicted with the authorities; he always emphasized his loyalty and even devotion to the system, which gave him the opportunity to occupy major administrative positions in science and directly influence public policy in this area. But the authorities felt that he was alien to them in spirit: firstly, he worked in Munich and absorbed the spirit of classical science, not dependent on anything other than the truth. Therefore, he was considered “difficult to manage”, always had his own opinion and was not afraid to express it openly. Secondly, Abram Fedorovich, although he had been a member of the CPSU since 1942, did not actively participate in political events. Well, and thirdly, Ioffe was a Jew, and the authorities, especially during the years of the struggle against cosmopolitanism, “forgot” about the fifth point only when they had no choice - without the help of Jewish scientists it was difficult to solve the most important defense problems . Thus, during the war, Ioffe participated in the construction of radar installations in Leningrad, and during the evacuation to Kazan he was the chairman of the Naval and Military Engineering Commissions.
We should recall at least the atomic problem or the problem of creating missile weapons. Back in the winter of 1920, in cold and hungry Petrograd, the Atomic Commission was created, in which A.F. Ioffe was directly involved. He considered it necessary to conduct atomic research quickly and intensively and to place work on atomic physics under special conditions. The center of scientific research became the X-ray Institute, and later the Physico-Technical Institute, headed by him. A galaxy of talented researchers united around him. The famous Leningrad Physics and Technology Institute, which today bears the name of Academician Ioffe, was called differently: “Parnassus of new physics”, and “The Mighty Handful”, and even “Papa Ioffe’s Kindergarten”. Academician I.K. Kikoin recalls: “It really was a kindergarten - in the sense that the main force, the main army of the institute’s employees were 1st, 2nd, 3rd year students. They did science at the Physico-Technical Institute, which means they did science - physics - in the country. But the garden must also bear fruit. This Physics and Technology kindergarten has borne fruit, and, I would say, the fruit is not bad. For example, Soviet nuclear technology, atomic energy - this is the fruit of the very garden that Abram Fedorovich Ioffe planted and nurtured.”
The academician had a special nose not only for talent, but he could even predict in which direction this or that scientist would be able to show his best side. Thus, Abram Fedorovich contributed to the reorientation of I.V. Kurchatov in the early 1930s from ferroelectric to nuclear issues. And when, during the Great Patriotic War, Ioffe, as an unsurpassed scientist-organizer, was offered to lead this direction, he again nominated Kurchatov, who in that difficult year of 1943 was not yet an academician, but served in the navy, dealing with the issues of neutralizing German mines and developing a demagnetization method warships.
Many physicists owe their growth and career to Ioffe, but there were also plenty of envious people. Colleagues at the Academy - Academician V. F. Mitkevich and Corresponding Member A. A. Maksimov - were especially zealous. The latter spared no paperwork to prove that Abram Fedorovich was an “irresponsible Soviet citizen.” He wrote on the pages of the magazine “Under the Banner of Marxism”: “The self-praise of Academician A.F. Ioffe, who ascribes to himself the merit that belongs to the entire team of Soviet physicists and was achieved under the leadership of the party and government, is a style of boasting, sensationalism, exaggeration, and outright deception.” He was echoed by A.K. Timiryazev, professor of the Faculty of Physics of Moscow State University: “We must hope that the Soviet public will fully reveal where the enemies and where the friends of Soviet physics are, and will appreciate the slanderous statements of Academician. Joffe." This was a direct call for violence. But Ioffe was not arrested either then or later. Apparently, his high international authority and generally loyal position towards the authorities saved him from repression. Nevertheless, the clouds were gathering, especially at the height of the campaign to combat “rootless cosmopolitanism.” The name Joffe was mentioned more and more often among the “rootless”. In October 1950, he was summoned by the President of the USSR Academy of Sciences, S.I. Vavilov, and after a long conversation, he offered to resign as director of the Leningrad Physics and Technology Institute. Abram Fedorovich wrote a statement asking to be relieved of his position as director and transferred to head of the laboratory at the same institute. On December 8, 1950, the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences approved this decision and appointed A.P. Komar director of the LPTI.
However, the situation at the institute remained difficult. The new leadership openly bullied Ioffe, and although he felt the moral support of his friends and colleagues throughout the difficult times, his situation sometimes became unbearable. The atmosphere in which Ioffe lived and worked during that period is well conveyed by the history of the discussion of his book “Basic Concepts of Modern Physics” (1949). This was the first post-war book that quite popularly and clearly outlined the foundations of modern physics: the theory of relativity, statistical, atomic and nuclear physics. Readers received it well, and the first scientific reviews were very favorable. But as soon as the rumor spread that Ioffe had been removed from the post of director of the institute, devastating reviews almost simultaneously appeared in special journals, which pointed out “very large ideological breakdowns” (and this in a book on physics!) and the inconsistency of problems with “dialectical materialism” . Naturally, Ioffe made the traditional admission of mistakes. From the standpoint of today, his speech could be considered unprincipled, but who knows what feelings the disgraced academician experienced in those days, what defense tactics he chose?
Ioffe was forced to leave the institute completely. The Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences organized a special semiconductor laboratory for him, allocated staff and premises. In 1950, the scientist developed a theory on the basis of which requirements were formulated for semiconductor materials used in thermopiles and ensuring their maximum 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 marked the beginning of the development of a new field of technology - thermoelectric cooling. The 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.
If you try to compile a list of Abram Fedorovich’s scientific and civic achievements, it will take more than one page. He is the author of numerous monographs, articles, textbooks and a number of memoirs. His last organizational creation was the creation of the Institute of Semiconductors of the USSR Academy of Sciences. And starting from 1954, the number of publications by the venerable scientist in scientific journals, reflecting his scientific activity, increased sharply. His performance could not but cause surprise and admiration. It is not for nothing that one of A. F. Ioffe’s books on thermoelectricity was called the “Bible on Thermoelectricity.” Abram Fedorovich was a member of many academies of sciences: Gottingen (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). Twice he was awarded the USSR State Prize (1942, 1961 - posthumously) and was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor (1955).
Abram Fedorovich died on October 14, 1960, two weeks before his 80th birthday, and was buried on the Literary Bridge. The name of the outstanding physicist is immortalized not only in his deeds and the memory of grateful descendants, but also in the name of his favorite brainchild - the Physicotechnical Institute. A. B. Ioffe, in front of whose building there is a monument to his creator - “Papa Ioffe”.
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From the author's bookIoffe, the treaty with Estonia and the “kulaks” The sister of Commissar Tsyurupa arrived from Ufa. Stopped at the Kremlin. We talked on the phone, unfortunately, she knew nothing about my family. However, I managed to find a person to whom I left several thousand francs and dollars for my
So. He told a lot about his father. True, my stories consist of myths and legends, but... there are many dark spots for me. as well as in stories from the other side.
I was born in an old Moscow house, which still stands on Bolshaya Ordynka. The manager of that house, a well-known house among the bohemians of those times as the “House of Viktor Ardov,” was the father of my grandmother Sofia Arkadyevna Ioffe, my mother’s mother. Unfortunately, I did not know my grandmother; she died at the age of thirty-four from radiation sickness. I don’t know the details about her work with radioactive isotopes, I only know that she received a state prize for it, which my great-grandfather, my grandmother’s father, refused to receive with the words about his daughter being killed by “them.”
In general, my family suffered greatly during Stalin’s timelessness. My great-grandmother, the wife of Arkady Ioffe, awarded a diploma in 1938 as the best medical worker in Moscow, was arrested in nineteen fifty-two - as the sister of an enemy of the people. The writer Samuil Persov was declared an enemy of the people. A well-known writer in the Yiddish language in those years, during the war he was one of the active participants in the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee, Mikhoels’s deputy, and was shot in nineteen fifty-two. Rakhil Davydovna was released only three years after Stalin’s death. She returned from prison just in time for the death of her daughter - my mother's mother. In addition to Sonya, Arkady and Rakhil Davydovna had another son. His fate was more successful. Leonid Arkadyevich Ioffe. A well-known doctor who began his career as a sports doctor. His dissertation was on the effects of limited mobility on circulation. But this is a PhD dissertation. Subsequently, Leonid Arkadyevich will study the effect of weightlessness on the body and on cardiac activity. Childhood L.A. was quite carefree for those times, together with his friend Alexei Batalov they jumped from the third floor down. It was not very dangerous then, since the grass grew there regularly in those days. Having become a famous doctor in sports and other circles, Leonid Arkadyevich was even honored with a mention in the song of Vladimir Vysotsky, whom he met in the 70s. He told me this story himself, as well as many other stories. At that time, despite all that, he was a terribly anti-Soviet person. And at the first opportunity that arose, he left for Italy under a contract. There, however, the work soon ended and he and his wife, who fell ill and died there from cancer, burned under the scorching Italian sun for six months, taught Russian. The last time I saw Leonid Arkadvich was in 1994, before he left for Germany. There he is, as I understand from a few publications, where he lives now. Next calendar year he will be eighty years old...
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 Scientific and Technical Council of the PSU under the Council of Ministers of the USSR. Hero of Socialist Labor (1955), laureate 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, Faivish (Fyodor Vasilyevich) Ioffe. In 1888-1897 he studied at the Romny real school. Upon graduation, he moved to St. Petersburg and entered the St. Petersburg Technological Institute, from which he graduated in 1902.
In 1903 he went to Munich to see the first Nobel Prize laureate in physics V.K. Roentgen, the best, according to St. Petersburg professors, experimental physicist, to gain experience in setting up an experiment to test the resonance theory of smell and the sense of smell created by Ioffe during his years at school. At first he worked as an intern, living on his own, then got a job as an assistant. During the years of work in 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. Works by A.F. Ioffe's studies on the mechanical and electrical properties of crystals, carried out in the Munich years, were systematic. In the process of conducting them, using the example of crystalline quartz, he studied and correctly explained the effect of elastic aftereffect.
A.F. studied the electrical properties of quartz and the influence of X-rays, ultraviolet and natural light on the conductivity of crystals. Ioffe to the discovery of the internal photoelectric effect, clarification of the limits of applicability of Ohm's law to describe the passage of current through a crystal, and the study of peculiar phenomena occurring in the near-electrode regions. All of these works by Ioffe secured his reputation as a physicist who thought deeply about the mechanisms of the processes he studied and carried out experiments with exceptional precision that expanded the understanding of atomic-electronic phenomena in solids.
After brilliantly defending his doctoral dissertation at the University of Munich in 1905, A.F. Ioffe refuses the flattering offer of his teacher Roentgen to stay in Munich to continue joint research and teaching work 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 electronic charge, and 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 (oil droplets in Millikan’s experiment) were balanced in the electric and gravitational fields. However, Ioffe published this work in 1913, and Millikan published his result a little earlier, so in world literature the experiment received his name.
Ioffe's first work, which formed 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 flow of electrons, and proved the statistical nature of the emission of electrons during the external photoelectric effect.
In 1913, after defending his master's thesis, A.F. Joffe became an extraordinary professor.
In 1914, for his research, the Russian Academy of Sciences awarded A.F. Ioffe Prize named after S.A. Ivanova.
To the most important cycles of research by A.F. Ioffe needs to add two more: one of them is the scientist’s theoretical work on thermal radiation, in which the classical research of M. Planck was further developed. Another work was also carried out by him in the physical laboratory of the Polytechnic Institute in collaboration with the teacher of this institute M.V. Milovidova-Kirpicheva. The work investigated the electrical conductivity of ionic crystals. The results of research on the electrical conductivity of ionic crystals were subsequently, after the end of the First World War, brilliantly reported by A.F. Ioffe at the Solvay Congress in 1924, 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 Physical-Chemical 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 the research begun 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 methods for increasing it.
Ioffe's next extensive research was a continuation of his work done in the Roentgen 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 an invariable desire to reduce all observed effects into a single harmonious scheme - traits inherent in all students of Ioffe’s 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, where he became a professor in 1915, but also at the city-famous 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 in physics at the Polytechnic Institute. It was during these years that A.F. Ioffe, first a participant and then the leader of the seminar, developed that remarkable style of conducting such meetings, which created him well-deserved fame and characterized him as the head of the school.
Ioffe's seminar at the Polytechnic Institute is rightfully considered the most important center of crystalline physics. His broad outlook and ability to foresight, his outstanding talent as a scientist and organizer gave Ioffe the opportunity to train a large group of physicists and show the importance of physics for technology and the national economy. The seminar participants were young scientists from the Polytechnic Institute and University, who soon became Ioffe’s closest associates in organizing the Physico-Technical Institute (1918) and, more broadly, Soviet physics in general. Famous Soviet physicists came out of Ioffe’s school, many of whom themselves 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 X-ray and Radiological Institute in Petrograd, reorganized in 1921 into the Physical and Technical Institute, which was headed by A.F. for more than three decades. 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 Physicotechnical Institute A.F. Ioffe is credited with organizing a new type of faculty at the Polytechnic Institute in 1919: physical-mechanical, of which he was also dean for more than 30 years. The faculty became the prototype of 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), and the Institute of Chemical Physics of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
A.F. Ioffe’s scientific work 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 at the Physicotechnical Institute in 1920-1940, Ioffe’s name 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 employees.”
In 1924-1930 A.F. Ioffe is the chairman of the All-Russian Association of Physicists. Since 1925 - full member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, in 1927-1929 and 1942-1945. - Vice-President of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
Another area of research where Ioffe obtained important results is crystal physics. In 1916-1923 he studied the mechanism of conductivity of ionic crystals, and in 1924 - their strength and ductility. Together with P.S. Ehrenfest discovered the “quantum” nature of shifts, which received a theoretical explanation only in the 1950s, and also discovered the phenomenon of “hardening” of the material (Ioffe effect) - “healing” of surface cracks. Ioffe summarized his work on problems of solid state physics in the famous book “Physics of Crystals,” written based on the lectures he gave in 1927 during a long business 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 topic. One of the main areas was nuclear physics. A.F. Ioffe, observing the rapid rise of this field of physics, quickly appreciated its future role in the further progress of science and technology. Therefore, since the end of 1932, nuclear physics has firmly entered the scope of work at the Physicotechnical Institute.
A.F.’s own scientific work Ioffe focused on the problem of semiconductor physics from the early 1930s, 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 theory of the tunnel effect, which was developed 40 years later when describing tunnel 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 photoelectric generators (in particular, silicon solar energy converters - “solar batteries”) . These studies laid the foundation for entire directions in semiconductor physics, which were successfully developed in subsequent years by his students.
For research in the field of semiconductors in 1942 A.F. Joffe was awarded the Stalin Prize.
Ioffe and his students created a classification system for semiconductor materials and developed a method for determining their basic properties. The study of the thermoelectric properties of semiconductors served as 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 throughout the world to solve a number of problems in radio electronics, instrument making, space biology, etc.
At the beginning of the Patriotic War A.F. Ioffe became chairman of the Commission on Military Equipment and participated in the construction of radar installations in Leningrad. In 1942, during the evacuation to Kazan, he was appointed chairman of the Naval and Military Engineering Commissions.
Maximum approximation to practice of the results achieved in fundamental areas of knowledge, the widest dissemination of this knowledge - such was the desire 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 these studies -. By the way, it was A.F. Ioffe contributed to the reorientation in the early 30s from ferroelectric to nuclear problems and fully supported this work, which created the conditions for solving the nuclear problem in the Soviet Union as soon as possible.
As part of the work on the Soviet atomic project, on August 20, 1945, I.V. Stalin signs the Decree on the creation of a body to manage uranium work - the Special Committee under the State Defense Committee of the USSR. By the same decree, a Technical Council of 10 people was created under the Special Committee for the direct management of research... and industrial enterprises for the use of intra-atomic energy of uranium and the production of atomic bombs, which included A.F. Ioffe. In the Technical Council, he headed the commission on the electromagnetic separation of uranium-235.
In December 1950, during the campaign to “fight cosmopolitanism,” A.F. Ioffe was removed from the post of director and removed from the scientific council of the institute. In 1952-1955. headed the laboratory of semiconductors of the USSR Academy of Sciences. In 1954, on the basis of the laboratory, the Institute of Semiconductors of the USSR Academy of Sciences was organized, which Academician Ioffe led until the end of his life.
By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated 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 Gottingen (1924), Berlin (1928) Academy of Sciences. Honorary member of the American Academy of Sciences and Arts 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 doctorates from the University of California (1928), the 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 to be the creation of the Soviet school of physicists, from which many major Soviet scientists emerged. According to the variety of problems that in 1920-1930. Its representatives were engaged in their large numbers, the results obtained by this school and its head, it is perhaps the largest physics school formed in the 20th century.
In many ways, the successes of Ioffe's school were predetermined by the personal qualities of the scientist, 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 emerging at that time, and his flair for the 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 on the Literatorskie Mostki of the Volkov Cemetery in Leningrad (St. Petersburg). At his grave there is a monument by M.K. Anikushina.
In November 1960, the name A.F. Ioffe was assigned to the Physico-Technical Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences. A bust of A.F. was installed in front of the institute in 1964. Ioffe, memorial plaques are installed on the buildings where he worked. Also, a memorial plaque was installed on the building of the former real school in the city of Romny, where A.F. studied. Ioffe. In 2005, in commemoration of the 125th anniversary of the birth of A.F. Ioffe, an international scientific seminar “past, present and future of thermoelectrics” was held at this school. In 1988, a research vessel of the USSR Academy of Sciences was named in his honor. A small planet, a crater on the Moon, a square in St. Petersburg, and streets in Adlershof (Germany) and Romny (Ukraine) are named after him.
Literature
Frenkel V.Ya. Abram Fedorovich Ioffe (Biographical sketch)
// UFN, 1980, vol. 132, issue. 9. - pp. 11-45
The contribution of Academician A.F. Ioffe to the development of nuclear physics in the USSR: [Collection]
/ USSR Academy of Sciences, Phys.-Techn. Institute named after A.F. Ioffe, Leningrad. Department of Arch. Academy of Sciences of the USSR. - L.: Science: Leningrad. department, 1980 - 39 p.
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 men's real school, which he entered. In 1902 he graduated from the St. Petersburg Institute of Technology and in 1905 from 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 physical 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, prove the granular nature of the electronic charge, and determine the magnetic field of cathode rays (master's thesis, St. Petersburg University, 1913). Along with this, A.F. Ioffe continued and generalized in his doctoral dissertation (Petrograd University, 1915) the research 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 the 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, where he became a professor in 1915, but also at the city-famous 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 - head of the physical and technical department of the State University, organized at his suggestion. X-ray and Radiological Institute in Petrograd, and then until 1951 - 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: physical and mechanical, of which he was also the 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 always headed, although the topics of his research, as well as the name, underwent changes. In the 1920s, the main direction of work was the study of the mechanical and electronic properties of solids.
The beginning of the 1930s was marked by the transition of the Physicotechnical Institute to new topics. The main focus was nuclear physics. A.F. Ioffe dealt with it directly. Since the beginning of the 30s, A.F.’s own scientific work. 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 in 1929, Physicotechnical Institutes were created in large industrial cities (Kharkov, Dnepropetrovsk, Sverdlovsk, Tomsk), and the Institute of Chemical Physics of the USSR Academy of Sciences. During the war, Ioffe took part in the construction of radar installations in Leningrad, and during the evacuation to Kazan he was the chairman of the Naval and Military Engineering Commissions. In 1952–1955 he headed the laboratory of semiconductors of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
In 1950 A.F. Ioffe developed a theory on the basis of which requirements were formulated for semiconductor materials used in thermo-batteries 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 marked 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) were very popular; he wrote the 1st volume of the Course of Physics - Basic Concepts from the Field of Mechanics. Properties of thermal energy. 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 took place on the principles of constructing a physics course for technical universities; One of the results of these heated discussions was the publication of a wonderful course on general physics by G.S. Landsberg. Ioffe was a member of many academies of sciences: Gottingen (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).
Date of Birth: |
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Place of Birth: |
Romny, Poltava Governorate, Russian Empire |
Date of death: |
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A place of death: |
Leningrad, USSR |
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Scientific field: |
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Place of work: |
Petrograd, then Leningrad, Polytechnic Institute, Leningrad Institute of Physics and Technology (founder and director), Agrophysical Institute (founder) |
Alma mater: |
Institute of Technology, University of Munich |
Scientific adviser: |
V. K. Roentgen |
Notable students: |
P. L. Kapitsa, N. N. Semenov, A. P. Alexandrov, Ya. B. Zeldovich, B. P. Konstantinov, I. V. Kurchatov, Yu. B. Khariton |
Known as: |
Physicist, organizer of science, creator of the Soviet physics school (“father of Soviet physics”) |
Awards and prizes: |
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Awards and titles
In popular culture
Addresses in St. Petersburg
(October 17 (29), 1880, Romny, Poltava province - October 14, 1960, Leningrad) - Russian and Soviet physicist, organizer of science, usually called the “father of Soviet physics”, academician (1920), vice-president of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1942-1945 ), the creator of a scientific school that produced many outstanding Soviet physicists, such as A. Alexandrov, M. Bronstein, J. Dorfman, P. Kapitsa, I. Kikoin, B. Konstantinov, I. Kurchatov, N. Semenov, J. Frenkel and other.
Biography
Born in 1880 in the family of a merchant of the second guild, Faivish (Fyodor Vasilyevich) Ioffe, and housewife Rachel Abramovna Weinstein. He received his secondary education at a real school in the city of Romny, Poltava province (1889-1897), where he established friendly relations with Stepan Timoshenko, with whom he maintained contact into adulthood.
1902 - graduated from the St. Petersburg Technological Institute. 1905 - graduated from the University of Munich in Germany, where he worked under the guidance of V. K. Roentgen and received a Ph.D.
From 1906 he worked at the Polytechnic Institute, where in 1918 he organized the Faculty of Physics and Mechanics to train physics engineers. In 1911 he accepted Lutheranism to marry a non-Jewish woman. Professor since 1913.
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 (in Millikan’s experiment, oil droplets). However, Ioffe published this work in 1913 (Milliken published his result a little earlier, so the experiment received his name in world literature).
From 1913 to 1915 he lectured at the Courses of P. F. Lesgaft.
In 1913 he defended his master's thesis 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 physical and technical department at the State Radiological and Radiological Institute, being also the President of this institute (the director was Professor M.I. Nemenov). In 1921 he became director of the Physico-Technical Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences, created on the basis of the department and 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, from 1932 - Director of the Agrophysical Institute.
Abram Ioffe is one of the initiators of the creation of the House of Scientists in Leningrad (1934). At the beginning of the Patriotic War, he was appointed chairman of the Commission on Military Equipment, and in 1942 - chairman of the military and military engineering commission under the Leningrad City Party Committee.
In December 1950, during the campaign to “fight cosmopolitanism,” Ioffe was removed from the post of director and removed from the Academic Council of the institute. In 1952 he headed the laboratory of semiconductors of the USSR Academy of Sciences. In 1954, the Institute of Semiconductors of the USSR Academy of Sciences was organized on the basis of the laboratory.
Author of works on experimental substantiation of the theory of light (1909-1913), solid state physics, dielectrics and semiconductors. Ioffe was the editor of many scientific journals, the author of a number of monographs, textbooks and popular books, including “Basic Concepts of Modern Physics” (1949), “Physics of Semiconductors” (1957) and others.
The greatest merit of A.F. Ioffe is the founder of a unique physical school. The first stage of this activity was the organization in 1916 of a seminar on physics. Ioffe invited young scientists from the Polytechnic Institute and St. Petersburg University to participate in his seminar, who soon became his closest associates in organizing the Physico-Technical Institute. On Ioffe's initiative, starting in 1929, physical and technical institutes were created in large industrial cities: Kharkov, Dnepropetrovsk, Sverdlovsk and Tomsk. Behind his back, both students and other colleagues called Abram Fedorovich “Papa Joffe” with love and respect.
Under the leadership of A.F. Ioffe, future Nobel laureates P.L. began their scientific careers. Kapitsa, N.N. Semenov, L.D. Landau, the greatest scientists A.P. worked. Alexandrov, A.I. Alikhanov, L.A. Artsimovich, M.P. Bronstein, Ya.G. Dorfman, Ya.B. Zeldovich, I.K. Kikoin, B.P. Konstantinov, I.V. Kurchatov, I.E. Tamm (also a future Nobel Prize laureate), Ya.I. Frenkel, Yu.B. Khariton and many others.
A.F. Ioffe died in his office on October 14, 1960. He was buried on the Literary Bridge of the Volkov Cemetery; a monument by M. K. Anikushin was erected on his grave.
Awards and titles
- Hero of Socialist Labor (1955).
- Honored Scientist of the RSFSR (1933), laureate of the Stalin Prize (1942), Lenin Prize (posthumously, 1961).
- 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).
Memory
- The Ioffe crater on the Moon and the research vessel “Akademik Ioffe” were named in honor of A.F. Ioffe.
- 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 monument to A.F. Ioffe was erected in front of the Physicotechnical Institute building. The same bust is installed in the Great Assembly Hall of the Physicotechnical Institute. A. F. Ioffe.
- Memorial plaques are installed on the buildings where Abram Ioffe worked.
- A street in Adlershof (German) bears the name of A.F. Ioffe. Abram-Joffe Straße).
- October 30, 2001, the area between the main buildings of the Physicotechnical Institute named after. A.F. Ioffe and the Polytechnic University, from which Kurchatov Street begins, were given the name Academician Ioffe Square.
In popular culture
The name of Academician Ioffe is known to the broad masses of ordinary workers thanks to V. S. Vysotsky’s song “Morning Gymnastics”:
Addresses in St. Petersburg
- Politekhnicheskaya st., building 26 - Main building of the Physicotechnical Institute named after. A.F. Ioffe, which A.F. Ioffe led until 1950 and where he lived until 1953.
- Kamennoostrovsky prospect, building 47, apt. No. 18 (1953-1956).
- Kutuzov embankment (1956-1960).
