Alexei Abrikosov (physicist)
Alexei Alexeyevich Abrikosov (Russian: Алексе́й Алексе́евич Абрико́сов; June 25, 1928 – March 29, 2017[4][5]) was a Soviet, Russian and American[6] theoretical physicist whose main contributions are in the field of condensed matter physics. He was the co-recipient of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Physics, with Vitaly Ginzburg and Anthony James Leggett, for theories about how matter can behave at extremely low temperatures.[6][7][8]
For his father, physician, see Alexei Ivanovich Abrikosov.
Alexei Abrikosov
June 25, 1928
March 29, 2017 (aged 88)
- Soviet Union (1928–1991)
- Russia (since 1992)
- United States (since 1999)
3
- Lenin Prize (1966)
- Fritz London Prize (1972)
- USSR State Prize (1982)
- Landau Gold Medal (1989)
- Member of the National Academy of Sciences (2000)[1]
- ForMemRS (2001)[2]
- Nobel Prize in Physics (2003)
Lev. D Landau[3]
Career[edit]
From 1965 to 1988, he worked at the Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics (USSR Academy of Sciences). He has been a professor at Moscow State University since 1965. In addition, he held tenure at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology from 1972 to 1976, and at the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys from 1976 to 1991. He served as a full member of the USSR Academy of Sciences from 1987 to 1991. In 1991, he became a full member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
In two works in 1952 and 1957, Abrikosov explained how magnetic flux can penetrate a class of superconductors. This class of materials are called type-II superconductors. The accompanying arrangement of magnetic flux lines is called the Abrikosov vortex lattice.
Together with Lev Gor'kov and Igor Dzyaloshinskii, Abrikosov has written an iconic book on theoretical solid-state physics, which has been used to train physicists in the field for decades.
From 1991 until his retirement, he worked at Argonne National Laboratory in the U.S. state of Illinois. Abrikosov was an Argonne Distinguished Scientist at the Condensed Matter Theory Group in Argonne's Materials Science Division. When he received the Nobel Prize, his research was focused on the origins of magnetoresistance, a property of some materials that change their resistance to electrical flow under the influence of a magnetic field.[11][12][13][14][15]
Personal life[edit]
Abrikosov was the son of the physicians Alexei Ivanovich Abrikosov (1875-1955) and his second wife, Fania Davidovna Woolf (1895—1965). Through his father, Abrikosov was the nephew of the martyred Catholic nun Anna Abrikosova (1882-1936).
His sister was Maria Alekseevna Abrikósova (1929-1998), physician.
He married Svetlana Yuriyevna Bunkova and had 3 children.[6][3]
He died in California on 29 March 2017 at the age of 88.
