Abram Fedorovich Ioffe was born on October 29, 1880 in the city of Romny, Poltava province, in the family of a merchant of the second guild Fayvish (Fyodor Vasilyevich) Ioffe and housewife Rasheli Abramovna Weinstein. He received his secondary education in a real school (1889-1897), where he met Stepan Timoshenko, the father of continuum mechanics, with whom he maintained friendly relations even in adulthood.
In 1902, A. F. 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 a Ph.D.
Since 1906, Abram Fedorovich worked at the Polytechnic Institute, in 1918 he organized the Faculty of Physics and Mechanics to train physicists. In 1911, Joffe converted to Lutheranism in order to marry a non-Jewish woman.
In 1911Ioffedetermined the charge of the electron, using the same idea as Millikan: charged metal particles (in Millikan's experiment, oil droplets) were balanced in electric and gravitational fields. However, Ioffe published this work in 1913 (Milliken published his result a little earlier, so the experiment was named after him in the world literature).
In 1913, Abram Fedorovich Ioffe defended his master's and in 1915 his doctoral dissertations in physics. From 1918 he was a corresponding member, and from 1920 a full member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
In 1918 he created and headed the Physics and Technology Department at the State X-ray and Radiological Institute, being also the President of this Institute (Professor Nemenov was the director). AT 1921 Ioffebecame 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 he was the chairman of the Scientific and Technical Committee of the Petrograd industry, in 1924-1930 he was the chairman of the All-Russian Association of Physicists, since 1932 he was the director of the Agrophysical Institute.
Ioffe's seminar always met on Thursdays in the building of the Polytechnic. We started at 7, finished at 11, so as to catch the last tram, the famous "twenty-first number" from Lesnoy to the city, famous in all student songs.
The participants of the seminar: Kapitsa, Lukirsky, Semyonov, Frenkel, Dorfman... at that time not yet academics, not professors, but just students and junior lecturers - they discussed all the most interesting things that appeared in science.
Scientific seminar Ioffe. Photographs were taken after the meeting: Frenkel, Semyonov, Yushchenko, Ioffe, Schmidt, Beaver, Nestrukh, Dobronravov. Kapitsa is standing next to him Lukirsky, Milovidova-Kirpicheva and Dorfman, the same Yakov Grigoryevich 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 of World War II, 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, A. F. Ioffe, in turn, took part in the fate of the Faculty of Physics of Moscow State University. On his behalf, a letter was written to Molotov by four academicians, which initiated the resolution of the confrontation between the so-called "academic" and "university" physics.
In December 1950, during the campaign to "fight against cosmopolitanism", Ioffe was removed from the post of director and removed from the Institute's Academic Council. In 1952 he headed the Laboratory of Semiconductors of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. 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 recruit young talents, as well as his ability to promote science among the reading public.Abram Fedorovichcaptivated his interlocutors with dreams about the future of technology. Some of her achievements, which Ioffe seemed easy and doable, still largely remain dreams, and something came true unexpectedly quickly for him.
Below are excerpts from a conversation with A. F. Ioffe, published in No. 5 "Around the World" for 1931.
"Journey to the Future"
Editor: What are the main problems of the technology of tomorrow and the technology of the distant future?
A. F. Ioffe: One of the main issues of technology is energy. With the help of what sources of energy can humanity solve the energy problem in the future? Undoubtedly, solar energy, which is constantly coming to us, should play a big role... Now only that which falls on deserts and seas can be considered free solar energy. Most of the usable land is used for vegetable raw materials. Is it correct?
Wrong for the future. Plants, it is true, use solar energy, but human technology will soon overtake living nature in this respect. Plants use 6% of the energy of sunlight falling on them, while chemical and photochemical equipment can use solar energy in much higher limits - up to 92-95%. This ratio shows that plants are unlikely to stay on the Earth when our technology reaches the corresponding successes.
Bread or artificial food
One must think that the main food product - bread - will eventually play the role of a flavoring substance, 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, the fertility of the soil will make it possible to go extremely far forward. The area occupied by the cultivation of 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 fields.
third dimension
Editor: What are the ways of air transport?
A. F. Ioffe: Speaking about the future, of course, we cannot ignore the issues of air transport. The whole problem of flying is connected with 1908. Since this year, humanity has flown, moved 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, reached such a limit that it made it possible to fly. A bird flies because there is a certain ratio between its weight and the power of its wings. The lightest engine is an electric motor with a fairly light source of electricity. If this problem were completely solved, then with the help of such light batteries, all aeronautics would be used much more widely. If a galvanic cell were charged by the sun or some other form of energy, and this cell were lighter than lead, so that the weight of the accumulator plus the weight of the electric motor became sufficiently small, then we would switch to electric control, which greatly facilitates the whole matter. For the distant, not even excessively distant future, I imagine just such a solution to the problem. Then the person will fly like a bird, almost sitting in an armchair. It is necessary to come up with a very powerful small battery, relatively light, and then a person can fly right out of the window or out of the door.
On the air 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 fairly short period of development of our technology, full automaticity will be achieved. The control of an aircraft can and must be completely automated. On the spot, you can set the entire path to the device. A person will not need to worry about the airplane turning over. To this it must be added that it is much easier to move in the air than on the ground, since in the air we can avoid crossing paths, which in 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 fly like that, the airplane will do the work itself. Perhaps something else. The source of energy is on the ground, the control comes from the ground, you have only regulating devices.
intraatomic energy
Editor: Are there other sources of energy that we do not use at all?
A. F. 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 its graveyard. The atom is a sign of what huge 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, you get a helium atom - and then a huge amount of energy will be released. If we were able to convert hydrogen into helium in this way, it would be a great source of energy.
Links
- About Ioff on the portal of the Russian Academy of Sciences
The greatest merit of Ioffe is the founder of a unique physical school, which made it possible to bring Soviet physics to the world level. On Ioffe's initiative, beginning in 1929, institutes of physics and technology were set up in large industrial cities: Kharkov, Dnepropetrovsk, Sverdlovsk, and Tomsk. Behind the eyes, both students and other colleagues called Abram Fedorovich “Papa Ioffe” with love and respect.
Under the guidance of A.F. Ioffe, the future Nobel laureates Kapitsa began their scientific activities, the largest scientists Aleksandrov, Alikhanov, Artsimovich, Bronstein, Dorfman, Zeldovich, Kikoin, Konstantinov, Kurchatov, Tamm (also a future Nobel Prize winner), Frenkel, Khariton and a lot others.
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 he was a member of the Technical Council under the Special Committee and a member of the NTS PGU under the Council of Ministers of the USSR. Hero of Socialist Labor (1955), laureate of the Lenin (1961, posthumously) and State (1942) Prizes of the USSR.
Abram Fedorovich Ioffe was born on October 17 (29), 1880 in the city of Romny (now the Sumy region, Ukraine) in the family of a merchant of the second guild Faivish (Fedor Vasilyevich) Ioffe. In 1888-1897 he studied at the Romny real school. Upon graduation, he moved to St. Petersburg and entered the St. Petersburg Institute of Technology, 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 St. Petersburg professors, experimental physicist, to gain experience in setting up an experiment to test Ioffe created back in the years of study at the school of the resonant theory of smell and sense of smell. At first he worked as an intern, living on his own means, then he got a job as an assistant. During the years of work in the X-ray laboratory, A.F. Ioffe carried out a number of major studies. Among them is a precision experiment to determine the "energy power" of radium. Works by A.F. Ioffe on the mechanical and electrical properties of crystals, carried out 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.
A.F. Ioffe to the discovery of the internal photoelectric effect, elucidation of the limits of applicability of Ohm's law for describing the passage of current through a crystal, and the study of peculiar phenomena that take place in the near-electrode regions. All these works by Ioffe secured his reputation as a physicist who thought deeply into the mechanisms of the processes he studied and carried out experiments with exceptional accuracy that expanded 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 refuses the flattering offer of his teacher Roentgen to stay in Munich to continue joint research and teaching and returns to Russia.
Since 1906 A.F. Ioffe began work as a senior laboratory assistant at the St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute. In the physical laboratory of the Institute 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 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 were balanced in electric and gravitational fields (oil droplets in Millikan's experiment). However, Ioffe published this work in 1913, and Millikan published his result a little earlier, so the experiment was named after him in the world literature.
Ioffe's first work, which was 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 during an external photoelectric effect.
In 1913, after defending his master's thesis, A.F. Ioffe became an extraordinary professor.
In 1914, the Russian Academy of Sciences awarded A.F. Ioffe Prize named after S.A. Ivanova.
To the most important research cycles of A.F. Ioffe needs to add two more: one of them is the scientist's theoretical work on thermal radiation, in which the classical studies of M. Planck were further developed. Other 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-Kirpichova. In this work, the electrical conductivity of ionic crystals was studied. The results of studies on the electrical conductivity of ionic crystals were later, after the end of the First World War, brilliantly reported by A.F. Ioffe at the Solvay Congress in 1924, provoked a lively discussion among its famous participants, and received their full recognition.
At the same time, he became an active member of the Department of Physics of the Russian Physical and 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 ways to increase it.
Ioffe's next extensive study was a continuation of his work done 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 an invariable desire to reduce all the observed effects into a single coherent scheme - features inherent in all students of the Ioffe school. After defending his doctoral dissertation (Petrograd University, 1915) A.F. Ioffe becomes a professor in the department of general physics.
Along with intensive research work, A.F. Ioffe devoted a lot of time and energy to teaching. He lectured not only at the Polytechnic Institute, of which he became a professor in 1915, but also at 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 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 wonderful style of conducting such meetings, which created him a well-deserved fame and characterized him as the head of the school.
The Ioffe seminar at the Polytechnical Institute is rightfully considered the most important center of crystal physics. A broad outlook and ability to foresee, an outstanding talent as a scientist and organizer gave Ioffe the opportunity to educate a large detachment of physicists, to show the importance of physics for technology and the national economy. The participants in the seminar were young scientists from the Polytechnic Institute and the University, who soon became Ioffe's closest associates in organizing the Physico-Technical Institute (1918) and, more broadly, Soviet physics as a whole. Well-known Soviet physicists came out of the Ioffe 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.
At 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 Physical and Technical 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 FTI, A.F. Ioffe is credited with the organization in 1919 at the Polytechnic Institute of a new type of faculty: physical and 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 from 1929, the Institutes of Physics and Technology were established 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 that came out of the walls of 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 exceptional scientific generosity of the scientist corresponded to his moral principles and was a component of "the art of leading young employees."
In 1924-1930. A.F. Ioffe - Chairman of the All-Russian Association of Physicists. Since 1925 - full member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, in 1927-1929 and 1942-1945. - Vice-President of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR.
Another area of research in which Ioffe obtained important results is 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 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 the problems of solid state physics in the well-known book "Physics of Crystals", written on the basis of lectures given by him 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 subject. One of the main directions 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 subject of the work of the Physicotechnical Institute.
Own scientific work of A.F. Ioffe focused on the problem of semiconductor physics from the beginning of the 1930s, and his laboratory at the Physicotechnical Institute became the Laboratory of Semiconductors. The first work in this area was carried out by Ioffe himself together with Ya.I. Frenkel and dealt with the analysis of contact phenomena at the metal-semiconductor interface. They explained the rectifying property of such a contact in the framework of the tunnel effect theory, which was developed 40 years later when describing tunnel effects in diodes. Work on the photoelectric effect in semiconductors led Ioffe to the 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 solar energy converters - "solar batteries") . These investigations laid the foundation for entire trends in semiconductor physics, 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 the 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 throughout 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 chairman of the Commission on military equipment, 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.
The maximum approximation to practice of the results achieved in the fundamental areas of knowledge, the widest dissemination of this knowledge - such was the desire of A.F. Ioffe. Especially bright was his initiative in the creation of the famous Laboratory No. 2 (Institute of Atomic Energy, National Research Center "Kurchatov Institute"). No less important was the proposal of A.F. Ioffe to 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 1930s from ferroelectric to nuclear problems and supported this work in every possible way, 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 for managing work on uranium - a 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, 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 against 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 Academy of Sciences of the USSR. 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 a 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), the Lenin Prize (posthumously, 1961). Honored Scientist of the RSFSR (1933). Corresponding member of the Goettingen (1924), Berlin (1928) Academy of Sciences. Honorary Member of the American Academy of Sciences and Arts in Boston (1958), German Academy of Sciences "Leopoldina" (1958), 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 the creation of the Soviet school of physicists, from which many prominent Soviet scientists came out. According to the variety of problems that in the 1920-1930s. its representatives, its large number, the results obtained by this school and its head, it is perhaps the largest physical school that was formed in the 20th century.
In many ways, the success of the Ioffe school was predetermined by the personal qualities of the scientist, his great talent as an experimental physicist, his outstanding organizational skills, his ability to quickly and accurately navigate the complex problems of the new physics that was being born at that time, and his flair for the new. These qualities attracted to him numerous students 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 the Literary bridges of the Volkovsky cemetery in Leningrad (St. Petersburg). On his grave there is a monument by M.K. Anikushin.
In November 1960, the name of A.F. Ioffe was awarded to the Physico-Technical Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences. A bust of A.F. was installed in front of the institute building in 1964. Ioffe, memorial plaques were 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. Ioffe. In 2005, in commemoration of the 125th anniversary of the birth of A.F. Ioffe, an international scientific seminar "the past, present and future of thermoelectrics" was held at this school. In 1988, a research ship of the USSR Academy of Sciences was named in his honor. A small 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, v. 132, issue. 9. - S. 11-45
The contribution of Academician A.F. Ioffe to the development of nuclear physics in the USSR: [Collection]
/ Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Fiz.-tekhn. in-t im. A. F. Ioffe, Leningrad. department of Arch. Academy of Sciences of the USSR. - L .: Science: Leningrad. department, 1980 - 39 p.
Ioffe Abram Fedorovich (1880-1960), Russian physicist and organizer of science. Born October 29, 1880 in the city of Romny, Poltava province in the family of a merchant of the 2nd guild. He graduated from the Romny real school (1897), then the St. Petersburg Institute of Technology (1902).
In 1903 he went to Munich to Roentgen, the best experimental physicist, according to the recall of St. Petersburg professors, to gain experience in setting up an experiment to test Ioffe created back in his years of study at the school of the resonant theory of smell and sense of smell. At first he worked as an intern, living on his own means, then he got a job as an assistant. In 1906, having rejected Roentgen's flattering offer to stay in Munich, he returned to Russia. He was enrolled as a senior laboratory assistant at the Polytechnic Institute, in 1913, after defending his master's thesis, he became an extraordinary professor, and in 1915, having defended his doctoral dissertation, he became a professor in the department of general physics. At the same time, he lectured at the Mining Institute and at Lesgaft courses. In 1916 he organized his famous seminar on physics at the institute.
Scientific activity, the ability to observe, to look for new ways, to find ways out of the contradictions that one encounters in one's work or in the course of thought, is work that must be carried out continuously and begin, perhaps earlier. Training should not be divided sequentially into two periods, when only in the second period is it allowed to work actively, and in the first period such a number of facts and ready-made formulas are assimilated that you become incapable of independent creative work of the second period. It seems to me that assimilation and creative work should go in parallel, and independent creativity should begin as early as possible.
Ioffe Abram Fedorovich
Its participants were young scientists from the Polytechnic Institute and the University, who soon became Ioffe's closest associates in organizing the Physico-Technical Institute (1918) and, more broadly, Soviet physics as a whole. In 1918, Ioffe organized a department of physics and technology at the Roentgenological and Radiological Institute in Petrograd, in 1919 - a department of physics and mechanics at the Polytechnic Institute to train physicists who could solve problems important for industry, in 1932 - an Agrophysical Institute. On his initiative, beginning in 1929, physical and technical institutes were established in large industrial cities (Kharkov, Dnepropetrovsk, Sverdlovsk, Tomsk), and the Institute of Chemical Physics of the USSR Academy of Sciences. During the war, Ioffe participated in the construction of radar installations in Leningrad, during the evacuation in Kazan he was chairman of the Naval and Military Engineering Commissions. In 1952-1955 he headed the Laboratory of Semiconductors of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR.
Ioffe's first work, which was the subject of his master's thesis, was devoted to the elementary photoelectric effect and belonged to the same circle of classical studies as the work of J. Thomson and R. Milliken on the determination of the electron charge. 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 during an external photoelectric effect. Ioffe's next extensive study was a continuation of his work (1905) carried out in Roentgen's laboratory. It was devoted to the study of the elastic and electrical properties of quartz 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 the observed effects into a single coherent scheme - features inherent in all students of the Ioffe school.
Another area of research in which Ioffe obtained important results is 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, he discovered the “quantum” nature of shifts under a given load, which received a theoretical explanation only in the 1950s, and also discovered the phenomenon of material “hardening” (Ioffe effect) - “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 lectures given by him in 1927 during a long business trip to the USA.
In the early 1930s, at the initiative of Ioffe, systematic research began on new materials at that time - semiconductors. 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 in the framework of the tunnel effect theory, which was developed 40 years later when describing tunnel effects in diodes. Work on the photoelectric effect in semiconductors led Ioffe to the 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 solar energy converters - "solar batteries") . Ioffe and his students created a classification system for semiconductor materials, developed a method for determining their basic properties. The study of the 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 throughout the world to solve a number of problems in radio electronics, instrumentation, space biology, etc.
In many articles that came out of the walls of the Physicotechnical Institute in the 1920-1940s, Ioffe's name is not among the authors, although his contribution to them is visible to any specialist. The exceptional scientific generosity of the scientist corresponded to his moral principles and was a component of the “art to lead young employees”, about which his student, Nobel laureate N.N. Semenov wrote: “If you want the student to develop any new idea, do it quietly , trying as much as possible so that he, as it were, came to her, taking her for his own ... Do not get carried away by excessive guidance of students, give them the opportunity to take the initiative as much as possible, to cope with difficulties themselves. Among the students of A.F. Ioffe are such world-famous physicists as P.L. Kapitsa, L.D. Landau, I.V. Kurchatov, A.P. Aleksandrov, Yu.B. Khariton and many others.
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 Physics Course - 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 the leadership of Ioffe, there was a discussion of the principles for constructing a physics course for technical universities; 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 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).
Who is this song about?
If you are already tired
Sit down, sit up, sit down.
You are not afraid of the Arctic and Antarctic.
Chief Academician Ioffe
Proved 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 there is still a dispute about who the bard really meant by “the chief academician Ioffe”, in the late 1960s, when this song appeared, the listeners were sure that it was about the famous physicist Abram Fedorovich Ioffe.
Abram Ioffe. 1934 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, primarily physicists, became heroes of the era. The names of Soviet physicists, laureates of various prizes, including the Nobel Prize, thundered throughout the world.
This success and universal recognition would not have been possible without Abram Ioffe, who, during his lifetime, received the unofficial title of "the father of Soviet physics."
Knowledge is power
He was born on October 29, 1880 in the small town of Romny, Poltava province, in the family merchant of the second guild Fyodor Vasilyevich Ioffe and housewives Rasheli Abramovna Weinstein.
The Russian Empire in the last decades of its existence did not favor the Jews living 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 teaching as 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, the student Ioffe was always in good standing and after his graduation in 1902 he received recommendations for work in Germany, in the laboratory William Roentgen, the first in the history of the Nobel laureate in physics, who discovered the so-called X-radiation, now better known as X-rays.
returnee
In the laboratory of Roentgen, Ioffe worked until 1906, conducting the most important scientific experiments. Ioffe's work was 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 influence of X-rays, ultraviolet and natural light on the conductivity of crystals led Ioffe to the discovery of the internal photoelectric effect, the elucidation of the limits of applicability of Ohm's law to describe the passage of current through a crystal, and the study of peculiar phenomena that play out 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 flattery of the proposal of the Nobel laureate, Ioffe decided to return to Russia.
In 1906, Abram Ioffe held the position of senior laboratory assistant at the St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute. In the institute's physics laboratory, the scientist performs world-class work, such as confirming Einstein's quantum theory of the external photoelectric effect, proving the granular nature of the electronic charge, determining the magnetic field of cathode rays, and many others. Some of Ioffe's work 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 with 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, began 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 physical school, which in the second half of the 20th century would gain worldwide fame.
Seminar by A. F. Ioffe at the Polytechnic Institute. 1915 Seated (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, which was 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 would then be adopted by Ioffe's students, and later by physicists all over the world.
Ioffe was the real motor of the physics seminars. As the scientists who worked with him recalled, after each report, Ioffe briefly summarized its content, and he did it absolutely amazingly. He possessed an exceptional gift to instantly reveal and sum up the essence of any report, no matter how complex or well presented it was.
After summarizing the report, Abram Fedorovich usually focused the attention of the participants on the shortcomings of the presented article, on unsolved problems, and then a discussion of possible ways to solve these issues began. All participants of the seminar took part in the discussion on equal terms. Ioffe never exerted pressure, patiently listening to any objections and comments. A friendly, benevolent, thoughtful atmosphere always reigned at the seminar.
"Daddy" can do anything
Ioffe knew how to engage in scientific activities 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 a physico-technical department of the State X-ray and Radiological Institute, which three years later became an independent Physico-Technical Institute. Logically, Ioffe himself became the head of the institute, in 1920 he 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 activity under the leadership of Ioffe is huge. Among them Nobel laureates Pyotr Kapitsa and Nikolay Semyonov, father of Soviet atomic weapons Igor Kurchatov, famous atomic physicists Yakov Zel'dovich and Julius Khariton, one of the founders of nuclear energy and President of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR Anatoly Alexandrov and many, many others.
There was a young man among Ioffe's students who at a seminar once sarcastically threw in the academician's face: “Theoretical physics is a complex 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 used 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 personnel of the future that he was given the joking nickname Papa Ioffe.
Soviet physicists (from left to right): Abram Ioffe, Abram Alikhanov, Igor Kurchatov. Photo: RIA Novosti / Elanchuk
Winner of the Stalin Prize remembered "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.
Joffe 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 activity, Ioffe headed the Commission on military equipment.
Despite all the merits and authority, in 1950 Joffe became the victim of a campaign against cosmopolitanism. Apparently, the persecution of Ioffe was, as they say, "an initiative from below." In addition to those who treated Papa Joffe with respect and reverence, there were those who weaved intrigues, dreaming of career growth.
Ioffe was blamed for working in Germany at the beginning of the century, they said something about “Munich pubs”, in which the academician allegedly “forgot about his homeland”. Despite the absurdity of the accusations, he was removed from the post of director of the Leningrad Institute of Physics and Technology and removed from the Academic Council.
At a meeting of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. From right to left: A. Bach, A. Ioffe, E. Tarle, A. Orlov. January 28, 1939. Moscow. Photo: RIA Novosti / B. Vdovenko
Man with a big heart
Ioffe did not return 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 Ioffe new strength. The scientist, who was already well over 70, impressed the youth with incredible energy and efficiency. The number of Ioffe's publications in scientific journals, reflecting his scientific activity, increased dramatically during this period.
In 1955, Abram Fedorovich Ioffe was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor.
Ioffe was never a "cracker", in whose life there was nothing but science. He loved cheerful companies, he loved mountain walks, he loved picking berries in the forest. In most of his photographs, Academician Ioffe is depicted with a smile.
Physicists, academicians of the USSR Academy of Sciences Igor Kurchatov (left) and Abram Ioffe. Photo: RIA Novosti
And how can one call a “biscuit” a person who burned with a fiery love for his student, who was a quarter of a century younger than himself and only five years older than the daughter of an academician? This love ended with a wedding and many years of happy life.
And the daughter of the “father of Soviet physics”, Valentina, in her youth performed in the circus as a rider, and the proud academician took colleagues and students to watch her performances. Circus youth did not hurt Valentina Abramovna Ioffe subsequently become the head of the 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 about the anniversary last of all - 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 Institute of Physics and Technology, created by him, a crater on the Moon and a small planet. But here's an amazing thing: when mentioning Academician Ioffe, the first thing that pops up in the memory of the majority are the lines of Vladimir Vysotsky, which, probably, were not originally dedicated to physics.
But, of course, Abram Fedorovich Ioffe, with his whole life, earned the right to remain in the memory of his compatriots.
Abram Fedorovich Ioffe was born on October 17 (29), 1880 in the city of Romny, Poltava province, in the family of a merchant of the second guild. He graduated from the Romny real school, then - the St. Petersburg Institute of Technology (1902) and the University of Munich (Germany), where he received a Ph.D. Since 1906, he worked at the St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute, where 12 years later he organized the Faculty of Physics and Mechanics to train physicists. In 1913, Abram Fedorovich defended his master's thesis in physics and received the title of professor, and two years later - a doctorate. From 1918 he was a corresponding member, created the Physics and Technology Department at the State X-ray and Radiological Institute, in the same year he became president of this institute, from 1920 he was a full member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. A year later, he took the post of director of the Physico-Technical Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences, created on the basis of the above department. Since 1932 - director of the Agrophysical Institute. During the campaign "to combat cosmopolitanism" from December 1950, 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, and two years later, on its basis, he organized the Institute of Semiconductors of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Abram Fedorovich died in his office on October 14, 1960.
Abram Fedorovich Ioffe can rightfully be considered the founder of the Soviet physics school, which brought up many brilliant theoretical and experimental scientists. The list of Ioffe's students includes the flower of Soviet science: P. L. Kapitsa, L. D. Landau, I. V. Kurchatov and many others. Abram Fedorovich was not only a brilliant scientist, but also possessed remarkable organizational skills - he knew how to find and recruit young talents, promote science, and captivate colleagues with dreams about the future of technology.
The main achievements of Ioffe are related to the field of solid state physics. Back in Munich, working in the laboratory as an assistant to the physicist V.-K. Roentgen, Ioffe conducted a number of major studies that earned him a reputation as a scientist who deeply delved into the mechanisms of the processes under study and conducted experiments with exceptional accuracy.
The first work of Abram Fedorovich was devoted to the elementary photoelectric effect (1911). In it, he proved the existence of the electron independently of the rest of matter and determined the absolute value of its charge. The scientist exposed the smallest electrified metal dust particles to X-rays and an electric field. The conditions of the experiment were such that the electric field balanced the force of gravity and the dust particles remained in suspension. However, under the influence of X-rays, which knocked out part of the charge, the dust particles began to move, and in order to balance them, it was necessary to change the electric field strength. By changing the field parameters, the scientist could control the dust particles: transfer them to any point of the chamber, inform them of the lost charge, and observe the reverse movement. As a result of these studies, it was proved that the charge of dust particles changes in certain portions, and this confirms that the atom consists of charged particles with very specific charges. In addition, with the help of this experiment, Abram Fedorovich was able to calculate the specific charge of an elementary particle, balancing the gravity of a grain of dust with the help of an electric field. The resulting charge always turned out to be a multiple of a certain value - the charge of the electron.
The same experiment, independently of Joffe, was carried out by Robert Milliken (1912). But instead of a metal speck, he used a drop of oil. However, Millikan's publication came out earlier than the press release about Ioffe's experience, so the discovery belongs to the American scientist.
Ioffe's further research in the field of solid state physics was a natural continuation of work in the Roentgen laboratory - the study of the elastic and electrical properties of quartz. The scientist experimentally proved that in crystals an electric current can be conducted with the help of free ions, and not just electrons. Abram Fedorovich, studying the mechanical properties of crystals, established the dependences of their destruction, which was of great importance for technology.
Ioffe solved the problem of electrical anomalies in quartz, showing that they are associated with the formation of space charges inside the substance, pointed out the strong influence of even minor impurities on the electrical conductivity of dielectrics - materials that poorly or do not conduct electric current at all, developed methods for cleaning crystals and created new electrical materials. The scientist also proposed methods for eliminating overvoltages in crystals, formulated a new idea about the nature of the semiconductor properties of a large group of alloys, discovered a phenomenon (later called the Ioffe effect), as a result of which the strength of a crystal increases when its surface is smoothed. This smoothing can be achieved by slowly dissolving the crystal. Surprising is the fact that the dissolution of the crystal goes better along the microcracks and as a result, they disappear, and the strength of the crystal increases hundreds of times.
Ioffe summarized all his significant work in the field of solid state physics in the book "Physics of Crystals", which was created on the basis of numerous lectures he gave in 1927 during a business trip to the United States.
In the early 1930s, Ioffe studied materials that were new for that time - semiconductors, which became one of the main directions of his subsequent research.
The experiments led the scientist to the bold hypothesis that semiconductors are capable of efficiently converting radiation energy into electrical energy. And this, in turn, gave impetus to the development of new areas of knowledge, for example, the creation of silicon solar energy converters, commonly known today as solar cells. True, it was still far from the creation of full-fledged solar batteries, and in the near future, Ioffe's work in the field of semiconductors came in handy at the front. So, the scientist proposed an original design of a soldier's kettle ... to ensure the operation of radio stations - semiconductor junctions were attached to the bottom of the kettle, and other junctions, depending on the season, were placed in cold water or snow. Then the bowler hat was hung over the fire. As a result of the temperature difference between the junctions in such a peculiar circuit, an electrodynamic force arose that ensured the uninterrupted operation of partisan radio stations.
After the war, on the basis of the Institute of Semiconductors, work on their application continued - extensive searches and study of new materials were carried out. Ioffe and his students created a classification system for semiconductor materials, developed methods for determining their basic properties. On the basis of these studies, a series of cooling devices was designed and tested at the institute. As a result, Ioffe gave birth to a new branch of science - thermoelectric power engineering, which is designed to solve such urgent problems for modern society as the conversion of light and thermal energy into electrical energy.
