Russian Nobel Laureate in physics to speak at Purdue

May 3, 2011

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Zhores Ivanovich Alferov, a Nobel Laureate in physics, will present the 2011 Philip Bagwell Memorial Lecture on May 12.

"The History of Semiconductor Heterostructures Research: From Early Double Heterostructure Concept to Modern Quantum Dot Structures" will be presented at 1:30 p.m. in the Burton Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship, Room 121. The talk is free and open to the public.

Alferov, director of the Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute in Russia, invented the heterotransistor and won a 2000 Nobel Prize in physics for his role in the creation of heterostructure physics and electronics. His contributions to physics and technology of III-V semiconductor heterostructures, especially injection properties, development of lasers, solar cells, LEDs, and epitaxy processes have led to the creation of modern heterostructure physics and electronics.

"Professor Alferov's work in hetrostructures made telecommunication and satellite television systems possible, among many other things we use in our daily lives," said Vladimir M. Shalaev, The Robert and Anne Burnett Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and professor of biomedical engineering. "He also is an outstanding diplomat for the field of science and is involved in many projects to advocate for science around the world."

Alferov serves as co-chairman of the Skolkovo Foundation's Scientific and Advisory Council, of which Shalaev, and Arden Bement, director of Purdue's Global Policy Research Institute, also are members.

Since 1953 Alferov has been working in the Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute, where he earned several scientific degrees, including a doctorate in technology in 1961 and a doctorate in physics and mathematics in 1970. He has been a director of the institute since 1987. He was elected a corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences in 1972, and a full member in 1979. He has served as a vice president of the USSR Academy of Sciences and president of its Saint Petersburg Scientific Center.

Alferov is a foreign member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and the U.S. National Academy of Science, as well as a foreign member of academies of science in many other countries.

He has four books, more than 500 scientific publications and 50 inventions in semiconductor technology. In 2001, the Eponymous asteroid was named after Alferov. 

The Philip F. Bagwell Lecture Series is organized by the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and co-sponsored by the College of Engineering, the Global Policy Research Institute, the Department of Physics, the College of Science, the Office of Research and Office of the Provost. The lecture series is in memory of Bagwell, who was an associate professor in electrical and computer engineering. 

Writer:  Amy Patterson Neubert, 765-494-9723, apatterson@purdue.edu

Sources:  Vladimir M. Shalaev, 765-494-9855, shalaev@purdue.edu

                   Arden Bement, 765-496-6713, bement@purdue.edu