RUSSIA: PHYSICIST ZHORES ALFEROV WINS NOBEL PRIZE FOR PIONEERING RESEARCH IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Record ID: 648700

  • Title: RUSSIA: PHYSICIST ZHORES ALFEROV WINS NOBEL PRIZE FOR PIONEERING RESEARCH IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
  • Date: 11th October 2000
  • Summary: ST. PETERSBURG , RUSSIA (OCTOBER 10, 2000) (REUTERS) 1. SLV EXTERIOR OF THE IOFFE PHYSICO-TECHNICAL INSTITUTE; SCU SIGN READING "IOFFE PHYSICO-TECHNICAL INSTITUTE."; MV SCIENTISTS IN CORRIDOR (3 SHOTS) 0.21 2. MV ZHORES ALFEROV, NOBEL PRIZE WINNER IN PHYSICS, SPEAKING OVER THE PHONE, HUGGING AND KISSING COLLEAGUES; SCU DIPLOMA ON WALL (3 SHOTS) 0.43 3. (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) ZHORES ALFEROV "I haven't a single Russian blood in me. I'm a Belorussian, from Russia, from the Soviet Union by the way. Because we got the Nobel prize for work that we did during Soviet times. (QUESTION OFF CAMERA What for) For the studies of heterostructures. See, you have a red light on the camera there. It's working on heterostructures. The signal goes through fibre-optics, that is on heterolazers. This is a field of semi-conductors that we managed to develop through experiments. The theoretical background was done by professor Kroemer whom we share the prize with. We did the first experiments that showed that this branch of physics of semi-conductors gave a lot to physics as a whole, quantum physics of semi-conductors and used widely in practice. For example fibre-optics, solar batteries , CD players, mobile telephones and computers" 1.47 4. MV SCIENTISTS 1.51 5. (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) ZHORES ALFEROV, NOBEL PRIZE WINNER IN PHYSICS " It's hard and tough in this country. Because unfortunately the share for in his year's and next year's budget is constantly decreasing. Because they [authorities] think that the bankers and capitalists will allocate money to the development of the country. Never will they give anything. Science determines the future of the country and it has to be supported" 2.16 6. SCU DIPLOMAS (2 SHOTS) 2.24 7. (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) ZHORES ALFEROV, NOBEL PRIZE WINNER IN PHYSICS " In these hard times we managed to build such a palace of science and knowledge where students and scientists study and work. The bulk of the prize will be allocated to the development of science, the other bulk will be spent on my wife and family" 2.43 8. MV MACHINERY IN SCIENTIFIC LABORATORIES/ SCIENTISTS IN LABORATORY (4 SHOTS) 3.08 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 26th October 2000 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: ST PETERSBURG, RUSSIA
  • Country: Russia
  • Reuters ID: LVA945OA8NNZI8653DOAD6MOM8S2
  • Story Text: Physicist Zhores Alferov has won the Nobel prize for
    his work developing semiconductors with practical uses from
    cellular telephones to bar code readers. He shares the prize
    with two U.S. scientists.

    Zhores Alferov, the first Russian to win a Nobel prize
    since Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, toasted his achievement
    with sparkling wine on Tuesday (October 10) and said the award
    was a great tribute to Russian science.

    Alferov and two American scientists -- Herbert Kroemer and
    Jack Kilby -- shared the 2000 Nobel Physics prize for
    pioneering research in information technology and paving the
    way for computers, CD players and mobile telephones.

    "We got the Nobel prize for work that we did during Soviet
    times," Alferov, 70, said at his research institute in
    Russia's second city of St Petersburg.

    Asked what his prize was for, he said:
    "For the studies of heterostructures. See, you have red
    light on the camera there? It's working on heterostructures.

    The signal goes through fibre-optics, that is on heterolazers.

    This is a field of semi-conductors that we managed to develop
    through experiments. The theoretical background was done by
    professor Kroemer whom we share the prize with. We have done
    the first experiments that showed that this branch of physics
    of semi-conductors gave a lot to physics as a whole, quantum
    physics of semi-conductors and used widely in practice. For
    example fibre-optics, solar batteries , CD players, mobile
    telephones and computers"
    Alferov, who is a Communist deputy in the State Duma lower
    house of parliament, shared half of the nearly 1 million U.S.

    dollar prize with Kroemer for their work on semi-conductors
    which could be used for ultra-fast computers.

    Alferov said he was planning to use a big chunk of his
    prize money to support science in Russia, severely underfunded
    since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, which spent
    lavishly on research.

    "It's hard and tough in this country. Because unfortunately
    the share for in his year's and next year's budget is
    constantly decreasing. Because they [authorities] think that
    the bankers and capitalists will allocate money to the
    development of the country. Never will they give anything.

    Science determines the future of the country and it has to be
    supported"
    He said the bulk of the work he was rewarded for was
    carried out at the end of the 1960s and in the 1970s.

    Alferov is the first Russian to win a Nobel prize since
    Gorbachev won the peace prize in 1990, but he said he was more
    inclined to see himself as the next in line of famous Russian
    physicists.

    "Mikhail Gorbachev got his award for striving for peace. I
    am getting my physics prize after Pyotr Leonidovich Kapitsa,
    who got his in 1978," Alferov said.

    Kapitsa won the award for research on ultra-low
    temperatures.

    The jubilant researcher said his institute's work had
    resulted in many other ground-breaking inventions beyond those
    he listed. He said he had just been briefed by the Royal
    Swedish Academy of Sciences on his award and was being
    congratulated by fellow researchers and family members.

    Alferov was born in 1930 in Belarus, then part of the
    Soviet Union. From 1953 he has worked at the Ioffe
    Physico-Technical Institute in St Petersburg of which he is
    now the director.

    He has received many prestigious scientific awards and is
    an honorary member of research institutions around the world.

    Alferov is expected in Stockholm on December 10 for the
    official awards ceremony.


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