Exactly 90 years ago, Nobel laureate and honorary citizen of Vitebsk, Zhores Alferov, was born. What is he known for?

Zhores Alferov was born on March 15, 1930, in Vitebsk. He assembled his first crystal radio set at the age of 10.

Zhores Alferov was born on March 15, 1930, in Vitebsk. He assembled his first crystal radio set at the age of 10. Moving from town to town with his father, who was a military officer, the young Alferov graduated from Minsk School No. 42 with a gold medal in 1947.

On the advice of his physics teacher Yakov Meltserzon, he studied for several semesters at the Belarusian Polytechnic Institute (now BNTU) in the Power Engineering Department, after which he went to Leningrad to enroll.

In 1953, Alferov began working at the Ioffe Physical-Technical Institute in Leningrad, where he became a first-class specialist in the quantum physics of semiconductor devices, established a scientific school, and in 1987 became the institute's director. Incidentally, it was on his initiative that the departments of optoelectronics were established in 1972 at the Leningrad Electrotechnical Institute and the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute, and in the latter, the Physical-Technical Faculty was organised in 1988.

In 1963, the researcher received his first patent. Alferov's work brought him fame as a pioneering scientist and laid the foundation for a new scientific school – the physics of semiconductor heterostructures.

Zhores Alferov also contributed to the creation of the first transistors, photodiodes, and germanium rectifiers in the USSR. He discovered the phenomenon of superinjection in heterostructures and proposed the principle of using heterostructures in semiconductor electronics. The solar batteries developed by him provided electricity to the Mir space station.

In 2000, Zhores Alferov and his American colleagues Herbert Kroemer and Jack Kilby were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for their joint work in the field of modern information technology.

Thanks to the scientist's discoveries and developments, mobile phones, compact discs, product tag decoders, car headlights, and many other things surrounding us were created. Zhores Alferov is the author of over 500 scientific papers and 50 inventions.

In 1995, the scientist was elected a foreign member of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus. In 2001, the President of Belarus awarded Zhores Alferov the Order of Francysk Skaryna for his significant personal contribution to the development of physical science, the organisation of Belarusian-Russian scientific and technical cooperation, and the strengthening of friendship between the peoples of Belarus and Russia, and in 2009 – the Order of Friendship of Peoples.

In 2008, Alferov established the Foundation for the Support of Education and Science. In 2014, he initiated the establishment of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus Prize and the Alferov Foundation for young (under 35) Belarusian scientists for scientific works and inventions that are of great importance for fundamental and applied science.

The scientist's research has been recognised with the Lenin and State Prizes of the USSR and the Russian Federation, the Demidov Prize, and the international energy prize "Global Energy".

Zhores Alferov is an honorary citizen of Minsk and Vitebsk. Minsk Gymnasium No. 42 and Vitebsk Gymnasium No. 1 are named after him. In 1977, a minor planet was named in honour of the scientist. And shortly thereafter, the St. Petersburg National Research Academic University of the Russian Academy of Sciences was named after him.

Last year, on March 1, Zhores Alferov, a native of Belarus and Nobel Prize laureate in Physics, passed away at the age of 89. Today, March 15, he would have turned 90 years old.