이제 Townes만 남았군...

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Nobel winner Prokhorov dies at 85

By Rich Donnelly





Aleksandr M. Prokhorov



Aleksandr M. Prokhorov, an SPIE Fellow who shared a Nobel Prize in Physics for research that led to the development of lasers, died 8 January at his apartment in Moscow. He was 85.



Prokhorov, along with colleague Nikolai Basov and Charles Townes, won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1964 for work in the field of quantum electronics.



Born in Australia in 1916, Prokhorov moved with his family to the Soviet Union in 1923. He graduated from Leningrad State University in 1939. He also fought in World War II and was wounded twice. He completed his doctorate in 1951 at the Lebedev Institute (Moscow, Russia).



In the 1950s, Prokhorov and Basov developed ways to nudge electrons around atoms into higher-energy states. Their findings led to the development of the maser, a device emitting microwave radiation of a single wavelength that was a precursor to the laser. In 1955, Prokorov studied the spectra of ruby with A.A. Manenkov, which made it possible to suggest it as a material for lasers in 1957.



"Many believed that we had gone crazy, that it was impossible," Prokhorov told Russian state television last year. "It was a very brave step because before that, no one had said it was possible to create a generator of optical range. Then it became a new, independent science: optics."



Prokhorov was known for his independence, even under strict government controls. He was one of 97 Nobel Prize winners who called for a freeze on the development and deployment of nuclear weapons in 1982. As editor of the Great Soviet Encyclopaedia, the Soviet Union's major reference work, he ignored orders to leave out dissident Soviet physicist Andrei Sakharov from the volume. Despite facing such controversy, he received numerous state awards.



According to Art Guenther of the University of New Mexico's Center for High Technology Materials (Albuquerque, NM), Prokhorov was "a lifelong committed scientist, a consummate gentleman, a Russian patriot, and a global opticist. His contributions to quantum optics has formed the basis for much of today's photonics evolution and applications." Guenther says he was always impressed with the "respect and adoration of the Russian scientific community for his leadership, contributions, and friendship. He will be sorely missed."



"Prof. Prokhorov will always be remembered as a gracious host," says SPIE President James A. Harrington. "After my talk in his seminar series at the General Physics Institute, he invited me and my colleagues to a private luncheon, where he discussed the historical development of the laser."



Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a statement honoring Prokhorov. "His name is linked to outstanding discoveries that in many ways defined 20th-century civilization."



Rich Donnelly is SPIE's web content editor.

From SPIE news.