Ioffe A.F., (1880-1960), physicist

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IOFFE Abram Fedorovich (1880-I960, Leningrad), physicist, organiser of science, Member of the Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1916), the Russian Academy of Sciences (1920), the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1925; Vice-President in 1926-29 and in 1942-45), Honoured Worker of Science of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (1933), Hero of Socialist Labour (1955). Graduated from the Petersburg Technological Institute (1902) and Munich University (1905), where he worked under the supervision of W.K. Rontgen. Lived in St. Petersburg from 1906, working at the Polytechnic Institute as a professor in 1913-48 at 29 Politekhnicheskaya Street (memorial plaque installed). In 1918, he created the Physics and Technology Department at the State Institute of Roentgenology and Radiology, directing it until 1951; he also headed the Physics and Technology Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Later, a number of new scientific research institutes developed on the basis of this institute and on Ioffe's initiative. In 1919-23, he chaired the Scientific and Technical Committee of the Petrograd Industry; in 1924-30, he chaired the All-Union Association of Physicists; and from 1932 he directed the Agrophysical Institute at 14 Grazhdansky Avenue (memorial plaque installed). When the Great Patriotic War of 1941-45 broke out, he was appointed chairman of the Defence Technology Commission. From 1952, he directed the Semi-Conductors Laboratory, known from 1955 as the Institute of Semi-Conductors of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, at 10 Kutuzova Embankment (memorial plaque installed). Ioffe's main work was devoted to solid-state physics. His and his students' work laid the foundation for the physics and mechanics of semi-conductors. Ioffe was acclaimed as the head of an entire sub-field of physicists. Among his honours are the Stalin Prize (1942) and the Lenin Prize (1961, posthumously). Buried at Literatorskie Mostky. In 1964, a monument to Ioffe (sculptor G.D. Glickman) was placed in front of the building of the Physics and Technology Institute (2 Politekhnicheskaya Street).

References: Соминский М. С. А. Ф. Иоффе. М.; Л., 1964; Абрам Федорович Иоффе (1880-1960). 2-е изд. М., 1981.

O. N. Ansberg. Glickman Gavriil Davidovich
Ioffe Abram Fedorovich
Lenin (real name Ulyanov) Vladimir Ilyich
Rontgen Wilhelm Konrad
Grazhdansky Ave/Saint Petersburg, city, house 14
Kutuzova Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city, house 10
Politekhnicheskaya St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 29
Politekhnicheskaya St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 2
Соминский М. С. А. Ф. Иоффе. М.; Л., 1964
Абрам Федорович Иоффе (1880-1960). 2-е изд. М., 1981 Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Academy of Sciences
State Institute of Technology, St. Petersburg
Polytechnical University
Literatorskie (Literary) Mostki, the museum-necropolis
1918