Physics Research Professor Honored with Russian Academy of Sciences Prize

November 10, 2004

UT Physics Research Professor Serguei Ovichinnikov and two of his colleagues have won the Konstantinov Prize from the Russian Academy of Sciences. Nobel Prize Winner Zhores Alferov presented the award to G.N. Ogurtsov, Yury Gordeev and Dr. Ovichinnkov for "Dynamical Processes in Atomic and Molecular Physics" on October 29. The prize was awarded for work done in Distinguished Scientist Joseph Macek’s theoretical physics group at UT and in Dr. Gordeev's experimental group at the Ioffe Institute in Russia.

The Ioffe Institute, founded in 1918 by Abram F. Ioffe, is one of Russia's largest institutions for research in physics and technology. The institute is affiliated with the Russian Academy of Sciences and awards three top prizes: the Ioffe, the Frenkel, and the Konstantinov awards. They are named for famous Russian physicists who worked at the institute—Ioffe, Yakov Il’ich Frenkel, and Boris Konstantinov—to recognize excellent work in physics.

Boris Konstantinov was the author of distinguished works on acoustics and studied the separation of light isotopes. He was a pioneer in corpuscular and optical plasma diagnostics. The prize bearing his name is $1,000, to be shared equally among the three honorees.