Aleksandr Akhiezer


Aleksandr Ilyich Akhiezer was a Soviet and Ukrainian theoretical physicist, known for contributions to numerous branches of theoretical physics, including quantum electrodynamics, nuclear physics, solid state physics, quantum field theory, and the theory of plasma. He was the brother of the mathematician Naum Akhiezer.

Biography

Akhiezer was born in Cherykaw, Russian Empire in what is now Mogilev Region, Belarus. He studied radio engineering at Igor Sikorsky [Kyiv Polytechnic Institute|Kyiv Polytechnic Institute] in 1929–34. From 1934, he worked at the Kharkiv [Institute of Physics and Technology|Ukrainian Institute of Physics and Technology] in Kharkiv. With Isaak Pomeranchuk and under the supervision of Lev Landau, he studied light-light scattering and was awarded a Ph.D. in 1936. A treatise on wave absorption in modulated quasiparticles gave him a habilitation degree in 1941 and title of full professor.
When Lev Landau left Kharkiv in 1937, Akhiezer became head of the department of Theoretical Physics at Ukrainian Institute of Physics and Technology, which was renamed Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology shortly afterwards. He held this post for over 60 years until his death.
With Cyril Sinelnikov and Anton K. Valter he founded the faculty of physics and technology at University of Kharkiv. With Isaak Pomeranchuk he studied neutron scattering and plasma physics at the Kurchatov nuclear physics institute in Moscow.

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