Zhores Alferov
Facts
Photo from the Nobel Foundation archive.
Zhores I. Alferov
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2000
Born: 15 March 1930, Vitebsk, Belorussia, USSR (now Belarus)
Died: 1 March 2019, St. Petersburg, Russia
Affiliation at the time of the award: A.F. Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute, St. Petersburg, Russia
Prize motivation: “for developing semiconductor heterostructures used in high-speed- and opto-electronics”
Prize share: 1/4
Work
Semiconductors, materials with properties between those of electrical conductors and insulators, are the basis for most electronic components. Some components use heterostructures, in which semiconductor materials lie in thin sheets. In 1963, at the same time as but independently of Herbert Kroemer, Zhores Alferov built a heterostructure that acted as a laser. Semiconductor lasers have since become important for the transmission of signals in optical fibers and for storage and reading of data.
Nobel Prizes and laureates
Six prizes were awarded for achievements that have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind. The 12 laureates' work and discoveries range from proteins' structures and machine learning to fighting for a world free of nuclear weapons.
See them all presented here.
