| RefNo | EC/1987/44 |
| Previous numbers | Cert XXII, 94 |
| Level | Item |
| Title | Ginzburg, Vitaly Lazarevich: certificate of election to the Royal Society |
| Date | 1985 |
| Description | Certificate of Candidate for Election to Foreign Membership. Citation typed |
| Citation | V.L. Ginzburg is an unusually versatile and imaginative theoretician: he has himself made important advances in various branches of physics and astrophysics, and has stimulated others through his enthusiastic and provocative presentations in many publications and lectures on basic problems, particularly those that still offer a challenge to physicists.
His earliest researches dealt with the propagation of electromagnetic waves and fast particles through various media. He elaborated a quantum treatment of the Cerenkov effect, studying its possible applications in crystals and for the generation of microwaves. At this same early stage, he began his long-term interest in electromagnetic wave propagation in magneto-ionic media. A book by Ginzburg and Agranovich on excitons and crystal optics appeared in 1963.
Together with Landau he developed, in 1950, a phenomenological theory of superconductivity which later proved to be not only very relevant to the basic theory but also the key to the understanding of type II superconductors. This understanding has been of considerable technical as well as scientific significance in making possible the generation of high magnetic fields in superconducting coils. His later work on the possibility of high temperature superconductivity is potentially of great interest, even though it has not yet led to any tangible result.
In collaboration with Zheleznyakov he studied wave propagation in plasmas with special application to solar radio emission, and produced a classic text on the whole subject. From the 1950s onwards, Ginzburg has been a leading researcher in cosmic ray physics. He advocated a supernova origin for the bulk of the cosmic rays, and argued against the once popular idea (now-abandoned) that cosmic rays were "universal", pervading the entire Universe with essentially uniform density. In many papers, and in a book co-authored with Syrovatski, he presented a systematic view of how cosmic rays propagate and interact with interstellar gas and magnetic fields. Ginzburg retains his standing as a leading expert in cosmic rays and has, over the last 15 years, contributed important ideas on many topics in high energy astrophysics: the nature of the intergalactic medium; models for quasar and supermassive stars; and cosmic production of neutrinos.
Ginzburg became a full member of the USSR Academy of Sciences in 1966, a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1971, and a Foreign Associate of the US National Academy of Sciences in 1981. He has received many other national and international distinctions and is widely known and admired internationally as one of the outstanding personalities of Soviet science. |
| AccessStatus | Closed |
Fellows associated with this archive
| Code | PersonName | Dates |
| NA4745 | Ginzburg; Vitaly Lazarevich (1916 - 2009) | 1916 - 2009 |