Alferov made tremendous contribution to Russian science's promotion in int'l community - Matviyenko
MOSCOW. March 2 (Interfax) - The works of Zhores Alferov, a gifted scientist with firm beliefs, will always remain a part of the Russian intellectual heritage, Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko said.
"The gifted scientist and statesman, who made tremendous contribution to the development and promotion of Russian science in the international scientific community, has passed away. Zhores Ivanovich was well known and appreciated as a responsible, thoughtful and attentive leader and politician, a man with firm beliefs, who enjoyed respect and unquestionable authority," Matviyenko said in her telegram to the State Duma.
Alferov's competence and professionalism helped to resolve many pressing matters, he tried to do good to the country and people, she said.
"Zhores Ivanovich had an honest and dignified life and left the fruits of his important and good deeds. They will always remain a part of the Russian intellectual heritage. We will remember Zhores Ivanovich fondly and gratefully and cherish his memory," Matviyenko said.
She extended condolences to Alferov's colleagues, family and loved ones.
Nobel Prize laureate, academician Alferov died at the age of 88 following a long illness in the early hours of Saturday.
Alferov was born in Vitebsk, Byelorussian SSR, Soviet Union on March 15, 1930. In 1952, he graduated from the V. I. Ulyanov (Lenin) Electrotechnical Institute in Leningrad. He earned several scientific degrees: a Candidate of Sciences in Technology in 1961 and a Doctor of Sciences in Physics and Mathematics in 1970. Since 1953, he worked in the Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences. He had been director of the Institute from 1987 to 2003. In 1990-1991, he served as the vice president of the USSR Academy of Sciences and the president of the Leningrad Scientific Center. Since 1991, he was vice president of the Russian Academy of Sciences and its St. Petersburg Scientific Center.
In 2000, he received the Nobel Prize in Physics "for developing semiconductor heterostructures used in high-speed- and optoelectronics". A number of Soviet and Russian state awards were bestowed on him.
He became a foreign member of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States and the National Academy of Engineering of the U.S. in 1990, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Belarusian Academy of Sciences in 1995, the Moldovan Academy of Sciences in 2000, the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, the Azerbaijani Academy of Sciences in 2004, and an honorary member of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia in 2011.
He has been elected to the State Duma in 1995. In December 1995, he was elected to the State Duma of the second convocation from the movement Nash Dom - Rossiya (Our Home - Russia) and in 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, and 2016 was re-elected on party lists of the Communist Party of Russia (KPRF), while not being its member.