Vladimir Iosifovich Veksler (russian: Владимир Иосифович Векслер; ; March 4, 1907 – September 22, 1966) was a prominent Soviet experimental physicist.

Biography

Veksler was born in

Zhitomir Zhytomyr ( uk, Жито́мир, translit=Zhytomyr ; russian: Жито́мир, Zhitomir ; pl, Żytomierz ; yi, זשיטאָמיר, Zhitomir; german: Schytomyr ) is a city in the north of the western half of Ukraine. It is the administrative ...

on March 4, 1907 in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

to a Jewish family. Veksler's family moved from Zhitomir to Moscow in 1915. In 1931 he graduated from the

Moscow Power Engineering Institute National Research University "Moscow Power Engineering Institute" (MPEI) is a public university based in Moscow, Russia. It offers training in the fields of Power Engineering, Electric Engineering, Radio Engineering, Electronics, Information Tec ...

. He began working at the

Lebedev Physical Institute The Lebedev Physical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (LPI RAS or just LPI) (in russian: Физи́ческий институ́т имени П.Н.Ле́бедева Российской академии наук (ФИАН)), situated ...

in 1936, and became involved in particle detector development and the study of

cosmic ray Cosmic rays are high-energy particles or clusters of particles (primarily represented by protons or atomic nuclei) that move through space at nearly the speed of light. They originate from the Sun, from outside of the Solar System in our own ...

s. He participated in a number of expeditions to the

Pamir Mountains The Pamir Mountains are a mountain range between Central Asia and Pakistan. It is located at a junction with other notable mountains, namely the Tian Shan, Karakoram, Kunlun, Hindu Kush and the Himalaya mountain ranges. They are among the world ...

and to

Mount Elbrus Mount Elbrus ( rus, links=no, Эльбрус, r=Elbrus, p=ɪlʲˈbrus; kbd, Ӏуащхьэмахуэ, 'uaşhəmaxuə; krc, Минги тау, Mingi Taw) is the highest and most prominent peak in Russia and Europe. It is situated in the we ...

, which were devoted to the study of

composition. In 1944, he began working in the field of

accelerator physics Accelerator physics is a branch of applied physics, concerned with designing, building and operating particle accelerators. As such, it can be described as the study of motion, manipulation and observation of relativistic charged particle beams ...

, where he became famous for the invention of the

microtron A microtron is a type of particle accelerator concept originating from the cyclotron in which the accelerating field is not applied through large D-shaped electrodes, but through a linear accelerator structure. The classic microtron was invented b ...

, and the development of the

synchrotron A synchrotron is a particular type of cyclic particle accelerator, descended from the cyclotron, in which the accelerating particle beam travels around a fixed closed-loop path. The magnetic field which bends the particle beam into its closed p ...

in independence to

Edwin McMillan Edwin Mattison McMillan (September 18, 1907 – September 7, 1991) was an American physicist credited with being the first-ever to produce a transuranium element, neptunium. For this, he shared the 1951 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Glenn Seabor ...

, pursuing the development of modern

particle accelerator A particle accelerator is a machine that uses electromagnetic fields to propel charged particles to very high speeds and energies, and to contain them in well-defined beams. Large accelerators are used for fundamental research in particle ...

s. In 1956 he established and became the first director of the Laboratory of High Energy at the

Joint Institute for Nuclear Research The Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR, russian: Объединённый институт ядерных исследований, ОИЯИ), in Dubna, Moscow Oblast (110 km north of Moscow), Russia, is an international research cen ...

Dubna Dubna ( rus, Дубна́, p=dʊbˈna) is a town in Moscow Oblast, Russia. It has a status of ''naukograd'' (i.e. town of science), being home to the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, an international nuclear physics research center and one o ...

, where the Synchrophasotron, that, along with

Protvino Protvino (russian: Протвино́) is a town in Moscow Oblast, Russia, located about south of Moscow and west of Serpukhov, on the left bank of the Protva River. Population: History Construction of an urban-type settlement intended to hou ...

, incorporated the largest circular proton accelerators in the world at their time, was constructed under his leadership. From 1946 to 1957, he was a corresponding member of the

Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union The Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union was the highest scientific institution of the Soviet Union from 1925 to 1991, uniting the country's leading scientists, subordinated directly to the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union (until 1946 ...

. Veksler became a full member of the Academy in 1958. In 1963 he was appointed head of the Nuclear Physics Department of the Academy. In 1965, Veksler established the journal ''Nuclear Physics'' (''Yadernaya Fizika'') and became its first editor-in-chief. The

Russian Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; russian: Росси́йская акаде́мия нау́к (РАН) ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across t ...

established in 1994 the V. I. Veksler Prize for outstanding achievement in accelerator physics (and in 1991 awarded the V. I. Veksler Gold Medal to

Alexander N. Skrinsky Alexander Nikolayevich Skrinsky (Скринский, Александр Николаевич) (born 15 January 1936) is a Russian nuclear physicist. He was born in Orenburg and was educated at the high school in the city of Gorky and then at the ...

). Streets in

Odessa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...

Zhytomyr Zhytomyr ( uk, Жито́мир, translit=Zhytomyr ; russian: Жито́мир, Zhitomir ; pl, Żytomierz ; yi, זשיטאָמיר, Zhitomir; german: Schytomyr ) is a city in the north of the western half of Ukraine. It is the Capital city, a ...

and

CERN The European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN (; ; ), is an intergovernmental organization that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. Established in 1954, it is based in a northwestern suburb of Gene ...

are named in Veksler's honour.

Awards

He received numerous honours, including the

Stalin Prize Stalin Prize may refer to: * The State Stalin Prize in science and engineering and in arts, awarded 1941 to 1954, later known as the USSR State Prize The USSR State Prize (russian: links=no, Государственная премия СССР, ...

in 1951, the American

Atoms for Peace Award The Atoms for Peace Award was established in 1955 through a grant of $1,000,000 by the Ford Motor Company Fund. An independent nonprofit corporation was set up to administer the award for the development or application of peaceful nuclear technol ...

in 1963 and the Lenin Prize in 1959.

References

External links

* (See Nobel Prize#Nominations.) 1907 births 1966 deaths 20th-century Ukrainian physicists Scientists from Zhytomyr People from Volhynian Governorate Communist Party of the Soviet Union members Full Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences Moscow Power Engineering Institute alumni Atoms for Peace Award recipients Stalin Prize winners Lenin Prize winners Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Soviet nuclear physicists Soviet inventors Accelerator physicists Jewish Ukrainian scientists Ukrainian inventors {{Russia-physicist-stub Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery

Biography

Awards

See also

References

External links