July 11, 1916 - January 8, 2002

outstanding Soviet physicist, one of the founders of the most important area of ​​modern physics - quantum electronics, Nobel Prize laureate in physics for 1964

Biography

Prokhorov was born in Atherton (Australia) into the family of a Russian revolutionary worker who fled persecution from the tsarist regime. In 1923 the family returned to their homeland. In 1939, he graduated with honors from the Faculty of Physics of Leningrad State University and entered graduate school at the Lebedev Physical Institute. After the start of the Great Patriotic War, Prokhorov went to the front, fought in the infantry, in reconnaissance, and was awarded. Member of the Komsomol from 1930 to 1944. In 1944, after being seriously wounded, he was demobilized and returned to scientific work. Member of the CPSU since 1950

During 1946-1982, Prokhorov worked at the Physical Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences, from 1954 he headed the Laboratory of Oscillations, and from 1968 he was deputy director. In 1982, he was appointed director of the Institute of General Physics of the USSR Academy of Sciences, which he headed until 1998, and then served as its honorary director. At the same time he taught at Moscow State University (since 1959 as a professor) and MIPT, where since 1971 he headed the department.

In 1960, Prokhorov was elected a corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, and in 1966 - an academician. For twenty years (1973-93) he was academician-secretary of the Department of General Physics and Astronomy of the USSR Academy of Sciences, and was a member and at the end of his life advisor to the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Since 1969, Prokhorov served as editor-in-chief of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, under his leadership its third edition was published, as well as many other encyclopedic dictionaries.

Prokhorov created a large school of physicists; among his students there were many prominent scientists. Since 2002, the Institute of General Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences has been named after Prokhorov.

Full member of the International Leonardo Club. He was the editor-in-chief of the international journal “Laser Physics”, a member of the editorial board of the journal “Surface: Physics, Chemistry, Mechanics”.

Scientific activity

Prokhorov's scientific works are devoted to radiophysics, accelerator physics, radio spectroscopy, quantum electronics and its applications, and nonlinear optics. In his first works, he studied the propagation of radio waves along the earth's surface and in the ionosphere. After the war, he actively began developing methods for stabilizing the frequency of radio generators, which formed the basis of his Ph.D. thesis. He proposed a new regime for generating millimeter waves in a synchrotron, established their coherent nature, and based on the results of this work he defended his doctoral dissertation (1951).

While developing quantum frequency standards, Prokhorov, together with N. G. Basov, formulated the basic principles of quantum amplification and generation (1953), which was implemented during the creation of the first quantum generator (maser) using ammonia (1954). In 1955, they proposed a three-level scheme for creating an inverse population of levels, which has found wide application in masers and lasers. The next few years were devoted to work on paramagnetic amplifiers in the microwave range, in which it was proposed to use a number of active crystals, such as ruby, a detailed study of the properties of which turned out to be extremely useful in creating the ruby ​​laser. In 1958, Prokhorov proposed using an open resonator to create quantum generators. For their seminal work in the field of quantum electronics, which led to the creation of the laser and maser, Prokhorov and N. G. Basov were awarded the Lenin Prize in 1959, and in 1964, together with C. H. Townes, the Nobel Prize in Physics.

Since 1960, Prokhorov has created a number of lasers of various types: a laser based on two-quantum transitions (1963), a number of continuous lasers and lasers in the IR region, a powerful gas-dynamic laser (1966). He investigated nonlinear effects that arise during the propagation of laser radiation in matter: the multifocal structure of wave beams in a nonlinear medium, the propagation of optical solitons in light guides, excitation and dissociation of molecules under the influence of IR radiation, laser generation of ultrasound, control of the properties of solids and laser plasma under the influence of light beams. These developments have found application not only for the industrial production of lasers, but also for the creation of deep space communication systems, laser thermonuclear fusion, fiber-optic communication lines and many others.

Prokhorov Alexander Mikhailovich(06/11/1916 – 01/08/2002) was born in Australia in the family of a Russian worker-revolutionary who was forced to emigrate from Russia, hiding from persecution by the tsarist regime. For many years, the Prokhorov family lived in difficult conditions in the tropical east coast of Australia on a farm on the Atherton Plateau. There, A.M.’s elder sister died of pneumonia. Prokhorov, and he himself often suffered from pneumonia.

In 1923, the family managed to return to Russia. In 1939 A.M. Prokhorov graduated with honors from the Faculty of Physics of Leningrad University and entered graduate school at the Physics Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences (FIAN) named after. P.N. Lebedeva. Here, under the leadership of the future academician V.V. Migulin, he began to study the propagation of radio waves along the earth's surface.

From the very beginning of the war A.M. Prokhorov was at the front, fought in the infantry, in reconnaissance, and was awarded the medal “For Courage.” In 1944, after a second serious wound and contracting tuberculosis, he was demobilized. A.M. Prokhorov returned to FIAN and, at the suggestion of corresponding member. USSR Academy of Sciences S.M. Rytova began research on the theory of nonlinear oscillations and methods for stabilizing the frequency of radio generators (PhD thesis). In 1951, he successfully defended his doctoral dissertation, where he experimentally proved the coherence of centimeter-wave radiation in a synchrotron.

Next, A.M. Prokhorov began working in the field of radio spectroscopy and soon created a school of Soviet radio spectroscopists. Together with his student N.G. Basov, he created a microwave radiation generator using ammonia molecules. During these years A.M. Prokhorov formulated the main principles of quantum electronics and laid its physical foundations. A fundamentally new method was proposed by A.M. Prokhorov and N.G. Basov for creating inverse population in three-level systems, which later became known as the optical pumping method. In 1958, Prokhorov proposed an open resonator, which laid the foundation for the creation of a laser and the birth of optical quantum electronics. For these works in 1959 A.M. Prokhorov and N.G. Basov were awarded the Lenin Prize, and in 1964 they, together with the American physicist Charles Townes, were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics.

Corresponding member USSR Academy of Sciences (1960), academician (1966).

The name of A.M. Prokhorov is associated with the birth and development of many areas of modern optics and laser physics, among which we can note nonlinear optics, fiber optics, and the physics of the interaction of high-power laser radiation with matter. For A.M. Prokhorov was characterized by a desire to make maximum use of scientific results in practice.

A.M. Prokhorov paid great attention to scientific and organizational work. For 20 years he headed the Department of General Physics and Astronomy of the USSR Academy of Sciences, was a member, and in recent years an adviser to the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences. A.M. Prokhorov is the founder of the Institute of General Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, of which he was director for many years.

Since 1969, A.M. Prokhorov was the editor-in-chief of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia. Under his leadership, the third edition of the TSB was completed, and an extensive series of specialized encyclopedic dictionaries in various fields of knowledge was published.

A.M. Prokhorov trained a large number of students, among whom there are many prominent scientists - academicians, corresponding members and doctors of science, including Nobel Prize laureate Zh.I. Alferova.

From 1980 to 1988 A.M. Prokhorov headed (on a voluntary basis) the Department of Optics and Spectroscopy of the Physics Faculty of Moscow State University, and at the same time (since 1971) he was the head of the department at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.

The merits of A.M. Prokhorov were highly appreciated. He is a laureate of the Nobel, Lenin and State Prizes, twice Hero of Socialist Labor, awarded five Orders of Lenin, the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, and the medal “For Courage.” He is an honorary member of many scientific societies, foreign academies and universities, and was awarded the gold medal of the Russian Academy of Sciences. M.V. Lomonosov, the F. Ives medal - the highest award of the American Optical Society. In 2001, Prokhorov became a laureate of the Demidov Prize.

On January 8, 2002, Alexander Mikhailovich Prokhorov died of pneumonia. He is buried in Moscow at the Novodevichy cemetery.

At the end of A.M.’s life Prokhorov often remembered Australia; he really wanted to go there, but his health did not allow it. In Australia, near the birthplace of A.M. Prokhorov there is a memorial stone, on it there is a metal plaque with the text that the famous Russian scientist A.M. was born here. Prokhorov.

Alexander Mikhailovich Prokhorov is a prominent figure in Soviet and Russian physics. He was involved in some of the most complex and useful developments in the field of quantum electrodynamics. Thanks to his work, together with his followers, he received the Nobel Prize in 1964. He also taught and studied other areas of science. Interested in space development.

Family of Alexander Mikhailovich Prokhorov

The brilliant scientist was born on July 11, 1916 into a family of revolutionaries - Mikhail Ivanovich and Maria Ivanovna. His parents fled the repression of the Russian royal family and were forced to emigrate to Australia from Ukraine. The father of Alexander Mikhailovich Prokhorov was a member of the workers' party since 1902 and was involved in active political activities. The scientist’s mother had no education, but by nature she had a sharp mind and quick wit. She fully supported her husband, which is why she was also subjected to repression.

Due to constant persecution, the young family was forced to flee to Vladivostok, after which they went to Australia. There, in the northwest of Queenslack, among the Russian colonists, the young couple of revolutionaries continued their lives.

early years

The biography of Alexander Prokhorov begins in a small house on the outskirts of Australia. From the scientist’s memoirs it is known that he was under the guardianship of his sisters - Claudia, Valentina and Eugenia. He had no peers with whom he could communicate, and therefore his leisure time was brightened up by his family. A brief biography of Alexander Mikhailovich Prokhorov notes that he grew up as a quiet and calm child. The most vivid memory from childhood was a story that happened to him 5 years ago. The child went to meet his parents, but got lost in the forest. He was found early in the morning - tired, exhausted and exhausted. In 1923, after receiving news from their homeland, the family went to the Soviet Union. The move was not easy; not everyone was able to endure acclimatization. Claudia and Valentina died from illness, which left a sad mark on the heart of young Alexander Mikhailovich.

After moving to Tashkent, Prokhorov begins to study hard at his first Russian school. He regularly receives his education until the 5th grade, after which he falls in love with physics.

Moving to Leningrad

After successfully graduating from school, Alexander and his family move. Leningrad welcomes the young and promising scientist with open arms. His abilities were enough to easily enter the Leningrad Electrotechnical University named after Lenin, one of the best universities in the Soviet Union. During his studies, Alexander Prokhorov’s main interest remained physics. But he also engaged in in-depth study of radio technology.

There was a special atmosphere of scientific research at the university. It was there that Ioffe opened a fundamentally new department of the experimental department of physics. After receiving his first higher education, Alexander Prokhorov submits documents to the Faculty of Physics. In the process of studying, he managed to improve his knowledge of the English language. This factor greatly helped him in the future - while working in other countries.

Active research period

After graduating from university, the scientist began to do what he loved - studying the effects of radio waves. He developed the world's first phase receiver, which differed from the inventions of his contemporaries in its high accuracy of signal transmission. In 1941 he went on an expedition to the Moscow region. There he studied the ionosphere using the radio interference method, which he himself developed.

1941 was one of the most difficult years in the history of Soviet Russia, which is reflected in the scientist’s memoirs. He and his followers went on an expedition on skis. He invited his future wife, Galina Alekseevna, to one of his studies, who was also interested in the development of science. She graduated from the Faculty of Geography of Moscow State University and was an excellent companion for the young inventor.

Alexander Prokhorov was seriously injured after the bombing of Moscow and was forced to retire from research activities. The scientist was able to recover from his injury only 2 years later - in 1944. After that, he began to develop the theory of lamp frequency stabilization.

Post-war years

After graduating from university, the scientist defended his doctoral dissertation in physics in 1946. By 1948, he began research in a new field for the whole world - radio spectroscopy. He discovered the structure of molecules and determined its role in stable power lines, which greatly simplified the transmission of signals over greater distances. In parallel with this, he worked on physical particle accelerators. Conducted various experiments with his own device - the betatron. His research is still continued by many physicists around the world.

Received his Ph.D. degree for his work “On expanding the scope of application of the small parameter method.” His diploma was personally signed by the head of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Alexander Mikhailovich was also awarded the Mandelstam Prize. Already by the 50s, the clear and individual style of the scientist could be seen in his works. It was important for him not only to open a new area of ​​knowledge, but also to find practical application for it in life. Alexander Prokhorov was engaged in the popularization of science and teaching until the end of his days.

Doctor of Science, Nobel Prize laureate

On November 12, 1951, the scientist became a Doctor of Science, having defended another dissertation on the topic of radiation of centimeter radio waves. He not only did science himself, but also inspired others. Peers and fellow students were drawn to him and tried to get closer to his results. The scientific laboratory of Alexander Prokhorov became more and more famous and expanded the range of its research.

In the 60s, Alexander Prokhorov was called the most promising and hardworking scientist of our time. He became one of the founders of quantum theory, for which he received the Nobel Prize in 1964.

The scientist was also awarded many awards in his homeland, including the Lenin Prize. However, he became a member of the Academy of Sciences only in 1966.

In the mid-eighties, his research center became part of the Russian Academy of Sciences and was named the Institute of General Physics. To this day he is recognized throughout the world. The IOF is considered one of the most advanced and respected scientific organizations.

Last years

Alexander Prokhorov did not stop doing science throughout his life. He had a passion for physics and received his last prize in 1998 for the creation of infrared light-emitting diodes.

Every day he came to work at the institute and worked until the evening. On January 8, 2002, he died in his own office. It is difficult to imagine a more productive and hardworking scientist than Alexander Prokhorov. His contribution to the development of quantum physics cannot be overestimated, and therefore his name will forever remain in history.

Prokhorov Alexander Mikhailovich - an outstanding Russian Soviet physicist, one of the founders of quantum electronics, founder of a scientific school, director of the Laboratory of Oscillations at the P.N. Lebedev Physical Institute, founder and director of the Institute of General Physics of the USSR Academy of Sciences (IOFAN), Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences , professor, academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

Born on June 28 (July 11), 1916 in the city of Atherton (Australia), where his revolutionary parents, Mikhail Ivanovich Prokhorov (1880-1942) and Maria Ivanovna Mikhailova (1887-1943), fled from Siberian exile. Russian. In 1923, the Prokhorov family returned to Soviet Russia.

In 1939, Prokhorov graduated with honors from the Faculty of Physics of Leningrad State University. In the same year, he entered graduate school at the Oscillation Laboratory of the P.N. Lebedev Physical Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences (FIAN) in Moscow. Here he studied the propagation of radio waves over the earth's surface and, together with one of his supervisors, physicist V.V. Migulin, developed a new method of using the interference of radio waves to study the ionosphere - one of the upper layers of the atmosphere.

Participant of the Great Patriotic War. At the front since 1941, he fought in reconnaissance and was wounded twice.

In 1944, he was recalled from the front to work at the Lebedev Physical Institute, where he studied frequency stabilization in tube oscillators. The candidate's thesis, which Prokhorov defended in 1946, was devoted to the theory of nonlinear oscillations. For this work, he and two other physicists were awarded the Academician L.I. Mandelstam Prize.

In 1947, Prokhorov began studying the radiation emitted by electrons in a synchrotron (a device in which charged particles such as protons or electrons move in expanding cyclic orbits, accelerating to very high energies), and showed experimentally that the electron radiation was concentrated in the microwave region , where the wavelengths are on the order of centimeters. This work formed the basis of a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, which Prokhorov defended in 1951.

After his appointment as deputy director of the Laboratory of Oscillations in 1950, Prokhorov's scientific interests shifted to the field of radio spectroscopy. He organized a group of young researchers who, using radar and radio technology developed mainly in the United States and Great Britain during and after World War II, studied the rotational and vibrational spectra of molecules. Prokhorov focused his research on one class of molecules called asymmetric tops, which have three different moments of inertia (analyzing the structure of such molecules from rotational spectra is especially difficult). In addition to purely spectroscopic studies, Prokhorov conducted a theoretical analysis of the use of microwave absorption spectra to improve frequency and time standards. The findings led him to collaborate with N.G. Basov in the development of molecular generators, now called masers (an abbreviation from the first letters of the English words: microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation).

Prokhorov and Basov proposed a method of using stimulated radiation. If excited molecules are separated from molecules in the ground state, which can be done using a non-uniform electric or magnetic field, then it is possible to create a substance whose molecules are at the upper energy level. Radiation incident on this substance with a frequency (photon energy) equal to the energy difference between the excited and ground levels would cause the emission of stimulated radiation with the same frequency, that is, it would lead to amplification. By diverting some of the energy to excite new molecules, it would be possible to turn the amplifier into a molecular oscillator capable of generating radiation in a self-sustaining mode.

Prokhorov and Basov reported the possibility of creating such a molecular generator at the All-Union Conference on Radio Spectroscopy in May 1952, but their first publication dates back to October 1954. In 1955, they proposed a new "three-level method" for creating a maser. In this method, atoms (or molecules) are pumped into the highest of three energy levels by absorbing radiation with an energy corresponding to the difference between the highest and lowest levels. Most atoms quickly “fall” into an intermediate energy level, which turns out to be densely populated. The maser emits radiation at a frequency corresponding to the energy difference between the intermediate and lower levels.

As director of the Laboratory of Oscillations at the P.N. Lebedev Physical Institute (since 1954), Prokhorov created two new laboratories - radio astronomy and quantum radiophysics. He advised numerous research institutes on problems of quantum electronics and organized a radio spectroscopy laboratory at the Nuclear Research Institute at Moscow State University, where Prokhorov became a professor in 1957.

Since the mid-1950s, Prokhorov has concentrated his efforts on the development of masers and lasers and on the search for crystals with suitable spectral and relaxation properties. His detailed studies of ruby, one of the best crystals for lasers, led to the widespread use of ruby ​​resonators for microwave and optical wavelengths. To overcome some of the difficulties that arose in connection with the creation of molecular oscillators operating in the submillimeter range, Prokhorov proposed a new open resonator consisting of two mirrors. This type of cavity proved particularly effective in the creation of lasers in the 1960s.

In 1964, “for fundamental work in the field of quantum electronics, which led to the creation of generators and amplifiers based on the laser-maser principle,” Prokhorov Alexander Mikhailovich and Basov Nikolai Gennadievich, as well as the American physicist Charles Hard Townes, shared the Nobel Prize awarded to them in physics. Two Soviet physicists had already received the Lenin Prize for their work in 1959.

In 1960 he was elected a corresponding member, in 1966 - a full member (academician) of the USSR Academy of Sciences (since 1991 - the Russian Academy of Sciences). Since 1970, member of the Presidium, since 1973 - Academician-Secretary of the Department of General Physics and Astronomy of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

By Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of March 13, 1969, for great services in the development of Soviet science Prokhorov Alexander Mikhailovich awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor with the Order of Lenin and the Hammer and Sickle gold medal.

The Institute of General Physics of the USSR Academy of Sciences (IGFAN), created in 1983, the brainchild of Prokhorov, was named so not by chance and fully justifies its name with the breadth of areas of scientific research. He was director of IOFAN until 1998.

Since 1969, Chairman of the Scientific Editorial Council of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia Publishing House, was the editor-in-chief of the 3rd edition of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1969-1978), as well as the new Great Russian Encyclopedia, Encyclopedic Dictionary “Physics”.

Despite great difficulties with financing, the Institute of General Physics, which in the short period of its existence has gained high prestige in Russia and abroad, continues to operate successfully. And Prokhorov remained the center of scientific life, as always. He was concerned about major problems such as ecology, laser medicine, nanotechnology, new materials, and fiber-optic communications. And as always, when discussing scientific problems, Alexander Mikhailovich Prokhorov’s eyes lit up and new ideas and approaches to solving these problems were born.

By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated July 10, 1986, he was awarded the Order of Lenin and the second gold medal “Hammer and Sickle”.

The 1990s were a time of dramatic events in the country, which had a profound impact on many areas of society, in particular on science. This could not but affect both the Institute of General Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the fate of its employees. The need for scientific survival in new conditions led to the reorganization of the Institute of General Physics. A number of scientific centers with the status of a legal entity were formed at the institute: the Center for Natural Science Research (CENI, director - academician A.M. Prokhorov), the Scientific Center for Fiber Optics at the IOF RAS (NCVO at the IOF RAS, director - academician E.M. Dianov), Scientific Center for Laser Materials and Technologies (NTsLMiT, director - Academician V.V. Osiko), Scientific Center for Wave Research (NTsVI, director - Academician F.V. Bunkin).

Full member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences (1990). In the last years of his life, Prokhorov was president of the Russian Academy of Engineering Sciences. Member of the Council for Scientific and Technical Policy under the President of the Russian Federation (1995-2002).

Awarded 5 Soviet Orders of Lenin (04/27/1967, 03/13/1969, 09/17/1975, 05/11/1981, 07/10/1986), Order of the Patriotic War 1st degree (03/11/1985), Russian Order “For Merit to the Fatherland” 2- 1st degree (06/07/1996), medals, including “For Courage” (08/06/1946), as well as orders and medals of foreign countries, including the Order of Peace and Friendship (1975, Hungary), the Order of Cyril and Methodius 1- 1st degree (1979, Bulgaria).

Laureate of the Lenin Prize (1959), State Prize of the USSR (1980) and the Russian Federation (1998), Prize of the Council of Ministers of the USSR (1988, 1989), Nobel Prize in Physics (1964). Awarded the Great Gold Medal named after M.V. Lomonosov of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1987).

Foreign member of the Academy of Sciences of Czechoslovakia (1982), honorary member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (1976), Academy of Sciences of the GDR (1977), American Academy of Sciences and Arts in Boston (USA, 1972). Honorary Doctor of Science from Delhi (1967), Bucharest (1971), Cluj (Romania, 1977) universities and Prague Polytechnic Institute (1980).

In Moscow, a memorial plaque was installed on the building of the Institute of General Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, which bears his name.

Brief information about the life and work of the inventors of lasers, masers and quantum electronics, academicians Prokhorov and Basov, for the 100th anniversary of Prokhorov and as an addition to the articles of Apollonov and Sharkov. As well as extracts from Apollonov’s letters about the current state of ideas and developments on high-power lasers.

In 1964, American physicist Charles Townes and Russian physicists Nikolai Basov and Alexander Prokhorov received Nobel Prize for fundamental work in the field of quantum electronics, which led to the design of oscillators and amplifiers based on the maser-laser principle. But 12 years earlier, in 1952, A. Prokhorov’s first results on a new science, “Quantum Electronics,” appeared. Maser is an abbreviation for: Microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation.

During the 1950s, A. Prokhorov and N. Basov established the Principle of Amplification and Generation of Electromagnetic Radiation by Quantum Systems, which made it possible in 1954 to create the first quantum generator (maser) using a beam of ammonia molecules. In 1955, Basov proposed a three-level scheme for creating an inverse population of levels, which has found wide application in masers and lasers. Both Russian scientists eventually became outstanding internationally recognized scientists, academicians of the USSR Academy of Sciences, presidents of scientific societies and editors-in-chief of such journals as: - (N. Basov) “Science”, “Quantum”, “Quantum Electronics” and “Nature”; - (A. Prokhorov) international journal “Laser Physics” and member of the editorial board of the journal “Surface: Physics, Chemistry, Mechanics”. Since 1969, Prokhorov A.M. served as editor-in-chief of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia (later Russian).

With FIAN - Physical Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences / RAS named after. Lebedev - Nikolai Basov’s whole life was connected: from 1948 as a laboratory assistant; since 1950 employee after graduating from MEPhI and under the leadership of A.M. Prokhorov. and Leontovich M.A.; in the period 1958 - 1972 he was deputy. director of FIAN, and in 1973 - 1989 he was director of FIAN. Alexander Prokhorov’s 36 years of activity are associated with this Institute, from 1946 to 1982, where from 1954 he headed the famous “Oscillation Laboratory”, and from 1968 he was a deputy. Director of FIAN,

Nikolai Gennadievich Basov was born on December 14, 1922 in the Lipetsk region, died in Moscow on July 1, 2001. In 1927 the family moved to Voronezh. Member of the Komsomol from 1936 to 1950. In 1941 he graduated from high school, in 1943 he went to the front, where he served as a doctor’s assistant. After the war, he entered MEPhI, defended his diploma in 1950. In 1953 he defended his candidate's thesis, and in 1956 - his doctorate. In 1963 he organized the Laboratory of Quantum Radiophysics (KRF) at the Lebedev Physical Institute and headed it until his death. In 1962 he was elected corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, and in 1966 - academician. From 1967 to 1990 he was a member of the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences. In 1950 he married Ksenia Tikhonovna Nazarova, has two sons born in 1954 and 1963.

Alexander Mikhailovich Prokhorov was born on July 11, 1916 in Queensland, Australia, in the family of a Russian revolutionary worker. In 1923, the family returned to their homeland. He passed away on January 8, 2002, having lived 85 years; rested at Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow. Awards for scientific achievements: - Lenin Prize (1959), Nobel Prize in Physics (1964), USSR State Prize (1980), 5 Orders of Lenin, twice Hero of Socialist Labor (1969 and 1986), and other awards, international, Soviet, Russian . In 1939 he graduated with honors from the Faculty of Physics of the Leningrad State University. University and entered graduate school at the Lebedev Physical Institute. After the outbreak of the Second World War, he went to the front, fought in the infantry, in reconnaissance, and was awarded the medal “For Military Merit” in 1945 and the Order of the Patriotic War. Member of the Komsomol from 1930 to 1944. Member of the CPSU since 1950, as reported by Ru-Wikipedia. In 1944, after being seriously wounded, he was demobilized and returned to scientific work. In 1951 he defended his doctoral dissertation. In 1960 he was elected corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, and in 1966 - academician. In the period from 1973 to 1993 (20 years) he was Academician-Secretary of the Department of General Physics and Astronomy of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

Prokhorov's scientific works are devoted to radiophysics, accelerator physics, radio spectroscopy, quantum electronics and its applications, and nonlinear optics. Since 2002, the name of Prokhorov A.M. wears Institute of General Physics RAS (IOFAN)). This institute was established in 1982 on the basis of “Department A” of the Lebedev Physical Institute. P.N. Lebedeva. This “Department A” included: the Laboratory of Oscillations, the Laboratory of Plasma Physics and the Department of Single Crystals. The organizer and first director of IOFAN was Nobel Prize laureate Academician Alexander Mikhailovich Prokhorov. Since 1998, the institute has been headed by academician. I.A. Shcherbakov, and Prokhorov remained “honorary director” until 2002. The Institute of General Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences employs about 90 doctors of science, 340 candidates of science, 600 research assistants with a total number of about 1300 people, and 25 graduate students.

The first 10-15 years of the “laser era” (1960 – 1975). After the creation of the first laser, for many scientists and military personnel this began to suggest that it was possible to create a weapon capable of “burning” a target to the ground using a high-energy laser beam. The first 15 years were full of laser discoveries and inventions. The spirit of enthusiasm prevailed. There was a prevailing belief in the ability of laser science and technology to succeed in solving extremely complex and even fantastic problems. During this initial period, most of the high power lasers now known were invented and many large laser test sites and prototype laser systems were built in the USA and USSR. On the Internet you can find information and photographs that more than a million people were employed in the “laser industry” of the USSR and several large “closed cities” and semi-secret ones were built.

Extract of a number of phrases and sentences from letters of Academician. RANS, prof. Apollonova V.V., 2015-2016

I continue to persistently fight in an attempt to give progress to my solution to the SDI problem. Nowadays it sounds different: Aerospace Defense - VKO. A 25-40 MegaWatt laser is no longer a problem; it will even fit into the notorious Boeing. = Lasers have a fantastic future in all areas of science and technology. Especially after the breakthrough in disk geometry. But there is no money to implement the idea, and the fact that there is a very corrupt environment around, and even with the intellectual level of the vegetable base. Difficult!

I hope that my book “High-energy lasers in our lives” (in English) will be of interest to readers in the USA, Germany and Russia. This book is dedicated to the blessed memory of my teacher and colleague Academician A.M. Prokhorov, with whom I was happy to work for more than 32 years. This book describes the physical characteristics, modern approaches and new applications of high-power, high-repetition rate, pulse-periodic lasers (gas, chemical and solid-state t/t), which we developed together with Academician A.M. Prokhorov.

= I would really like to talk about A.M. Prokhorov to say more than is said in my memoirs about him on his 100th birthday (July 11, 2016). On this day we were at the cemetery (Novodevichy Convent), bowed to him and N.G. Basov. Then we went to a cafe and remembered the past. Our past in science is very bright! It's a different time now too many people came into science from a vegetable base! Including the management of science (FANO) from the same places. (note: FANO is the Federal Agency of Scientific Organizations)

It is true that the CO2 laser system, based on electrical discharge, was indeed a false path. And we, A.M. Prokhorov and I were largely confident in this even at the very beginning of the laser era.

But new approaches in the development of t/t lasers (US companies: Lockheed Martin and Northrop Gruman) serve as striking examples of very compact tactical systems. Very soon they will be on board fighters.

There is only one that impossible for the current state of laser technology in the US- this is to make a truly Mobile Strategic System with a range of over 1000 km.

Mono-modular, High Rep. Rate P-P Disk Laser is the only way to make a Long Range System. And such a laser system will be realized very soon.

For real space conditions, the power of such a system should be about 20-30 MegaWatts.

Mono-modular the disk laser was proposed by Nikolai Basov more than 50 years ago, in 1964. By the late 1980s, ACE and Refrigeration problems prevented this goal from being achieved. Our new technological and physical solutions to these “terrible problems” (ACE and Cooling) show an effective way to overcome them. We have an idea how to overcome the ACE problem; This is a very sophisticated, albeit complex solution.

= 360 degree laser system for fighter aircraft: - An optical system is quite possible. – For altitudes above 6-7 km, such a system looks very impressive. But I must add that the fiber laser-based complex is a step back. In the past, we have had many troubles, troubles and problems with the plasma screening effect. – This complex is only good for shooting down drones made of plastic and textile materials. “But this is ineffective for everything else, for aircraft based on aluminum and titanium.

Modern leaders among solid-state (s/t) lasers are disk and fiber. – The Northrop Gramman company has created a laser with a power of more than 100 KiloWatts with high beam quality, using such an approach to the implementation of scalable T/T laser systems as a set of active elements in the form of “slabs”. – But a laser system with a power of several MegaWatts based on “slabs” is hardly feasible. Since adjustment and reliability of the system are extremely complex tasks.

= Fiber lasers for these MegaWatt levels of radiation are also unacceptable; - due to the small area of ​​the exit pupil of the fibers.

Thus it is clear that only the Disk Laser will solve this problem - the problem of creating a Long-Range System with a range of over 1000 km!