Anatoly Ivanovich Larkin (; October 14, 1932 – August 4, 2005) was a Russian

theoretical physicist Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain, and predict natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental physics, which uses experi ...

, universally recognised as a leader in theory of condensed matter, and who was also a celebrated teacher of several generations of theorists. Born in a small town of

Kolomna Kolomna (, ) is a historic types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in Moscow Oblast, Russia, situated at the confluence of the Moskva River, Moskva and Oka Rivers, (by rail) southeast of Moscow. Population: History Mentioned for the fir ...

in Moscow region, Larkin went on to receive his education at the

Moscow Engineering Physics Institute National Research Nuclear University MEPhI (Moscow Engineering Physics Institute) () is a public university, public technical university in Moscow, Russia. It was founded in 1942 as the Moscow Mechanical Institute of Munitions, but was soon renam ...

. He worked on his PhD on the properties of plasmas under the supervision of A.B.Migdal and later received the degree of Doctor of Science (1965) for studies of

superconductivity Superconductivity is a set of physical properties observed in superconductors: materials where Electrical resistance and conductance, electrical resistance vanishes and Magnetic field, magnetic fields are expelled from the material. Unlike an ord ...

. Research at the I.V. Kurchatov Institute in Moscow (1957–66) was followed by nearly 40 years of work at the Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics in Chernogolovka, Moscow region, where he moved in 1966. During 1970–1991, he was also a professor at

Moscow State University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public university, public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, a ...

. Since 1995, Larkin was a professor of physics at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

and a member of William I. Fine Theoretical Physics Institute. The list of his publications (233 entries) consists of papers on condensed matter theory, theory of elementary particles, and nuclei and plasmas. Citation index of publications by A. Larkin exceeds 14,000. The dominant part of his work is devoted to superconductivity, magnetism, ferro-electricity, properties of metals, semiconductors and dielectrics. He pioneered the concept of spontaneous symmetry breaking in the physics of elementary particles, discovered collective pinning of magnetic flux in superconductors, predicted paraconductivity and effects of fluctuations on properties of superconductors, made essential contributions to the theory of weak localization, as well as developed the concept of the Ehrenfest time and its effect on phenomena of quantum chaos. A.I. Larkin was the famous teacher of a large number of actively working theorists. His students and collaborators are teaching and conducting research in Russia, USA, Great Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Israel and other countries. He died suddenly at 6pm on August 4, 2005, in

Aspen Aspen is a common name for certain tree species in the Populus sect. Populus, of the ''Populus'' (poplar) genus. Species These species are called aspens: * ''Populus adenopoda'' – Chinese aspen (China, south of ''P. tremula'') * ''Populus da ...

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

, where he was attending a physics workshop.

Honors and prizes

* London Prize in Low Temperature Physics (1990) * Lars Onsager Prize (2002) * (2004) * Hewlett Packard Europhysics Prize (1993) * Alexander von Humboldt Medal (1993) * Award of Excellence of the World Congress on Superconductivity (1994) *

Order of the Red Banner of Labour The Order of the Red Banner of Labour () was an order of the Soviet Union established to honour great deeds and services to the Soviet state and society in the fields of production, science, culture, literature, the arts, education, sports ...

(1967) * Member of

Russian Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation; and additional scientific and social units such ...

(1991), corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1979)

Selected publications

*A. Larkin, A. Varlamov, Theory of fluctuations in superconductors, Oxford University Press, 2005, xviii, 412 pp. nternational Series of Monographs on Physics 127* V. M. Galitski, A. I. Larkin, Superconducting fluctuations at low temperature, Physical Review B 63 (17), 174506 (2001) * I. L. Aleiner, A. I. Larkin, Role of divergence of classical trajectories in quantum chaos, Phys. Rev. E 55 (2), R1243-R1246 (1997) * L. B. Ioffe and A. I. Larkin, Gapless fermions and gauge fields in dielectrics, Phys. Rev. B 39, 8988 (1989) * A. L. Larkin, Yu.N. Ovchinnikov, Quantum tunneling with dissipation, JETP Lett., 37 (7), 382-385 (1983); Pis’ma v ZhETF, 37 (7), 322-325 (1983) *S. Hikami, A.I. Larkin, Y. Nagaoka, Spin-Orbit Interaction and Magnetoresistance in the Two Dimensional Random System, Prog. Theor. Phys., 63(2), 707-710 (1980) *A.I. Larkin, Effect of inhomogeneities on the structure of the mixed state of superconductors, Sov. Phys. JETP 31(4), 784 (1970); (RUS) ZhETF, 58 (4), 1466-1470 (1970) *A.I. Larkin, D.E. Khmel’nitskii, Phase Transition in Uniaxial Ferroelectrics, Sov. Phys. JETP 29(6), 1123-1128 (1969); (RUS) ZhETF, 56 (6), 2087-2098 (1969) *L.G. Aslamazov, A.I. Larkin, Effect of Fluctuations on the Properties of a Superconductor Above the Critical Temperature, Sov. Phys. Solid State, 10(4), 875-880 (1968); (RUS) Fizika Tverd. tela, 10 (4), 1104-1111 (1968) *A.I. Larkin, Yu.N. Ovchinnikov, Nonuniform state of superconductors, Sov. Phys. JETP 20, 762 (1965); (RUS) ZhETF, 47(3), 1136-1146 (1964) *V.G. Vaks, A.I. Larkin, On the application of the methods of superconductivity theory to the problem of the masses of elementary particles, Sov. Phys. JETP 13, 192-193 (1961); (RUS) ZhETF, 40(1), 282-285 (1961) *A.A. Vedenov, A.I. Larkin, Equation of state of plasma, Sov. Phys. JETP 9, 806-821 (1959); (RUS) ZhETF, 36(4), 1133-1142 (1959)

Notes

External links

Larkin's page at the University of MinnesotaLarkin memorial conference
{{DEFAULTSORT:Larkin 1932 births 2005 deaths 20th-century American physicists 20th-century Russian physicists 21st-century American physicists Corresponding Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences Full Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences Moscow Engineering Physics Institute alumni University of Minnesota faculty Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour American nuclear physicists Russian emigrants to the United States Russian nuclear physicists Soviet nuclear physicists Soviet physicists

See also

Honors and prizes

Selected publications

Notes

External links