Yuri A. Osipyan
1931-2008
Academician Yuri A.Osipyan is an outstanding scientist and organizer of national science who made an inestimable contribution to condensed matter physics, physics of strength and plasticity of solids. Academician Yu.A.Osipyan is a cofounder of the Institute of Solid State Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences. For years he was a member of the Presidium of the USSR and then Russian Academy of Sciences, chairman and member of the RAS scientific center in Chernogolovka, advisor to President of the USSR.
Born on February 15, 1931, in Moscow, Yu.A. Osipyan graduated from Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys as a metallurgical engineer and started scientific work at Institute of Metallurgy and Physics of Metals, Central Research Institute of Ferrous Metallurgy. At the same time he received theoretical education at the Mechanico-Mathematical Faculty of the Moscow University. In 1962 he finished his PhD thesis supervised by Academician G.V.Kurdyumov. From 1962 to 1963 Yu.A. Osipyan was Deputy Director at the Institute of Crystallography RAS. The establishment the Institute of Solid State Physics revealed Yu.A. Osipyan's outstanding scientific and managerial talents. From 1963 to 2001 he was Director of the Institute of Solid State Physics RAS and from 2002 to 2008 its principal research advisor.
Yu.A. Osipyan devoted his scientific talent to solid state physics. He published over 200 scientific papers on physics of strength, physics of electrical and magnetic phenomena, physics of semiconductors, optics, theory of phase transformations, etc. In the early 1960s Yu.A.Osipyan started pioneer experimental research into the interaction of electrons with extensive defects in crystals. in that period he discovered a novel and interesting phenomenon now known as the photo-plastic effect. Together with his students Yu.A.Osipyan discovered the electro-plastic effect and electric charge on dislocations in А2В6 semiconductors, clusters of dangling valence bonds in dislocation nuclei in silicon, electron spin resonance and spin-dependent recombination on dislocations. The refined experiments on rf conduction made it possible to detect quasi-one-dimensional electron zones connected to dislocations and combined electron resonance on dislocations in silicon. The experiments allowed to establish the dependence of plastic deformation of superconductors on magnetic field and to show that the state of the electron system affects plastic deformation, i.e. dislocation motion through the crystal, and introduction of dislocations, in its turn, is responsible for changes of the properties of the electron system in plastically deformed crystals. The first experiments on electron paramagnetic resonance on dangling bonds stimulated development of the powerful method of diagnostics of semiconductors, namely, electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy of semiconductor defects.
These research works formed the basis of the new fast developing field of physics, physics of dislocations in semiconductor crystals. The contributions of Yu.A. Osipyan and his scientific school appeared at the forefront of dislocation physics of solids. In 1972 Yu.A. Osipyan was elected a corresponding member and in 1981 a member of the USSR Academy of Sciences. In 1984 for his research in the field of physics of dislocations Yu.A. Osipyan was awarded the Lebedev Gold Medal, one of the highest physics awards of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Later he received the International Prize and Karpinsky Gold Medal.
Yu.A. Osipyan developed and headed the USSR State Program on high temperature superconductivity. He suggested and supervised investigations of the structural and physical properties of high temperature superconductor crystals, specifically, the structure of magnetic flow in superconductors, conductivity anisotropy. The achievements of those studies became recognized worldwide. As a member of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Yu.A. Osipyan made an invaluable contribution to organization of national scientific research programs.
His life”s work was foundation and development of the Institute of Solid State Physics RAS, selection and further education of scientific brainpower, ensuring and maintaining high research standards. Now the Institute of Solid State Physics RAS is one of the leading academic physical institutions in Russia, an internationally recognized scientific center for condensed matter physics and physical metallurgy.
Yu.A. Osipyan was an excellent tutor of young researchers. He initiated creation of a solid state physics department of the Moscow Physical Technical Institute and an affiliated department of physical chemistry of the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys at the Institute of Solid State Physics RAS. For decades he was teaching students and post-graduates. Till 2008 he held the chair of solid state physics at the Moscow Physical Technical Institute. Yu.A. Osipyan supervised PhD and DPhil theses of a number of outstanding Russian scientists. He also initiated creation of the Physicochemical Faculty of the Moscow State University.
Yu.A. Osipyan’s services to physics received international recognition. He was a foreign member of national academies of Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, member of the US National Academy of Engineering, the International Academy of Astronautics and President of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP). Yu.A. Osipyan received a number of higher national awards. In 1986 he became Hero of Socialist Labour (highest civilian award in USSR) and in 1999 he received the National Order of Merit. In 2005 for his fundamental contribution to physics of dislocations in solids and discovery of the electro-plastic effect Yu.A. Osipyan received the Lomonosov Big Gold Medal, the highest award of the Russian Academy of Sciences.