The message reads, in part:
“The creation of this legendary institute was a crucial event in the life of the Russian academic community and the entire country. The progressive principles, bold ideas and unique team spirit were the foundation of the institute and brought about an entire constellation of prominent physicists, including Nobel Prize winners.
It is important that today your creative team strives to multiply the notable traditions of your predecessors, is engaged in advanced fundamental research and addresses relevant applied tasks. This approach plays a very important role in the active development of the institute and its further fruitful activity for the benefit of Russia.”
The Ioffe Institute scientists address almost all areas of contemporary physics. The institute became world famous for its work on solid state physics, semiconductors, quantum electronics, astrophysics, plasma physics and physical gas dynamics. Papers by the institute’s researchers on space physics and cosmology, as well as controlled thermonuclear fusion are also well known.
The institute’s scientists have been awarded the Nobel Prize twice. In 1956, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to academician Nikolai Semyonov (together with Cyril Norman Hinshelwood) for “their research into the mechanism of chemical reactions.” In 2000, the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Director of the Ioffe Institute, academician Zhores Alfyorov (together with Herbert Kroemer and Jack St. Clair Kilby) for their work in “developing semiconductor heterostructures used in high-speed- and optoelectronics“, which laid the foundation of contemporary information engineering. Nobel Prize laureates Lev Landau, Pyotr Kapitsa and Igor Tamm began their careers at the Ioffe Institute.