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| Boris Shklovskii | |
|---|---|
| Name | Boris Shklovskii |
| Native name | Борис Шкловский |
| Birth date | 1947 |
| Birth place | Moscow |
| Fields | Condensed matter physics, Theoretical physics |
| Alma mater | Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics |
| Doctoral advisor | Lev P. Gorkov |
| Known for | Coulomb gap, hopping conductivity, screening, disordered systems |
| Awards | Frank Isakson Prize, Lomonosov Prize |
Boris Shklovskii was a Soviet-born American theoretical physicist noted for pioneering contributions to condensed matter physics and the theory of disordered systems, particularly electronic transport in localized regimes. He developed foundational ideas on the Coulomb gap, hopping conductivity, and screening in low-dimensional structures, influencing research in semiconductors, amorphous solids, and nanostructures. His work connected experimental studies at institutions such as Bell Labs and IBM with theoretical frameworks from the Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics and Princeton University.
Born in Moscow in 1947, Shklovskii completed secondary studies during the late Cold War era and entered the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology where he studied physics alongside contemporaries from Soviet institutions. He pursued postgraduate work at the Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics under the intellectual milieu of Lev Landau’s school and received mentorship linked to Lev P. Gorkov. His early education placed him within the networks of Soviet theoretical physics associated with the Kurchatov Institute tradition and the scientific communities of Moscow State University.
Shklovskii held research and faculty positions spanning Soviet and American institutions, beginning with appointments at the Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics and collaborations with groups at the Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics. In the 1980s and 1990s he moved to the United States, affiliating with universities and research centers including Princeton University and research interactions with Bell Labs and Argonne National Laboratory. Later he joined the faculty at the University of Minnesota and maintained visiting positions at institutions such as École Normale Supérieure and University of California, Berkeley. He also collaborated with researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory and participated in international programs sponsored by the National Science Foundation and similar agencies.
Shklovskii produced influential theoretical advances in electronic properties of disordered systems, notably formulating aspects of the Coulomb gap in localized electronic states and quantifying its effects on variable-range hopping conductivity. Building on earlier ideas from N. F. Mott and Sir Nevill F. Mott, he and collaborators developed scaling theories that connected interactions described by Efros–Shklovskii law to experimental data in doped semiconductors, amorphous silicon, and granular metals. He examined screening phenomena in low-dimensional systems, relating screening length and dielectric responses to results from Thomas–Fermi theory and extensions used in mesoscopic physics. His work addressed transport near the metal–insulator transition, linking to concepts explored by Sir Nevill Mott, Philip W. Anderson, and Nikolay Khmelnitskii.
Shklovskii also contributed to understanding Coulomb blockade effects in quantum dots, charge ordering in two-dimensional electron gases, and percolation models applied to hopping conductivity, drawing connections to the percolation theory literature advanced by Dennis Stauffer and Amir H. Chayes. Collaborations with scientists such as Alexander L. Efros, B. I. Shklovskii’s coauthors, and researchers at Bell Labs led to theoretical predictions subsequently tested in experiments at Stanford University, Harvard University, and Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. His analytical and scaling methods influenced studies of localization in Anderson localization contexts and interplay between disorder and interaction discussed by Eugene Akkermans and Giovanni Vignale.
Shklovskii authored and coauthored seminal articles in journals like Physical Review Letters, Physical Review B, and Journal of Physics C. He coauthored the influential monograph "Electronic Properties of Doped Semiconductors" with Alexander L. Efros, which consolidated theories of hopping conduction, Coulomb correlations, and impurity band transport and became a standard reference cited alongside works by N. F. Mott and David Thouless. He contributed chapters to edited volumes from conferences organized by International Union of Pure and Applied Physics affiliates and published reviews in proceedings of meetings at Cargèse and Les Houches schools. His papers on the Efros–Shklovskii law and related topics remain widely cited across studies of semiconductor physics, nanotechnology, and materials science.
Shklovskii received several awards recognizing his theoretical contributions, including the Frank Isakson Prize and national honors such as the Lomonosov Prize in recognition by Russian academies. He was elected to professional societies including the American Physical Society and received invitations to deliver named lectures at institutions like Cambridge University and ETH Zurich. His election to editorial boards and advisory panels for funding agencies reflected recognition from bodies such as the National Science Foundation and the European Research Council.
Shklovskii’s career bridged Soviet and Western scientific communities, mentoring students who pursued careers at centers like MIT, Caltech, and Columbia University. His theoretical frameworks continue to inform experiments at facilities including Brookhaven National Laboratory and CERN collaborations on condensed matter analogs, and his monograph with Alexander L. Efros remains a teaching staple in courses at University of Chicago and Yale University. The concepts bearing his name, notably the Efros–Shklovskii law and Coulomb gap, persist as central paradigms in contemporary research on localization, disorder, and interactions, influencing ongoing work in spintronics, quantum computing, and two-dimensional materials.
Category:Theoretical physicists Category:Condensed matter physicists Category:1947 births