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| Lev P. Gorkov | |
|---|---|
| Name | Lev P. Gorkov |
| Native name | Лев Петрович Горьков |
| Birth date | 1929 |
| Death date | 2016 |
| Nationality | Soviet Union, Russia, United States |
| Fields | Theoretical physics, Superconductivity |
| Institutions | Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics, Moscow State University, Brown University, National High Magnetic Field Laboratory |
| Alma mater | Moscow State University |
| Doctoral advisor | Lev Landau |
| Known for | Theory of superconductivity, Gorkov equations |
Lev P. Gorkov was a Soviet-born theoretical physicist best known for foundational work on the microscopic theory of superconductivity and for bridging Soviet and Western physics communities. He developed formalism that connected phenomenological descriptions with quantum field theory methods, influencing research across condensed matter physics, quantum field theory, and statistical mechanics. His career spanned institutions in Moscow, Paris, and Providence, Rhode Island, and his work impacted multiple generations of theoretical and experimental physicists.
Gorkov was born in Moscow and educated at Moscow State University, where he studied under members of the Landau School led by Lev Landau, and was influenced by figures associated with the Kapitza Institute and P. L. Kapitsa. During his student years he encountered the work of Lev Landau, Evgeny Lifshitz, Isaak Khalatnikov, and Alexander Abrikosov, and he participated in seminars associated with the Institute for Physical Problems and the Physics Department, Moscow State University. His doctoral studies involved collaborations and exchanges with researchers connected to the Soviet Academy of Sciences and contemporaries such as Lev Pitaevskii, Vitaly Ginzburg, and A. A. Abrikosov.
Gorkov's early research occurred at the Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics and the Institute for Physical Problems, where he worked alongside scientists from the Soviet Academy of Sciences and engaged with developments from the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer theory, the Ginzburg–Landau theory, and methods introduced by Richard Feynman, Julian Schwinger, and Sin-Itiro Tomonaga. He later moved to the United States and held positions at Brown University and collaborated with researchers at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, interfacing with groups at MIT, Harvard University, Princeton University, and Stanford University. His research integrated techniques from quantum field theory, many-body physics, and Green's functions pioneered by David Bohm, John Bardeen, Leon Cooper, and John Robert Schrieffer.
Gorkov derived microscopic connections between the Bardeen–Cooper–Schrieffer theory and the Ginzburg–Landau theory, producing what are commonly called the Gorkov equations, a Green's function formalism that made use of methods from Bogoliubov–de Gennes equations, Matsubara formalism, and Feynman diagrams. His work provided tools adopted by researchers studying type-II superconductors, vortex lattice behavior as explored by Alexei Abrikosov, and impurity effects analyzed by P. W. Anderson and A. A. Abrikosov. Extensions of his formalism influenced studies in unconventional superconductivity related to heavy fermion materials investigated by groups at Los Alamos National Laboratory, and to high-temperature superconductors studied at Bell Labs, IBM Research, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Gorkov's techniques also interfaced with advances in quantum Hall effect theory influenced by Robert Laughlin and with topological ideas later pursued by Frank Wilczek, Michael Berry, and Xiao-Gang Wen.
Gorkov served at the Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics, held visiting appointments at École Normale Supérieure and Université de Paris, and later became a professor at Brown University, where he mentored students and postdocs who went on to appointments at Princeton University, University of California, Berkeley, Columbia University, University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign, and Cornell University. He collaborated with figures such as A. I. Larkin, P. A. Lee, Nikolay Kopnin, and Alexei Larkin, and his mentees interacted with communities at Argonne National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, and Cavendish Laboratory. Through visiting roles he lectured at Cambridge University, ETH Zurich, Weizmann Institute of Science, and Tel Aviv University.
Gorkov received recognition from institutions including the Soviet Academy of Sciences and international bodies, earning awards and fellowships that connected him with National Science Foundation programs, American Physical Society honors, and invitations to deliver named lectures such as those at Solvay Conference-related meetings and Nobel Symposiums-affiliated workshops. His contributions were noted in citations by organizations like the Royal Society, Max Planck Society, and various national academies including the Russian Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Sciences (United States). He was invited to be a visiting scholar at centers including the Institute for Advanced Study and received fellowships linking him to the Guggenheim Foundation and European science programs.
Gorkov's personal connections spanned the Soviet Union and the United States, with colleagues and friends among Lev Landau's students, members of the Landau School, and Western physicists at Bell Labs, IBM Research, and Brookhaven National Laboratory. His legacy persists in textbooks, reviews, and the curricula of courses at Moscow State University, Brown University, Princeton University, and Harvard University, and in the ongoing research programs at institutions such as the Max Planck Institute for Physics of Complex Systems, Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, and the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory. His name is associated with techniques taught alongside works by Bardeen, Cooper, Schrieffer, Ginzburg, Landau, and Bogoliubov, and his approaches continue to influence contemporary studies at centers including MIT, Caltech, EPFL, and University of Tokyo.
Category:Russian physicists Category:Soviet physicists Category:Theoretical physicists Category:Scientists from Moscow