P. L. Kapitsa

Biography

Abstract

Pyotr Kapitsa was a condensed matter physicist at the Russian Academy of Sciences. He was awarded the 1978 Nobel Prize in Physics "for his basic inventions and discoveries in the area of low-temperature physics."

Important Dates

July 9, 1894Birth, Kronstadt (Russia).

1921 – 1932Researcher (1921-1924) and Assistant Director of Magnetic Research (1924-1932), Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge (England).

1923Obtained PhD in Physics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge (England).

1923 – 1926Clerk Maxwell Student, University of Cambridge, Cambridge (England).

1925Fellow, Trinity College, Cambridge (England).

1929Corresponding Member, USSR Academy of Sciences (Rossiiskaia akademiia nauk).

1929 – 1934Fellow (1929); Messel Research Professor (1930-1934); and Director, Royal Society Mond Laboratory (1930-1934), Royal Society.

1935 – 1946Director, Institute of Physical Problems, USSR Academy of Sciences (Rossiiskaia akademiia nauk), Moscow (Russia).

1942Awarded Faraday Medal, Institute of Electrical Engineers.

1944Awarded Franklin Medal and Member, Franklin Institute.

1945 – 1946Director, Soviet construction of Atomic bomb.

1946Member, National Academy of Sciences.

1947Member, Indian Academy of Sciences.

1948Member, Royal Irish Academy.

1955 – 1984Director, Institute of Physical Problems, USSR Academy of Sciences (Rossiiskaia akademiia nauk), Moscow (Russia).

1958Member, German Academy of Naturalists "Leopoldina" (Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina).

1962Member, Polish Academy of Sciences (Polska Akademia Nauk).

1966Member, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (Kungl. Svenska vetenskapsakademien).

1968Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

1969Member, Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences (Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen).

1978Awarded Nobel Prize in Physics "for his basic inventions and discoveries in the area of low-temperature physics".

April 8, 1984Death, Moscow (Russia).

Occupation

Superfluidity and condensed matter physicist.

Places

Birth

Kronstadt (Russia)

Employment

Cambridge (England)

Cambridge (England)

London (England)

Moscow (Russia)

Graduate Education

Cambridge (England)

Death

Moscow (Russia)

Subjects

Condensed matter.

Low temperature research.

Superfluidity.

Relationships

People

Advisors & Collaborators

Bitter, Francis, 1902-1967

Advised as a post-doc by Kapitsa at the Cavendish Laboratories, Cambridge University for a Guggenheim Fellowship.

Goldberger, Marvin L.

Co-edited "Verification: Monitoring Disarmament."

Ioffe, A. F. (Abram Fedorovich), 1880-1960

PhD advisor at Saint Petersburg Polytechnical Institute (Sankt-Peterburghskiĭ politekhnicheskiĭ universitet Petra Velikogo).

Rutherford, Ernest, 1871-1937

Research advisor at University of Cambridge.

Shoenberg, D. (David)

Advised by Kapitsa at University of Cambridge.

Additional

Akhiezer, A. I. (Aleksandr Il'ich), 1911-2000

Andreeva, A. F.

Arkad'ev, V. K. (Vladimir Konstantinovich), 1884-1953

Badash, Lawrence

Berg, A. I. (Aksel Ivanovich)

Boag, J. W., 1911-2007

Bohr, Niels, 1885-1962

Born, Max, 1882-1970

Cockcroft, John, Sir, 1897-1967

Dirac, P. A. M. (Paul Adrien Maurice), 1902-1984

DuMond, Jesse W. M. (Jesse William Monroe), 1892-1976

Gamow, George, 1904-1968

Gorter, C. J. (Cornelis Jacobus), 1907-

Grosse, Aristid von, 1905-1985

Hodgkin, Dorothy, 1910-1994

Krylov, A. N. (Aleksej Nikolaevich)

Kurchatov, I. V. (Igorʹ Vasilʹevich), 1903-1960

Migdal, A. B. (Arkadii Beinusovich), 1911-1991

Occhialini, Giuseppe, 1907-1993

Oppenheimer, Frank, 1912-1985

Penzias, Arno A.

Awarded 1978 Nobel Prize in Physics for separate project.

Peters, B. (Bernard), 1910-

Ramsey, Norman, 1915-2011

Rubinin, P. E.

Rudnick, Isadore, 1917-

Shalnikov, Aleksandr Iosifovich

Stern, Otto, 1888-1969

Vvedenskii, B. A. (Boris Alekseevich)

Waly, Adnan

Wilson, Charles Thomson Rees, 1869-1959

Wilson, Robert Woodrow, 1936-

Awarded 1978 Nobel Prize in Physics for separate project.

Institutions

Major Positions

Cavendish Laboratory (Cambridge, England)

Researcher and Assistant Director of Magnetic Research.

Rossiiskaia akademiia nauk

Corresponding Member and twice Director, Institute of Physical Problems.

Royal Society (Great Britain)

Member; Messel Research Professor; and Director Royal Society Mond Laboratory.

Trinity College (University of Cambridge)

Fellow.

Professional Activities & Affiliations

American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Member.

Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina

Member.

Franklin Institute (Philadelphia, Pa.)

Member and awarded 1944 Franklin Medal.

Indian Academy of Sciences

Member.

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

Awarded 1942 Faraday Medal.

Khar'kovskii fiziko-tekhnicheskii institut

Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen

Member.

Kungl. Svenska vetenskapsakademien

Member.

National Academy of Sciences (U.S.)

Member.

Polska Akademia Nauk

Member.

Royal Irish Academy

Member.

University of Cambridge. Department of Physics

Clerk Maxwell Student and obtained PhD in Physics (1923).

Resources

Archival Resources

Author

Petr L. Kapitsa papers, 1920.

Institute of Physical Problems.

ul. A. N. Kosygina 2, Moscow 117973, Russia

Piotr Leonidovich Kapitza papers, 1900-1994.

Archives Centre.

Churchill College.

Cambridge CB3 0DS

Subject

A. I. Berg papers, 1908-1979.

Archive

Russian Academy of Sciences

ul. Novocheremushkinskaia, 34, Moscow, 117218, Russia

A. N. Krylov papers.

St. Petersburg Branch. Archive

Russian Academy of Sciences

Universitetskaia hab., 1, Korp. 2, St. Petersburg 199034

Aleksander I. Shalnikov papers, 1920s-1990s.

Archive

Russian Academy of Sciences

ul. Novocheremushkinskaia, 34, Moscow, 117218, Russia

Archive for the History of Quantum Physics, 1898-1950 (bulk).

Library

American Philosophical Society

105 South Fifth Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA

B. A. Vvedenskii papers, 1878-1968.

St. Petersburg Branch. Archive

Russian Academy of Sciences

Universitetskaia hab., 1, Korp. 2, St. Petersburg 199034

Bernard Peters papers, 1947-1992.

Niels Bohr Archive

Blegdamsvej 17, Copenhagen, Denmark

Commission on Atomic Physics of the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR records, 1966-1977.

Archive

Russian Academy of Sciences

ul. Novocheremushkinskaia, 34, Moscow, 117218, Russia

Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin papers, 1928-1993.

Bodleian Library

University of Oxford

Oxford, England, UK

Igor V. Kurchatov papers.

Kurchatov Museum.

Kurchatov, I. V., Institute of Atomic Energy.

ul. Kurchatova, 46, Moscow 123182, Russia

Jesse W. M. DuMond papers, 1912-1976.

Institute Archives

California Institute of Technology

1201 East California Blvd. (Mail Code 015A-74), Pasadena, CA 91125, USA

Kharkovskii fiziko-tekhnicheskii institut records, 1926-1945.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Max Born Journey to Russia, 1945.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Minute books [microform], 1900-1958.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Niels Bohr material collected elsewhere, 1912-1962.

Niels Bohr Archive

Blegdamsvej 17, Copenhagen, Denmark

Oral history interview with A. B. Migdal, 1977 May 25.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Adnan Waly, 1994 February-March.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Alexander Ilich Akhiezer, 1995 November-December.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Aristid Victor Grosse, 1974 January 11 and April 5.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Cornelis Jacobus Gorter, 1962 November 13.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with David Shoenberg, 1981 February 10.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Frank Oppenheimer, 1973 February 9 and May 21.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with George Gamow, 1968 April 25 and 26.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Giuseppe Occhialini, 1971 April 5, 6, May 16, 17, and November 18.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Isadore Rudnick, 1990 July 3.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Norman Ramsey, 1960 July 19 to August 4.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Sir John Cockcroft, 1967 March 28.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

P. A. M. Dirac papers, 1788-1999 (bulk 1924-1984).

Paul A. M. Dirac Science Library

Florida State University

Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA

Petr I. Lukirsky papers, 1914-1964.

St. Petersburg Branch. Archive

Russian Academy of Sciences

Universitetskaia hab., 1, Korp. 2, St. Petersburg 199034

Russian Academy of Sciences Institute of Physical Problems records, 1935-1982.

Institute for Physical Problems

ul. A. N. Kosygina 2, Moscow 117973, Russia

Scientific works, biographical documents, work-related documents, correspondence, 1958-2000.

Archive

Russian Academy of Sciences

ul. Novocheremushkinskaia, 34, Moscow, 117218, Russia

Sir John Cockcroft papers, 1872-1985.

Archives Centre.

Churchill College.

Cambridge CB3 0DS

Vladimir Arkadev papers.

Archive

Russian Academy of Sciences

ul. Novocheremushkinskaia, 34, Moscow, 117218, Russia

Published Resources

Author

Collected papers of P.L. Kapitza/ edited and with an introduction by D. ter Haar.

Experiment, theory, practice: articles and addresses/ P. L. Kapitza.

Fizicheskie zadachi/ Akademie P. L. Kapitsa.

Fizika i tekhnika nizkikh temperatur/ P.L. Kapitsa.

Kapitza in Cambridge and Moscow: life and letters of a Russian physicist/ compiled and edited by J.W. Boag, P.E. Rubinin, D. Shoenberg.

Letters to mother: the early Cambridge period/ edited by David J. Lockwood; translated by Eugenia Lockwood.

Peter Kapitsa on life and science; addresses and essays collected, translated, and annotated, with an introd., by Albert Parry.

Petr Leonidovich Kapitsa: vospominaniia, pisma, dokumenty/ [sostaviteli E.L. Kapitsa, P.E. Rubinin].

Pisma o nauke: 1930-1980/ P.L. Kapitsa; [sostavlenie, predislovie i primechaniia P.E. Rubinina].

Rezerford--uchenyi i uchitel. K 100-letiiu so dnia rozhdeniia. [Sbornik statei]. Pod. red. akad. P.L. Kapitsy.

Subject

Dvadt︠s︡atyĭ vek Anny Kapit︠s︡y: dnevniki, zametki/ izdanie podgotovleno E.L. Kapit︠s︡eĭ, P.E. Rubininym.

Kapitsa, Tamm, Semenov v ocherkakh i pismakh/ [pod obshchei redaktsiei A.F. Andreeva].

Kapit︠s︡a--zhiznʹ i otkrytii︠a︡ / F. Kedrov.

Kapitza, der Atom-Zar/ von A.M. Biew

Kapitza, Rutherford, and the Kremlin/ Lawrence Badash.

Priroda.

Pyotr Kapitsa Nobel Prize biography.