On Superconductivity and Superfluidity - A Scientific Autobiography

A Nobel Laureate presents his view of developments in the field of superconductivity, superfluidity and related theory. The book contains Ginzburg's amended version of the Nobel lecture in Physics 2003, as well as his expanded autobiography.


Born 4 October 1916 in Moscow, Russia. Graduated from Moscow State University in 1938. Defended candidate dissertation (Ph.D.) in Moscow State University in 1940. From 1940 till now works in P. N. Lebedev Physical Institute Acad. Sci. USSR (now Russian Acad. Sci.). In 1942 defended Dr. Sci. dissertation. From 1971 till 1988 - head (director) of I. E. Tamm department of theoretical physics, from 1988 till now adviser in Russian Acad. Sci. and head of the theoretical group in P. N. Lebedev Physical Institute. From 1945 was visiting professor in Gorkii State University and from 1968 till now professor in Moscow Physico-Technical Institute. In 1953 was elected corresponding member of Acad. Sci. USSR and in 1966 - full member. Decorated with USSR and Russian orders. Was elected also: 1969 - member Intern. Acad. Astronautics, 1970 - associate Roy. Astron. Soc., 1971 - foreign honorary member American Acad. Art and Science, 1977 - foreign member Royal Danish Acad. Sci. and Letters, 1977 - honorary fellow Indian Acad. Sci., 1981 - foreign fellow Indian Nat. Sci. Acad., 1981 - foreign associate National Acad. Sci. USA, 1987 - foreign member Roy. Soc. (London), 1990 - member Academia Europaea. Was awarded: Mandelstam Prize 1947, Lomonosov Prize 1962, State Prize 1953, Lenin Prize 1966, M. Smoluchovskii Medel Polish Phys. Soc., 1987, Gold medal Roy. Astron. Soc. 1991, Bardeen Prize 1991, Wolf Prize 1994/1995, Vavilov Gold medal 1995, Big Lomonosov Gold medal Russian Acad. Sci. 1995, UNESCO - Nils Bohr Gold Medal 1998, D. Nicholson Medal (APS, 1999), O'Ceallaigh Medal 2001, 'Triumph' Prize 2002, Nobel Prize in Physics 2003. 'for pioneering contributions to the theory of superconductors and superfuids'.
V. L. Ginzburg is the author of several hundreds papers and many books including: Theoretical Physics and Astrophysics (Pergamon Press, 1979); Waynflete Lectures of Physics (Pergamon Press, 1983); Origin of Cosmic Rays (with S. I. Syrovatskii, Pergamon Press, 1964); Propagation of electromagnetic waves in plasma (Pergamon Press, 1970); Transition radiation and Transition Scattering (with V. N. Tsytovich, Adam Hilger Publ. House, 1990); Crystal Optics with Spatial Dispersion and Excitons (with V. M. Agranovich, Springer-Verlag, 1984), Physics and Astrophysics. A selection of key problems (Pergamon Press, 1985); On Physics and Astrophysics (in Russian, Publ. House 'Nauka', Moscow, 1992; Publ. House 'Quantum', Moscow, 1995). About Science, Myself and Others (in Russian, Publ. House 'Nauka', Moscow, 1997), The Physics of a Lifetime (Reflections on the Problems and Personalities of 20^th Century Physics) (in English, published by Springer 2001), About Science, Myself and Others (in Russian, 3rd edition, 'FizMatLit' Publishing House, 2003), About Science, Myself and Others (in English, Institute of Physics Publishing, 2005), 'Superconductivity and Superfluidity. An Autobiography.' (in Russian, 'FizMatLit' Publishing House, 2006).