Translation. Region: Russian Federation –
Source: Novosibirsk State University –
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An auditorium named after the eminent Russian theoretical physicist Vladimir Evgenievich Zakharov has opened in the NSU classroom building, which is part of the second phase of the new campus being built as part of the national project "Youth and Children." The ceremony was attended by NSU Rector and RAS Academician Mikhail Fedoruk, Dean Faculty of Physics Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences Vladimir Blinov and Vladimir Zakharov's students. Some of them joined the event online.
Vladimir Blinov opened the ceremony. In his opening remarks, the Dean of the NSU Physics Department noted that Vladimir Zakharov was a multifaceted personality—a brilliant scientist, a talented mentor of young scientists, and an outstanding poet. He was among the five most cited theoretical physicists in Russia, with over 40,000 citations and an h-index of 65. Vladimir Blinov remembered him as a very cheerful and energetic person.
Mikhail Fedoruk called the opening of the Vladimir Zakharov Auditorium a memorable event for the entire university, as the scholar was among its first graduates and later mentored a generation of talented students. The NSU rector spoke about his meetings and collaboration with Vladimir Evgenievich.
"He was an absolutely unforgettable and amazing person. I first met him at Vladimir Malkin's doctoral dissertation defense in 1993. Vladimir Moiseevich's dissertation was devoted to the theory of wave collapses, and I was a co-author of one of the papers included in it and attended the defense. It was devoted to the construction of self-similar regimes of supersonic wave collapses.
In 2010, he returned to Novosibirsk, and we began working together. Vladimir Zakharov often said he was delighted to be back in Akademgorodok after so many years, as he could breathe more freely and think more easily here. The subsequent years of our collaboration were unforgettable and the most memorable of my life. He supported me in every way when I became rector of NSU, as well as during the elections to the Academy of Sciences. Therefore, for me, the opening of this auditorium is a tribute of gratitude to this brilliant scientist, remarkable poet, and remarkable person with a strong civic stance," said Mikhail Fedoruk.
Next, the NSU rector read a message to the ceremony participants from Vladimir Zakharov's closest student and colleague, Evgeny Aleksandrovich Kuznetsov:
"Today you are opening an auditorium named after Vladimir Evgenievich Zakharov, my teacher and friend, with whom I was fortunate to work from my student days (since 1967) until his passing. This memorial auditorium is a wonderful monument to him.
Let me remind you that Vladimir Evgenievich was from the first graduating class of Novosibirsk State University. This graduating class produced four academicians—V.E. Zakharov, A.A. Galeev, and A.M. Fridman—all physicists, students of R.Z. Sagdeev, and one mathematician, Yu.L. Ershov.
Speaking of Zakharov, I must mention his outstanding achievements in the field of nonlinear science: physics and mathematics. He was one of the pillars of modern nonlinear science, the founder of three key fields: soliton theory, wave collapse theory, and turbulence. In each of these fields, he made significant contributions to their creation and development, and this largely determines their current state. Speaking of soliton theory, a field of mathematical physics, I emphasize that he is a classic. He is responsible for outstanding results in the development and advancement of the inverse scattering method, a gem of twentieth-century theoretical physics. In this room, you can see the Lax representation for the nonlinear Schrödinger equation, discovered by Zakharov and Shabat.
The nonlinear Schrödinger equation is one of the universal equations that is found everywhere, from water waves, nonlinear optics, plasma, to Bose-Einstein condensates.
The second area is the theory of wave collapses, a field to which he made significant contributions. Suffice it to mention his prediction of Langmuir collapse in plasma, which was confirmed, in particular, in experiments at the INP by Eduard Pavlovich Kruglyakov and his co-authors. This mechanism plays a significant role in plasma heating by electron beams and high-power microwave radiation.
In the third area, Zakharov obtained pioneering results on wave turbulence spectra, such as Kolmogorov-type solutions of nonlinear integral kinetic equations for waves using transformations known as Zakharov transformations. These nonequilibrium spectra are now called Kolmogorov-Zakharov spectra.
It's worth noting that Vladimir Evgenievich obtained many of his fundamental results in Novosibirsk, while working at the Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences and simultaneously teaching at Novosibirsk State University. Teaching provided him with the impetus for his research. He mentored a large group of students, known worldwide as the Zakharov School.
Vladimir Evgenievich loved life in all its forms. His civic stance on many socially significant events, both during the Soviet and post-Soviet eras, is well known. It's worth noting that, alongside his academic pursuits, he also pursued poetry at the highest professional level. Suffice it to say, his poems were included in an anthology of 20th-century Russian poetry published by E.A. Yevtushenko.
He published a six-volume collection of his poetry, which is also his outstanding achievement in poetry. His scientific genius, combined with his human qualities and the breadth of his personality, earned him enormous authority and attracted young colleagues. He truly was an idol for several generations of scientists. He was a poet, and V. E. Zakharov's literary work seemed an inseparable part of his scientific pursuits…"
Vladimir Zakharov's students from abroad shared their memories of him online. Alexander Mikhailov, a doctor of physical and mathematical sciences and professor at the University of Leeds (UK), spoke about Vladimir Evgenievich's lectures.
"I remember his lectures on classical mechanics and relativity in my first year. I'll tell you a fascinating story. Physicists sometimes make mistakes when something doesn't add up in their calculations. And one time, Vladimir Evgenievich made one. After some time, he discovered it, looked at the students, and without the slightest embarrassment, mentioned it, suggesting they find it and then achieve the correct answer. In this way, he truly showed us how to find an error and correct it. So, in his lectures, he taught us not only his subject, but also how to admit our mistakes, overcome difficult situations, and keep moving forward," Alexander Mikhailov recounted.
Ildar Gabitov, a candidate of physical and mathematical sciences and professor in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Arizona (USA), who worked at the Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences together with Vladimir Zakharov and Aleksandrov Mikhailov, also expressed kind words about his teacher.
"Vladimir Evgenievich played a huge role in my life. Apparently, not everyone knows that, in addition to his contributions to science, he laid the foundation for modern high-speed telecommunications, which we all use. Its development essentially changed direction twice. Initially, there was a proposal to use solitons as bit carriers. Then the technology changed. So-called coherent methods of information transmission emerged, where the theory developed by Vladimir Evgenievich gained particular strength," he said.
Reference:
Vladimir Evgenievich Zakharov (August 1, 1939 – August 20, 2023) graduated from Novosibirsk State University in 1963. Soviet, Russian, and American theoretical physicist, academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, chairman of the Scientific Council of the Russian Academy of Sciences on Nonlinear Dynamics, poet (since 2003, member of the Union of Russian Writers).
The author of seminal works on plasma physics, the theory of wave propagation in nonlinear media, including the ocean, and the nonlinear equations of mathematical physics. He found exact solutions to the kinetic equations of waves, known as Kolmogorov-Zakharov spectra. He predicted the collapse of Langrum waves in plasma and the existence of an inverse cascade in the theory of wave turbulence. He was one of the founders of the mathematical theory of solitons. He obtained important results in the general theory of relativity and classical differential geometry.
From 1974 to 2003, he worked at the L.D. Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics, heading the plasma physics department (1973-1992), and from 1993 to 2003, he directed the institute. Since 1992, he has taught at the University of Arizona (Tucson, USA), where in 2004 he was awarded the honorary title of Professor of the University Board. He was a member of the American Mathematical Society.
Laureate of the Petropol literary prize and the Viktor Rozov medal for his contribution to Russian culture. Author of several poetry collections.
Prizes and awards: USSR State Prize for research in plasma physics (1987); Order of Honor (1989); State Prize of the Russian Federation in Science and Technology for a series of works on soliton theory and the inverse scattering method (1993); Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" IV degree (1999), Dirac Medal (jointly with Robert Kraichnan) (2003); N.N. Bogolyubov Gold Medal (2019).
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