From low temperatures, close to absolute zero, to high temperatures that are needed for the synthesis of atomic nuclei - this is the range of many years of activity of Academician Kapitsa. He twice became the Hero of Socialist Labor, and also received the Stalin and Nobel Prizes.
Childhood
Peter Leonidovich Kapitsa, whose biography will be presented in this article, was born in Kronstadt in 1894. His father Leonid Petrovich was a military engineer and was engaged in the construction of Kronstadt fortifications. Mom - Olga Ieronimovna - was a specialist in folklore and children's literature.
In 1905, Petya was sent to study at the gymnasium, but due to poor progress (Latin is bad), the boy leaves it after a year. The future academician continues his studies at the Kronstadt School. He graduated with honors in 1912.
University studies
Initially, Pyotr Kapitsa (see photo below) planned to study at the Physics and Mathematics Department of St. Petersburg University, but he was not accepted there. The young man decided to try his luck at the "polytechnic", and luck smiled at him. Peter was enrolled onelectromechanical faculty. Already in the first year, Professor A. F. Ioffe drew the attention of a talented young man and attracted the young man to research in his own laboratory.
Army and wedding
In 1914, Pyotr Leonidovich Kapitsa went to Scotland for the summer holidays. There he planned to practice his English. But the First World War began, and the young man could not return home in August. He got to Petrograd only in November.
In early 1915, Peter volunteered for the Western Front. He was appointed to the position of the driver of an ambulance. He also transported the wounded on his truck.
In 1916 he was demobilized, and Peter returned to the institute. Ioffe immediately loaded the young man with experimental work in a physical laboratory and attracted him to participate in his own physics seminar (the first in Russia). In the same year, Kapitsa published his first article. He also married Nadezhda Chernosvitova, who was the daughter of one of the members of the Central Committee of the Cadet Party.
Work at the new Physics Institute
In 1918, A. F. Ioffe organized the first scientific research physical institute in Russia. Petr Kapitsa, whose quotes can be read below, graduated from the Polytechnic University this year and immediately got a job as a teacher.
The difficult post-revolutionary situation did not bode well for science. Ioffe helped keep the seminars for his own students, among whom was Peter. He urged Kapitsa to leave Russia, but the government did not give permission for this. HelpedMaxim Gorky, who was then considered the most influential writer. Peter was allowed to leave for England. Shortly before Kapitsa's departure, an influenza epidemic broke out in St. Petersburg. In a month, the young scientist lost his wife, newborn daughter, son and father.
Work in England
In May 1921, Peter arrived in England as part of the Russian Commission from the Academy of Sciences. The main goal of scientists was to restore scientific ties broken by war and revolution. Two months later, physicist Pyotr Kapitsa got a job at the Cavendish Laboratory, headed by Rutherford. He accepted the young man for a short-term internship. Over time, the engineering acumen and research skills of the Russian scientist made a strong impression on Rutherford.
In 1922, Kapitsa defended his doctoral dissertation at the University of Cambridge. His scientific authority grew exponentially. In 1923 he was awarded the Maxwell Fellowship. A year later, the scientist became deputy director of the laboratory.
New marriage
In 1925, Pyotr Leonidovich Kapitsa was visiting Academician A. N. Krylov in Paris, who introduced him to his daughter Anna. Two years later, she became the wife of a scientist. After the wedding, Peter bought a piece of land on Huntington Road and built a house. Soon his sons, Andrey and Sergey, will be born here.
Magnetic World Champion
Peter Leonidovich Kapitsa, whose biography is known to all physicists, actively continues to study the processes of transformation of nuclei andradioactive decay. He comes up with a new installation for generating stronger magnetic fields and gets record results, 6-7 thousand times higher than the previous ones. Then Landau dubbed him the “magnetic world champion.”
Return to the USSR
Exploring the properties of metals in magnetic fields, Peter Leonidovich Kapitsa realized the need to change the conditions of experiments. Lower (gel) temperatures were required. It was in the field of low-temperature physics that the scientist achieved the greatest success. But Peter Leonidovich conducted research on this topic already at home.
Soviet government officials regularly offered him permanent residence in the USSR. The scientist was interested in such proposals, but he always set a number of conditions, the main of which was travel to the West at will. The government did not go forward.
In the summer of 1934, Kapitsa and his wife visited the USSR, but when they were about to leave for England, it turned out that their visas had been cancelled. Later, Anna was allowed to return for the children and take them to Moscow. Rutherford and friends of Peter Alekseevich asked the Soviet government to allow Kapitsa to return to England to continue work. It was all in vain.
In 1935, Pyotr Kapitsa, whose brief biography is known to all scientists, headed the Institute of Physical Problems at the Academy of Sciences. But before agreeing to this position, he demanded to buy the equipment on which he worked abroad. By that time, Rutherford had already come to terms with the loss of a valuable employee and sold the equipment from the laboratory.
Letters to the government
Kapitsa Petr Leonidovich (photo attached to the article) returned to his homeland with the beginning of Stalin's purges. Even during this difficult time, he vehemently defended his views. Knowing that everything in the country is decided by the top leadership, he regularly wrote letters, thereby trying to conduct a frank and direct conversation. From 1934 to 1983, the scientist sent more than 300 letters to the Kremlin. Thanks to the intervention of Pyotr Leonidovich, many scientists were rescued from prisons and camps.
Further work and discovery
No matter what happens around, the physicist always found time for scientific work. On the installation delivered from England, he continued research in the field of strong magnetic fields. Employees from Cambridge took part in the experiments. These experiments continued for several years and were extremely important.
The scientist managed to improve the device's turbine, and it began to liquefy the air more efficiently. There was no need to pre-cool the helium in the setup. It was automatically cooled during expansion in a special date tender. Similar gel units are now used in almost all countries.
In 1937, after long research in this direction, Peter Leonidovich Kapitsa (the Nobel Prize will be awarded to a scientist 30 years later) made a fundamental discovery. He discovered the phenomenon of helium superfluidity. The main conclusion of the study: at temperatures below 2.19 °K there is no viscosity. In subsequent years, Petr Leonidovich discovered other anomalous phenomena,occurring in helium. For example, the distribution of heat in it. Thanks to these studies, a new direction has appeared in science - the physics of quantum liquids.
Rejection of the atomic bomb
In 1945, the Soviet Union launched a program to develop nuclear weapons. Pyotr Kapitsa, whose books were popular in scientific circles, refused to take part in it. For this, he was suspended from scientific activity and put under house arrest for eight years. Also, the scientist was deprived of the opportunity to communicate with his colleagues. But Petr Leonidovich did not lose heart and decided to organize a laboratory in his country house to continue his research.
It was there, in artisanal conditions, that high-power electronics was born, which became the first stage on the path of subordinating thermonuclear energy. But the scientist was able to return to full-fledged experiments only after his release in 1955. He began by studying high-temperature plasmas. The discoveries made during that period formed the basis of the scheme of a permanent fusion reactor.
Some of his experiments gave a new impetus to the creativity of science fiction writers. Each writer tried to express his thoughts on this matter. Pyotr Kapitsa also studied ball lightning and the hydrodynamics of thin liquid layers during that period. But his burning interest was in the properties of plasma and microwave generators.
Travel abroad and the Nobel Prize
In 1965, Petr Leonidovich Kapitsa received government permission to travel to Denmark. There he was awarded the gold medal of Niels Bohr. The physicist toured the local laboratories and gave a lecture on high energies. In 1969, the scientist and his wife visited the United States for the first time.
In mid-October 1978, the scientist received a telegram from the Swedish Academy of Sciences. The headline had the inscription: “Pyotr Leonidovich Kapitsa. Nobel Prize". The physicist received it for fundamental research in the field of low temperatures. This good news "overtook" the scientist during a vacation in "Barvikha" near Moscow.
Journalists who interviewed him asked: "Which of your personal scientific achievements do you consider the most significant?" Petr Leonidovich said that the most important thing for a scientist is his current work. "Personally, I'm doing fusion right now," he added.
Kapitza's lecture in Stockholm at the award ceremony was unusual. Contrary to the charter, he gave a lecture not on the topic of low temperature physics, but on plasma and controlled thermonuclear reaction. Pyotr Leonidovich explained the reason for this liberties. The scientist said: “It was difficult for me to choose a topic for the Nobel lecture. I received an award for research in the field of low temperatures, but I have not been engaged in them for more than 30 years. At my institute, of course, they continue to study this topic, but I myself have completely switched to studying the processes necessary for the implementation of a thermonuclear reaction. I believe that at present this area is more interesting and relevant, as it will help in solving the problem of the impending energy crisis.”
The scientist died in 1984, a little short of his 90th birthday. In conclusion, here are his most famous statements.
Quotes
"A person's freedom can be limited in two ways: by violence or by training him in conditioned reflexes."
"A man is young as long as he does stupid things."
Mistakes should not be considered pseudoscience. But their non-recognition is really pseudoscience.”
"The one who knows what he wants is talented."
"Geniuses do not give birth to an era, but are born by an era."
"In order to be happy, one needs to imagine being free."
The one who has the endurance wins. Only exposure not for a couple of hours, but for many years.”
“Do not gloss over, but emphasize contradictions. They contribute to the development of science.”
Science should be simple, exciting and fun. The same applies to scientists.”
“Deceit is a necessary element of a democratic system, since the progressive beginning rests on a small number of people. The wishes of the majority will simply stop progress.”
"Life is like a card game you play without knowing the rules."
